Problem: Write an article based on this summary: Eat more vegetables and less meat. Quit smoking. Try a low salt diet. Consume less potassium and phosphorus. Drink nettle leaf tea. Exercise regularly. Manage your weight.

Answer: Increased creatinine and low GFR go hand-in-hand; one issue generally won't be present without the other. Animal products contain creatine and creatinine, so you may need to restrict the amount of animal-based protein you consume. Plant-based sources of food, on the other hand, do not contain creatine or creatinine. Maintaining a largely vegetarian diet can also help reduce other risk factors of CKD, including diabetes and high blood pressure. Smoking increases the number of toxins in your body, and those toxins will have to pass through your kidneys. Quitting the habit will ease the burden on your kidneys and improve their ability to filter out waste. Additionally, smoking can also cause or aggravate high blood pressure. High blood pressure is linked to CKD, so maintaining healthy blood pressure can further improve your GFR. Damaged kidneys have difficulty filtering sodium, so diets high in salt can aggravate your condition and cause your GFR to worsen. Eliminate salty foods from your diet and opt for low-sodium alternatives when offered. Try seasoning your food with other spices and herbs instead of relying strictly on salt. You should also eat more home-cooked meals from scratch and fewer boxed dinners. Meals made from scratch generally contain less sodium since many boxed meals use salt for its preservative qualities. Both phosphorus and potassium are two other minerals your kidneys may have difficulty filtering, especially once they've already been weakened or damaged. Stay away from foods high in either mineral and don't take any supplement that contains either mineral. Potassium-rich foods include winter squash, sweet potato, potato, white beans, yogurt, halibut, orange juice, broccoli, cantaloupe, banana, pork, lentils, milk, salmon, pistachios, raisins, chicken, and tuna. Phosphorus-rich foods include milk, yogurt, hard cheeses, cottage cheese, ice cream, lentils, whole grains, dried peas, beans, nuts, seeds, sardines, pollock, colas, and flavored waters. Drinking one to two 8 oz (250 ml) cups of nettle leaf tea each day may help reduce creatinine levels in the body, and as a result, it may also help increase your GFR. Check with your doctor to verify that nettle leaf tea is safe based on your specific medical history. To prepare nettle leaf tea, steep two fresh nettle leaves in at least 8 oz (250 ml) of simmering water for 10 to 20 minutes. Strain and discard the leaves, then drink the tea while it's still hot. Cardiovascular exercise, in particular, can help improve your circulation. As more blood pumps through your body, it can more effectively flush toxins through the kidneys, thereby improving your GFR. Note that strenuous physical activity can increase the breakdown of creatine into creatinine, though, which can increase the burden on your kidneys and cause your GFR to drop further. Your best option is to engage in regular moderate exercise. For instance, you might consider cycling or walking at a brisk pace for 30 minutes a day, three to five days a week. In most cases, weight management will be the natural result of a healthy diet and regular exercise. You should avoid risky diets or fad diets unless they are specifically recommended by a physician or renal dietician. Maintaining a healthy weight makes it easier for blood to pass through your body and may help regulate your blood pressure as a result. Once blood can flow through your body more readily, it will be more able to flush toxins and fluids through your kidneys, and you should see an improvement in your GFR.

Problem: Write an article based on this summary: Dress professionally. Sleep and eat well beforehand. Prepare what you need. Arrive early. Make eye contact, shake hands, speak clearly, and be positive. Refer to your application documents, portfolio, website, etc. Take notes during the interview.

Answer: Unless explicitly told otherwise, you should dress for the interview in "business wear": conservatively and professionally, in a suit or equivalent clothing. Dressing too informally for an interview will be taken as a sign of unprofessionalism or a lack of interest in the position. Pay attention to your grooming. Make sure your nails are trimmed, your clothes are clean and pressed, your breath smells good, and your hair is neat. You want to make a good impression at the interview. If the interview does not take place in-person, but rather via a video-conference, you should still dress appropriately. Even if the interview takes place over the phone, dressing as though the interview were in person will put you in the right frame of mind. It is essential to get rest before your interview, so that you will be alert, energetic, and confident. You should also make sure to eat beforehand, so that you are not hungry or weak during the interview. You may not want to eat a large meal, but a protein-rich snack at least will give you some energy. If your interview takes place in person, remember to bring a portfolio with samples, copies of your resume, as well as your notes and any other materials (such as a pad and pen to take notes) for the interview. If the interview takes place over the phone or a videoconference, be sure to charge your device(s) beforehand. Showing up late for an interview will not be perceived well by your interviewers. Try arriving for your interview about 10 minutes early. This will give you some breathing time to mentally prepare for the interview. If the company has a receptionist or assistant, you can let him or her know that you are there for an interview while you wait. If your interview takes place over the phone or a videoconference, have everything set up in a quiet, private, professional location at least 10 minutes before the interview is supposed to start. These are simple tips to help you do your best during the interview. Making eye contact and shaking hands firmly helps show your confidence. Speaking clearly makes you easy to understand, and also conveys confidence. Being positive suggests to your interviewers that you will be a good fit, so avoid talking badly about previous employers, work projects, etc. during the interview. Sometimes, search committees interview many people, and so referring them to specific documents can help you stand out. Even if you are one of only a few candidates, the specificity is beneficial. You may want to have a pad and pen with you during the interview so that you can take notes. Jotting down a few notes can help you keep track of the questions you are being askedjust make sure that you don't appear distracted, or stare at your notes instead of making natural eye contact with your interviewers.

