[The Early Years of Nephrology at Molinette Hospital in Turin Told by Those Who Lived and Built Them].

This article, written by several authors, describes the birth and early development of the nephrology at Molinette Hospital in Torino, Italy. In particular, it supplies important information on Antonio Vercellone, very motivated and innovative clinician and one of the fathers of Italian nephrology, and on Giuseppe Piccoli, his right-hand man and then his successor. This article also shows the strong professional and human engagement that was requested to the young doctors who, in the early Sixties and Seventies of the past century, had chosen to devote their professional lives to the patients with kidney diseases: from endless workdays without schedules to the anguish caused by the shortage of artificial kidneys to the cure of very fragile and unfortunate patients, and much more.

The Lifelong Mysterious Relapsing "Kidney" Disease of the Founder of Turkey; Atatürk (1881-1938) in Connection with European Medical and Political History.

INTRODUCTION: Although Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938) was a national hero with his intrepid and enlightened attempts to establish modern Turkey from the remnants of Ottoman heritage, he had been suffering from lifelong "kidney disease" that appeared with intermittent flank pain and fever without an identified source. However, we think that this physical pain that he endured only increased his motivation to focus on his military and political aims. Methods & Results: In this historical review article, we have focused on his personal medical life and specifically his "kidneys" from the beginning of the complaint till his death through European medical and political history with geographic locations and speculated upon it via past, near past, and recent medical literature. CONCLUSION: Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the great military and political leader for his country, had always suffered from uro/nephrological problems throughout his life. We think that this was one of the reasons that urology has been privileged and thus to be the oldest separated medical surgical branch in Turkey and to some significant extent with European urological history.

How nanotechnology imaging can be used in kidney disease: an interview with Dr Mengxiao Yu.

Author biography Dr Yu currently is a research assistant professor at University of Texas at Dallas and is the Chief Scientist and Chief Executive Officer of ClearNano, Inc. She received her B.S. in Chemistry from Beijing Normal University in China in 2004, and her PhD in Chemistry from Fudan University in 2009. After that she joined Dr Jie Zheng's group at University of Texas at Dallas as a postdoctoral fellow and was promoted to research scientist in 2014 and research assistant professor in 2015. Her current research area comprises renal nanomedicine, biomedical imaging, luminescent gold nanoparticles and kidney disease detection.

[The urethra of Napoleon, a conduit towards the end of the Empire?] / L'urètre de Napoléon, un conduit vers la fin de l'Empire.

INTRODUCTION: Napoleon died of a cancer of the stomach. Another assumption can be proposed, that of an uronéphrologique pathology. MATERIAL AND METHOD: It is about a historical study basing on the report of autopsy of Antommarchi and the assumptions formulated according to the urinary and nephrologic symptoms presented during his life. RESULTS: Napoleon presented signs of nephropathy in a probable context of metabolic syndrome and many signs of dysurie early on probable stricture of the urethra related to the intensive practice of horse. CONCLUSION: The urethra of Napoleon led France of the empire to the republic.

Kidney Autotransplantation: Between the Past and the Future.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The practice of kidney autotransplantation (KAT) has become an increasingly favorable approach in the treatment of certain renovascular, ureteral, and malignant pathologies. Current KAT literature describes conventional open procedures, which are associated with substantial risks. We sought to compare previously reported outcomes, evaluate common surgical indications, and assess associated risks and benefits of current KAT methods. A thorough evaluation and review of the literature was performed with the keywords "autologous transplantation" and "kidney." RECENT FINDINGS: Early outcomes of robotic KAT are encouraging and have been associated with fewer complications and shorter hospital stay, but require robotic technique proficiency. KAT is an important method to manage selected complex urological pathologies. Robotic KAT is promising. Nevertheless, future studies should utilize larger patient cohorts to better assess the risks and benefits of KAT and to further validate this approach.

A History of Uremia Research.

