Publications by authors named "Elena Berg"

Objective: To investigate the prognostic value of baseline health-related quality of life (HRQOL) for patients with intermediate-risk localized prostate cancer (IR-PCa) undergoing radical prostatectomy (RP).

Methods: 4780 patients with IR-PCa according to NCCN risk stratification were identified from a prospectively maintained database. All patients were treated with RP and had prospectively assessed baseline HRQOL.

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Objectives: While the impact of treatment with 5-alpha Reductase Inhibitors (5-ARI) on the risk of cancer-related mortality in men with prostate cancer (PC) has been extensively studied, little is known about the impact of preoperative 5-ARI use on patient-reported outcomes (PROs) following radical prostatectomy (RP).

Methods: Within our prospectively maintained institutional database of 5899 patients treated with RP for PC (2008- 2021), 99 patients with preoperative 5-ARI therapy were identified. A 1:4 propensity-score matched analysis of 442 men (n = 90 5-ARI, n = 352 no 5-ARI) was conducted.

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Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapies have been established as the standard-of-care in various uro-oncological cancers. Immune-related adverse events (irAEs) are frequent, but their degree rarely leads to the discontinuation of immunotherapies. Unplanned permanent treatment discontinuation may negatively impact the outcomes of patients, but there are emerging data about a positive correlation between emergence of severe irAEs and therapeutic cancer responses.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study analyzed in-hospital outcomes and trends for patients with low-flow and high-flow priapism using data from Germany's nationwide inpatient records between 2008-2021.
  • It included a total of 6,588 low-flow and 729 high-flow priapism cases, revealing an increase in low-flow cases requiring hospitalization and a decline in high-flow cases over recent years.
  • The findings indicated that 22.4% of low-flow patients required shunt surgery, especially among those with sickle cell disease, while high-flow cases were primarily managed conservatively, showing no significant differences in hospital stay or complications related to treatment.
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Purpose: Penile cancer is a rare entity and has a good prognosis in localized stage. Delayed surgical treatment of lymphatic disease is associated with poor overall survival but conventional imaging cannot detect occult lymph node metastasis sufficiently. Imaging cancer related fibroblasts has shown promising results as non-invasive staging tool in various tumor entities but has not yet been evaluated in penile cancer.

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Climate change is associated with the increase in both the mean and variability of thermal conditions. Therefore, the use of more realistic fluctuating thermal regimes is the most appropriate laboratory method for predicting population responses to thermal heterogeneity. However, the long- and short-term implications of evolving under such conditions are not well understood.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to evaluate the benefits of adding ultrasonography-guided biopsies (SBx) to multiparametric MRI-targeted biopsies for detecting clinically significant prostate cancer (csPCa) and to assess the risk of overdiagnosing clinically insignificant prostate cancer (ciPCa).
  • A total of 1552 men with positive MRI underwent both types of biopsies, revealing that SBx contributed to the detection of csPCa in 15% of cases where mpMRI-targeted biopsy either returned negative results or detected ciPCa.
  • The analysis indicated a 22% overdiagnosis rate from SBx, and factors like the presence of high-grade lesions (PI-RADS 4 and 5) and
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We aimed to assess the recommended annual hospital volume for inflatable penile prosthesis implantation (PPI) and to provide evidence on perioperative outcomes of semi-rigid and inflatable PPI in Germany. We used the GeRmAn Nationwide inpatient Data (GRAND) from 2005 to 2021 and report the largest study to date with 7,222 patients. 6,818 (94.

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Objective: Multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) -Ultrasound- fusion guided biopsy of the prostate (FBx) is the new gold standard for the detection of prostate cancer. Hallmark studies showing superior detection rates of FBx over randomized biopsies routinely excluded patients≥75 years and information on outcome of FBx on this patient cohort is sparse. As a large referral center, we have performed FBx on a substantial number of patients this age.

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Multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) has emerged as a new cornerstone in the diagnostic pathway of prostate cancer. However, mpMRI is not devoid of factors influencing its detection rate of clinically significant prostate cancer (csPCa). Amongst others, prostate volume has been demonstrated to influence the detection rates of csPCa.

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Objective: Over the last decade, active surveillance (AS) of low-risk prostate cancer has been increasing. The mpMRI fusion-guided biopsy of the prostate (FBx) is considered to be the gold standard in preoperative risk stratification. However, the role of FBx remains unclear in terms of risk stratification of low-risk prostate cancer outside high-volume centers.

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Objective: To determine the impact of asymptomatic bacteriospermia on semen quality in subfertile men.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective, single-centre cohort study in 1300 subfertile men. In those diagnosed with asymptomatic bacteriospermia we performed univariate and multivariate logistic regression models to evaluate the strain-specific association with semen parameters.

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Purpose: ExoDx Prostate IntelliScore (EPI) is a non-invasive urine exosome RNA-based test for risk assessment of high-grade prostate cancer. We evaluated the association of pre-biopsy test results with post-radical prostatectomy (RP) outcomes to understand the potential utility of EPI to inform invasive treatment vs active surveillance (AS) decisions.

Methods: Urine samples were collected from 2066 men scheduled for initial biopsy with PSA between 2 and 10 ng/mL, no history of prostate cancer, and ≥ 50 years across multiple clinical studies.

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Background: Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome (CP/CPPS) is a frequent disease affecting men of every age and accounting for a great number of consultations at urology departments. Previous studies suggested a negative impact of CP/CPPS on fertility. As increasing attention has been attributed to additional aspects, such as sperm DNA integrity and sperm protein alterations, besides the WHO standard semen analysis when assessing male fertility, in this prospective study, we aimed to further characterize the fertility status in CP/CPPS patients with a focus on these parameters.

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Human-induced environmental change can influence populations both at the global level through climatic warming and at the local level through habitat fragmentation. As populations become more isolated, they can suffer from high levels of inbreeding, which contributes to a reduction in fitness, termed inbreeding depression. However, it is still unclear if this increase in homozygosity also results in a corresponding increase in sensitivity to stressful conditions, which could intensify the already detrimental effects of environmental warming.

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Theory maintains within-group male relatedness can mediate sexual conflict by reducing male-male competition and collateral harm to females. We tested whether male relatedness can lessen female harm in the seed beetle . Male relatedness did not influence female lifetime reproductive success or individual fitness across two different ecologically relevant scenarios of mating competition.

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Introduction: Early identification of sepsis is critical as early treatment improves outcomes. We sought to identify threshold values of secretory phospholipase A2 (sPLA2)-IIA that predict sepsis and bacterial infection compared to nonseptic controls in an emergency department (ED) population.

Materials And Methods: This is a prospective cohort of consenting adult patients who met two or more systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) criteria with clinical diagnosis of infectious source likely (septic patients).

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Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) is associated with urinary tract symptoms and hormonal imbalances amongst others. The heterogeneous clinical presentation, unexplored molecular background and lack of prostate biopsies complicate therapy. Here, using liquid biopsies, we performed a comprehensive translational study on men diagnosed with CP/CPPS type III ( 50; median age 39.

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Intralocus sexual conflict (IaSC) is pervasive because males and females experience differences in selection but share much of the same genome. Traits with integrated genetic architecture should be reservoirs of sexually antagonistic genetic variation for fitness, but explorations of multivariate IaSC are scarce. Previously, we showed that upward artificial selection on male life span decreased male fitness but increased female fitness compared with downward selection in the seed beetle Callosobruchus maculatus.

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