Based on these finding all further analyses of methylation status were done by MS-PCR

and comorbidities owing to more frequent contact to health care professionals in the AS population. In order to examine the impact of this potential detection bias, sensitivity analyses were performed. When excluding the first year of observation after study entry the risk for NL remained increased. This risk increment was also notable for prevalent and incident AS cases analyzed separately. In addition, a subgroup analysis of patients with prior common comorbidities also showed an increased risk of NL in AS patients. This supports that attendance to hospital care PubMed ID:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19682730 and elicited investigations associated with a recent AS diagnosis, did not explain the increased risk for NL. Together, the sensitivity analyses support that AS in itself is associated with an increased risk for NL. 11 / 14 Kidney Stones in Ankylosing Spondylitis Interpretation- Generalizability Based on these findings of a more than two-fold increased risk compared to the general population, we suggest nephrolithiasis as a hitherto unrecognized extraarticular manifestation in AS-patients, which seems to be correlated to disease severity. The fact that NL is present in about 1 of 20 AS patients, should be kept in mind by clinicians treating AS patients, especially in patients with concomitant IBD and those with a prior diagnosis of nephrolithiasis. The increased risk of NL in AS patients is PubMed ID:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19681699 only partly explained by the higher prevalence of IBD. Several other mechanisms are also expected to be involved, consistent with the known multifactorial nature of kidney stone formation. Further studies are encouraged in order to clarify these mechanisms. Some of the questions to be answered are, what kind of stones and what kind of urinary abnormalities are found in AS patients What role does disorders of the intestine, kidney, skeleton, immune system and other organ systems play Conclusions The risk of NL diagnosis in AS patients compared to the general population is more than two-fold increased and seems to correlate with disease severity. Based on these findings, NL is suggested as an extra-articular manifestation in AS. In addition male sex, prior IBD diagnosis and prior NL are significant and clinical important predictors of NL in AS patients. Despite the recent decline in the number of people newly infected with HIV, around 35.3 million people were still living with HIV at the end of 2012. SubSaharan Africa remains severely affected by the epidemic accounting for 71% of the people living with HIV in the world and for 69.5% of the new infections. Angola is a South-western African country bordered by Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia and Namibia. According to the BQ 123 custom synthesis UNAIDS report on the global AIDS epidemic 2013 the estimated HIV prevalence and new infections in adults have decresead between 2001 and 2012 in all the bordering countries of Angola. For example, in the Republic of Congo HIV prevalence decreased from 4.7% to 2.8% and the number of new infections decreased from 6,600 to 3,400. In contrast, the estimated number of adults living with HIV in Angola has increased in the same period from 110,000 to 220,000 and the estimated number of new infections rose from 16,000 to 23,000. However a recent HIV seroprevalence survey performed on pregnant women in 36 sentinel sites in 18 provinces of Angola has found that on aggregate HIV prevalence did not vary significantly from 2004 up to 2011 although there was considerable variation across provinces. Additional studi