Oxalate-degrading capacities of gastrointestinal lactic acid bacteria and urinary tract stone formation

Calcium oxalate is one the most significant causes of human kidney stones. Increasing oxalate uptake results in increased urinary oxalate. Elevated urinary oxalate is one the most important causes of kidney stone formation. This study aims to evaluate oxalate-degrading capacity of lactic acid bacteria and its impact on incidence of kidney stone. This case-control study was conducted on serum, urinary, and fecal samples. The research population included a total of 200 subjects divided in two equal groups. They were selected from the patients with urinary tract stones, visiting urologist, and also normal people. The level of calcium, oxalate, and citrate in the urinary samples, parathyroid and calcium in the serum samples, and degrading activity of fecal lactobacillus strains of all the subjects were evaluated. Then, data analysis was carried out using SPSS-11.5, chi[2] test, Fisher's exact test, and analysis of variance. The results revealed that the patients had higher urinary level of oxalate and calcium, as well as higher serum level of parathyroid hormone than normal people. In contrast, urinary level of citrate was higher in normal people. In addition, there was a significant difference between the oxalate-degrading capacities of lactobacillus isolated from the patients and their normal peers. Reduction of digestive lactobacillus-related oxalate-degrading capacity and increased serum level of parathyroid hormone can cause elevated urinary level of oxalate and calcium in people with kidney stone

Study on the serum titer of anti-HBs antibody of the vaccinated staffs of a hospital in three consecutive years

Hepatitis B virus is one of the main factors causing acute and chronic hepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Among others, healthcare workers are at the highest risk for exposure to hepatitis B virus. Vaccination against hepatitis B virus is one of the protective strategies but anti-HBs titer will be reduced in the sera of vaccinated people after some time. The aim of this study was to determine the titer of anti-HBs in the sera of vaccinated medical staffs in three consecutive years since administration of the last dose of hepatitis B vaccine. This study was carried out on 90 Omidvar Hospital [Lar, Iran] medical staffs that had passed 3-4 months since the administration of the last dose of hepatitis B vaccine. All sera samples were tested for anti-HBs in an ELISA method. Finally, statistical analysis was performed using SPSS-16 software. This study was conducted in duration of 3 consecutive years on 90 medical staffs including 14.44% lab technicians, 10% obstetricians, 43.35% nurses, 6.665% specialists, 5.55% general practitioners and 20% maid staffs. While HBs Ab titer was measured as 87.7% [>100 mIU/ml] in the first year elapsed since the last dose of hepatitis B vaccination, it had been decreased to 55.4% after 3 years. The results showed that re-vaccination of the medical staffs is quite necessary as anti-HBs titer had been decreased after 3 years and the desired immune response was seen only in 55.4% of the medical staffs