ABSTRACT Objective: Urinary stones with oxalate composition can cause kidney failure. Recent findings evidenced that probiotics are effective in reducing oxalate absorption in these subjects based on their high colonic absorption levels at baseline. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of the simultaneous use of oxalate-degrading bacteria, Urtica dioica and T. terrestris extract in reducing urinary oxalate. Materials and Methods: Anti-urolithiatic activity of Urtica dioica and T. terrestris extract and probiotic by using ethylene glycol induced rat model. In this study, 4 strains of Lactobacillus and 2 strains of Bifidobacterium and also 2 strains of L. paracasei (that showed high power in oxalate degrading in culture media) were used. Male Wistar rats were divided into four groups (n=6). The rats of group-I received normal diet (positive control group) and groups-II (negative control group), III, IV rats received diet containing ethylene glycol (3%) for 30 days. Groups III rats received Urtica dioica and T. terrestris extract. Groups IV rats received extracts + probiotic for 30 days. Findings: The results show that the use of herbal extracts (Urtica dioica and T. terrestris) reduced the level of urinary oxalate and other parameters of urine and serum. Also, the accumulation of calcium oxalate crystals in the kidney tissue was significantly reduced. Conclusion: Considering that the formation of calcium oxalate crystals can cause inflammation and tissue damage in the kidney, the use of herbal extracts with oxalate degrading bacteria can be a new therapeutic approach to preventing the formation of kidney stones.

Abstract The agitation intensity has a directly influence on flotation performance, lifting the particles and promoting the contact of bubbles and particles. In this paper, the energy input by the agitation on apatite flotation was investigated. The influence of pulp agitation in the flotation rate of particles with different sizes and two dosage levels was evaluated by batch testing. The flotation tests were conducted in an oscillating grid flotation cell (OGC), developed to promote a near isotropic turbulence environment. The cell is able to control the intensity of agitation and measure the energy transferred to the pulp phase. A sample of pure apatite was crushed (P80=310µm), characterized and floated with sodium oleate as collector. Four levels of energy dissipation, from 0.1 to 2 kWm-3, and two levels of collector dosage are used during the tests. The flotation kinetics by particle size were determined in function of the energy transferred. The results show a strong influence of the agitation intensity on the apatite flotation rate with both low and high dosage. For fine particles, when increasing the energy input, the flotation rate increase too, and this fact can be attributed to elevation of bubble-particle collisions. The kinetic result for the coarse particles demonstrated a reduction of the flotation rate whenever the energy input for this particle size was increased, whereby the turbulence caused by the agitation promotes the detachment of bubble-particle.