Introduction: We examined the relationship between stone disease and the amount of visceral adipose tissue measured with unenhanced computed tomography (CT).Methods: We included 149 patients with complaints of flank pain and kidney stones detected by CT, from August 2012 to April 2013. In addition, as the control group we included 139 healthy individuals, with flank pain within the same time period, with no previous history of urological disease and no current kidney stones identified by CT. Patients were analyzed for age, gender, body mass index, amount of visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue, and serum level of low-density lipoprotein and triglyceride.Results: There were no differences between groups in terms of gender and age (p = 0.27 and 0.06, respectively). Respective measurements for the stone and control groups for body mass index were 29.1 and 27.6 kg/m2; for visceral fat measurement 186.0 and 120.2 cm2; and for subcutaneous fat measurements 275.9 and 261.9 cm2 (p = 0.01; 0.01 and 0.36, respectively). Using multivariate analysis, the following factors were identified as increasing the risk of kidney stone formation: hyperlipidemia (p = 0.003), hypertension (p = 0.001), and ratio of visceral fat tissue to subcutaneous fat tissue (p = 0.01). Our study has its limitations, including its retrospective nature, its small sample size, possible selection bias, and missing data. The lack of stone composition data is another major limitation of our study.Conclusion: The ratio of visceral to subcutaneous adipose tissue, in addition to obesity, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension, was identified as an emerging factor in the formation of kidney stones.

Objective. The etiology of premature ejaculation (PE) is unknown. Over the past two decades several studies have suggested that lifelong and acquired PE may be caused by somatic disorders and/or neurobiological disturbances. One controversial factor is the effect of circumcision on ejaculation. This prospective study investigated the relationship between postcircumcision penile mucosal cuff length, circumcision scar thickness and the PE syndromes. Features of PE patients were compared with those of a normal healthy control (NHC) group. Material and methods. In total, 160 circumcised men were studied: 80 men with PE and 80 men in the NHC group. The following data and measurements were evaluated: age, type of PE syndrome, intravaginal ejaculation latency time (IELT), circumcision scar thickness and postcircumcision mucosal cuff length. Results. In terms of the mean IELT, a statistically significant difference was detected between the PE syndromes (p < 0.05), and between the PE patients and the control group (p < 0.05). Among the four PE syndromes, there was no significant difference related to the mean mucosal cuff length and mean circumcision scar thickness (p > 0.05). No significant difference was observed between the two groups for mean mucosal cuff length (p > 0.05) or mean circumcision scar thickness (p > 0.05). Conclusion. In this study, no relationship was observed between PE and postcircumcision penile mucosal cuff length and circumcision scar thickness. Further studies are required to evaluate the positive and negative effects of circumcision on PE syndromes.

We aimed to evaluate the premature ejaculation (PE) among ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients. Fifty male patients with AS who were diagnosed according to the modified New York criteria and fifty normal healthy controls (NHC) were included in this study. The details of patient age, disease duration, morning stiffness, laboratory activity, disease severity and medication use were obtained by reviewing the medical record. The Bath AS Functional Index (BASFI) was used to measure the functional status of the patients with AS. By taking a careful medical and sexual history, patients were classified as lifelong, natural variable, acquired PE or premature ejaculatory dysfunction. In addition to medical and sexual history, self-estimated intravaginal ejaculatory latency times (IELT) of patients were used in the classification of patients. To our knowledge, this is the first study of frequency of PE in men with AS. The prevalence rates of PE in patient and healthy controls were 32 and 30%, respectively (p = 0.331). The prevalence of PE was not significantly different between AS patients and NHC groups as regards the four PE syndromes. Average estimated IELT was 10 009 ± 51.9 sec in the PE group and 145.26 ± 43.01 sec in the non-PE group (p = 0.000). Patients with lifelong PE had a significantly lower mean estimated IELT than the other group (p = 0.000). Patients with premature-like ejaculatory dysfunction had the highest estimated IELT (p = 0.000). There was a significant association between self-estimated IELT and distribution of the patients according to the four PE syndromes (p = 0.01). Both AS patients and NHC groups have the same results. The present study demonstrates that PE in men with AS is as prevalent as it is in the general population. Although this study is restricted in terms of the number of patients, it is the first study ever conducted. For more meaningful results, multi centred studies with more patients are required.