Extracorporeal magnetic innervation treatment for urinary incontinence

BACKGROUND: Extracorporeal magnetic innervation (ExMI) is a new technology used for pelvic muscle strengthening for the treatment of stress urinary incontinence. We explored whether this new technology is effective for patients with urge incontinence, as well as those with stress urinary incontinence. METHODS: We studied 20 patients with urge incontinence and 17 patients with stress urinary incontinence. The Neocontrol system (Neotonus Inc., Marietta, GA) was used. Treatment sessions were for 20 min, twice a week for 8 weeks. Evaluations were performed by bladder diaries, one-hour pad weight testing, quality-of-life surveys and urodynamic studies. RESULTS: Of the urge incontinence cases, five patients were cured (25.0%), 12 patients improved (60.0%) and three patients did not show any improvement (15.0%). Leak episodes per day reduced from 5.6 times to 1.9 times at 8 weeks (P < 0.05). Eight patients with urge incontinence recurred within 24 weeks after the last treatment (47.1%). Of the stress incontinence cases, nine patients were cured (52.9%), seven patients improved (41.1%) and one patient did not show any improvement (6%). In one-hour pad weight testing, the mean pad weight reduced from 7.9 g to 1.9 g at 8 weeks (P < 0.05). Three patients returned to the baseline values within 24 weeks after the last treatment (17.6%). No side-effects were experienced by any of the patients. CONCLUSION: Although the results for urge incontinence were less effective than for stress urinary incontinence, ExMI therapy offers a new option for urge incontinence as well as stress urinary incontinence.     

Development of multiple calculi in the duplex system ureterocele

A 61-year-old man presented complaining of pollakisuria and nocturia. A plain radiograph of his kidney, ureter and bladder and intravenous urography revealed numerous calculi in the upper kidney of his left renal pelvis and ureterocele. A transurethral incision of ureterocele (TUI-ureterocele) and extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy were performed. On TUI-ureterocele, the many calculi were found to be almost the same size and spherical in form. The postoperative clinical course was uneventful.     

Different susceptibility to the IL-3 induced-protective effects between Strongyloides ratti and Nippostrongylus brasiliensis in C57BL/6 mice

Repetitive administration of recombinant IL-3 induced protection against Strongyloides ratti but not against Nippostrongylus brasiliensis in C57BL/6 mice. Numbers of S. ratti were negligible from day 4 to day 6 post-infection in mice injected with IL-3, whereas N. brasiliensis burdens were almost equal from day 4 to day 6 between mice injected with IL-3 or with medium. Mice treated with IL-3 and then concurrently infected with S. ratti and N. brasiliensis were protected from intestinal S. ratti but not from N. brasiliensis. The numbers of intestinal mucosal mast cells were increased by the repetitive IL-3 treatment on one day after the final injection and was augmented by subsequent infection with both nematodes.     

Histocytochemical study of Spot 35-calbindin-D28K and Ca2+-ATPase in rat kidney

Summary: We determined the distribution of Spot 35-calbindin-D28K, a vitamin-D dependent calciumbinding protein, in rat kidney using histochemical methods and compared it with the distribution of Ca²⁺-ATPase activity. Spot 35-calbindin-D28K immunoreactivity was localized in the cytosol of urinary epithelial cells in distal convoluted tubules (DCT), connecting tubules (CNT) and cortical collecting ducts (CCD), identifying the physiologically confirmed site of active transcellular calcium transport. In the cytosol, the immunoreactivity was clustered near the luminal plasma membrane and around the mitochondria. These findings indicated that Spot 35-calbindin-D28K seemed to have a cytosolic calcium buffering effect in the urinary tubular epithelial cells. Enzyme histochemical analysis showed that Ca²⁺-ATPase activity was localized at the basolateral plasma membrane of distal nephron segments and was strongest at the cortical thick ascending limb of Henle (CTAL), including the macula densa portion. Ca²⁺-ATPase activity was not evident in DCT, CNT or CCD. Strong Ca²⁺-ATPase activity and Spot 35-calbindin-D28K immunoreactivity did not coexist in a urinary tubular cell.     

Apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and ventricular tachycardia

Apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy was originally reported fromJapan as one of the subsets of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy withoutgradient, usually associated with deep T-wave inversion anda spade-like appearance of the left ventricle. Although manyreports from Japan have indicated that these patients with apicalhypertrophic cardiomyopathy are mostly asymptomatic and haverelatively good prognosis, data on serious ventricular arrhythmiasare not yet available. Present documentation of ventriculartachycardia in a patient with this disease suggests that atleast some of such patients are also at risk of sudden deathand that a systematic study for life-threatening arrhythmiaby ambulatory electrocardiographic monitoring may be necessaryin these cases.     

THE EFFECTS OF SULPHYDRYL REAGENTS ON THE NEUTRALIZATION OF LATS BY HUMAN THYROID EXTRACTS

LATS has already been shown to be neutralized by an unknown antigenic substance in human thyroid tissue. This antigen has been presumed to be a TSH receptor. To examine this hypothesis, we sought to determine whether SH reagents capable of altering the characteristics of TSH receptors in thyroidal crude membrane fractions caused an alteration in the LATS neutralization activity of the same fraction. Diamide (10^?3m ) which was shown to enhance ¹²⁵I-TSH binding to TSH receptors by increasing the binding affinity of the receptor, significantly increased the neutralization of LATS by the crude membrane fraction. Dithiothreitol (10^?3m ) which was shown to inhibit ¹²⁵I-TSH binding by decreasing the affinity of the receptor, significantly decreased the neutralization of LATS by the fraction. This indicates that TSH receptors and the thyroidal factor capable of neutralizing LATS share a common property in terms of the effects of SH reagents and is compatible with the idea that the LATS neutralizing activity of thyroidal crude membrane fraction is due to binding by the TSH receptor or its fragments.