The Association of Uric Acid Calculi with Obesity, Prediabetes, Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, and Hypertension.

OBJECTIVES: To disclose the link between the composition of urolithiasis, especially that of uric acid calculi, and obesity, prediabetes, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and hypertension. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients who had urinary calculi and underwent surgical treatment were registered in the study. The composition of urinary calculi was analyzed and correlated with clinical features and biomedical profiles of the patients before surgical intervention. RESULTS: A total of 666 patients with urolithiasis who underwent surgical management were registered and analyzed. In those who had uric acid calculi, there was a significant association with prediabetic (OR: 20.11, 95% CI: 7.40-54.63, P < 0.001) and diabetic states (OR: 11.55, 95% CI: 4.41-29.97, P < 0.001). It also seemed that uric acid calculi were related to obesity but there was no statistical significance (OR: 2.45, 95% CI: 0.91-6.62, P = 0.078). There was no association of uric acid calculi with hypertension (OR: 1.08, 95% CI: 0.54-2.17, P = 0.822) and concurrent urinary tract infection (OR: 0.93, 95% CI: 0.44-1.96, P = 0.841). CONCLUSION: There was a remarkable association of uric acid calculi with prediabetic and diabetic states. The uric acid calculi were also seemingly associated with obesity in patients with urolithiasis undergoing surgical management.

Reactive oxygen species are the cause of the enhanced cardiorespiratory response induced by intermittent hypoxia in conscious rats.

This study was carried out to investigate the role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the elevation of cardiorespiratory responses during the development of intermittent hypoxia (IH)-induced hypertension. Rats were exposed to either 30 days of IH [(30s N2)+(45 s room air (RA)] or RA for 6 h/day. After 5 days of exposure, stable mean arterial pressure, normalized low-frequency power of pulses interval spectrogram (a marker of cardiac sympathetic outflow), and minute ventilation (an index for arterial chemoreflex activation) were significantly increased throughout the observation period in IH-exposed rats, but not in RA-exposed rats. FosB expression in rostral ventrolateral medulla was elevated after IH exposure for 5 days. Intraperitoneal injection of MnTMPyP (a superoxide scavenger) or N-acetylcysteine (an antioxidant) prevented IH-induced elevation of the cardiorespiratory responses and lipid peroxidation of lung tissues. These results suggest that ROS are essential for IH-induced elevation of arterial chemoreflex activation and sympathetic outflow, which may, in turn, contribute to IH-induced hypertension.