A pinch of salt - A podcast by ERA

#63 Treatment of obesity in patients with CKD, with Allon N. Friedman

In this episode of A pinch of salt, Allon N. Friedman will talk about possibly the hottest topic in medicine at this moment – the treatment of obesity, with a particular focus on treating the CKD population. Obesity is finally being recognized as a disease and not merely an unfortunate, somewhat shameful consequence of personalities with weak minds and lack of willpower. But how do we treat it? Does changing lifestyle have any impact, should everybody start taking weight lowering medications, what about surgery? As always, we’ll be trying to provide you with some helpful clinical information that might help you and your patients in regular clinical practice.

#62 Chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology, with Shuchi Anand

In this episode of A pinch of salt, Shuchi Anand will talk about chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology, the mysterious kidney disease that is devastating some agricultural communities in hot environments. Dr Anand will talk about what might be causing this disease, does a kidney biopsy help, is it mandatory, and how to treat these patients both on the individual level and on the population level to tackle this disease locally and globally. Learn more about this true medical mystery, with stories from the literature and stories from the field.

#61 Tubulointerstitial nephritis – the Cinderella of nephrology, with Beatriz Sanchez Alamo

In this episode of A pinch of salt, Beatriz Sanchez Alamo will talk about tubulointerstitial nephritis (TIN), the Cinderella of nephrology, a beautiful and interesting topic that is not easily noticeable in congresses and webinars. Some recent data looking at long-term prognosis has shown that patients with TIN might have a long-term prognosis that is comparable to lupus nephritis and ANCA vasculitis. Are we ignoring TIN and if so, what should we be doing differently? In this episode we’ll be talking about diagnosis, new tests that might identify precisely the drug that is causing TIN, what the treatment and follow-up should be and much more. Dedicated to everybody and anybody who is not entirely glomerulocentric.

#60 Most common mistakes in biostatistics, with Giovanni Tripepi

In this episode we will be talking to Giovanni Tripepi, an expert in biostatistics. Medicine is not just an art but also a science grounded in biostatistics, which is why it is crucial to understand it in order to conduct and interpret research properly. In this episode you will hear about the most common mistakes made by medical researchers when planning a project, the most common mistakes when interpreting data, why a p-value below 0.05 is not always significant and a whole lot more. By the end you will understand statistics better and it won’t be painful at all.

#59 Cryoglobulinemia, with Luca Quartuccio

In this episode we will be talking to Luca Quartuccio, a rheumatologist and a renowned expert in cryoglobulinemia. You will hear about how we diagnose cryoglobulinemic vasculitis, whether we can have cryoglobulinemia without vasculitis, the types of cryoglobulinemia and their clinical significance, how to tackle secondary cryoglobulinemia with hepatitis C or B, first line therapy, the role of plasma exchange and maintenance therapy and much, much more. Dedicated to everybody who takes care of these difficult patients.