Twice monthly (aspirational) recap of the NephJC journal club. NephJC reviews the most important manuscripts which are driving nephrology forward and improving our understanding of the kidney.
The Filtrate Joel Topf @kidney_boy Swapnil Hiremath @hswapnil.medsky.social Natalie Freidin Program director at Medical University of South Carolina AC @medpeedskidneys.bsky.social Special Guests Fernando Fervenza Professor of Medicine, The Mayo Clinic Editing Vip Vergues The Kidney Connection written and performed by Timothy Yau Show Notes MENTOR NephJC | NEJM | Freely Filtered episode 7 PLA2r in 2009 M-Type Phospholipase A2 Receptor as Target Antigen in Idiopathic Membranous Nephropathy NEJM MAJESTY NephJC | NEJM Obinutuzumab or Tacrolimus in Primary Membranous Nephropathy Giuseppe Remuzzi d
FF95 The PUSH trial. Push it real good!
· 1:06:17
The Filtrate Joel Topf@kidney_boy Vipin Verghese@vipvargh.bsky.social Nayan Arora @captainchloride Special Guests David Goldfarb Professor of Medicine, NYU (COI) Megan Prochaska Assistant professor of medicine at University of Chicago John Asplin Medical Director Consultant LithoLink (Twitter) Editing Anna Gaddy The Kidney Connection written and performed by Timothy Yau Show Notes Kidney Treks, University of Chicago. For medical students. The Push Trial: Prevention of urinary stones with hydration: a randomised clinical trial of an adherence intervention NephJC Short | The Lancet Charlie Pak t
FF94 C3 Glomerulopathy with Carla Nester
· 1:14:13
The Filtrate Joel Topf kidneyboy.bsky.social Swapnil Hiremath @hswapnil.medsky.social Natalie Freidin Program director at Medical University of South Carolina Sophia Ambruso @sophia_kidney AC @medpeedskidneys.bsky.social Special Guests Carla Nester, Professor of Medicine, Professor of Pediatrics, University of Iowa. Senior author of Valiant Editing Natalie Freidin The Kidney Connection written and performed by Timothy Yau Show Notes Trial of Pegcetacoplan in C3 Glomerulopathy and Immune-Complex MPGN NEJM | NephJC Tubular Secretions Swapnil: City of Last Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Amazon) N
FF93 Hyponatremia Interventional Trial
· 1:30:21
The Filtrate Joel Topf kidneyboy.bsky.social Swapnil Hiremath @hswapnil.medsky.social Pedro Teixeira @nephcrit.bsky.social Special Guests Ewout J. Hoorn, Professor of Medicine Erasmus MC, Netherlands. One of the primary authors. Harish Seethapathy, Assistant physician at Massachusetts General Hospital Editing Vipin Verghese The Kidney Connection written and performed by Timothy Yau Show Notes A Randomized Trial of Targeted Hyponatremia Correction in Hospitalized Patients in NEJM Evidence, in PubMed, in NephJC Seethapathy: Severe Hyponatremia Correction, Mortality, and Central Pontine Myelinoly
FF92 Live from Dublin, The Irish Nephrology Society
· 1:35:55
The Filtrate Joel Topf kidneyboy.bsky.social Special Guests Dr. Samir Parikh, President of the American Society of Nephrology Prof. Donal Reddan, President, Irish Nephrology Society Prof. Catherine Godson Editing Joel Topf The Kidney Connection written and performed by Timothy Yau Show Notes Tubular Secretions Joel Topf, the Dublin Port Greenway Link Catherine Godson: never heard of the Dublin Port Greenway Samir Parikh: Trinity College Dublin and specifically the Eavan Boland Library, named after the Irish poet. Donal Reddan: Something about rugby