The history of uremia research begins with the discovery of urea and the subsequent association of elevated blood urea levels with the kidney disease described by Richard Bright, a well told story that needs no recounting. What this article highlights is how clinical and laboratory studies of urea launched the analysis of body fluids, first of urine and then of blood, that would beget organic chemistry, paved the way for the study of renal function and the use of urea clearance to determine "renal efficiency," provided for the initial classification of kidney disease, and clarified the concepts of diffusion and osmosis that would lead to the development of dialysis. Importantly and in contrast to how the synthesis of urea in the laboratory heralded the death of "vitalism," the clinical use of dialysis restored the "vitality" of comatose unresponsive dying uremic patients. The quest for uremic toxins that followed has made major contributions to what has been facetiously termed "molecular vitalism." In the course of these major achievements derived from the study of urea, the meaning of "what is life" has been gradually liberated from its past attribution to supernatural forces (vital spirit, archaeus, and vital force) thereby establishing the autonomy of biological life in which the kidney is the master chemist of the living body.

[Textual research on a prescription, "Pill of Semen Plantaginis" in the Tangut medical documents unearthed in Khara-Khoto].

A prescription, "Pill of Semen Plantaginisfor Treating All Diseases" (И(HB).N(O).4384) carried in the Tangut medical documents unearthed in Khara-Khoto was published in the 10(th)Volume of Heishuicheng Manuscript Collected in Russia. The prescription is composed of Herba Cistanches, Radix Achyranthis, Semen Plantaginis, white poria, Cortex Cinnamomi, Radix Aconiti preparata, Semen Cuscutaeand baked ginger, whose main function is invigorating kidney yang and nourishing kidney essence. This prescription has a close relationship with the Han prescription in central plain of China which may be based on certain lost Chinese medical book.

[Memory in disciplinary cultures and "sites" of memory in medicine : Maximilian Nitze (1848-1906) and the establishment of urology]. / Fachkulturelles Gedächtnis und Erinnerungsorte in den medizinischen Wissenschaften : Maximilian Nitze (1848-1906) und die Etablierung der Urologie.

The canon of material and immaterial references of the urological heritage must always be recognized as a part of a continous process of negotiation. Within German Urology the culture of remembrance on Maximilian Nitze reveals one of such processes.

Stephen Hales: the contributions of an Enlightenment physiologist to the study of the kidney in health and disease.

Stephen Hales (1677-1761) was an English clergyman who made major contributions to a wide range of scientific topics such as botany, chemistry, pneumatics, and physiology. Early in his career he developed a keen interest in medicine through his association with his younger physician friend at Cambridge, William Stukeley (1687-1765), with whom he dissected animals and attended experiments in the laboratory of Isaac Newton. His fame as a scientist grew and by the end of his life he had achieved an international reputation as a major scientist of the Enlightenment. He is best known for his 1733 Statical Essays, in the second part of which he describes his studies in animal physiology. Most famous amongst those are his assessments of the force of the blood, which he measured in horses and dogs. Less well known and often unrecognized are his studies on the kidney in health and disease, which are the focus of this review. Amongst others Hales described the effects of hemorrhagic shock which he observed as he bled his animals while measuring their blood pressure; he then studied the effect of increasing saline perfusion pressures on the renal secretion of urine; and delved into biochemistry in exploring the composition of and solutions to dissolve bladder stones. His 1733 statement in the introduction to his hemodynamic studies that the healthy State of the Animal principally consists, in the maintaining of a due Equilibrium between the body solids and fluids literally predicts the milieu intrieur that would ultimately be formulated in 1854 by Claude Bernard (1813-1878).

On pains of the kidney and the bladder in Kitab al-Tajarib by Rhazes.

Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariyya al-Razi (865-925), known in the West as Rhazes, was one of the pioneer figures of the golden age of Islamic science and medicine during the middle ages. Kitab al-Hawi fi al-Tibb (Liber Continens), Kitab al-Tibb al-Mansuri (Liber Medicinalis ad Almansorem) and Kitab al-Judari wa al-Hasba (Liber de Pestilentia) are his very well-known works in medicine. One of his books Kitab al-Tajarib (The Book of Experiences/The Casebook), was written in Arabic and one of its copies is Ahmed III, Nr. 1975 manuscript in Topkapi Palace Library in Istanbul. A physician, Ali Munshi of Bursa, translated Kitab al-Tajarib into Turkish in the 18th century and Hamidiye, Nr. 1013; Veliyuddin Efendi, Nr. 2487 and orum, Nr. 2909 manuscripts are the copies of its Turkish translation in different libraries in Turkey. Both the book and its Turkish translation contain 31 chapters; 30 of them concerning diseases from head to heel and the last one on pharmaceutics. The 21st chapter, fi awja' al-kula wa al-mathana wa al-bah, of Kitab al-Tajarib is on pains of the kidney, and the bladder, and coitus. Evaluation and presentation of the cases in this chapter regarding the kidney and the bladder are the aims of this report.