Problem: Write an article based on this summary: Go to class. Be prepared to devote a lot of time to your schoolwork. Understand what plagiarism is and how to avoid it. Get to know your professors. Check your email. Learn to use the library. Be open to new ideas. Keep track of your progress to degree. Think outside your major.

Answer:
In large first-year classes, there might not be anyone taking attendance, which means that you won't get in trouble the same way you may have in high school. This doesn't mean you shouldn't go to class, though, and some teachers will have an attendance policy. More importantly, skipping class means missing out on valuable learning. Don't make your life more difficult by forcing yourself to cram come exam time. College is also expensive, and not going to class means that you are wasting a lot of your and/or your parents' moneyanywhere from $50 to $150 per one hour of class. Do the readings, taking notes as you do so. You'll retain much more if you read actively, and your notes will help you out a ton when exam time rolls around. Participate if the class calls for it. Many college students hate or are afraid of speaking in front of groups, but you will get so much more out of your classesand will enjoy them so much moreif you can get past this. Don't be afraid of being wrongyour professor just wants you to try, and probably wasn't asking a question with a "right" or "wrong" answer to being with. You should spend the same amount of time on your schoolwork as you would on a full-time jobat least forty hours a week. Bank on spending an average of two hours outside of class for every hour you spend in class. The balance will vary by subject (labs, for instance, will tilt more toward in-class time), but your library or dorm room is where a lot of the really hard work will take place. Some people plagiarize because they think they can get away with it; others do so because they honestly don't know what it means. Either way, you are responsible, and you will get caught. Many schools have very harsh penalties for this behavior, including automatically failing the class and/or including a special note on your transcript. Obvious plagiarism includes copying someone else's work and presenting it as your own and using someone else's words or ideas without citing her. Not using quotation marks around quotations is also plagiarism, as is giving inaccurate or incorrect information about a source. (It's especially bad if you fabricate a source.) Bad paraphrasing is also plagiarism. A paraphrase condenses the "gist" of an idea into your own words. However, you may be plagiarizing if you retain most of the original's words, especially if you use the same basic sentence structure or the passages are substantially similar in length or style. Academic dishonesty more generally can include asking people to help you when you have been told to do all your own work, working together on a project if collaboration hasn't been assigned, and paying others to do work for you. Dirty little secret: many professors sit at their desks during office hours, waiting and hoping for someone, anyone to stop by. They will appreciate you so much if you are that person. If you have a question, this is a great way to ask it because it will help your professor put a name to your face. But consider stopping by early in the semester just to say hi and introduce yourself. Be reasonable about your expectations. Your professors won't proofread papers for you or give you essay topics. However, they're usually very happy to talk about your ideas with you to help you figure them out. For many college students, texting comes more naturally than emailing, but you can't expect your professors to give you their cell phone numbers. If you want to stay on top of your academics, you will need to check your email regularly. This is where you will see announcements from your teachers, department, etc. If your courses use online course management, such as Blackboard, check these regularly too. Often, assignments and grades will only be posted here--if you don't check them regularly, you miss out. This goes for both the physical location and online databases. Your professors will assign a lot of these, especially at the beginning, but you will also need to learn how to do research on your own. Consider scheduling an orientation with a librarian, especially if you have never used a brick-and-mortar library before. You are sure not to be the only one, so don't be embarrassed. Most libraries have reference librarians for specific areas, such as hard sciences, music, or English. If you have a big project, it's a good idea to ask for a consultation with the reference librarian in your subject. She stays up to date with all the latest research and can guide you to the best sources. No matter who you are, you will probably read things that you don't agree with. This is intentionalyour professors aim to assign readings from many different perspectives, so they are assigning things that they don't agree with, either. You don't have to agree with the writers who challenge your beliefs, but do try to figure out where they are coming from and what makes them tickthat's probably part of why they were assigned, anyway. Colleges and universities will require that you fulfill a certain number of credits in several different areas: general education (possibly broken down by subject matter), classes for your major, and electives. Meet with your advisor regularly to make sure you are staying on trackotherwise you might find yourself having to pay for a summer session or an extra semester that you weren't planning on. If you are an engineering major, take a literature course. Poets, try biology. (These are just examples.) Either way, you will be exposed to new people, new ideas, and perhaps a new subject that you didn't know you were interested in. Employers are often more interested in candidates who can do a wide range of things, such as write a coherent sentence and analyze formulas, rather than people whose focus was so specialized that they can't handle the wide-ranging demands of the modern job market.