FF91 Liberate-D
· 1:35:55
The Filtrate Joel Topf kidneyboy.bsky.social Pedro Teixeira @nephcrit.bsky.social Nayan Arora @captainchloride.bsky.social Anna Gaddy @annagaddy.bsky.social Swapnil Hiremath @hswapnil.medsky.social and on LinkedIn Special Guests Ian McCoy, MD @NephroNinja study author and UCSF Chi-yuan Hsu Senior author and Chief of the Division of Nephrology at UCSF Samuel Silver Associate Professor at Queens University in Canada Editing Vipin Verghese and Joel Topf Show Notes NephJC Discusion: Dialyze Less, Recover More? AKI’s Chance to Get LIBERATE-D Manuscript: A Conservative Dialysis Strategy and Kidney F
FF90 NephMadness 2026: Animal House
· 1:25:14
The Filtrate Joel Topf (kidneyboy.bsky.social) AC (@medpeedskidneys.bsky.social)NephMadness Anna Gaddy (@AnnaGaddy) Vipin Verghese (@vipvargh.bsky.social) Natalie Freidin Program director at Medical University of South Carolina Special Guests Anna Vinnikova (@kidneywars.bsky.social) Long time game maker for NephMadness and Associate Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University Autumn Harris Associate Professor of Veterinary Medicine at NC State Sarah Street MD PhD Assistant Professor of Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University Editing Joel Topf Show Notes Animal House scouting report Autu
FF 89 Top Stories of 2025
· 1:51:15
I know 2026 feels like it ihas been here for months, but only a few weeks ago we were celebrating the nephrology accomplishments of 2025. The New Filtrate came together to review the year. The Filtrate Joel Topf @kidneyboy.bsky.social (COI) Swapnil Hiremath @hswapnil.medsky.social and on LinkedIn Editor in Chief of Kidney International Case Reports Anna Gaddy (@AnnaGaddy) Winner of NephJC Rookie of the Year 2020 Nayan Arora (@CaptainChloride.bsky.social) AC (@medpeedskidneys.bsky.social) Vipin Verghese (@vipvargh.bsky.social) co-winner of NephJC Engaged Scientist of the Year in 2021 Brian R
FF 86 Atacicept for IgAN. Third attempt
· 1:15:28
The Filtrate Joel Topf @kidneyboy.bsky.social (COI) Sophia Ambruso @sophia-kidney.bsky.social Swapnil Hiremath @hswapnil.medsky.social and on LinkedIn Special Guests Jonathan Barratt Professor of Renal Medicine, University of Leicester Google Scholar (COI: all the companies) Editing and Show Notes by Nayan Arora @captainchloride.bsky.social The Kidney Connection written and performed by Tim Yau Show Notes Proteinuria Reduction as a Surrogate End Point in Trials of IgA Nephropathy (Aliza Thompson, 2019 PubMed) The number, quality, and coverage of randomized controlled trials in nephrology (P
FF 88 BICARICU-2, Bicarbonate in the ICU, still not helpful?
· 1:24:41
The Filtrate Joel Topf @kidneyboy.bsky.social (COI) Pedro Teixeira @nephcrit.bsky.social Ana Gaddy @AnnaGaddy Nayan Arora @captainchloride.bsky.social Special Guests David Goldfarb Professor of Medicene, NYU (COI) Editing by Pedro Teixeira The Kidney Connection written and performed by Tim Yau Show Notes BICARBICU 2018 (Lancet) BICARBICU-2 2025 (JAMA) SOFA score (Wikipedia) Sodium bicarbonate administration for metabolic acidosis in the intensive care unit: a target trial emulation (PubMed) Effect of sodium bicarbonate on intracellular pH under different buffering conditions (PubMed) Evalua
FF 87 Can Fish Oil Knock the Crap out of Dialysis Associated CV Disease?
