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.     

Mutagenesis of aspartic acid-116 enhances the ribonucleolytic activity and angiogenic potency of angiogenin.

Site-specific mutagenesis of the blood vessel-inducing protein angiogenin has been used to further explore both its homology to pancreatic ribonuclease and the functional roles of particular residues. Replacement of Asp-116 in angiogenin by either asparagine (D116N), alanine (D116A), or histidine (D116H) markedly enhances both its ribonucleolytic activity and angiogenic potency. Activity toward tRNA is 8-, 15-, and 18-fold greater than native angiogenin for D116N-, D116A-, and D116H-angiogenin, respectively. The enzymatic specificity of angiogenin, however, has been maintained. Thus, cleavage of 18S and 28S rRNA by the most active His-116 mutant yields the same pattern of polynucleotide products as from angiogenin, whereas there are only minor alterations in activity with cytidylyl(3',5')adenosine and uridylyl(3',5')-adenosine. Extensive biological assays on the chicken embryo chorioallantoic membrane demonstrate that D116H-angiogenin is one to two orders of magnitude more potent in inducing neovascularization than native angiogenin, which correlates well with enhanced enzymatic action. These results support the proposition that the enzymatic and angiogenic activities on angiogenin are interrelated.     

Extraneural metastasis of a pineal tumor. Report of 3 cases and review of the literature

Three cases of extraneural metastases of pineal tumors are reported from a series of 81 cases collected between 1949 and 1982. The diagnostic, etiopathic and therapeutic problems arising from these cases and from a review of the literature are considered.     

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.