Assessment of the role of general,biochemical and family history characteristics in kidney stone formation

Aim

The main objective of the study was to determine the urinary risk factors involved in kidney stone formation.

Method

In this study a total number of 101 patients (64 males and 37 females) between the age group 2 and 70 years were selected. Personal characteristics like age, family history, clinical sign and symptoms, education, monthly income, living style, smoking or tobacco chewing habit, dietary intake and daily amount of drinking water were recorded.

Results

The study showed that the risk of kidney stone formation was high in the median age group (16–25 years) both in male and female population. The most important factors associated with this were lack of drinking clean water, over weight and obesity as well as family history (37.5% and 27.02% in men and women, respectively).

Conclusion

Our study has confirmed that lack of drinking sufficient amount of water, increasing weight and obesity and family history are some major factors contributing to the increased risk of kidney stone formation. Therefore it is very important to live a healthy life, drink clean water and control weight to prevent such diseases.     

Helicobacter pylori diversification during chronic infection within a single host generates sub-populations with distinct phenotypes

Helicobacter pylori chronically infects the stomach of approximately half of the world’s population. Manifestation of clinical diseases associated with H. pylori infection, including cancer, is driven by strain properties and host responses; and as chronic infection persists, both are subject to change. Previous studies have documented frequent and extensive within-host bacterial genetic variation. To define how within-host diversity contributes to phenotypes related to H. pylori pathogenesis, this project leverages a collection of 39 clinical isolates acquired prospectively from a single subject at two time points and from multiple gastric sites. During the six years separating collection of these isolates, this individual, initially harboring a duodenal ulcer, progressed to gastric atrophy and concomitant loss of acid secretion. Whole genome sequence analysis identified 1,767 unique single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) across isolates and a nucleotide substitution rate of 1.3x10^-4 substitutions/site/year. Gene ontology analysis identified cell envelope genes among the genes with excess accumulation of nonsynonymous SNPs (nSNPs). A maximum likelihood tree based on genetic similarity clusters isolates from each time point separately. Within time points, there is segregation of subgroups with phenotypic differences in bacterial morphology, ability to induce inflammatory cytokines, and mouse colonization. Higher inflammatory cytokine induction in recent isolates maps to shared polymorphisms in the Cag PAI protein, CagY, while rod morphology in a subgroup of recent isolates mapped to eight mutations in three distinct helical cell shape determining (csd) genes. The presence of subgroups with unique genetic and phenotypic properties suggest complex selective forces and multiple niches within the stomach during chronic infection.