· 1:20:20
The Filtrate Joel Topf @kidneyboy.bsky.social (COI) Swapnil Hiremath @hswapnil.medsky.social and on LinkedIn Pedro Teixeira @nephcrit.bsky.social Special Guests Charmaine E Lok, MD Professor of Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto Editing and Show Notes by Joel Topf The Kidney Connection written and performed by Tim Yau Show Notes Fish-Oil Supplementation and Cardiovascular Events in Patients Receiving Hemodialysis NEJM | NephJC What works in hemodialysis? Iron: PIVOTAL Trial (NEJM) Hemodiafiltration: CONVINCE (NEJM) That’s the whole list Earlier work on vascular acces
FF 86 Atacicept for IgAN with Jon Barratt
· 1:15:27
The Filtrate Joel Topf @kidneyboy.bsky.social (COI) Sophia Ambruso @sophia-kidney.bsky.social Swapnil Hiremath @hswapnil.medsky.social and on LinkedIn Special Guests Jonathan Barratt Professor of Renal Medicine, University of Leicester Google Scholar (COI: all the companies) Editing and Show Notes by Nayan Arora @captainchloride.bsky.social The Kidney Connection written and performed by Tim Yau Show Notes Proteinuria Reduction as a Surrogate End Point in Trials of IgA Nephropathy (Aliza Thompson, 2019 PubMed) The number, quality, and coverage of randomized controlled trials in nephrology (P
FF 85 Live at Kidney Week
· 49:43
The Filtrate Joel Topf @kidneyboy.bsky.social Sophia Ambruso @sophia-kidney.bsky.social Nayan Arora @captainchloride.bsky.social Special Guests Brian Rifkin @brianrifkin.bsky.social Anna Gaddy @AnnaGaddy Editing and Show Notes by Joel Topf The Kidney Connection written and performed by Tim Yau Show Notes Brian Rifkin and Cristina Popa ascend to co-editors in chief of NephJC. Paresh Jadav receives the first NephJC Champion award. Dr. Jadav hosted the NephJC night and saved NephJC thousands of dollars. It makes a huge difference in our fund raising. Thank you. Also a big thank-you to Jade Tea
FF 84 ACHIEVE: Spironolactone flops in dialysis
· 1:29:05
The Filtrate Joel Topf @kidneyboy.bsky.social Swapnil Hiremath@hswapnil.medsky.social AC @medpeedskidneys.bsky.social Special Guest Mike Walsh Associate Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, McMaster University as well as a Scientist at the Population Health Research Institute and a nephrologist at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton where he is the Chair of the Clinical Nephrology Research Group. Editing and Show Notes by Sophia Ambruso The Kidney Connection written and performed by Tim Yau Show Notes ALCHEMIST (NephJC Shorts, Rossignol et
FF 83 CONFIDENCE: Can We Start Flozins and Finerenone Simultaneously?
· 1:29:10
The Filtrate Joel Topf @kidneyboy.bsky.social Swapnil Hiremath @hswapnil.medsky.social Nayan Arora captainchloride.bsky.social Sopia Ambruso @sophia-kidney.bsky.social Special Guests Brendon Neuen @brendonneuen.bsky.social Associate Professor and Program Lead, Renal and Metabolic at The George Institute for Global Health. Nephrologist and Director of Kidney Trials at Royal North Shore Hospital. Neuen has had three prior appearances on Freely Filtered: EMPA Kidney, DUPLEX and Sparsentan in FSGS, FLOW and Semaglutide Muthiah Vaduganathan @mvaduganathan on X. Cardiologist at Brigham and Women's
FF 82 DDAVP up the nose to prevent biopsy bleeding
· 59:49
The Filtrate Joel Topf Bluesky: @kidneyboy.bsky.social AC @medpeedskidneys.bsky.social Nayan Arora @captainchloride.bsky.social Special Guest Vandana Niyyar Professor of Medicine at Emory School of Medicine Editing by Nayan Arora The Kidney Connection written and performed by by Tim Yau Show Notes American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology (Website) ASDIN List of training sites Placement, performance and complications of the Ash Split Cath hemodialysis catheter (PubMed) Platelet Function Assay FAQ (PDF) Saint Clair’s Vascular Access Center where we do outpatient biopsies (
FF 81 Metformin Termination as explored by Target Trial Emulation
· 1:19:43
The Filtrate Joel Topf Bluesky: @kidneyboy.bsky.social Jordy Cohen Bluesky: @jordybc.bsky.social Swapnil Hiremath Bluesky: @hswapnil.medsky.social Special Guest Edouard “call me Ed” Fu Assistant Professor and Medical Student, and second author of his second paper covered on NephJC. LinkedIn | Leiden University Medical Center Editing by Simon Topf and Sophia Ambruso The Kidney Connection written and performed by by Tim Yau Show Notes Ed’s first paper on NephJC: Timing of dialysis initiation to reduce mortality and cardiovascular events in advanced chronic kidney disease: nationwide cohort st
