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Travel Tips: A Guide for Kidney Patients

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For many patients who are on dialysis or have had a kidney transplant, the ability to travel is important to their self-esteem and lifestyle. Working patients may need to attend business meetings or conferences. Older patients may have dreamed of traveling during their retirement. A family event such as a wedding, graduation or family reunion may require travel away from home. At times, emergencies such as illness or a death in the family may require travel. Read more from the National Kidney Foundation.

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Jerry Cahill: To the Brink and back after lung, liver, and kidney transplants

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I grew up with cystic fibrosis, so I am no stranger to hospital stays, downswings in my health, and everything that goes along with that. But facing transplants presented me with an entirely new set of challenges.

My background is fairly normal – I grew up in a large family in Brooklyn, NY, where my parents encouraged my siblings and me to get involved in sports. Little did they realize, that would help save my life. Living with cystic fibrosis meant that my lungs constantly built up with mucus and bacteria, but exercise helped my body become strong and to clear my lungs. Read the full story on UNOS.com.

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Post-Transplant Nutrition: Protein, Fluids, Potassium, and Food Safety

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Diet is one of many challenges that patients face post-transplant – the combination of requirements and restrictions can be difficult to navigate. To help, CareDx partnered with Molly Chanzis, a Registered Dietitian at New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center specializing in medical nutrition therapy and nutrition counseling specifically for transplant patients.

We hosted a webinar with Molly focused on diet and nutrition post-transplant; this article has been adapted from Molly’s presentation. Read the full story on CareDx.com.

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Unhealthy lifestyle drives high blood pressure in children, teens

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Lifestyle modification, including increased physical activity and a healthy diet, is the “most important step” in the management of cardiometabolic risk factors driving hypertension in children and teens, according to a consensus statement.

The new consensus statement focusing on hypertension in children aged 6 to 16 years, published in European Heart Journal, notes that inactivity, diets high in sugar and sodium, and excess weight account for nine in 10 cases of hypertension in children and adolescents. Read more in Healio.

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Study identifies variables associated with heart palpitations in menopause

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Certain factors were associated with heart palpitations in menopause, according to findings of a scoping literature review in Women’s Health.

“We wanted to understand what research had been done and what research is still needed to help women with menopause palpitations,” Janet S. Carpenter, PhD, RN, FAAN, a distinguished professor and the Audrey Geisel Endowed Chair in Innovation at the Indiana University School of Nursing, told Healio. Read more in Healio.

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Patients With Liver Disease and COVID Report Extra Hardships

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— Detrimental effects included delayed care, curtailed social life

The COVID-19 pandemic substantially impacted the daily lives of patients with chronic liver disease, a global cross-sectional study found.

Among 2,500 chronic liver disease patients, 11.3% reported that the pandemic had negatively impacted their disease, which was mostly due to delays in follow-up care (73%), reported Zobair Younossi, MD, MPH, of Inova Medicine in Falls Church, Virginia, and colleagues, writing in Hepatology Communications. Read more in MedPage Today.

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‘Hug a tree, take a walk’: Sleep, exercise key for patients with autoimmune disease

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ORLANDO — Adequate sleep, exercise and stress management are critical for patients with autoimmune diseases, according to a presenter at the 2022 Rheumatology Nurses Society Conference.

“On average, an individual needs 7 to 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep,” George E. Munoz, MD, medical director of American Arthritis and Rheumatology Associates, and chief medical officer of the Oasis Institute, in Miami told attendees. He added that four REM cycles per night optimal. Read the full story in Healio.

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Doctor donates kidney to patient

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Transplant nephrologist was perfect match for patient-turned-friend.

It’s rare that a transplant nephrologist becomes a kidney donor — but that’s exactly what happened to Dr. Aji Djamali last month.

Not long into his journey to becoming a nephrologist and surgeon, Djamali knew he wanted to donate his kidney. With the rare blood type B, he knew he could make an ideal match for a patient one day. Read or watch the story from ABC News here.

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‘If you don’t exercise, you break’: Physical activity key in osteoporosis intervention

Photo by Arek Adeoye on Unsplash
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ORLANDO — Exercise can supplement the efficacy of several therapies used to treat osteoporosis, according to a presenter at the 2022 Rheumatology Nurses Society Annual Conference.

“You get old, and if you don’t exercise, you break,” Jacqueline M. Fritz, RN, MSN, RN-BC, an infusion specialist at the Arthritis and Osteoporosis Center, in La Palma, California, told attendees. Read more in Healio.

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One year after double-lung transplant, man to ride 38 miles for fundraiser

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Just over a year after receiving a double-lung transplant, a COVID-19 survivor is cycling 38-miles to raise funds for the nonprofit where he found support after his surgery. 

Rick Bressler, Lock Haven, contracted the COVID-19 virus in March 2021, four days before he was scheduled to receive the vaccine. He was soon hospitalized and placed on a ventilator. Read the full story in NorthcentralPA.com.

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