Hattie and Sammler: Saul Bellow's older woman and older man.

Hattie in Saul Bellow's "Leaving the Yellow House" and Sammler in Bellow's Mr. Sammler's Planet are both elderly characters. This article intends to compare the two characters from a gender perspective, to illustrate how these characters appear to experience and respond to old age and how other characters in these two fictions respond to the old age of their respective elderly characters.

Comparison of the bone mineral density status of patients with kidney stones stratified by stone composition.

Purpose: Bone loss has been found to occur frequently in patients with particular metabolic disorders that are likely associated with certain kidney stone composition. Thus, we compared the bone mineral density (BMD) of patients with different kidney stone compositions.

Patients And Methods: A total of 204 consecutive patients who exhibited stone formation with calcium oxalate (CaOx), calcium phosphate (CaP), uric acid (UA), and magnesium ammonium phosphate (MAP) underwent 24 h urine test and BMD measurement.

Current opinions on nephrolithiasis associated with primary hyperparathyroidism.

Nephrolithiasis is a common urological disease and could be secondary to primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT). PHPT is traditionally characterised with hypercalcaemia. Recently, a normocalcemic PHPT has been officially recognised at the International Workshops.

Clinical and genetic characterization of Chinese pediatric cystine stone patients.

Introduction: Cystine stone is the only clinical manifestation in patients with cystinuria, which is an autosomal recessive inheritable disease. However, clinical and genetic data vary among patients in different countries.

Objective: To investigate the characteristics of Chinese pediatric cystine stone patients.

Characterizing ceftriaxone-induced urolithiasis and its associated acute kidney injury: an animal study and Chinese clinical systematic review.

Objective: To investigate the pathophysiological process of ceftriaxone-induced urolithiasis and its associated acute kidney injury (AKI) based on an animal study and summarize the main clinical characteristics based on a Chinese clinical systematic review.

Materials And Methods: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into five groups of six each according to different treatments including control; ceftriaxone; ceftriaxone with calcium; calcium; and ceftriaxone, calcium with citrate, respectively. The 24-h urine volume, serum creatinine (Scr) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) were measured; kidney histological examination and stone analysis were performed.

The true stone composition and abnormality of urinary metabolic lithogenic factors of rats fed diets containing melamine.

To better understand the toxicity of melamine to humans, the stone composition and urinary metabolic lithogenic factors of rats fed diets containing melamine including the infant's melamine-induced stone composition were studied. Sixty 4-week-old male rats divided into three groups were, respectively, fed diets containing no melamine (control), 0.1% melamine, and 1% melamine for 4 weeks.

Possible function of urinary pH and citrate on the ceftriaxone-induced nephrolithiasis.

Objective: To test whether urinary pH and citrate is associated with ceftriaxone-induced kidney stone formation and if acidified urine could dissolve this kind of stone using an in vitro crystallization model.

Methods: Crystallization was induced by mixing ceftriaxone at the standard therapeutic urinary concentration to artificial urine. The response of different physiological pH and citrate on ceftriaxone-induced crystallization was measured by the depletion ratio of ceftriaxone in the process.

Could infrared spectroscopy identify melamine-related stone using melamine-contained mixture as a reference?

Background: Recently, a method of infrared spectroscopy analysis to identify melamine-contained stone was established by examining melamine powders mixed with true urinary stones. However, several studies demonstrated melamine could be interacted with cyanuric acid or uric acid in water through hydrogen bonds. It presents a hypothesis that the infrared spectrum of melamine-contained stone formed in urine is probably different from melamine-contained dry mixtures.

Comparison of renal function and metabolic abnormalities of cystine stone patients and calcium oxalate stone patients in China.

Purpose: To compare renal function and metabolic abnormalities of cystine stone patients and calcium oxalate stone patients in China.

Methods: Between 2008 and 2011, thirty cystine stone patients were involved in our study, and an equal number of age- and gender pair-matched patients with calcium oxalate stones. Non-stone forming individuals were elected as controls.

Comparison of efficacy of German and Chinese electromagnetic shock wave lithotripters: Dornier Compact S vs Huikang MZ-SWL-V.

Objectives: To compare the treatment efficacy of Dornier Compact S and a Chinese electromagnetic shock wave lithotripter (Huikang MZ-SWL-V) in a large series.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the outcome of shock wave lithotripsy (SWL) in 13,954 consecutive patients with upper urinary tract stones from December 1996 to December 2008 with Dornier Compact S (9124 cases) and Huikang MZ-SWL-V (4830 cases). An intramuscular injection of 50 mg pethidine was given to the patients with Dornier Compact S but not to those with Huikang MZ-SWL-V.

Infrared spectroscopic analysis of urinary stones (including stones induced by melamine-contaminated milk powder) in 189 Chinese children.

Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate the composition of the stones in Chinese children with urolithiasis, including peculiar stones induced by melamine-contaminated milk powder.

Materials And Methods: Between 1999 and 2009, 189 urinary stones from children of East China were received at our institution. Among them, 12 stones were received from pediatric stone formers with a history of consuming melamine-contaminated milk powder in 2008; and the remaining stones were defined as "natural" stones.

Infrared spectroscopic analysis of 5,248 urinary stones from Chinese patients presenting with the first stone episode.

A series of 5,248 urinary stones was analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy between 1999 and 2008. This study evaluated the percentage of each stone type and the association with sex and age in Chinese stone formers presenting with the first stone episode. The overall sex ratio (male:female) was 2.

Comparison of efficacy and safety of shockwave lithotripsy for upper urinary tract stones of different locations in children: a study of 311 cases.

Purpose: To compare the efficacy and safety of Shockwave lithotripsy (SWL) for upper urinary tract stones of various locations in children.

Methods: Between 1997 and 2008, a total of 311 children (average age: 7.9 ± 4.

Greater and lesser ischiadic foramina as path of shock wave lithotripsy for distal ureteral stone in children.

Purpose: We evaluated the efficacy and safety of shock wave lithotripsy in the supine position through the greater and lesser ischiadic foramina as a path of shock wave to treat distal ureteral stones in young children.

Materials And Methods: We treated 22 young children with distal urinary calculi using the Dornier Compact S lithotriptor between 1997 and 2007. The study population consisted of 15 boys and 7 girls 6 months to 7 years old (mean +/- SD 5.

Using thermal energy produced by irradiation of Mn-Zn ferrite magnetic nanoparticles (MZF-NPs) for heat-inducible gene expression.

One of the main advantages of gene therapy over traditional therapy is the potential to target the expression of therapeutic genes in desired cells or tissues. To achieve targeted gene expression, we developed a novel heat-inducible gene expression system in which thermal energy generated by Mn-Zn ferrite magnetic nanoparticles (MZF-NPs) under an alternating magnetic field (AMF) was used to activate gene expression. MZF-NPs, obtained by co-precipitation method, were firstly surface modified with cation poly(ethylenimine) (PEI).