Genetic risk for major depressive disorder and loneliness in sex-specific associations with coronary artery disease.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) and loneliness are phenotypically and genetically correlated with coronary artery disease (CAD), but whether these associations are explained by pleiotropic genetic variants or shared comorbidities is unclear. To tease apart these scenarios, we first assessed the medical morbidity pattern associated with genetic risk factors for MDD and loneliness by conducting a phenome-wide association study in 18,385 European-ancestry individuals in the Vanderbilt University Medical Center biobank, BioVU. Polygenic scores for MDD and loneliness were developed for each person using previously published meta-GWAS summary statistics, and were tested for association with 882 clinical diagnoses ascertained via billing codes in electronic health records.

Can the idealized voider derived flow indexes be a measure of voiding efficiency and how accurate are they?

Objective: Our hypothesis was to confirm whether an idealized voider flow equation (IVFE) that we created is more accurate than trying to rely on estimated flow rates in the same patient in two consecutive voids. We also looked to confirm whether flow index (FI) can be a proxy for voiding efficiency and to identify which FI was best; those based off our own IVFE equations or those derived from the commonly used power equations.

Study Design: We used data from a previous study and calculated flow rates using our IVFE and the power equations.

Can a quantitative means be used to predict flow patterns: Agreement between visual inspection vs. flow index derived flow patterns.

Introduction: Uroflowmetry is a first-line tool in the evaluation of children with lower urinary tract symptoms. Unfortunately, there is a tremendous amount of intra- and interobserver variation in defining the shape of curves. Regrettably, one observer can see one flow as a tower and the other can call it a bell.

Improving the accuracy of wide resection of bone tumors and enhancing implant fit: A cadaveric study.

Background/aims: Customized three-dimensional (3-D) jigs have been shown to increase the accuracy of skeletal tumor resection in comparison to freehand techniques. However, the utility of these jigs in subsequently enhancing the fit of endoprosthetic implants has yet to be determined. We hypothesized that custom jigs would improve implant fit compared to freehand resection.

Can a simple question predict prolonged uroflow lag times in children?

Objective: It is our experience that some children with bowel and bladder dysfunction (BBD) who have bladder neck dysfunction had a tendency to complain of dizziness when we subjected the patients with dizziness to tilt-table testing to confirm the diagnosis of autonomic dysfunction. From these findings we postulated that patients who complain of dizziness are likely to have prolonged lag times that are a proxy for bladder neck dysfunction (BND).

Study Design: This was an Institute Review Board-approved study in which we enrolled new patients in a sequential fashion who were referred to our outpatient urology offices for evaluation of BBD over a 3-month period.

Are seasonal and income variations accountable for bowel and bladder dysfunction symptoms in children?

Aims: Certain illnesses tend to occur more commonly at certain times of the year. It is also known that individuals of different socioeconomic groups have a predilection for physical ailments that in some cases may be related to poor access to healthcare or may be related to environmental or work related causes. We hypothesized that there may be a difference between patients from season to season and from different socioeconomic groups and their presenting lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS).

A quantitative approach to the interpretation of uroflowmetry in children.

Purpose: We hypothesized that by correcting for volume and creating a flow index (FI) we could develop a reproducible and reliable means to estimate flows in children without the use of a flow nomogram. Our second hypothesis was that this volume corrected FI could define objective parameters for the different flow curves that are described in the ICCS document.

Methods: Uroflowmetry curves of 1,268 healthy children were analyzed.