Characterization of the novel HLA-B*35:08:17 allele.

HLA-B*35:08:17 differs from B*35:08:01:01 by a single nucleotide change in codon 105 (CCC > CCG).

Yield of overnight pulse oximetry in screening commercial drivers for obstructive sleep apnea.

Purpose: To assess the efficacy of overnight pulse oximetry in screening male commercial drivers (CDs) for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

Methods: Consecutive male CDs undergoing their annual scheduled occupational health visit were enrolled from ten transportation facilities. All subjects underwent a home sleep apnea test (HSAT) to determine the Respiratory Event Index (REI).

Identification of the novel HLA-B*51:367 allele in a cord blood donor by next-generation sequencing.

The new HLA-B*51:367 differs from B*51:01:01:64 by four substitutions in exon 1.

Poor performance of screening questionnaires for obstructive sleep apnea in male commercial drivers.

Purpose: Screening commercial drivers (CDs) for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) reduces the risk of motor vehicle accidents. We evaluated the accuracy of standard OSA questionnaires in a cohort of CDs.

Study Design And Methods: We enrolled consecutive male CDs at 10 discrete transportation companies during their yearly scheduled occupational health visit.

Meta-analysis of the prevalence of tooth wear in primary dentition.

Aim: To conduct a meta-analysis of all the studies published in literature over the past three decades on the prevalence of dental erosion in preschool children.

Materials And Methods: The Pubmed data base revealed only one systematic review on the prevalence of tooth wear in children up to 5 years old. The search included works published from January 1982 to September 2012, using the following combinations of keywords: 1) "dental erosion" AND "children"; 2) "dental erosion in primary dentition"; 3) "dental" AND "attrition" AND "prevalence".

The importance of polysomnography in the evaluation of prolonged disorders of consciousness: sleep recordings more adequately correlate than stimulus-related evoked potentials with patients' clinical status.

Objectives: The aim of our study was to evaluate the importance of sleep recordings and stimulus-related evoked potentials (EPs) in patients with prolonged disorders of consciousness (DOCs) by correlating neurophysiologic variables with clinical evaluation obtained using specific standardized scales.

Methods: There were 27 vegetative state (VS) and 5 minimally conscious state (MCS) patients who were evaluated from a clinical and neurophysiologic perspective. Clinical evaluation included the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R), Disability Rating Scale (DRS), and Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS).

Investigating the mechanisms of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular regulation in orthostatic syncope through an information decomposition strategy.

Some previous evidence suggests that postural related syncope is associated with defective mechanisms of cerebrovascular (CB) and cardiovascular (CV) control. We characterized the information processing in short-term CB regulation, from the variability of mean cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) and mean arterial pressure (AP), and in CV regulation, from the variability of heart period (HP) and systolic AP (SAP), in ten young subjects developing orthostatic syncope in response to prolonged head-up tilt testing. We exploited a novel information-theoretic approach that decomposes the information associated with a variability series into three amounts: the information stored in the series, the information transferred to the series from another series, and the information unexplained by the knowledge of both series.

Use of a temporary prostatic stent after transurethral microwave thermotherapy reduced voiding symptoms and bother without exacerbating irritative symptoms.

Objectives: To evaluate the ability of a temporary prostatic stent (Spanner [Sp]) to manage voiding symptoms, irritative symptoms, and bother after transurethral microwave thermotherapy (TUMT) for prostatic obstruction.

Methods: Patients were randomized to the Sp (n = 100) or standard of care (SOC, n = 86) after TUMT with 3 to 10 days of routine catheterization. We evaluated International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) voiding subscore, IPSS irritative subscore, voiding diary data, and Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia Impact Index (BII) 7 to 10 days before TUMT and repeated them 1, 2, 4 (stent removal), 5, and 8 weeks after stent insertion.

[Comparative study of surgical efficacy in open versus laparoscopic prostatectomy: virtual prostate reconstruction and periprostatic tissue quantification].

Introduction: The introduction of laparoscopic surgery as a procedure to perform radical prostatectomy needs an objective method to evaluate the suitability of this new surgical procedure. The traditional parameters, including the incidence of positive surgical margins, are useful, but not sufficiently objective. Different authors publish different criteria to define positive surgical margins.

A temporary intraurethral prostatic stent relieves prostatic obstruction following transurethral microwave thermotherapy.

Purpose: The Spanner, a novel prostatic stent, was evaluated for safety, efficacy and patient tolerance when used to relieve prostatic obstruction following transurethral microwave thermotherapy.

Materials And Methods: Following transurethral microwave thermotherapy and routine post-procedure Foley catheterization at 1 of 9 clinical sites 186 patients meeting study criteria were randomized to receive a Spanner (100) or the standard of care (86). Baseline evaluations included post-void residual urine, uroflowmetry, International Prostate Symptom Score and International Prostate Symptom Score quality of life question.

Overexpression of alpha-defensin is associated with bladder cancer invasiveness.

Alpha-defensin (alpha-defensin) has been identified as a potential marker for bladder cancer in urine by surface enhanced laser desorption ionization studies, and confirmed using both immunoabsorption and immunodepletion studies. The objective of this study was to investigate the role of alpha-defensin in bladder cancer. Immunohistochemical analysis of tissue sections showed that alpha-defensin peptides are frequently expressed in bladder cancer cells.

In search of candidate genes critically expressed in the human endometrium during the window of implantation.

Background: In this prospective randomized blinded clinical trial, we examined gene expression profiles of the human endometrium during the early and mid-luteal phases of the natural cycle.

