Experience With Prophylactic Gentamicin During Penile Prosthesis Surgery: A Retrospective Comparison of Two Different Doses.

Background: Gentamicin has been determined to be active against a wide range of bacterial infections and has been commonly used as a preoperative antibiotic for inflatable penile prosthesis (IPP) implantation. However, the best dosing regimen to produce the safest optimal prophylactic effect remains to be determined.

Aim: To compare low- and high-dose gentamicin as prophylaxis during IPP implantation.

Rectal sparing approach after preoperative radio- and/or chemotherapy (RESARCH) in patients with rectal cancer: a multicentre observational study.

Background: Rectum-sparing approaches appear to be appropriate in rectal cancer patients with a major (mCR) or complete clinical response (cCR) after neoadjuvant therapy. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the effectiveness of rectum-sparing approaches at 2 years after the completion of neoadjuvant treatment.

Study Design: Patients with rectal adenocarcinoma eligible to receive neoadjuvant therapy will be prospectively enrolled.

Relations between theory of mind and executive function in middle childhood: A short-term longitudinal study.

Studies with preschool children have shown significant links between children's executive function (EF) and theory of mind (ToM), but few studies have examined these associations in primary school children. To address this gap, we designed a three-wave cross-lagged longitudinal study in which we followed a group of 113 children (61 boys) across three time points from age 9.5-10.

Supraglottic Atomization of Surfactant in Spontaneously Breathing Lambs Receiving Continuous Positive Airway Pressure.

Objectives: To determine the short-term tolerance, efficacy, and lung deposition of supraglottic atomized surfactant in spontaneously breathing lambs receiving continuous positive airway pressure.

Design: Prospective, randomized animal study.

Setting: Animal research laboratory.

A prospective evaluation of penile measures and glans penis sensory changes after penile prosthetic surgery.

Background: With better designed devices and lower infection rates, satisfaction with inflatable penile prosthesis (IPP) placement is increasingly high. However, dissatisfaction is still present and there is disagreement regarding length and sensation changes after the IPP placement. The aim of this study was to evaluate changes in penile length, girth and sensitivity after IPP placement.

Two-stage Turnbull-Cutait pull-through coloanal anastomosis versus coloanal anastomosis with protective loop ileostomy for low rectal cancer. Protocol for a randomized controlled trial (Turnbull-BCN).

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine whether patients that underwent ultra-low rectal resection for cancer can benefit from the recently reintroduced two-stage Turnbull-Cutait abdominoperineal pull-through procedure.

Methods: Patients with low rectal tumors undergoing radical sphincter-sparing resection are eligible for inclusion in a randomized multicenter study. Whether two-stage Turnbull-Cutait coloanal anastomosis provides significant benefits over hand-sewn coloanal anastomosis and associated lateral ileostomy in terms of postoperative morbidity is the primary endpoint.

Clues on the origin of post-2000 earthquakes at Campi Flegrei caldera (Italy).

The inter-arrival times of the post 2000 seismicity at Campi Flegrei caldera are statistically distributed into different populations. The low inter-arrival times population represents swarm events, while the high inter-arrival times population marks background seismicity. Here, we show that the background seismicity is increasing at the same rate of (1) the ground uplift and (2) the concentration of the fumarolic gas specie more sensitive to temperature.

Dietary fructose causes defective insulin signalling and ceramide accumulation in the liver that can be reversed by gut microbiota modulation.

: The link between metabolic derangement of the gut-2013liver-visceral white adipose tissue (v-WAT) axis and gut microbiota was investigated. : Rats were fed a fructose-rich diet and treated with an antibiotic mix. Inflammation was measured in portal plasma, ileum, liver, and v-WAT, while insulin signalling was analysed by measuring levels of phosphorylated kinase Akt.

Reconstruction/Repair of Iatrogenic Biliary Injuries: Is the Robot Offering a New Option? Short Clinical Report.

Objective: The aim of this study is to analyze perioperative outcomes of robotic reconstruction of iatrogenic biliary injuries and describe the surgical technique in detail.

Background: Iatrogenic bile duct injuries (BDIs) continue to be a major concern in open and laparoscopic cholecystectomy. In the past decade, robotic surgery has been applied to many different procedures showing technical advantages, especially in microsurgical fields.

Opposite actions of urotensin II and relaxin-2 on cellular expression of fibronectin in renal fibrosis: A preliminary experimental study.

Our aim was to evaluate the role of urotensin II, urantide (urotensin II receptor antagonist) and relaxin-2 on the cellular expression of fibronectin as a surrogate marker for renal fibrosis. We employed LLC-PK1 renal tubular epithelial cells and assessed the influence on the fibrotic process of the above-mentioned substances by using anti-fibronectin antibodies in western blot analysis. The addition of urotensin II increased fibronectin expression.

[Cardiac tumors: role of magnetic resonance imaging].

The incidental finding of a cardiac or paracardiac mass constitutes for cardiologists a relevant diagnostic and therapeutic problem. In fact, although primary cardiac tumors are infrequently, metastases, as well as non-neoplastic masses and pseudomasses, are much more frequent. A key role is played by echocardiography, but the latter is not always nullifying.

Decipher test impacts decision making among patients considering adjuvant and salvage treatment after radical prostatectomy: Interim results from the Multicenter Prospective PRO-IMPACT study.

Background: Patients with prostate cancer and their providers face uncertainty as they consider adjuvant radiotherapy (ART) or salvage radiotherapy (SRT) after undergoing radical prostatectomy. The authors prospectively evaluated the impact of the Decipher test, which predicts metastasis risk after radical prostatectomy, on decision making for ART and SRT.

Methods: A total of 150 patients who were considering ART and 115 who were considering SRT were enrolled.

