A comparison of three methods of scoring penile circumference changes

There are presently three widely used methods of scoring penile circumference data. The present experiment attempted to determine the ability of each method to explain the variance within a data set. A total of 19 subjects were presented with 20 photographic slides assigned to five categories: neutral, female adult, female adolescent, male adult, and male adolescent. Erectile responses to each slide were recorded and the data analyzed in terms of the raw scores, percentage of full erection, and a z-score transformation. Results indicated that the z scores captured the highest proportion of the variance (52.7%), followed by the percentage scores (32.5%), and the raw scores (30.1%). Findings are discussed in terms of their research and clinical implications.     

Illness cognitions and health-related quality of life in liver transplant patients related to length of stay,comorbidities and complications

Quality of Life Research - Illness cognitions regarding helplessness and acceptance are known to play a role in health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Our study examined the evolution of these...     

Clinical utility of PTSD,resilience, sleep,and blast as risk factors to predict poor neurobehavioral functioning following traumatic brain injury: A longitudinal study in U.S. military service members

Quality of Life Research - This study examined the clinical utility of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), low resilience, poor sleep, and lifetime blast exposure as risk factors for predicting...     

Health state utilities associated with treatment process for oral and injectable GLP-1 receptor agonists for type 2 diabetes

Quality of Life Research - Previous research suggests that treatment process can have an influence on patient preference and health state utilities. This study examined preferences and estimated...     

Histological observations on the evolution of nutritional encephalomalacia in chick cerebellum

Summary A study was made of the histological alterations which occur in the development of nutritional encephalomalacia in the chick cerebellum. 3 categories of chicks were discernible according to severity of symptoms.The earliest changes consisted of focal edema in the folial and medullary white matter. These became progressively more severe and resulted in widespread spongy degeneration. Edema of the Purkinje layer consistently appeared and led to a separation of this layer from the underlying granular layer. Apparent capillary proliferation was noted in all layers and distention of blood vessels finally resulted in hemorrhage and in necrosis of the folia.Clinical signs occasionally occurred without apparent morphological alterations. The edematous process, when noted, was considered to be intracellular, involving glial elements in the white matter and the Golgi epithelial cells (Bergmann astroglia) in the Purkinje layer. The condition results from altered permeability of the cerebellar blood-brain barrier which is selectively affected by the metabolic changes brought about by vitamin E deficiency.

---

Zusammenfassung Die histologischen Veränderungen in der Entwicklung von nutritiver Encephalomalacie im Kleinhirn des Huhnes wurden untersucht. Nach der Schwere der klinischen Symptome wurden 3 Gruppen von Tieren unterschieden.Die frühesten Veränderungen bestanden in Ödemherden im Läppchenmark und Marklager, die progredient an Schwere zunehmen und ausgedehnte spongiöse Degeneration bewirken. Ödem der Purkinje-Zellschicht trat regelmäßig auf und führte zu ihrer Ablösung von der darunterliegenden Körnerschicht. Deutliche Capillarproliferation war in allen Schichten erkennbar. Die Gefäßerweiterung führte schließlich zu Blutungen und Nekrosen in den Läppchen.Klinische Symptome traten gelegentlich ohne manifeste morphologische Läsionen auf. Der ödematöse Prozeß wurde, wenn nachweisbar, als intracellulär aufgefaßt. Er betraf Gliaelemente des Markes und die Golgi Epithelzellen in der Purkinje-Zellschicht (Bergmann Astroglia). Diese Veränderung ist bedingt durch Permeabilitätsveränderungen der cerebellaren Bluthirnschranke, die selektiv betroffen erscheint, wenn der Stoffwechsel durch Vitamin E-Mangel gestört wird.

---

---

This investigation was supported by United States Public Health Service Grants HD 00217 and FR 05388.     