FF 80 KDIGO ADPKD Guidelines
· 1:18:01
The Filtrate Joel Topf AC Gomez Sophia Ambruso Nayan Arora Special Guest Charles Edelstein, MD, PhD Professor, Medicine-Renal Med Diseases/Hypertension Extra-Special Guest Michelle Rheault, MD Professor of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota Editing by Simon and Joel Topf The Kidney Connection written and performed by by Tim Yau Show Notes KDIGO ADPKD Guidelines: Website Guideline PDF Executive Summary PDF NephJC coverage Consortium for Radiologic Imaging Studies of Polycystic Kidney Disease (CRISP) Hy’s Law (Wikipedia) has three components: ALT or AST by 3-fold or greater above the upper limi
FF 79 REGENCY, Efficacy and Safety of Obinutuzumab in Active Lupus Nephritis
· 1:42:51
The Filtered Fragments (OG Filtrate) Joel Topf Jennie Lin Swapnil Hiremath Special Guest Brad Rovin GN God and second author from The Ohio State Koyal Jain GN Specialist from UNC Alfred Kim Rheumatologist from Washington University Editing by Simon Topf and Nayan Arora The Kidney Connection written and performed by by Tim Yau Show Notes Joel’s monologue One of the most surprising facts of nephrology is that despite conventional wisdom that lupus nephritis is an antibody mediated disease, that over a decade ago, the LUNAR investigtors were unable to find a significant benefit when rituximab was
FF 78 NephMadness, the dialysis region
· 1:08:59
The Filtrate Joel Topf Jordy Cohen Nayan Arora Special Guest Katie Kwon @katiekwonmd.bsky.social Mariana Murea @MarianaMurea Editing by Simon Topf and Joel Topf Show Notes NephMadness at AJKDblog.org The Hemodialysis Region Vote for your favorites
FF 77 Top Nephrology Stories
· 1:12:25
The Filtrate Joel Topf Swapnil Hiremath AC Gomez Sopia Ambruso Nayan Arora Special Guests Michelle Rheault, Director, Division of Pediatric Nephrology, Professor of Medicine Tiffany Caza, Nephropathologist, Scientist and self-described Freely Filtered fan girl Editing by Simon Topf and Sophia Ambruso Show Notes 10. Healthcare Cyberattacks 9. ApoE in C3 glomerulonephropathy 8. Workforce woes in Adult and Pediatric Nephrology 7. Hyponatremia correction meta-analysis 6. Microvascular inflammation increases risk of graft loss - in all of its forms 5. Xenotransplantation 4. KDIGO CKD Guidelines 3.
FF 76 FINE ARTS
· 1:30:38
NephJC covered the meta-analysis FINE HEARTS But Freely Filtered covered FINEARTS-HF the RCT of finerenone in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction
Episode 70b Do Over: Predicting Preeclampsia, the PRAECIS trial
· 34:50
We rarely get feed back on episodes of Freely Filtered. That is until we screw up. And our episode on the PRAECIS trial did not go smoothly. One of our experts got called into the hospital and then when she came back for a one-on-one with Joel it turns out she had no experience with the test. Our bad. So we went back and re-recorded a podcast. So join us as we re-examine the newly FDA-approved blood test looking at the ratio of soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 (sFlt-1) to placental growth factor (PlGF) for the diagnosis of severe preeclampsia. The PRAECIS trial.
FF 75 NephJC Night at Kidney Week
· 2:17:47
We had a great NephJC get together. We recorded the whole event and packaged it into a podcast. Musical entertainment Tim Yau (@Maximal_Change) Too Sweet by Hozier Fairy Tale of New York by written Jem Finer and Shane MacGowan. Hear it performed by the Pogues. Interview of Tom Mueller Tom Mueller author of How to Make a Killing Jade Teakall @jmteakell Graham Abra @GrahamAbra NephMadness logo reveal NephJC Kidneys NephJC blog post NephJC Manuscript of the Year: Flow accepted by Meg Jardine Manjula Kurella Tamura, winner of the 2015 NephMadness, oh and author of NEJM manuscripts and subject of a
Episode 74: Amino Acids for AKI
· 1:32:54
The Filtrate: Jennie Lin Joel Topf Josh Waitzman Swapnil Hiremath With Special Guests Pedro Teixeira Jay Koyner Editor Sophia Ambruso Show Notes The article: A Randomized Trial of Intravenous Amino Acids for Kidney Protection NephJC Summary KDIGO Clinical Practice Guideline for Acute Kidney Injury (PDF) Steve Coca study Evaluation of Short-Term Changes in Serum Creatinine Level as a Meaningful End Point in Randomized Clinical Trials (PubMed) Using Nephrocheck to prevent AKI: Prevention of cardiac surgery-associated AKI by implementing the KDIGO guidelines in high risk patients identified by bi