Hot and humid days may bring more kidney stones as higher temperatures contribute to dehydration that leads to a higher concentration of calcium in the body that promote the growth of kidney stones.

In a study involving 60,000 patients in the US, researchers found that as daily temperatures rose, there was a rapid increase in the number of patients seeking treatment for kidney stones.

"The findings point to potential public health effects associated with global climate change," said Gregory E. Tasian, a pediatric urologist and epidemiologist at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).

It is likely that higher temperatures increase the risk of kidney stones in those people predisposed to stone formation.

The delay between high daily temperatures and kidney stone presentation was short, peaking within three days of exposure to hot days, the study added.

The team found that as frigid weather keeps people more in indoors, higher indoor temperatures, changes in diet and decreased physical activity may raise their risk of kidney stones.

The authors note that increase in greenhouse gas emissions are projected to raise earth's average temperatures by 1 to 4.5 degrees Celsius by 2100.

"Kidney stone prevalence has already been on the rise over the last 30 years, and we can expect this trend to continue as daily temperature increase," Tasian noted.

The paper was published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

In what could help better treat and prevent gastrointestinal infection, researchers have used unique computational models to show how infection can affect bacteria that naturally live in our intestines.

"Our gut contains ten times more bacterial cells than there are human cells in our body," said Lynn Bry from Brigham and Women's Hospital in the US.

"The behaviour of these complex bacterial ecosystems when under attack by infection can have a big impact on our health," Bry added.

Researchers developed novel computer algorithms to analyse the different stages of infection when a pathogen known as Citrobacter rodentium, which causes disease in mice similar to food-poisoning in humans, was introduced into the guts of mice.

They generated a two-month time-series of the population levels of bacteria throughout multiple sites in the intestine.

The computational framework, known as Microbial Counts Trajectories Infinite Mixture Model Engine, was used to identify dynamic changes within the complex communities of bacteria in the gut associated with infection and inflammation.

The researchers observed many disruptions in the normal bacteria at different locations in the gut during the infection.

For instance, they discovered a microbial signature in the colon involving species belonging to the genus Mucispirillum that showed decreases early in infection before the onset of symptoms.

"From a clinical perspective, these new microbial signatures we identified could help clinicians detect early stages of inflammation or subtle persistent disease in patients with gastrointestinal disorders, such as inflammatory bowel disease," Bry added.

The study was published in the journal in PLOS ONE.

Aussie scientists have shunned the belief that low back pain are linked to weather conditions such as temperature, humidity, air pressure, wind direction and precipitation.

As per to the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly everyone experiences low back pain at some point in their life, making it the most prevalent musculoskeletal condition and affecting up to 33 percent of the world population at any given time. Those with musculoskeletal (bone, muscle, ligament, tendon, and nerve) pain report that their symptoms are influenced by the weather. Previous studies have shown that cold or humid weather, and changes in the weather increase symptoms in patients with chronic pain conditions.

Dr. Daniel Steffens form the University of Sydney said that patients believe that weather impacts their pain symptoms, but there were few robust studies investigating weather and pain, specifically research that does not rely on patient recall of the weather.

For the present case-crossover study, 993 patients seen at primary care clinics in Sydney were recruited between October 2011 and November 2012. Weather data from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology were sourced for the duration of the study period. Researchers compared the weather at the time patients first noticed back pain (case window) with weather conditions one week and one month before the onset of pain (control windows).

Results showed no association between back pain and temperature, humidity, air pressure, wind direction or precipitation. However, higher wind speed and wind gusts did slightly increase the chances of lower back pain, but the amount of increase was not clinically important.

Dr. Steffens concluded that their findings refute previously held beliefs that certain common weather conditions increase risk of lower back pain.

The study is published in the journal of the American College of Rheumatology, Arthritis Care and Research.

Hectic daily lives, odd working hours and limited outdoor activities leave a bad impact on human health. As a result, the deficiency of Vitamin D is becoming an eyesore amongst a large number of people.

The ideal dose of vitamin D required by a human body ranges between 1,000 and 2,000 IU (International Units) per day.

So, people who love exposing themselves under the sun have now all the more reasons to do so. Here are a few health benefits as to why staying exposed to sunlight can be helpful:

-Exposure to sun rays, saves one from developing joint pains, muscle weakness and even cardiovascular disorders.

-Sun rays are a direct source of Vitamin D, which is essential for the body to transform calcium into a usable form by increasing calcium absorption in the small intestines and retention by the kidneys.

-Vitamin D generating from the sun rays is very essential for women after pregnancy to lower the risk of developing osteoporosis.

-Exposing yourself for an adequate time in the sun, helps provide sufficient Vitamin D levels to assist the body in reducing bad cholesterol.

-And lastly, when your body does not receive enough sunshine, then you can be at a higher risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

There could soon be a treatment for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA), the second most common form of liver cancer, as researchers have have now found how two genetic mutations in liver cells may drive tumour formation in iCCA.

Two mutant proteins IDH1 and IDH2 are linked to cancer, the findings showed.

"iCCA is resistant to standard treatments like chemotherapy and radiation," said contributing author Josep Maria Llovet from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in the US.

"Our findings provide novel insights into the development of iCCA and offers a possible treatment option for patients suffering from this fatal disease," Llovet added.

Past studies have found IDH mutations to be among the most common genetic differences seen in patients with iCCA, but how they contribute to cancer development was unknown going into the current effort.

iCCA strikes bile ducts, tube-like structures in the liver that carry bile, which is required for the digestion of food. With so much still unknown about the disease, there is no first-line, standard of care and no successful therapies.

The researchers demonstrated that the expression of mutant IDH in the adult liver of genetically engineered mice impairs liver cell development and liver regeneration - a process in which the liver responds to injury - and increases the number of cells to form a tumour.

Moreover, mutant IDH were found to work with activated KRAS, a gene essential in cancer development, causing the development of premalignant lesions and a progression to metastatic iCCA.

The study appeared in the journal Nature.