BackgroundCongenital hydronephrosis is a common foetal anomaly. There are numerous causes of hydronephrosis. The diagnosis of ureteral anomalies remains challenging. Congenital mid-ureteral stricture (CMS) is less common than proximal and distal strictures. In most cases involving CMS, this condition is diagnosed intra-operatively. The gold standard treatment is resection of the stenosed segment and ureteroureterostomy.Case presentationWe report two patients with CMS which presented as antenatal hydronephrosis with postnatal workup showed a picture of pelviuretric junction obstruction which required surgical correction. Intraoperative retrograde pyelography (RGP) confirmed the diagnosis of mid ureteral stricture which make us to change the planned surgical intervention from pyeloplasty to excision of the ureteral stricture and ureteroureterostomy as definitive management.ConclusionCMS should be considered whenever proximal mega-ureter is an associated finding. Despite advanced radiological modalities, RGP remains the mainstay approach for diagnosing ureteral anomalies.

BackgroundInternational health electives prepare medical students during their student years of medical education in choosing, matching, and succeeding in the residency of their choice. They serve as a unique educational experience prior to residency training.ObjectiveThis study was conducted to explore 4th- and 5th-year medical students’ perspective about international health electives and to evaluate their educational effects.MethodsAn anonymous online survey with 22 items concerning perceptions about the electives with a 5-point Likert scale was administered to medical students at the College of Medicine, King Saud University.ResultsFor the majority of the students (81.6%) the elective course was arranged by the university and only 18.4% of students individually arranged their own. Most of the students (65.7%) agreed that the objective of the elective course was clear to them in advance. A total of 71.1% of students agreed that the program (elective) was responsive to their needs (both academically and socially).ConclusionThis is the first study looking at international electives in the context of the undergraduate medical curriculum in Saudi Arabia. The study showed that the international electives are a useful and unique experience for medical students (both academically and socially).

Context: Urinary tract stones are a highly prevalent problem affecting public health worldwide. Studying demographic variability in urolithiasis across different geographical areas in terms of prevalence, age, sex, stone composition, climate, and comorbidities can aid in differentiating between varieties of stone types and identifying high-risk populations. Aims: We conducted this study to identify correlations and demonstrate the demographic variability in urinary tract stone cases in Saudi Arabia. Settings and Design: We retrospectively reviewed the data of all patients who underwent stone analysis in our institution between May 2015 and June 2017. Subjects and Methods: We used Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy for stone analysis to analyze the chemical composition of each stone. We recorded the different seasons when the stones were initially analyzed and the demographics of our patients, including age, sex, general comorbidities such as hypertension, diabetes, and other patient-specific comorbidities, and stone type. Statistical Analysis Used: We analyzed our data using the statistical data analysis software IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 25.0 (Armonk, NY, USA: IBM Corp). Results: We divided the ages of the patients into seven distinct age groups (0–14, 15–24, 25–34, 35–44, 45–54, 55–64, and + 65) to easily define and compare the incidence of stones within each age group and between sexes. We divided the year into hot and cold seasons according to the annual climate in Saudi Arabia. We also defined patients' coexisting comorbidities in our results. Conclusion: We found that the incidence of some types of urinary tract stones could be predicted by the presence of chronic illnesses in the middle-aged population in Saudi Arabia.