Kidney Punch

Ten Commandments of PowerPoint™ presentations

John Pickering • May 03, 2015

In my “most cringing” file, ranking somewhere alongside brussel sprouts and Abba, are PowerPoint(TM) presentations that are unreadable and distracting. I have made it my mission to rid the world of annoying animation, fantastic fonts, garrulous graphs, and tortuous tables. The following are my commandments – ignore them and dreadful things will be visited on […] … Read More

Major government health directive monitored for efficacy and safety

John Pickering • Apr 09, 2015

Last year I was fortunate to become part of a team at Christchurch hospital led by emergency care physician, Dr Martin Than. About 7 years ago in response to some local issues with how patients presenting with chest pain were being evaluated for potential heart attacks, Dr Than began a research program that investigated what […] … Read More

I’ve Got a Bad Feeling About This. . .

John Pickering • Mar 13, 2015

Originally posted on Intelligently Artificial:I’m not even going to pretend that there isn’t a conflict of interest here.  A better, more ethical person would take steps to maintain their objectivity and protect their sense of integrity.  But in a world where news anchor Brian Williams can singlehandedly drive the Taliban out of Afghanistan, and… … Read More

Hot oil baths and other things to do on World Kidney Day 2015

John Pickering • Mar 11, 2015

“In ancient times the Persian philosopher Avicenna [Ibn Sina] noted that urine may be retained in crisis of fever (s393) and prescribed hot oil baths (s413)(1). Unfortunately, apart from the supportive therapy of dialysis, there has been little progress since in the treatment of acute kidney injury (AKI).”(2) Given that getting AKI at least doubles […] … Read More

Cantabrians, this is your life

John Pickering • Feb 27, 2015

There is little more precious than our health and that of those we love. “Research saves lives” is  Canterbury Medical Research Foundation’s (CMRF) proudly held motto. The CMRF has been supporting the people of Canterbury for 55 years thanks to the generosity of Cantabrians. In that time they have funded more than $22 million in grants.  Yesterday […] … Read More

beyond reasonable doubt: a significant improvement

John Pickering • Jan 15, 2015

For the second time in a week I have removed the word “significant” from a draft manuscript written by a colleague of mine in clinical medicine. In a significantly p’d I wrote about the myth of significance – that is about the ubiquitous use of the term “significant” in the medical literature to mean a […] … Read More

Fat Mate: Fat chance lost

John Pickering • Jan 02, 2015

I expect New Zealand tax dollars science spending to be better than what I read in the media this morning. Headlined in the Press was “Blenheim ‘fat mate’ loses 13.5kg in 8 weeks.”  The story was of someone on a trial of a locally produced diet supplement having lost weight.  So far nothing to peak my interest, […] … Read More

Cheesecake files: Just how deadly is it?

John Pickering • Nov 27, 2014

Everyone said it did, but how did they know and by how much?  Statements like “The development of AKI [Acute Kidney Injury] after CPB [Cardiopulmonary Bypass Surgery] is associated with a significant increase in infectious complications, an increase in length of hospital stay, and greater mortality.” (Kumar & Suneja, Anaesthesiology 2011 14(4):964) are common place […] … Read More

Can Doctors and Nurses help Dialysis patients recover?

John Pickering • Nov 07, 2014

In the case of dialysis dependent acute kidney injury patients this is a question which Dr Dinna Cruz  and colleagues (University of California San Diego) are asking and seeking opinions from both nephrologists and non-nephrologist doctors and nurses involved in care of dialysis patients.  It was a question which arose out of discussions at this […] … Read More