The intestinal microbiome of children with initial and recurrent nephrolithiasis: A pilot study and exploratory analysis.

Introduction: Kidney stone disease in children is rising disproportionate to the general population, representing a disease population with a distinct biological mechanism as compared to adults. Factors influencing recurrent kidney stone disease in children are poorly characterized and the associations of the intestinal microbiome within sub-populations of kidney stone formers, however, are not well described. We evaluated a pilot cohort of children with nephrolithiasis comparing patients based on recurrent kidney stone episodes and abnormal 24-h urinary parameters, with dual aims to compare the microbiome signal in children with initial and recurrent nephrolithiasis and to explore additional associations in microbiome composition and diversity within this population.

Board's eye view.

Discrimination in the workplace is wrong and extremely unpalatable, but the type of discrimination that I've sometimes felt as a man in the nursing profession pales into insignificance when compared to racial discrimination or prejudice.

Misconduct cases are caused by an overstretched service.

I am incensed by the misguided and patronising comments made by Sandra Arthur, the new president of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) (news September 20).

Crime scene.

Nurses in Chichester are carving out new roles as forensic nurse practitioners (FNPs). Working closely with the police, they are making a significant contribution to the safety and welfare of detainees. The role of FNP attracts nurses from diverse disciplines.

Tophaceous gout in the cervical spine.

Gout is a common metabolic disorder typically affecting the distal joints of the appendicular skeleton. Involvement of the axial skeleton, particularly the facet joints and posterior column of the cervical spine, is rare. This case report highlights such a presentation in a 76-year old female who presented with cervical spine pain following a fall.

Free us from smoke.

Many things in life are debatable, but the fact that smoking is the single biggest avoidable cause of death and disability in developed countries is not one of them.

Variable efficacy of N6-(1-iminoethyl)-L-lysine in acute cardiac transplant rejection.

We examined the efficacy and mechanism of action of N(6)-(1-iminoethyl)-L-lysine (L-NIL), a highly selective inhibitor of inducible nitric oxide (NO) synthase (iNOS), on acute cardiac transplant rejection. L-NIL produced a concentration-dependent attenuation of plasma NO by-products and a decrease in nitrosylation of heme protein without altering protein levels of iNOS. At postoperative day 4, L-NIL did not alter the increased binding activities for transcription factors nuclear factor-kappaB and activator protein-1.

Soft tissue uptake on 99mTc methylene diphosphonate bone scan imaging: pictorial review.

99mTechnetium methylene diphosphonate (MDP) bone isotope may accumulate in many extra-osseous sites due to a variety of both benign and malignant conditions. This finding on a bone scan can be crucial to the diagnosis and may not be apparent in other imaging or the clinical evaluation of the patient. We present a pictorial review sampling some of the many causes of extra-osseous 99mTc MDP accumulation.