Influence of pain and urinary symptoms on quality of life in young men with chronic prostatitis-like symptoms

BACKGROUND: Our aims in the present study were to estimate the influences of pain and urinary symptoms on quality of life, and to determine which of these two variables has the most predictive power with respect to quality of life in young men with chronic prostatitis-like symptoms. METHODS: Chronic prostatitis-like symptoms were measured by the National Institutes of Health-Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index. Of the 28,841 men aged 20 years who lived in the study community, 18,495 men (a response rate 64.1%) agreed to participate in the study. A total of 1057 men who complained of symptoms indicative of chronic prostatitis were included in the study. The influences of pain and urinary symptoms on quality of life were determined using logistic regression analysis. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to estimate the predictive ability of each of these variables with respect to quality of life. RESULTS: Results from multivariate analysis showed that both pain and urinary symptoms were associated with an increased likelihood of impaired quality of life, although pain contributed more to a reduced quality of life than urinary symptoms. Relative to men who experienced mild pain, men who experienced moderate pain had a 3.9-fold risk of poor quality of life (odds ratio [OR], 3.87; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.86-5.23; P < 0.001) and those who experienced severe pain had a 15.7-fold risk of reduced quality of life (OR, 15.68; 95% CI, 6.59-37.35; P < 0.001). Moderate urinary symptoms were associated with a 1.4-fold risk of bother (OR, 1.41; 95% CI, 1.01-1.99; P < 0.001) and severe urinary symptoms were associated with 2.4-fold risk (OR, 2.39; 95% CI, 1.37-4.12; P < 0.001), relative to mild urinary symptoms. Comparison of the effects of pain and urinary symptoms showed that pain severity had the most predictive power for bother, quality of life, and quality-of-life impact. The areas under the ROC curves for bother, quality of life, and quality-of-life impact were 71.3%, 69.3% and 72.5%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Urinary symptoms and pain might be associated with an increased likelihood of impaired quality of life in young men with chronic prostatitis-like symptoms. In addition, our findings suggest that pain severity is the most influential variable for determining quality of life in this population.     

Fetal lung growth: influence of maternal hypoxia and hyperoxia in rats

The consequences of maternal hypoxia and hyperoxia on maternal and fetal lung growth and in particular on the relationship between the three gas exchange organs (lungs and placenta) were studied in albino rats. Pregnant rats were exposed to one of the following: (1) 10% O2 in N2 or 100% O2 for 2 days beginning at day 7, 11, 14, or 18 of pregnancy; (2) 10% O2 in N2 or 100% O2 for 10 h/day beginning at day 7; or (3) 14-11% O2 in N2 continuously beginning at day 14 till day 21 when they were sacrificed. Maternal lung growth was assessed by measuring the lung weight, lung air volume and lung DNA content, and the fetal lung growth by lung DNA content. Hypoxia and hyperoxia of short duration (2 days) had no significant effect on maternal and fetal lungs and placenta. The major findings with intermittent hypoxia and hyperoxia, and with 1 week continuous hypoxia were as follows: (1) hypoxia initiated enlargement in maternal lung, liver, kidney and heart, and growth retardation in the fetus; (2) the direct relationships which exist in normal pregnancy between placental weight or DNA content and fetal body weight were abolished by maternal hypoxia, and that which exists between maternal and fetal lung DNA content, by hypoxia and hyperoxia; (3) both hypoxia and hyperoxia, applied at early pregnancy, caused small for body weight placenta and lung; and (4) neither maternal hypoxia nor hyperoxia influenced fetal lung maturation. It is speculated that reduction in fetal lung DNA content with maternal hypoxia may result from the direct and indirect effects of hypoxia on fetal lung, namely inhibition of cell multiplication and reduced pulmonary blood flow; and that a small fetal lung with maternal exposure to 100% O2, may result from redistribution of blood flow and nutrient supplies to fetal organs with lungs receiving a smaller proportion of it.     

Short-Ti inversion-recovery pulse sequence: analysis and initial experience in cancer imaging

Inversion recovery (IR), commonly considered a pulse sequence capable of producing T1-weighted images with excellent display of normal anatomy, is versatile: The null point and peak time provide a useful, succinct summary of the properties of IR and its capacity for producing both T1- and T2-weighted images. Shortening of the inversion time (TI) and creation of a short-TI inversion-recovery (STIR) pulse sequence increases sensitivity to malignancy and other abnormalities by making the effects of prolonged T1 and T2 on signal intensity additive and by nulling the signal from fat. The authors examined over 300 patients with various malignancies and compared STIR images with T1- and T2-weighted images obtained at 0.5 T. In 43 cases, signal-difference-to-noise ratios (SD/Ns) were calculated between tumor, fat, and muscle. In general, STIR images demonstrated tumor as a conspicuously high-intensity area in a background of muted, discernible anatomic detail. The good contrast achieved with STIR sequences between tumor and fat (SD/N = 18.1) and tumor and muscle (SD/N = 12.9) consolidated into a single image the information contained separately on T1- and T2-weighted images, which facilitates efficient detection and localization of malignancy.