Characterization of a Monoclonal Antibody Specific for the Growth Hormone Secretagogue Receptor.

Ghrelin is an orexigenic peptide hormone that primarily regulates growth hormone secretion, food intake, and energy homeostasis. It has been shown to also play a role in numerous higher brain functions, such as the regulation of inflammation and cell proliferation. Ghrelin is the endogenous ligand of the growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHSR), a G-protein-coupled receptor highly expressed in brain and detectable in some peripheral tissues.

Cardiac kinematic parameters computed from video of in situ beating heart.

Mechanical function of the heart during open-chest cardiac surgery is exclusively monitored by echocardiographic techniques. However, little is known about local kinematics, particularly for the reperfused regions after ischemic events. We report a novel imaging modality, which extracts local and global kinematic parameters from videos of in situ beating hearts, displaying live video cardiograms of the contraction events.

Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Stimulate Lipogenesis and Improve Glucose Homeostasis during Refeeding with High Fat Diet.

The recovery of body weight after a period of caloric restriction is accompanied by an enhanced efficiency of fat deposition and hyperinsulinemia-which are exacerbated by isocaloric refeeding on a high fat diet rich in saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids (SFA-MUFA), and poor in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), and associated with a blunting of lipogenesis in adipose tissue and liver. As high fat diets rich in PUFA have been shown to limit the excess fat deposition and improve glucose homeostasis, we investigated here the extent to which lipogenesis in liver and adipose tissues (white and brown), as well as hepatic oxidative stress, are influenced by refeeding on diets rich in PUFA. In rats calorically restricted for 14 days and refed for 14 days on isocaloric amounts of a high fat diet rich in lard (i.

Theory of mind plasticity in aging: The role of baseline, verbal knowledge, and executive functions.

Theory of Mind (ToM) refers to the ability to attribute mental states to the self and others in order to explain and predict social behaviour. Meta-analytic results have shown a decline in ToM abilities in healthy older adults. Recent research has also highlighted the possibility of enhancing older adults' ToM performance through group conversations focused on mental states.

Are schizophrenia, autistic, and obsessive spectrum disorders dissociable on the basis of neuroimaging morphological findings?: A voxel-based meta-analysis.

Schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SCZD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorder (OCSD) are considered as three separate psychiatric conditions with, supposedly, different brain alterations patterns. From a neuroimaging perspective, this meta-analytic study aimed to address whether this nosographical differentiation is actually supported by different brain patterns of gray matter (GM) or white matter (WM) morphological alterations. We explored two possibilities: (a) to find out whether GM alterations are specific for SCZD, ASD, and OCSD; and (b) to associate the identified brain alteration patterns with cognitive dysfunctions by means of an analysis of lesion decoding.

Lung ultrasonography: a practical guide for cardiologists.

: Lung ultrasonography is a well established, user-friendly and easy-to-use technique that can be used in the evaluation of several pathological conditions affecting the lung. Adding lung ultrasonography to traditional echocardiography provides an integrated cardiopulmonary ultrasound analysis. The simultaneous collection of information about the heart and the lungs can help physicians to investigate acute and chronic cardio-pulmonary conditions within a noninvasive, single-probe and all-in-one examination, not exposing the patient to the danger of ionizing radiation.

Simulating the effects of growth and fiber dispersion on the electromechanical response of a cardiac ventricular wedge affected from concentric hypertrophy.

In this paper, we analyze the epicardial electromechanical response of an in silico cardiac ventricular wedge under both healthy and concentric hypertrophic conditions. This is achieved by taking into account the growth of the wedge thickness and the fiber dispersion that may follow. The electromechanical response is described in terms of some macroscopic measures, i.

Right heart-pulmonary circulation unit and cardiac resynchronization therapy.

Clinical response to cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) has been known for years to be highly variable, with a spectrum of responses from no change or even deterioration of cardiac function to spectacular improvements. In the plethora of clinical, echocardiographic, biohumoral, and electrophysiological predictors of response to CRT and postimplant issues besides patient selection, the role of right ventricular (RV) function has been largely overlooked. In reviewing current evidence, we noticed conflicting results between observational studies and randomized trials not only concerning the impact of baseline RV function on CRT efficacy but also on the effects of CRT on RV size and function.

Localization of the 5-hydroxytryptamine 4 receptor in equine enteric neurons and extrinsic sensory fibers.

Background: Serotonin plays a pivotal role in regulating gut motility, visceral sensitivity, and fluid secretion via specific receptors. Among these receptors, 5-HT exerts a prominent control on gut motor function. Although the prokinetic effect exerted by 5-HT agonists is well known, the cellular sites of 5-HT expression remain poorly understood in large mammals, e.

Cerebral and lung effects of a new generation synthetic surfactant with SP-B and SP-C analogs in preterm lambs.

Background: Though natural surfactants (SF) are clinically superior to protein-free synthetic preparations, CHF-5633, a synthetic SF containing SP-B and SP-C analog peptides is a potential alternative to natural SF for treating neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS). Nevertheless, information is lacking regarding the safety of this new treatment for the neonatal brain. We sought to compare the cerebral and pulmonary effects of this new synthetic surfactant (CHF5633) with those of natural porcine surfactant (Cursosurf) in premature lambs with RDS.

T1 colon cancer in the era of screening: risk factors and treatment.

Background: The aim of this study was to identify risk factors for lymph node positivity in T1 colon cancer and to carry out a surgical quality assurance audit.

Methods: The sample consisted of consecutive patients treated for early-stage colon lesions in 15 colorectal referral centres between 2011 and 2014. The study investigated 38 factors grouped into four categories: demographic information, preoperative data, indications for surgery and post-operative data.