Relationship between O serotype and virulent genes in Escherichia coli causing urinary tract infections

Escherichia coli are the most frequent pathogens in acute urinary infections. They are classified based on various types of O antigen. Escherichia coli strains that cause urinary tract infections possess several genes encoding urovirulent factors. To assay the relation of virulent factors of E coli in acute urinary infections, the serotypes and virulence factor genotypes were determined. We studied 96 E coli isolates from children with acute urinary infections. Four urovirulence determinants were analyzed by DNA colony hybridization, including the genes for type 1 fimbriae [pil], P fimbriae [pap], S fimbriae [sfa], hemolysin [hly], and cytotoxic necrotizing factor 1 [cnfl]. O serotypes were also determined. The most frequently found virulence factor-encoding gene in the E coli strains studied was the gene for type 1 fimbriae [27.4%]. The prevalence of pap, sfa, hly, and cnf1 were higher in serotypes causing pyelonephritis than cystitis. The most common type of O antigen was O1 [12.2%]. There was a significant correlation between serotype and genotype in uropathogenic E coli. The high prevalence of O6 serotypes in children urinary tract infections and the high percentage of virulent genes in serotype O6 suggested a close relation between serotype and genotypes of uropathogen E coli

Hypercalciuria in Jahrom's school-age children: what is normal calcium-creatinine ratio?

The purpose of this study was to determine normal reference values for urine calcium-creatinine [Ca/C] ratio in Iranian children of Jahrom, in south-east of Iran. A total of 1068 school-age children were included by stratified clustered random sampling from primary schools of Jahrom, Iran, between March 2008 and May 2008. Nonfasting random urine specimens from each subject were analyzed for calcium and creatinine concentrations. The mean ratio of urine Ca/C in all children was 0.123 +/- 0.106 [range, 0.01 to 2.25], and the 95th percentile value was 0.25. Nonfasting Ca/C ratios were not significantly different between the boys and the girls. The Ca/C ratio was highest in 9-year-old children [mean, 0.132 +/- 0.11]. Based on the 95 percentile value of urine Ca/C [> 0.25] in the present study, 5.1% of the children in Jahrom were hypercalciuric. The prevalence of hypercalciuria differed with age [P=.06], and the most prevalent rate was observed in 9-year-old group [9.3%]. We provided a reference value for urine Ca/C ratio in south-east Iranian children. A child's age and ethnicity should be taken into consideration when assessing the urinary solute-creatinine ratios

Longitudinal pattern and reference values of obesity indices of infants in Jahrom [southern region of], Iran

Obesity [scaled weight-by-height index] charts of a cohort of 597 healthy infants [391 boys and 206 girls] living in Jahrom [Southern Iran] are presented. An adjusted weight-for-height was used to develop power type obesity indices, Ip=W/Hp. Polynomial modeling was used by applying HRY [Healy, Rasbash, Yang] nonparametric method to estimate age-related smoothed centiles of obesity. The optimal value of p was found to be 2.5 for girls and 2 for boys. No more than cubic and quadratic polynomials were needed to fit obesity-for-age smoothly for infants. Infant's obesity increases from birth to six months of age and decreases later on to the age of 20 months when it becomes stable. Using age-dependent obesity index [scaled weight by height] is an appropriate index which explores the degree of fatness. A local standard for assessing obesity in clinical practice as well as community health programs in Iran is of urgent need; our data serve this purpose