Hot Bath for CKD?

Came across this interesting paper by Ting Y et al.

Authors found that a 30-min hot water bath daily or 2-hour sauna bath three times a week is effective for fluid and solute clearance for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). The weight loss per session can be as high as 1.5-2kg (sweat rates in sauna and hot water bath were 56 and 40ml/min respectively), and calculated losses of urea and potassium in sweat fluid were 43 and 12 mmol/hr compared with 117 and 20 mmol/hr by hemodialysis.

Moreover, the "side benefits" of it include a decrease in systolic BP without affecting heart rate, and a significant decrease in plasma epinephrine and norepinephrine. Earlier studies also showed role of thermal vasodilation resulting in hemodynamic improvement in congestive cardiac failure.

Authors concluded that eccrine sweat fluid assumes a natural alternative route for nitrogenous metabolites excretion; and hot bath or sauna bath can be used as valuable adjunct to conventional renal replacement methods for CKD patients.

David Blaine: Real or Magic

Blaine is back in a groundbreaking new special: Real or Magic. Watch it and be astonished - magic that you'll never believe. The first act itself, ice pick through palm act, is completely mind-boggling. There are many more - PK touch (the twins effect), reading Stephen Hawking's mind, card-to-anywhere, reviving the stunt of water & kerosene regurgitation etc - just to name a few that I'm totally impressed.

Do watch it, and put yourself into an entirely unreal world.

The UpToDate Story

It's all started from an idea, and it's now one of the most widely used evidence-based resources among medical world.

I'm sharing this because I'm inspired.

The key message is to teach. Learning in medical world is never individual, it has to be through knowledge sharing and teaching.

We are who we are today because we are fortunate to have our great mentors who guide us along the journey. From zero, they grow and shape our knowledge, personality and values, directly or indirectly, leading us in fields of clinical medicine, education or research. And this is also our responsibility - to keep it sustained and to teach and guide the subsequent generations.