Treatment of kidney diseases in the thermal springs of Pithecusa during the XVIII Century.

The island of Pithecusa (Ischia) is a volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea in the north end of the Gulf of Naples at about 30 kilometers from the same city. Pithecusa is very popular for its hot springs which even the ancients used. This report aims to analyze the renal therapeutic benefits of the Pithacusa thermal mineral spring through a review of two different manuscripts: i) "Di Napoli il seno cratero"(The gulf of Naples) of Domenico Antonio Parrino (1642-1708) and ii) "De' rimedi naturali che sono nell'isola di Pithecusa oggi detta Ischia"(On the natural cures of the island of Pithecusa known today as Ischia)of Giulio Iasolino (1583-1622). These two manuscripts published during the 18th century and both manuscripts highlight the thermal virtues of the thermal springs of Pithecusa. In the past natural remedies were important in the treatment of different diseases including that of thermal springs dating back to ancient Rome. Thermal springs were used to treat spasms, skin diseases, hair loss and various renal ailments. Both manuscripts describe the thermal springs in Ischia and their therapeutic benefits in medical diseases.

Disease of the kidney and of the urinary tract in De Medicina Methodica (Padua, 1611) of Prospero Alpini (1563-1616).

AIM: The study was devised to understand the contribution to nephrology ofDe Medicina Methodicaof Prospero Alpini published in 1511, at a time when the fame of the professor reached the azimuth. METHOD: We have analyzed the contents of chapters devoted to nephrology in that book of Prospero Alpini and the novelties of his message. RESULTS: Prospero Alpini (1563-1616) taught at the University of Padua (1594-1616), at the same time of Galileo Galilei, Santorio Santorio, and Girolamo Fabrizi dAcquapendente, when measurements (pulse, temperature, perspiration) were introduced into medicine. He was a travelling physician to whom we owe fundamental contributions to the use of urine to prognosticate life and death (De Praesagienda vita et morte aegrotantium libri septem, Venetiis, apud Haeredes Melchioris Sessae,1601). As prefect of the Botanical Garden - the first ever and a model in the world - he could turn the study of simples into cures(De Medicina Methodica Libri Tredecim. Patavi, apud Franciscum Bolzettam, 1611. Ex typographia Laurentij Pasquali, is anin foliovolume of XLVII + 424 pages, 54 lines per page), wherein Alpini aimed to rejuvenate antique medical Methodism. It is a testimony of the interest of medicine philosophers of the modern era for the corpuscular and atomic ideas (Nancy Siraisi). Methodists (2ndCentury BC) refused anatomy and physiology as unique guidelines to the interpretations of diseases and gave importance to the development of a pharmacological science and alternative medicine. The book begins with a 3 page letter to Francis Maria della Rovere Duke of Montefeltro, and a 2 page letter to the readers. We discuss the novelties of the chapters on renal colic (de dolorerenum), hematuria (de sanguinis profluvium), pyuria, anuria (de urina suppressa) and its cure, polyuria (de urina profluvio), renal abscesses, hydrops and its treatment by skin incisions. We also analyze the chapter on kidney and bladder stones (Book X, Chapter XVIII, pp. 354-356) - a masterpiece of scholarly teaching - encompassing localization of stones, their formation and shape, renal colic and its irradiation according to the site and gender, the best antalgic position to pass stones, the use of laxatives, cathartics, warm baths, the plants to be used, their preparation and quality, the waters to be drank and their quantity (up to 15 pounds a day), the removal of bladder stones without surgery (methods learned in Cairo and described in Aegyptyan Medicine), and lithotomy and its feasibility even in old people. CONCLUSION: De Medicina Methodicawas a modern monograph devoted to clinical medicine including urinary disease. The book reflected the polyhedral personality of the author, his experience as physician of the Republic of Venice at Cairo, and his capabilities as a director of the Botanical Garden of the University of Padua, a unique research centre in those times.