Diagnosis and treatment outcomes of urethritis-like symptoms in young males: a retrospective cohort study.

The study evaluated the prevalence of gonorrhoea and chlamydia infections and find out other non-infectious diseases in sexually active young males with urethritis-like symptoms and their treatment outcomes. We retrospectively reviewed the young adult males (aged 20-50 years) who visited our clinic with urethritis symptoms from March 2019 to April 2022. All patients underwent urinalysis, urine culture, and urinary polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing for gonorrhoea and chlamydia. Student's t-test and Pearson's chi-square test were used to compare the differences between the triple-negative group (i.e., negative results in urinalysis, urine culture, and urinary PCR) and the any-positive group. Logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate the predictive factors for positive PCR results for gonorrhoea or chlamydia in patients with negative urinalysis and urine culture. Of the 365 participants with urethritis-like symptoms, 139 patients were diagnosed of gonococcal or chlamydia urethritis. Among the 202 patients with negative urinalysis and urine culture, 60 patients were diagnosed with gonorrhoea or chlamydia using PCR. Urethral discharge was an independent predictor. 142 patients with triple negative results were attributed to other non-infectious diseases. Empirical antibiotic treatment is recommended for patients with urethritis symptoms showing positive or negative urinalysis results but with urethral discharge.

Free interactive counselling program in a mobile communication application for improving health education on indwelling ureteric stents after ureterorenoscopic lithotripsy: An observational study.

Objective: This study examines the potential benefit of an interactive counselling program via a mobile application (app), which can instantly provide patients with the necessary information and correct response regarding their condition. Methods: We designed a free 'Ureteric Stent Interactive Program' for patients receiving ureterorenoscopic lithotripsy and provided the program to interested patients. Patient data were collected from medical records and depending on whether patients used our program, they were divided into two groups: 'program-user' and 'non-user'. The differences between the groups were analysed using Fisher's exact tests. Results: Of the 70 patients, 50 elected to use the program. The program-user group was significantly younger (<60 years: 74% vs 15%, P<0.001) and had higher education levels (40% vs 5%, P = 0.004). All 50 patients in the program-user group reported being satisfied (32%) or very satisfied (68%) with the program. Patients over 60 years were significantly more satisfied with program (35.5% vs 6.3%, P = 0.04). Conclusions: Younger patients with high education levels were more likely to use the app and improve their health knowledge. Using the program resulted in high satisfaction, especially among older patients. This study demonstrates the benefits of interactive application for educating patients regarding their health.

Better sleep quality could reinforce the relationship between sleep posture and kidney stone laterality in obstructive sleep apnea patients.

Urolithiasis is a common urologic problem among adults worldwide. It is interesting that urinary stones tend to recur on the same side and the pathophysiology of unilateral stone formation is not clearly understood. Researchers found that sleep posture could alter renal perfusion, and subsequent vascular injury may lead to urolithiasis formation. The aim of this study is to retrospectively evaluate the correlations between the specific sleep postures recorded in polysomnography (PSG) and the stone laterality in unilateral urinary stone formers with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). We retrospectively reviewed patients receiving PSG for the diagnosis of OSA in our institutes between January 1st 2002 and September 30th 2016. Those had a history of unilateral urinary stones which surgical intervention was warranted were included. Supine, prone, right decubitus, and left decubitus sleep postures were determined as patients remained specific postures for more than 50% of their sleep time. The laterality of stones with sleep posture was analyzed with Chi-square test. A student t test was used to assess factors that influenced the ipsilateral stone formation. IBM SPSS Statistics 21 software was adopted to analyze the data, and p value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. 117 patients were enrolled in this study, among which 105 (89.7%) were male and 12 were female. The mean age at PSG examination was 53.5 ± 11.5 years. 66 patients were diagnosed as left-side urolithiasis, and 51 patients had urinary stones at right side. 58 (49.6%) patients slept predominantly in supine posture, while 53 (45.3%) patients, in decubitus posture, and no patient, in prone posture. A total of 51 patients' stones appeared at the same side as their decubitus posture (p < 0.0001). Shorter sleep stage I ratio (24.3 ± 15.5% versus 52.4 ± 24.7%, p = 0.017), longer sleep stage II + III + IV ratio (66.2 ± 21.9% versus 30.9 ± 2.8, p = 0.049), and less sleep stage change (176.6 ± 69.6 times versus 282.5 ± 91.2 times, p = 0.041) were correlated with stone formation on the same side. Age, gender, body mass index, and other polysomnographic parameters failed to demonstrate associations between the sides of urinary calculi and sleep postures. We discovered that sleep posture is associated with unilateral urolithiasis formation. Favorable sleep quality and less sleep stage changes could consolidate the correlations. Further prospective study is warranted to evaluate the effect of sleep posture and quality on non-OSA patients as well as the preventive effect of sleep posture modification on repeated unilateral stone formers.