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Aging poses a number of challenges to the body's well-being, one of the most important being an increased susceptibility to multiple diseases, including urinary tract infections (UTIs). The connection between aging and more prevalent UTIs is not well understood, but now researchers have found an explanation. Compared to the younger counterpart, the aging urinary tract in animal models changes how it functions at the cellular level in ways that seem to favor the establishment and recurrence of UTIs. Furthermore, the researchers also found that the sugar D-mannose reduces the severity of aging-associated decline in urinary tract functionality, suggesting that this...

One of the greatest frustrations regarding urinary tract infections (UTIs) is that they so often recur. UTIs are caused by bacteria in the urinary tract and characterized by frequent and painful urination. A round of antibiotics usually clears up the symptoms, but the relief is often temporary: A quarter of women go on to develop a second UTI within six months. Some unfortunate individuals get UTIs over and over, and require antibiotics every few months. At the same time, repeated cycles of antibiotics wreak havoc on the community of helpful bacteria that normally live in the intestines, the so-called gut...

Scientists reported new evidence on the effectiveness of that old folk remedy — cranberry juice — for urinary tract infections at the ACS' 240th National Meeting. "A number of controlled clinical trials — these are carefully designed and conducted scientific studies done in humans — have concluded that cranberry juice really is effective for preventing urinary tract infections," said Terri Anne Camesano, Ph.D., who led the study. "That has important implications, considering the size of the problem and the health care costs involved." Estimates suggest that urinary tract infections (UTIs) account for about 8 million medical visits each year, at...

Dr. Rodriguez discussed use of stem cells for treating SUI (Stress Urinary Incontinence). A stem cell is embryonic, adult, or engineered. Embryonic stem cells come from the blastocyst which is totipotent or pluripotent. These cells are immortal, identical clonal cells with long-term self renewal. Controversies include possible tumor formation, the difficulty maintaining cell cultures and ethical issues. Embryonic stem cells can differentiate into ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm. Adult stem cells include hematopoetic stem cells, such as derived from bone marrow. This requires a bone marrow harvest, with low yield and difficulty to expand clones. A variety of other tissues have...

Impact on tissue engineering for intestine, bladder and vascular systems Researchers from the David Geffen School of Medicine and the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science at UCLA today announced they have transformed adult stem cells taken from human adipose – or fat tissue – into smooth muscle cells, which help the normal function of a multitude of organs like the intestine, bladder and arteries. The study may help lead to the use of fat stem cells for smooth muscle tissue engineering and repair. Reported in the July 24 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy...

Bladders created in the laboratory from a patient's own cells and then implanted in seven young people have achieved good long-term results in all of them, a team of researchers reported yesterday in a medical journal. It takes about two months to grow the new bladder on a scaffold outside the body. After implantation, the engineered bladder enlarges over time in the recipient. The researchers say they expect that the new bladder will last a patient's lifetime, but the longevity will be known only as the children grow older. The hope is that someday the experimental reconstruction procedure will be...