New Informative Transplant News Website

please check out www.transplantnow.com.
This is similar to Nephrology now and compiles latest articles in Transplantation from major journals and will allow for good compilation.

Innate vs Adaptive Immune system

http://allergycases.org/2005/10/innate-immune-system-short-review.html

Check out the above website. Especially the nice break down of innate vs adaptive immune system.

Fascinating Wordle in AJT 2011

Check out this picture that was created on most cited surgical articles in ten surgical journals.
Turns out Transplantation topics rule and show the most results.
Nice
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1600-6143.2011.03459.x/full

AST Fellows Symposium on Transplantation Medicine

AST Fellows Symposium on Transplantation Medicine

JOURNAL CLUB: BELATACEPT and Transplantation

Co Stimulation Blockade and The Allograft

View more presentations from Nephrology, NSLIJ.

The Transplant Web

The most recent issue of AJT, under AJT report discusses the Transplant web and what is on the web for transplantation. It discusses many issues that pertain social media and transplantation. It brings home key points that patients are using the internet for their information and physicians are to be aware of that.  Social media can be a very good and powerful tool to discuss and teach physicians, students and patients. Many centers around the country are using it.  Mayo Clinic has a social media center.  What our role is to make sure patients are looking at association driven or university based websites that have peer reviewed material and accurate information. There is a lot out there -- perhaps that instills a "blogger's bias".

Check it out
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1600-6143.2010.03394.x/full
http://socialmedia.mayoclinic.org/

Top Transplant Programs "by volume" in 2009, check out the list

http://nephronline.com/news.asp?N_ID=4188

New Transplant Information website

Check out this excellent website on information on transplantation
http://www.kidneylink.org/
It has medical news, patient stories, webinars and useful links to all transplant readership

Basic concepts in Immunology

Concept 1
Think of Innate immune system as "non antigen presenting mediated". it can get activated without antigen presentation. Cells that are major players: NK cell and Macrophage
Adaptive immune system is " antigen presentation mediated". Needs that extra help.
Cells that play role here:- B cells, T cells, DC

Concept 2
Think of the immune system as : Effector system and Regulatory system
Effector systems play a role in causing inflammation and damage and " doing their job" best!!! CD4+T, CD8+T cells, NK cells, B effector cells are all major players
Regulators are the "policemen". They are the Tregs and Bregs. They are out there trying to shut out fires and inflammation and try to "tone down" the reaction.  Having more police around makes for a more robust and more "Controlled" immune system

Concept 3
The adaptive immune response has two arms
Afferent arm:-Antigen presentation
Efferent arm:- T cell activation

Concept 4
Two types of destruction:- cell mediated via Cd4 and Cd8 cells- granzyme and perforin and killing the cell
or antibody mediated via B cell-- leading to complement activation killing

Role Playing exercise in Transplant Education

We did another session of role playing with the fellows and transplant medicine
Each fellow was assigned a "cell" that is an active playing in Immunology. Then they were asked to describe themselves in Homeostasis and then a state of Immunosuppression. A nice discussion and arguments ensued and a live display of the immune reaction was done.  The teaching of basic immunology for transplantation was mediated via this teaching method.
The cells the fellows' role played were: NK cell, macrophage, CD4+ T cell, CD8+T cell, DC, B effector cell, T Reg cell, B reg Cell.

The Micro RNA blog

Take a look at this extensive summaries of blogs just on micro RNAs
Very neat blog
http://mirnablog.com/

Organ Trading Discussion

The Economist is holding a live debate on Organ trading on Facebook.
Check it out with this link On facebook.


Also, the Renal Fellow Network has a recent post on it as well.

Nephron Power: NYSN Fellows Boot camp

Nephron Power: NYSN Fellows Boot camp

Role Playing in Transplant Teaching

Today at our transplant conference we did something fun.
A month ago, each fellow in training was assigned a transplant drug( MMF, imuran, cyclosporine, prograf, sirolimus, steroids and belatecpt).
In the one hour, each fellow had to play a role of the drug and stay in character. Initial rounds were introduction rounds and then followed debate rounds where major debates between Steroids vs no steroids, CNI vs belatecept, Cyclo vs prograf, sirolimus vs CNI and Imuran vs MMF happened.
It was tons of fun and fellows enjoyed it. Role playing of drugs taught them the strengths, mechanism of actions and their weaknesses.

Hoping to use tools like this to teach nephrology as we more forward; and make it lot of fun!!

American Transplant Congress from ECU

Check out the live blogging from ATC 2010

http://blog.ecu.edu/sites/nephrologyondemand/?p=3634