Consumption of sweetened, dried cranberries may reduce urinary tract infection incidence in susceptible women--a modified observational study.

Background: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are one of the most common bacterial infections, and over 50% of women will have a UTI during their lifetimes. Antibiotics are used for prophylaxis of recurrent UTIs but can lead to emergence of drug-resistant bacteria. Therefore, it is reasonable to investigate nutritional strategies for prevention of UTIs.

Lack of association between the Tlr4 (Lpsd/Lpsd) genotype and increased susceptibility to Escherichia coli bladder infections in female C3H/HeJ mice.

Unlabelled: Toll-like receptor 4 is thought to have a primary role in host defense against Escherichia coli bladder colonization, based on mouse models of urinary tract infection using C3H/HeJ female mice. This strain carries a point mutation in the Tlr4 gene, which renders the mice unresponsive to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and thus limits the bladder inflammatory response and infection resolution. The importance of Tlr4 as the sole genetic determinant of resistance or susceptibility can be questioned, however, by the observation that C3H/HeOuJ female mice with a functional Tlr4 do not effectively resolve E.

Quantitative trait loci associated with susceptibility to bladder and kidney infections induced by Escherichia coli in female C3H/HeJ mice.

Background: The C3H/HeJ mouse strain develops severe bladder and kidney infections after receiving intravesical inoculation with uropathogenic Escherichia coli. This susceptibility is genetically determined, but the specific genes involved have not been completely defined. The objective of the present study was to use quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping to identify chromosomal sites associated with susceptibility to infection in C3H/HeJ mice.

Vaginal mucosal vaccine for recurrent urinary tract infections in women: results of a phase 2 clinical trial.

Purpose: We assessed the clinical efficacy of vaginal mucosal immunization with a multivalent bacterial vaccine in women with recurrent urinary tract infections.

Materials And Methods: A total of 75 patients in a double-blind study were randomly assigned to receive placebo only, primary immunization without boosters, or primary immunization plus boosters using vaginal suppositories containing placebo or vaccine. Vaccine suppositories contained 10 strains of heat-killed uropathogenic bacteria and placebo suppositories had no vaccine organisms.

Acute acrolein-induced cystitis in mice.

Objective: To develop a method of direct intravesical administration of acrolein and evaluate the severity of cystitis in response to increasing doses of acrolein in female C57BL/6N (C57) mice, with further studies to compare the severity of acute acrolein-induced cystitis among C57, C3H/HeJ (HeJ), and C3H/OuJ (OuJ) strains of mice, as chemical cystitis produced by the systemic administration of cyclophosphamide is thought to result from renal excretion of hepatic metabolites, particularly acrolein.

Materials And Methods: Doses of acrolein (0-1000 microg, 15 microL total volume) were instilled into the bladders of C57 female mice; the bladders were removed 4 or 24 h later, weighed, and processed for histology. Acrolein (6 or 10 microg; 15 microL) was instilled into the bladders of C57, HeJ and OuJ female mice, the bladders removed 4 or 24 h later, weighed, and processed for standard histology and immunohistochemical detection of uroplakin.

Chronic bacterial infection and inflammation incite reactive hyperplasia in a mouse model of chronic prostatitis.

Background: Chronic inflammation is postulated to contribute to prostate carcinogenesis. We developed a mouse model of chronic prostatitis to test whether infection-induced chronic inflammation would incite reactive changes in prostatic epithelium.

Methods: Prostate tissues harvested from either phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) or E.

Mouse model for acute bacterial prostatitis in genetically distinct inbred strains.

Objectives: Prostatitis is a common urologic disease seen in adult men. As many as 50% of men will experience an episode of prostatitis in their lifetime, and 2% to 3% of men will have bacterial prostatitis. Because the pathogenic mechanisms of prostatitis remain unclear, we developed a reproducible mouse model of bacterial prostatitis in which to study the etiology and host factors associated with infection susceptibility.

Phase 2 clinical trial of a vaginal mucosal vaccine for urinary tract infections.

Purpose: Recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs) in susceptible women remain a common urological condition. With an increasing number of UTIs being caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria there is a need for alternatives to antibiotics. We determined whether multiple doses of a vaginal mucosal vaccine are effective for increasing long-term resistance to recurrent UTIs.

Inheritance of susceptibility to induced Escherichia coli bladder and kidney infections in female C3H/HeJ mice.

In the present study, the inheritance of resistance and susceptibility to bladder and kidney infections in BALB/c, C3H/HeJ, F(1), and backcross mice was investigated, and the number of genes contributing to the phenotypes was estimated. Infections were induced in female mice by intravesical inoculation with Escherichia coli, and the number of bacteria in bladder and kidneys was quantified at 10 days. The (BALB/c x C3H/HeJ) F(1) mice had bladder and kidney infection intensities equivalent to those observed in the resistant BALB/c parents.

Vaccine Development for the Prevention of Urinary Tract Infections.

The effectiveness of antibiotic prophylaxis for recurrent urinary tract infections is being compromised as increasing numbers of uropathogens develop resistance to conventional antibiotics. Because one alternative to antibiotic therapy is immunization of susceptible patients to increase innate resistance, several different vaccines are currently being developed. Four of the vaccines contain a mixture of whole bacteria or an antigenic extract and are administered as a vaginal suppository or oral tablet.

Identification of virulence genes in uropathogenic Escherichia coli by multiplex polymerase chain reaction and their association with infectivity in mice.

Objectives: To use multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to screen a large number of Escherichia coli clinical isolates for virulence factor genes and to evaluate the importance of several known factors in the etiology of urinary tract infection.

Methods: Eighty-six E. coli isolates from urine or vaginal or rectal swabs of patients with recurrent urinary tract infection were screened for P fimbria (pap), hemolysin (hly), aerobactin (aer), cytotoxic necrotizing factor 1 (cnf1), S fimbria (sfa), and afimbrial adhesion I (afaI) genes by multiplex PCR.