Enhanced clinical decisions for management of benign prostatic hyperplasia using patient-reported outcomes: protocol for a prospective observational study.

Background: Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) due to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) significantly impact quality of life among older men. Despite the prevalent use of the American Urological Association Symptom Index (AUA-SI) for BPH, this measure overlooks key symptoms such as pain and incontinence, underscoring the need for more comprehensive patient-reported outcome (PRO) tools. This study aims to integrate enhanced PROs into routine clinical practice to better capture the spectrum of LUTS, thereby improving clinical outcomes and patient care.

Enhanced Clinical Decisions for Management of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia using Patient-Reported Outcomes: Protocol for a Prospective Observational Study.

Background: Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) due to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) significantly impact quality of life among older men. Despite the prevalent use of the American Urological Association Symptom Index (AUA-SI) for BPH, this measure overlooks key symptoms such as pain and incontinence, underscoring the need for more comprehensive patient-reported outcome (PRO) tools. This study aims to integrate enhanced PROs into routine clinical practice to better capture the spectrum of LUTS, thereby improving clinical outcomes and patient care.

Formation of new stellar populations from gas accreted by massive young star clusters.

Stars in clusters are thought to form in a single burst from a common progenitor cloud of molecular gas. However, massive, old 'globular' clusters--those with ages greater than ten billion years and masses several hundred thousand times that of the Sun--often harbour multiple stellar populations, indicating that more than one star-forming event occurred during their lifetimes. Colliding stellar winds from late-stage, asymptotic-giant-branch stars are often suggested to be triggers of second-generation star formation.

A mass transfer origin for blue stragglers in NGC 188 as revealed by half-solar-mass companions.

In open star clusters, where all members formed at about the same time, blue straggler stars are typically observed to be brighter and bluer than hydrogen-burning main-sequence stars, and therefore should already have evolved into giant stars and stellar remnants. Correlations between blue straggler frequency and cluster binary star fraction, core mass and radial position suggest that mass transfer or mergers in binary stars dominates the production of blue stragglers in open clusters. Analytic models, detailed observations and sophisticated N-body simulations, however, argue in favour of stellar collisions.

A binary star fraction of 76 per cent and unusual orbit parameters for the blue stragglers of NGC 188.

Blue straggler stars lie on or near the main sequences of star clusters (all members of which formed around the same time), but typically are more luminous than the turn-off stars and therefore long ago should have evolved off the main sequence to become giants and white dwarfs. They are thought to derive from normal main-sequence stars that have undergone a recent increase in mass. Statistical evidence indicates that in globular star clusters the blue stragglers probably form from binary stars.