Free, Full-Text Articles from American Journal of Kidney Diseases:

• Should the Buttonhole Cannulation Technique Be Regarded as the Cannulation Method of Choice for Arteriovenous Fistulas?
• Racial Disparities in Survival on Peritoneal Dialysis
• Health Literacy in Nephrology: Why Is It Important?
• Those Who Can Do, Teach
• Intravenous Fluid Therapy: Saline Versus Mixed Electrolyte and Organic Anion Solutions
• Biomarkers in Nephrology: Core Curriculum 2013

Senate Passes Bill to Allow Research on Organ Transplants for HIV Patients
Article from The Hill.

Postings from Renal Fellow Network:

• Vitamin D and CV Disease - Part II
• Vitamin D and CV Disease - Part III

Article in Press Abstracts from American Journal of Kidney Diseases:

• CKD and Cardiovascular Disease in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study: Interactions With Age, Sex, and Race
• Drug-Eluting Stents Versus Bare-Metal Stents in Patients With Decreased GFR: A Meta-analysis

• Dialysate Cancer Antigen 125 in Long-Term Peritoneal Dialysis Patients
• Characteristics and Three Year Mortality and Infection Rates among Incident Hemodialysis Patients with a Permanent Catheter Undergoing a First Vascular Access Conversion

• How Young Is Too Young to Be a Living Donor?
• Association Between Steroid Dosage and Death With a Functioning Graft After Kidney Transplantation

Editor's note:  Amgen has enjoyed a monopoly within Medicare and 90% margins on ESAs in a largely taxpayer-funded, multi-billion-dollar marketplace for 24 years. Amgen has made far more profit than any other company from the care of dialysis patients. Much of this profit was made from excessive doses of ESAs, now finally seen as harmful and toxic to patients.

ESAs have provided Amgen with unprecedented profits in the history of U.S. business. A 90% margin means that if the dialysis clinic pays $100 for the product, Amgen makes $90 profit. $10 covers the cost of manufacturing, marketing, administration, FDA compliance, etc. With one short-time exception, Amgen has had enjoyed a monopoly on ESAs in the U.S. dialysis market since 1989.

Now Amgen wants even more of the taxpayer-funded pool of money for dialysis. Corporations have no conscience. This is unprecedented greed in the history of medicine.

Are there any dialysis patient advocacy groups that see this situation as not serving the best interests of patients... or taxpayers?

Abstracts from International Journal of Nephrology and Renovascular Disease:

• Reduced Use of Erythropoiesis Stimulating Agents and Intravenous Iron with Ferric Citrate: a Managed Care Cost Offset Model
• Treatment of Confirmed B12 Deficiency in Hemodialysis Patients Improves Epogen® Requirements

• Efficacy and Safety of Pegylated Interferon Alfa-2b and Ribavirin Combination Therapy Versus Pegylated Interferon Monotherapy in Hemodialysis Patients: A Comparison of 2 Sequentially Treated Cohorts
• Association Between Estimated GFR, Health-Related Quality of Life, and Depression Among Older Adults With Diabetes: The Diabetes and Aging Study
• Correlation of Pre-existing Vascular Pathology With Arteriovenous Graft Outcomes in Hemodialysis Patients
• Atrial Fibrillation in CKD: Balancing the Risks and Benefits of Anticoagulation

CJASN Express Abstracts:

• Re-envisioning Fistula First in a Patient-Centered Culture
• World Incidence of AKI: A Meta-Analysis
• Fostering Innovation, Advancing Patient Safety: The Kidney Health Initiative
• Five Policies to Promote Palliative Care for Patients with ESRD

DSEN Update - It's Going To Be a Wet Summer
Posting from Dialysis from the Sharp End of the Needle.

Advance Access Abstract from NDT:

• Circulating Bacterial Derived DNA Fragments As a Marker of Systemic Inflammation in Peritoneal Dialysis
• Association of Segmental Wall Motion Abnormalities Occurring during Hemodialysis with Postdialysis Fatigue
• Serum Creatinine Level, a Surrogate of Muscle Mass, Predicts Mortality in Peritoneal Dialysis Patients
• Altering Plasma Sodium Concentration Rapidly Changes Blood Pressure during Hemodialysis

• Chronic Kidney Disease and the Foot in Diabetes - Is Inflammation the Missing Link
• Skew of Plasma Low- and High-Density Lipoprotein Distributions to Less Dense Subfractions in Normotriglyceridemic Chronic Kidney Disease Patients on Maintenance Hemodialysis Treatment

• Pulmonary Hypertension in Patients with Chronic and End-Stage Kidney Disease
• Subcutaneous Interstitial Pressure and Volume Characteristics in Renal Impairment Associated with Edema

• Left Ventricular Diastolic Dysfunction by Tissue Doppler Echocardiography in Pediatric Chronic Kidney Disease
• Associations between Fibroblast Growth Factor XXIII and Cardiac Characteristics in Pediatric Heart Failure

Advance Access Abstracts from NDT:

• Cost of Peritoneal Dialysis and Hemodialysis across the World
• A Systematic Review regarding the Association of Illness Perception and Survival among End-Stage Renal Disease Patients
• Obesity and Nephrology: Results of a Knowledge and Practice Pattern Survey
• Renal Center Characteristics and Physician Practice Patterns Associated with Home Dialysis Use
• Community Preferences for the Allocation of Deceased Donor Organs for Transplantation: a Focus Group Study

• Antibiotic Induced Neurotoxicity in Dialysis Patients: a Retrospective Study
• Evidence of the Syndrome of Rapid Onset End-Stage Renal Disease (SORO-ESRD) in the Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) Literature — Preventable Causes of AKI and SORO-ESRD – A Call for Reengineering of Nephrology Practice Paradigms

• A Modified Open Surgery Techniques for Peritoneal Dialysis Catheter Placement Decreases Catheter Malfunction
• Localized Encapsulating Peritoneal Sclerosis Constricting Determinable Ileum — an Unusual Appearance Requiring Surgical Intervention
• Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes of Peritoneal Dialysis-Related Peritonitis with Different Trends of Change in Effluent White Cell Count: a Longitudinal Study
• 17 Years Experience of Peritoneal Dialysis in Iran

• Fibroblast Growth Factor 23 Is Not Associated with and Does Not Induce Arterial Calcification
• Assessment of Intravascular Volume Status and Volume Responsiveness in Critically Ill Patients
• Fish Oil for Prevention of Sudden Death in Hemodialysis Patients?

• Public Health Surveillance in the Dialysis Setting: Opportunities and Challenges for Using Electronic Health Records
• Hepatitis C Virus Screening and Management of Seroconversions in Hemodialysis Facilities