TWO NEW studies have linked early signs of kidney disease to higher risks for cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

LIRAGLUTIDE, a human glucagonlike peptide 1 (GLP-1) analog, is safe and effective as once-daily initial pharmacologic therapy for treating type 2 diabetes, data suggest.

PATIENTS WHO travel outside the United States for a kidney transplant—so-called transplant tourists—experience more severe post-transplant complications, including a higher incidence of acute rejection and severe infections, compared with patients who receive their transplant at a U.S. medical center, according to researchers.

BLACK PATIENTS on long-term hemodialysis receive greater doses of erythropoietin (EPO) than their white counterparts even though both races achieve similar hemoglobin levels, data show.

SIX MONTHS of valganciclovir prophylaxis following renal transplantation can delay, but not prevent, late-onset primary infection with cytomegalovirus (CMV), according to newly released data.

ELEVATED C-reactive protein (CRP) levels, a marker of inflammation, predict greater requirements of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs).

STATIN THERAPY may improve survival and slow renal function decline in patients with atherosclerotic renovascular disease (ARD), researchers reported in the American Journal of Hypertension (2008;21:1163-1168).

Older and younger patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) derive similar benefit from sorafenib, data suggest.

Severe facial wrinkles may be a marker for decreased renal function, according to researchers in Seoul, Korea.

KIDNEYS FROM older living donors (OLDs) may be an important option for elderly renal transplant candidates, according to a study of 23,754 kidney-only transplants performed in recipients aged 60 years and older.