Methods: An endometrial biopsy was performed on day 16 (LH +3) or on day 21 (LH +8), followed by RNA extraction and microarray analysis using an Affymetrix HG-U95A microchip. Data analysis was carried out using pairwise multiple group comparison with the significance analysis of microarrays (SAM) software.

Selective capture of prostatic basal cells and secretory epithelial cells for proteomic and genomic analysis.

Basal cells play an undefined role in signaling the growth and differentiation of normal secretory epithelial cells in the human prostate. Because basal cells disappear during malignant transformation, we hypothesize that loss of basal cell function may have a permissive role in progression of prostate intraepithelial neoplasia into invasive carcinoma. We describe an immuno-laser capture microdissection approach to selectively capture basal cells.

A novel temporary prostatic stent for the relief of prostatic urethral obstruction.

Objectives: To determine the effect of a novel temporary prostatic stent (The Spanner, AbbeyMoor Medical, Inc., Minnesota, USA) on variables of voiding function and quality of life among patients with prostatic urethral obstruction.

Patients And Methods: The stent design is very similar to the proximal 4-6 cm of a Foley catheter; this includes a proximal balloon to prevent distal displacement, a urine port situated cephalad to the balloon, and a reinforced stent of various lengths to span most of the prostatic urethra.

Gadolinium-enhanced MRI in the evaluation of minimally invasive treatments of the prostate: correlation with histopathologic findings.

Objectives: To explore the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with gadolinium enhancement as a noninvasive method to image the extent of ablation after minimally invasive treatment. Minimally invasive methods for ablating prostatic tissue have emerged as a viable option in the treatment of prostate disease. As these devices enter the mainstream of patient care, imaging methods that verify the exact location, extent, and pattern of the ablation are needed.

Fast liquid ablation system for prostatic hyperplasia: a new minimally invasive thermal treatment.

Purpose: We determined patient tolerance and the sequence of histopathological changes of thermal injury and healing of the prostate after treatment with a novel, rapid, high temperature, liquid filled, flexible balloon thermotherapy system.

Materials And Methods: A total of 17 patients scheduled for prostatic surgery received preoperative high temperature water balloon thermotherapy. In 13 patients intraprostatic, urethral and rectal temperatures were continuously monitored and determined using stereotactic thermal mapping with the patient under spinal anesthesia.

Histological changes of minimally invasive procedures for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostate cancer: clinical implications.

Purpose: Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is near universal in aging men, creating tremendous costs in morbidity and surgical treatment. In the last decade numerous nonsurgical minimally invasive methods have emerged for ablation of prostatic tissue.

Materials And Methods: We reviewed the recently published English language literature on minimally invasive techniques for treating BPH and cancer with an emphasis on histopathological findings.

Transurethral hot-water balloon thermoablation for benign prostatic hyperplasia: patient tolerance and pathologic findings.

Objectives: To determine the patient tolerance and thermal ablation pattern in human prostatic tissue after treatment with a hot water, catheter-based system.

Methods: Twenty-seven men scheduled for surgery for symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia or adenocarcinoma of the prostate underwent water-induced thermotherapy. The patients were randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups.

In vivo interstitial temperature mapping of the human prostate during cryosurgery with correlation to histopathologic outcomes.

Objectives: To determine the critical temperatures below which human prostatic tissue can be cryoablated in situ and the comparative cryoablative efficacy of single versus double-freeze cryosurgery.

Methods: Six patients with prostate cancer previously scheduled for prostatectomy underwent unilateral or bilateral cryosurgery using a single cryosurgery probe per hemiprostate. Intraprocedural interstitial prostatic temperatures were measured by thermocouple junctions placed at various radial distances from the probe.

Does transurethral microwave thermotherapy have a different effect on prostate cancer than on benign or hyperplastic tissue?

Objectives: Transurethral microwave thermotherapy is useful for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia, but its effect on cancer is not documented. We analyzed the pathologic changes occurring after microwave thermotherapy in whole mount radical prostatectomy specimens from patients with cancer.

Methods: Nine patients scheduled for radical prostatectomy for clinically localized prostate cancer were treated with transurethral microwave thermotherapy (Urologix Targis System).

Detailed interstitial temperature mapping during treatment with a novel transurethral microwave thermoablation system in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia.

Purpose: To delineate in detail the temperature changes in the prostate gland and adjacent structures during treatment with a newly designed microwave thermoablation system in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).

Materials And Methods: Microwave thermoablation treatment was administered to 22 BPH patients at two centers in the U.S.

Temperature-correlated histopathologic changes following microwave thermoablation of obstructive tissue in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia.

Objectives: To determine the intraprostatic pathologic changes following accurately measured doses of transurethral microwave thermal energy in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia.

Methods: Eight patients scheduled for prostate surgery were treated for approximately 1 hour without anesthesia using a newly designed microwave treatment catheter that allows a close impedance match to prostate tissue and concentrates thermal energy preferentially in the anterior and lateral prostate gland. Interstitial, urethral, and rectal temperatures were continuously measured using a novel stereotactic thermal mapping technique.

Transurethral radio frequency thermotherapy for symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia.

A total of 90 patients with symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) were treated with transurethral radio frequency thermotherapy. The treatment consisted of one 180-min session at 48 degrees C. All patients were evaluated before treatment and 80 (10 with urinary retention) were reevaluated at 3 months for follow-up.

Blunt liver trauma: an analysis of 75 treated patients.

The surgical management of 75 consecutive blunt liver injuries seen at the Albany Medical Center between 1969 and 1973 is reviewed and analyzed. The most common associated injury was right lower rib fractures which were found in one out of three patients. The spleen was the intra-abdominal organ most commonly injured (one out of four patients).