Due to the increase in erectile dysfunction (ED) and infertility in world population, there is growing interest in the integrative treatment of these diseases. Therefore, it is raising a market with non-prescription natural supplements. Especially in menu of internet, online shops come increasingly to light new natural over the counter products. Recent sale and use of medicinal plants and their extracts in the treatment of ED are according to the declaration of the producers first of all on a number of the thousand-year-old traditions in some nations, based on the efficacy and safety of these plants, verified in the long-time healing practice. The aim of this article was to make an extensive review of the scientific and professional medical literature and to find out which medicinal plants, minerals and other active substances, sold in the natural products for ED, were evaluated in relevant clinical trials as statistically significant in their efficacy and safety. The review of the literature shows that some marketed medicinal plants and active substances lack clinical studies, the results of some clinical studies related to the same medicinal plant are controversial and some bring significantly positive effects, but their number is minimal (maximum two to five clinical studies). The future is therefore open to starting the number of new clinical trials testing the medicinal plants for the treatment of ED with possible inclusion of some of these plants in evidence-based medicine, if confirming their efficacy and safety.

Kidney diseases are a serious hazard to human health, and many different molecular signaling pathways are involved in the complex pathogenesis. Recently the Wnt signaling pathway, one of the most conserved intercellular signaling cascades, has been considered as an effective regulator in various kidney diseases, including ischemic kidney injury, glomerular diseases, diabetic nephropathy, interstitial fibrosis and cystic kidney diseases. Besides, more and more evidence have suggested that the altered Wnt signaling pathway is correlated with the pathological process of kidney diseases, which might offer a novel therapeutic strategy. Therefore, to enhance understanding, here we reviewed the major roles of Wnt signaling cascades and their roles in kidney diseases.

Objective: The aim was to study the possible impact of uremia and hemodialysis on tumor markers including carcinoembryonic antigen, carbohydrate antigen (CA)19-9, neuron-specific enolase, CA242, ferritin, β-human chorionic gonadotropin, alpha 1-fetoprotein, human growth hormone, CA153, CA125, prostate-specific antigen (PSA), and free PSA (fPSA). Materials and Methods: Under a controlled study design, we assigned 143 uremia patients receiving maintenance hemodialysis into hemodialysis group, 143 uremia patients (chronic kidney disease phase 5) who did not receive hemodialysis into nonhemodialysis group, and 429 healthy people into the control group. Serum levels of tumor markers were determined using protein chip and were compared among groups. Patients in hemodialysis group were further divided into two subgroups according to the duration of hemodialysis: Group A (maintenance hemodialysis was over 3 mo), Group B (maintenance hemodialysis was <3 mo), and serum levels of tumor markers were compared between these two subgroups. Results: Ferritin levels were 22.1% and 5.8% in hemodialysis and nonhemodialysis groups, respectively, with statistically significance (P < 0.05), but any of the other tumor marker levels in these two groups were without statistical differences (P > 0.05). In hemodialysis group, 12.23% of patients were found with higher serum levels of CA125 than normal, 9.75% with higher levels of PSA than normal, and 11.3% with higher levels of fPSA than normal. In nonhemodialysis group, 14.91% of patients were found with higher levels of CA125 than normal, 8.76% with higher levels of PSA than normal, and 10.8% with higher levels of fPSA than normal. In the control group, patients with higher levels of the above markers accounted for <5%. Conclusion: Ferritin, CA19-9 and CA125 are elevated to various degrees in patients with uremia who are receiving hemodialysis or do not receive hemodialysis. Hemodialysis is not able to eliminate tumor markers.

Objective: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a common cause of morbidity in patients attending our hospital. Recently UTI has become more complicated and difficult to treat because of appearance of pathogens resistant to the commonly used antimicrobial agents. The main aim of the study was to determine the causative agents and antibiotic susceptibility pattern of UTI patients attending our hospital. Materials and methods: A prospective cross sectional study was conducted in asymptomatic and symptomatic UTI patients attending medicine and nephrology clinics of Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College Hospital, Aligarh from June 2012 to July 2014. A total of 1843 patients were investigated for urinary tract infection. Clean catch mid-stream urine specimens collected were subjected to urine culture and sensitivity tests. Results: Significant bacteriuria was detected in 19.3% and 55.4% of asymptomatic and symptomatic patients, respectively. The overall prevalence of significant bacteriuria in both groups was 33.4% with female sex, diabetes, obstructive uropathy, previous instrumentation and chronic kidney disease being the major risk factors. The most common pathogens isolated were Escherichia coli (52.4%) followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (12.3%), Citrobacter spp (9.1%), Enterococcus (6.9%), Proteus spp (5.3%), Coagulase negative staphylococcus (5.3%) and Staph Aureus(4.0%). Most susceptible antibiotic was Amikacin, Cefoperazone-sulbactum, Piperacillin-tazobactum and Nitrofurantoin for most of the isolates. E. coli which was the main isolate was found to be most susceptible to Amikacin (78.3%), Cefoperazone-sulbactum 72.8%, Piperacillin-tazobactum (70.5%), Gentamicin (69.3%) and Nitrofurantoin (67.3%). Conclusion: This study highlights the common pathogens causing UTI in our area and their antibiotic sensitivity patterns which could help clinicians in starting rational empirical antibiotic therapy for such patients while awaiting urine culture reports.

Objective: To discuss the establishment and stability of passive Heymann nephritis (PHN) in order to provide help for experimental study of membranous nephropathy (MN). Materials and Methods: We used 20 male rats of Sprague-Dawley weighing 120 to 150 g to prepare renal antigen Fx1A based on hypotonic lysis, Ca ²⁺ aggregation of contaminants and differential centrifugation and used six male New Zealand white rabbits for preparing anti-serum which was injected to SD rats to establish the model in different dosages (1 mL/100 g and 0.5 mL/100 g). The proteinuria of six model making rats were tested after 1st Week and then sacrificed and studied by direct immunofluorescence (IF) for deposition of rat IgG and electron microscopy (EM) in different time (1 ^st week and 7 ^th week ) with or without a booster injection. Results: After 7 days (1 ^st week) of model making, all six rats showed proteinuria (higher than 100 mg/dL). IF and EM study showed a typical pathological features of PHN (MN) but the intensity of IF intensity and electron dense deposits decreased in the rats without a booster injection. Conclusions: A PHN model could be successfully prepared according to the method we reported while a spontaneous remission may appear several weeks after the model making.

Penile epithelioid hemangioma is a very rare benign vascular neoplasm of unclear etiology. To the best of our knowledge, only 28 cases in the literature have been reported to date. We report a case of epithelioid hemangioma of the penis in a 41-year-old man with a painful penile mass. The presented case exemplifies the importance of establishing a correct diagnosis through appropriate histologic analysis, as epithelioid hemangiomas are often misdiagnosed as two highly malignant tumors, epithelioid hemangioendothelioma and epithelioid angiosarcoma. Establishing benignancy is crucial in order to avoid inappropriate and overly aggressive treatment.