Correlation between detrusor collagen content and urinary symptoms in patients with prostatic obstruction.

Purpose: We used computerized imaging analysis to compare the collagen content of detrusor specimens between patients affected with symptomatic obstructive benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and asymptomatic controls.

Materials And Methods: In our study we enrolled 36 patients with symptomatic urodynamically obstructed BPH undergoing transurethral resection of the prostate. We also enrolled 28 men (mean age 61.

Effect of moxonidine on putative sympathetic neurons in the rostral ventrolateral medulla of the rat.

We used an intracellular recording technique in vitro to investigate the effects of moxonidine on neurons in the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM) with electrophysiological properties similar to premotor sympathetic neurons in vivo. These neurons were classified as firing regularly and irregularly, according to previous reports. Moxonidine is a sympathoinhibitory and antihypertensive agent that is thought to be a ligand of alpha(2)-adrenergic receptors and imidazoline type-1 receptors in the RVLM.

Juvenile renal cell carcinoma as first manifestation of von Hippel-Lindau disease.

Von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease is an autosomal dominant syndrome characterized by germline mutations in the VHL tumor suppressor gene located at chromosome 3p25-26 and pleomorphic clinical picture. The major clinical manifestations include retinal angiomas, central nervous system hemangioblastomas, pheopleochromocytoma, pancreatic cysts, epididymal cystoadenomas and renal lesions. Recently, we observed a 58-year-old male patient with macrohematuria and a history of nephrectomy due to renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

Different types of barosensory synaptic inputs to rostral ventrolateral medulla neurons of the rat.

Neurons situated in the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM) with descending axons to the spinal cord and that are modulated by different baroreceptor inputs are considered the main central generators of vasomotor activity. In the urethane-anesthetized, curarized rat, we recorded intracellular potentials from 14 neurons located in the RVLM and investigated their barosensory properties by analysis of the relation between neuronal membrane potential (MP), including spike potentials, and high-pressure barosensory activity, which was indicated by arterial blood pressure (BLPR). Time-domain (cross-correlations or triggered averaging) and frequency-domain (autospectra and coherences) analysis showed that 7 of 14 neurons had cardiac-cycle-correlated rhythms.

Modulatory inputs on sympathetic neurons in the rostral ventrolateral medulla in the rat.

1. The first part of this study looks at spontaneously active neurons located in the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM) with projections to the thoracic spinal cord. Sixteen neurons were intracellularly recorded in vivo.

Ischaemic stroke in young people: a prospective and long-term follow-up study.

Background: A few studies have comprehensively assessed the epidemiology, aetiology, prognosis, and secondary prevention of ischaemic stroke in young adults. To gain further information on this field, we have prospectively studied a hospital-based series of young adults with a first-ever episode of cerebral ischaemia (CI).

Methods: Sixty consecutive patients aged 17-45 with ischaemic stroke (55 patients) or transient ischaemic attack within 24 h before hospital admission were recruited and investigated by a standardized rigorous protocol.

Rhythmic properties of neurons in the rostral ventrolateral medulla of the rat in vitro: effects of clonidine.

The rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM) is thought to be the main central site for generation of tonic sympathetic activity. In the rat in vitro slice preparation, we used intracellular recordings to identify different populations of neurons in the RVLM: 43 spontaneously active neurons with regular (R) or irregular (I) patterns of spike firing and 10 silent neurons. The degree of regularity was quantified by the coefficient of variation (CV = SD/mean) of interspike interval durations, as well as by the rhythmic properties of the spike autospectrum and autocorrelation.

Respiratory cycle timing and fast inspiratory discharge rhythms in the adult decerebrate rat.

In supracollicular decerebrate paralyzed adult rats, neural respiration was monitored by bilateral phrenic recordings. In the study of respiratory cycle timing, the effects of vagal afferent input (lung inflation) on respiratory phase durations resembled those seen in decerebrate cats. 1) Withholding lung inflation during neural inspiration (I) produced lengthening of I phase duration by 46% (mean, n = 11).

Effects of sildenafil on nocturnal penile tumescence and rigidity in normal men: randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover study.

We studied the effects of sildenafil on sleep-related erections in 44 adult healthy men not affected by erectile dysfunction (mean age +/- SD: 39.3 +/- 10.5 years).

Comparison between transesophageal echocardiography and transthoracic echocardiography with harmonic tissue imaging for left atrial appendage assessment.

Background: Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is the method of choice for evaluating both anatomy and function of left atrial appendage (LAA). In contrast, conventional transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) does not result in images of sufficient quality to explore LAA.

Hypothesis: The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential role of TTE with harmonic frequency imaging (HFI) for assessing LAA normal anatomy and function.