Evaluation of the effects of magnesium supplement in primary and secondary preventions of nephrolithiasis: a systematic review

Introduction: The role of magnesium supplement to prevent primary and/or secondary kidney stones has not been fully determined. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of magnesium supplement in modifying urinary risk factors of recurrent kidney stones

Method: We searched MEDLINE, Scopus, and Google Scholar databases on December 7, 2014 and reference lists of systematic reviews and randomized, controlled trials. Among the initial 282 articles found by our search strategy and hand searching, we found eight English-language studies were eligible for our study

Result: Magnesium supplementation could be beneficial in nephrolithiasis prevention through increasing urinary magnesium, citrate, and calcium while declining urinary oxalate. In pediatric patients, the results were more prominent and could decline urinary oxalate up to 90% of the baseline

Conclusions: Magnesium supplementation could be beneficial, especially with potassium-citrate combination. However, due to the low number of well-designed randomized controlled trials, especially in pediatrics, the conclusions of this study need further confirmation

Urine alpha-1-microglobulin reliability in the diagnosis of pyelonephritis: a systematic review

Introduction:Pyelonephritis is known as kidney inflammation due to bacterial infection which should be diagnosed and treated promptly. In this article, we decided to systematically review the diagnostic value and reliability of evaluating urine excretion low molecular weight protein alpha-1-microglobulin [A1M]

Methods: PubMed and Scopus were searched for the relevant articles about the efficacy of urine alpha-1-micriglobulin assays in the diagnosis of pyelonephritis in children. The search strategy was microglobulin AND pyelonephritis. No language and date limitations were included in this review

Results: A total of 16 articles were retrieved from PubMed and 23 articles from Scopus. After studying the abstracts, only 5 articles were selected, which specifically studied the efficacy of alpha-1-micrglobulin in the diagnosis of pyelonephritis in children

Discussion: A1M is not an acute phase protein but its concentration alters in several clinical conditions

Conclusion: Evaluating the urine concentration of A1M is a noninvasive and cost effective strategy with the diagnostic capability for urinary tract disorders such as early recognition of tubular damages during pyelonephritis