Selective Attention Effects on the Reflex Blink

Past work has shown that facilitation of reflex blinking accompanies cardiac deceleration when the attention of subjects is directed to a reflex-eliciting stimulus. The present studies showed that when warning stimuli directed attention instead to weak (tactile) stimuli presented simultaneously with reflex-eliciting (acoustic) stimuli, cardiac deceleration was still present but reflex magnitude was unchanged or inhibited. However, latency to reflex onset remained facilitated, i.e., latency and magnitude changes were discordant. The findings were interpreted as evidence for two independent processes: a process capable of selectively enhancing or attenuating sensory input and a non-selective process presumably facilitating motor pathways.     

Randomized comparison of transurethral electroresection and holmium: YAG laser vaporization for symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of holmium:YAG laser vaporization v transurethral electroresection (TURP) for benign prostatic hyperplasia. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Thirty-six patients were randomized. Two laser procedures (60 to 80 W) were performed for one TURP. Symptom Score, peak flow rate, potency, and ejaculation status were measured at baseline and at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months. RESULTS: The mean operative time was 75 minutes for laser and 56 minutes for TURP (P = 0.0407). With a mean laser energy delivered of 103.6 kJ, hemostasis was satisfactory during vaporization. The mean catheterization time was 1.7 and 2.1 days in the laser and TURP group, respectively. For the laser and TURP groups, the mean AUA Score improved from 20 preoperatively to 7 and from 24.1 to 5, respectively, at 12 months. The mean peak flow increased from 8.4 to 19.5 mL/sec and from 7.6 to 16.8 ml/sec, respectively, at 12 months. These results are not statistically different. No significant initial dysuria occurred. No significant difference between the groups appeared in potency or ejaculatory status during the follow-up. One patient in the laser group (Day 5) and two in the TURP group (2nd and 6th month) had to undergo a second procedure to relieve obstruction. CONCLUSION: Although taking slightly longer to accomplish, holmium:YAG laser vaporization of BPH provides early results very similar to those of TURP with a shorter catheterization time and no initial dysuria or pain.     

Can an informant questionnaire be used to predict the development of dementia in medical inpatients?

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether elderly medical inpatients without dementia who score >3.31 on the short form of the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE) are at an increased risk of developing dementia.DESIGN/PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-nine patients with an IQCODE score of >3.31 without dementia and 29 age- and sex-matched controls, from an original sample of 201 medical inpatients over 65, were examined 17-24 months after initial assessment.SETTING: Interviews took place in patients' homes, but all subjects had been recruited while medical inpatients in a general hospital 17-24 months previously.MEASURES: The IQCODE and clinical interview to make DSM-III-R diagnosis of dementia.RESULTS: Ten of the study group and one control had developed dementia since the original assessment.CONCLUSIONS: Non-demented elderly medical inpatients with an admission IQCODE score of >3.31 are more likely to develop dementia than those with an IQCODE score of <3.31. The IQCODE is a sensitive tool for detecting early dementia.     

Language difficulties in an Outpatient Clinic in Switzerland

This small-scale study attempts to examine the languages spoken in medical consultations during a one-month period in an outpatient clinic in Geneva and the ways health professionals use to communicate with their allophone patients, in particular by using interpreters. Patients of foreign origin accounted for 58% of all the consultations during the survey. Of these, 37% were Non-French-speakers (NFS). The four major language groups of NFS were Albanian, Somali, Tamil and Serbo-croat. Qualified interpreters were used in 24% of the consultations, relatives acting as interpreters in 17%, and in the other consultations without anyone interpreting (59%), a common language had to be negotiated: French, English, Italian, Spanish or German. In only 14% of the consultations without interpreters, both patient's and doctors ability to speak a common language was rated as good. Our data suggest that there has been an increasing awareness of the possible language barriers in the medical outpatient clinic. Even if proxy solutions (informal interpreters or the use of a common language) still play an important role, access to an interpreter service has been widely used. This calls for systematic and regular interpreter use, planning the interpreting needs in a timely manner. In the future, training in working with interpreters should become an integral part to the introductory sessions for the junior physicians assigned to the outpatient clinic.