Combination of probiotics and antibiotics in the prevention of recurrent urinary tract infection in children

We examined the preventive effect of probiotic and antibiotics versus antibiotics alone, in children with recurrent urinary tract infections [RUTI] in a preliminary randomized clinical trial. Between March 2007 and April 2011, children with the history of RUTI and unilateral vesicoureteral reflux [VUR] were randomly assigned to receive concomitant probiotic and antibiotics [Lactobacillus acidophilus and bifidobacterium lactis, 10[7]/ml, as 0.25 ml/kg three times a day regimen in addition to Nitrofurantoin, 1mg/kg daily [group I]. In group II, all children received conventional prophylactic antibiotics alone [Nitrofurantoin, 1 mg/kg daily]. Randomization was performed via using the random numerals table in a 1:1 manner with stratification by sex, age and grade of reflux. The urine examinations were done monthly and the incidence of UTI was evaluated in these two groups. Forty-one children [age: 8.3 +/- 3.1 years] in group I and 44 children [age: 8.0 +/- 3.0 years] in group II were compared. During the course of three years, 39% in group I and 50% of participants in group II experienced RUTIs [P=0.4]. Incidences of UTI - febrile and afebrile - reduced in both groups without any significant differences after two years of prophylaxis. Also, incidence of afebrile UTIs did not significantly differ [0.51 +/- 1.30 and 0.81 +/- 1.41 respectively, P=0.3]; however, the incidence of febrile UTIs in particular were lower in group I [0.00 +/- 0.00 versus 0.13 +/- 0.40, P=0.03] in the last year. The consumption of probiotic and antibiotics in children with RUTI is safe and more effective in reducing the incidence of febrile UTI in comparison to prophylactic antibiotics alone

Plasma total antioxidant capacity and its related factors in Iranian pregnant women

To determine the plasma total antioxidant capacity [TAC] and its related factors in pregnant Iranian women attending maternity clinics. In a cross-sectional study carried out in Naghavi Maternity Clinic, Shaheed Beheshti Specialty and Subspecialty Polyclinic and 10 antenatal centers, affiliated to Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran, we determined the plasma TAC and its related factors including maternal age, weight, and body mass index [BMI] at the beginning, thirteenth, and twenty-first to twenty-fourth weeks of pregnancy, and gestational age at the twenty-first to twenty-fourth weeks of pregnancy in 137 primigravid pregnant women, 18-30 years old from October 2010 to March 2011. We used multiple linear regression to assess the relationship between TAC and its related factors. Plasma TAC in the twenty-first to twenty-fourth weeks of pregnancy was 0.75 +/- 0.11 mmol/l. The BMI at the beginning was 25.06 +/- 4, 25.72 +/- 4.13 at the thirteenth, and 26.95 +/- 4.19 kg/m[2] at the twenty-first to twenty-fourth weeks of pregnancy. Multiple regression analysis showed that gestational age was inversely associated with the plasma TAC [beta: -0.234, p=0.007]. Regression analysis also suggested a trend toward significant association between maternal age and plasma TAC [beta: 0.150, p=0.080], but there was no association between other variables and plasma TAC. Gestational age was inversely correlated with plasma TAC and maternal age had a trend toward significant association with TAC in 18-30 year-old Iranian pregnant women in their sixth month of pregnancy