Increasing the accumulation of aluminum in the bone (body) in cases of renal osteodystrophy may influence the histopathologic aspect of the bones. Alumi- num blunts the effect of increased PTH secretion and favours the genesis of osteoid. That means, in cases of renal failure combined with aluminum accumulation, a relatively low bone tunover is found and no fibrosis of the bone marrow. Furthermore the amount of osteoid is increased. This means that there is evidence of osteomalacia especially when the latter is defined as an increased amount of osteoid covered with a relatively low number of...

Blood pressure control is central to all bodily functions. There are many points in the multifaceted cybernetic system wherein hypertension may be produced. Hypertension is a 'young' disorder whose existence has been known for less than a century. It is not only extremely prevalent among every popula- tion, but also deleterious to the health of mankind. The more we understand about hypertension's harmful effects, the more urgent is the need for its effective control. The kidney is the central organ that controls vascular tone and body fluid volume; these two factors are dominant in...

RICHARD J. GLASSOCK Introducing a scientific symposium is an uncertain and difficult task. The remarks must not be too specific lest the participant's later contributions be intruded upon, yet an overview of the goals and objectives of the conference should be presented in an inquisitive and stimulating fashion. Perhaps a compromise position would be to make a few general statements and pose a limited number of questions which hopefully would then be addressed dur- ing the formal or informal portions of the meeting. A conclusion incorpo- of the relevance of the specific topic to the more...

In 1986, the Committee of Experts on Blood Transfusion and Immunohae- tology of the Council of Europe chose for their Programme of Co-ordinated Research "An investigation of the procurement and sharing of transplantable organs for potential recipients who are highly sensitized to HLA-antigens". This topic was of common concern to all centres practising renal transplan- tion. The terms of reference of the study were: To estimate the number of patients who are virtually "untransplantable" because of high sensitization in each European country. To study the nature of immunization in terms of the...

A year or so after Dr. Robert Popovieh arrived in Seattle in 1965 to begin working on his doctoral thesis under Dr. A.L. Babb, we had just begun work to try to prove the prediction that the peritoneum had a higher permeability to 'middle molecules' than hemodialysis membranes [I]. Several years later, when Dr. Popovieh accepted a position at the University of Texas in Austin, he decided to concentrate his research efforts in the area of peritoneal dialysis and everyone knows how successful that effort has become [2]. Indeed, because of continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD),...

This unique volume may very well foreshadow the treatment of renal disease in the twenty-first century. The editors have obviously compiled and reviewed the current clinical problems in which the kidney plays a major role. They then selected as topics for chapters those in which recent scientific investigations have added significant new data. The investigators themselves or their peers have been persuaded to produce a summary of current concepts of renal structure and function for each topic. The result is a volume which will be as invaluable as a clinical guide on the laboratory bench as it...