Comparative analysis of 1152 African-American and European-American men with prostate cancer identifies distinct genomic and immunological differences.

Racial disparities in prostate cancer have not been well characterized on a genomic level. Here we show the results of a multi-institutional retrospective analysis of 1,152 patients (596 African-American men (AAM) and 556 European-American men (EAM)) who underwent radical prostatectomy. Comparative analyses between the race groups were conducted at the clinical, genomic, pathway, molecular subtype, and prognostic levels.

Survival After Robotic-assisted Prostatectomy for Localized Prostate Cancer: An Epidemiologic Study.

Backgrounds: To determine the potential survival benefit associated with robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP) compared to open radical prostatectomy (ORP) for prostate cancer.

Summary Of Background Data: RALP has become the dominant surgical approach for localized disease in the absence of randomized clinical evidence and despite of the factor that RALP is more expensive than ORP.

Methods: We performed a cohort study involving patients who underwent RALP and ORP for localized prostate cancer at the Commission on Cancer- accredited hospitals in the United States.

Improving risk stratification in a community-based African American population using cell cycle progression score.

Background: Current clinical nomograms such as American Urological Association/National Comprehensive Cancer Network (AUA/NCCN) risk categories or CAPRA may not always reflect prostate cancer (PCa) risk among African American men. We evaluated the usefulness of adding a commercially available cell cycle progression (CCP) score to improve risk stratification in a community-based African American population.

Methods: Biopsy tissues from 150 African American and 60 Caucasian men were obtained from a single community urologic oncology practice in Memphis, TN.

Better Prepare Than React: Reordering Public Health Priorities 100 Years After the Spanish Flu Epidemic.

This commentary argues that 100 years after the deadly Spanish flu, the public health emergency community's responses to much more limited pandemics and outbreaks demonstrate a critical shortage of personnel and resources. Rather than relying on nonpharmaceutical interventions, such as quarantine, the United States must reorder its health priorities to ensure adequate preparation for a large-scale pandemic.

Diverging views on health information exchange organizations.

Introduction: Health information exchange (HIE) capabilities meet the demands for a more effective, efficient, and safer health care system. However, organizations and individual providers have pursued different strategies to meet their respective needs for HIE capabilities. Because effective information sharing is necessary to a learning health system, this study sought to explore the perceptions of different approaches' effect on key features of an effective health care system.

Normal mode dynamics of voltage-gated K(+) channels: gating principle, opening mechanism, and inhibition.

Voltage-dependent potassium channels open in response to changes in membrane potential and become partially inactivated upon binding of inhibitors. Here we calculate normal mode motion of two voltage-dependent K(+) channels, KvAP and Shaker, and their complexes with inhibitors and address the gating principle, opening mechanism, and inhibition. The normal modes indicate that pore expansion and channel opening is correlated with a displacement of the arginine gating charges and a tilting of the voltage-sensor paddles.

Alternative technique for laparoscopic port-site closure.

Abstract 0-polyglactin suture into the abdomen via a puncture through the rectus fascia parallel to the fascia defect under visual guidance. Second, we perform a similar puncture with the tonsil forceps on the opposite side of the fascia defect under direct vision to grasp the suture. This cost-effective maneuver is safe and eliminates the need for ancillary port-site closure devices.

Penile stump advancement as an alternative to perineal urethrostomy after penile amputation.

Purpose: We describe a method for avoiding perineal urethrostomy, and maintaining penile cosmesis and function after penile amputation.

Materials And Methods: Penile reconstruction was performed in 1 patient with traumatic total amputation of the penis and 1 undergoing near total penectomy for carcinoma by advancing the penile stump and covering the resultant phallus with rotational full thickness scrotal flaps.

Results: Both patients were able to void while standing, and have intact sensation and erectile capability in the residual neophallus.

The University of Tennessee experience with the Indigo 830e laser device for the minimally invasive treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia: interim analysis.

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is the most common benign tumor in men and is responsible for urinary symptoms in the majority of men older than 50 years of age. Although transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) is the gold standard, its complications have impacted upon its utility. As a consequence, new pharmacologic and minimally invasive approaches to the management of BPH have been developed.

The prostate anesthetic block for outpatient prostate surgery.

With the emergence of minimally invasive techniques for the treatment of benign prostate hyperplasia and the need to reduce health care costs, a simple and effective prostate anesthetic block may allow more procedures to be done in an outpatient or office setting. As based on neuroanatomy studies of the prostate, the perineal approach appeared to be the best way to anesthetize the prostate. This technique was used in 43 patients who underwent interstitial laser coagulation an outpatient or office setting.

Cigarette smoke augments asbestos-induced alveolar epithelial cell injury: role of free radicals.

