Prevalence of kidney stones doubles in wake of obesity epidemic
The number of Americans suffering from kidney stones between 2007 and 2010 nearly doubled from 1994, according to a new study by researchers at UCLA and the RAND Corp. nbsp; While we expected the prevalence of kidney stones to increase, the size of the increase was surprising, said Dr. Charles D. Scales Jr., a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Clinical Scholar in the departments of urology and medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Our findings also suggested that the increase is due, in large part, to the increase in obesity and diabetes among Americans. nbsp; The study, The Prevalence of Kidney Stones in the United States is being presented today at the 2012 meeting of the American Urological Association in Atlanta, Ga., and will...

Traditional Chinese medicine and sports drug testing: identification of natural steroid administration in doping control urine samples resulting from musk (pod) extracts.
Authors: Thevis M, Schänzer W, Geyer H, Thieme D, Grosse J, Rautenberg C, Flenker U, Beuck S, Thomas A, Holland R, Dvorak J Abstract The administration of musk extract, that is, ingredients obtained by extraction of the liquid secreted from the preputial gland or resulting grains of the male musk deer (eg, Moschus moschiferus), has been recommended in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) applications and was listed in the Japanese pharmacopoeia for various indications requiring cardiovascular stimulation, anti-inflammatory medication or androgenic hormone therapy. Numerous steroidal components including cholesterol, 5α-androstane-3,17-dione, 5β-androstane-3,17-dione, androsterone, etiocholanolone, epiandrosterone, 3β-hydroxy-androst-5-en-17-one, androst-4-ene-3,17-dione and the c...