Chronic Kidney Disease Martin E. Lascano, Martin J. Schreiber, Saul Nurko Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an important source of long-term morbidity and mortality. It has been estimated that CKD…

Hematuria Richard Fatica, Adele Fowler Blood in the urine can originate at any point along the urinary tract and both gross and microscopic hematuria may represent serious underlying disease. Gross…

Disorders of Platelet Function and Number Rachid Baz, Tarek Mekhail THROMBOCYTOPENIAS Thrombocytopenia is defined as a platelet count of less than 150,000/mm3. With normal platelet function, thrombocytopenia is rarely the…

Immunosuppression for Renal Transplant Patients and Common Medical Problems in Renal Transplantation Naim Issa, William E. Braun Renal transplantation is the best treatment for most patients with end-stage renal disease…

Antibiotic-Associated Diarrhea and Clostridium difficile Ronnie Pimental, Anuja Choure DEFINITION The first report of antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD) was found in the Bulletin of the Johns Hopkins Hospital of 1893, where…

Principles of Screening Raul J. Seballos Preventive medicine encompasses primary, secondary, and tertiary preventive measures such as screening, counseling, immunization, and prophylaxis. The goal of primary prevention is to prevent…

Syncope Fetnat Fouad-Tarazi, Laura Shoemaker, Ken Mayuga, Fred Jaeger DEFINITION Syncope is an abrupt loss of consciousness with a concomitant loss of postural tone. Presyncope, also called near syncope, is…

Obesity Stacy Brethauer, Sangeeta Kashyap, Philip Schauer DEFINITION AND ETIOLOGY Obesity has become an important public health problem in industrialized countries throughout the world. The body mass index (BMI =…

Kidney Function Assessment by Creatinine-Based Estimation Equations Martin E. Lascano, Emilio D. Poggio Chronic kidney disease (CKD) has been recognized as a common health care problem, and therefore the National…

Takayasu’s Arteritis José Hernández-Rodríguez, Kathleen Maksimowicz-McKinnon, Gary S. Hoffman DEFINITION AND ETIOLOGY Takayasu’s arteritis (TA) is a large-vessel vasculitis of unknown etiology that has a predilection for the aorta and…