Cigarette smoke augments asbestos-induced bronchogenic carcinoma by mechanisms that are not established. Alveolar epithelial cell (AEC) injury due to oxidant-induced DNA damage and depletion of glutathione (GSH) and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) may be one important mechanism. We previously showed that amosite asbestos-induces hydroxyl radical production and DNA damage to cultured AEC and that phytic acid, an iron chelator, is protective.

The role of urinary potassium in the pathogenesis and diagnosis of interstitial cystitis.

Purpose: We determined whether intravesical potassium absorption in normal bladders correlates with increased sensory urgency, and corroborated the hypothesis that mucus is important in the regulation of epithelial permeability. We compared sensory nerve provocative ability of sodium versus potassium, and determined whether intravesical potassium sensitivity discriminates patients with interstitial cystitis from normal subjects and those with other sensory disorders of the bladder.

Materials And Methods: A total of 231 patients with interstitial cystitis and 41 normal subjects underwent intravesical challenge with 40 ml.

IL-12 gene therapy protects mice in lethal Klebsiella pneumonia.

IL-12 is a proinflammatory cytokine that has recently been shown to have beneficial effects in the setting of acquired host immunity. To determine the role of IL-12 in innate immunity against Gram-negative bacterial organisms, CBA/J mice were challenged with 10(2) CFU of Klebsiella pneumoniae intratracheally (i.t.

Expression and regulation of chemokines in acute bacterial pneumonia.

Effective host defense against bacterial invasion is characterized by the vigorous recruitment and activation of inflammatory cells, which are dependent upon the coordinated expression of both pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines. In this study, we have demonstrated that both C-X-C and C-C chemokines are integral components of antibacterial host defense. Specifically, studies in vitro indicate that macrophage inflammatory protein-2 (MIP-2) and MIP-1 alpha augment the ability of PMN and alveolar macrophages, respectively, to phagocytose and kill Escherichia coli.

Expression and regulation of chemokines in bacterial pneumonia.

Effective host defense against bacterial invasion is characterized by the vigorous recruitment and activation of inflammatory cells which is dependent on the coordinated expression of both pro and anti-inflammatory cytokines. In this review, we present evidence indicating that both C-X-C and C-C chemokines are integral components of antibacterial host defense. Specifically, in vitro studies indicate that C-X-C chemokines [interleukin-8 (IL-8) and macrophage inflammatory protein 2 (MIP-2) and the C-C chemokine macrophage inflammatory protein 1 alpha (MIP-1 alpha) augment the ability of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) and alveolar macrophages, respectively, to phagocytose and kill Escherichia coli.

Neutralization of macrophage inflammatory protein-2 attenuates neutrophil recruitment and bacterial clearance in murine Klebsiella pneumonia.

The role of macrophage inflammatory protein-2 (MIP-2) in bacterial pneumonia was characterized. Mice were challenged with Klebsiella pneumoniae intratracheally, and organs were harvested at 8, 24, and 48 h. Inoculation with K.

Macrophage inflammatory protein-1 alpha mediates lung leukocyte recruitment, lung capillary leak, and early mortality in murine endotoxemia.

Systemic exposure to LPS initiates a complex sequence of events resulting in organ-specific leukocyte recruitment and end-organ injury. We hypothesized that macrophage inflammatory protein-1 alpha (MIP-1 alpha), a C-C chemokine with leukocyte chemotactic and activating properties, may play an important role in lung inflammatory cell recruitment, subsequent lung injury, and mortality in endotoxemia. CD-1 mice were challenged with LPS (200 micrograms), resulting in a maximal 3.

Neutralization of IL-10 increases survival in a murine model of Klebsiella pneumonia.

Effective host defense against bacterial infection is dependent upon the vigorous recruitment and activation of neutrophils and macrophages. We hypothesized that IL-10 is produced in the setting of bacterial pneumonia, and this cytokine may attenuate host defense by inhibiting the expression of important activating and chemotactic cytokines. CD-1 mice were challenged with either 30 microliters of saline or saline containing 10(3) CFUs of Klebsiella pneumoniae intratracheally (i.

Compartmentalized expression of RANTES in a murine model of endotoxemia.

Systemic exposure to LPS initiates a complex sequence of events culminating in organ-specific leukocyte recruitment and end organ injury. We hypothesized that RANTES, a C-C chemokine with potent M phi (mononuclear phagocyte) chemotactic activity, is expressed in vivo in response to endotoxemia, and that this protein may play an important role in the recruitment of M phi to the lung. CD-1 mice were challenged with LPS (200 micrograms), resulting in a maximal fourfold increase in polymorphonuclear leukocyte (neutrophils) at 6 h post LPS, and a 2.