Background: In addition to erectile dysfunction, urinary incontinence is the most common functional limitation after radical prostatectomy (RPE) for prostate cancer (PCa). The German S3 guideline recommends informing patients about possible effects of the therapy options, including incontinence. However, only little data on continence from routine care in German-speaking countries after RPE are currently available, which makes it difficult to inform patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe distance effect states that the closer two compared magnitudes (e.g., two numbers, physical attractiveness in two faces), the more difficult the comparison, and the greater the activity of the frontoparietal control network.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the world is ischemic heart disease. Physical activity is a major approach in prevention and therapy of cardiac diseases. Self-heart-rate-monitoring in daily life is an important point for health awareness of cardiac patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhosphodiesterase (PDE) enzymes are considered being key proteins in controlling the function of smooth musculature in the human urinary tract. The use of PDE inhibitors (PDE-Is) to treat erectile dysfunction and lower urinary tract symptomatology (LUTS) secondary to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is well established. It has been shown that PDE-Is can reverse the tension induced by means of muscarinergic agents of detrusor smooth muscle and enhance the production of cyclic nucleotides.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Although it has been supposed that the NO/cyclic GMP system produces inhibitory signals to reduce the resistance of the bladder outlet and urethra during the micturition phase, little is known on the mechanisms controlling the function of urethral smooth muscle. The aim of the present study was to examine in the male and female urethra the expression of phosphodiesterase (PDE) isoenzymes, known as key proteins of the cyclic GMP/AMP signaling.
Methods: Urethral tissue was obtained from 4 female cadavers and 7 male patients (who had undergone gender reassignment surgery).
It is widely accepted that disorders of the male (uro)genital tract, such as erectile dysfunction (ED) and benign diseases of the prostate (lower urinary tract symptomatology or benign prostatic hyperplasia), can be approached therapeutically by influencing the function of both the vascular and non-vascular smooth muscle of the penile erectile tissue or the transition zone/periurethral region of the prostate, respectively. As a result of the discovery of nitric oxide (NO) and cyclic guanosine monophosphate (GMP) as central mediators of penile smooth muscle relaxation, the use of drugs known to increase the local production of NO and/or elevate the intracellular level of the second messenger cyclic GMP have attracted broad attention in the treatment of ED of various etiologies. Specifically, the introduction of vasoactive drugs, including orally active inhibitors of the cyclic GMP-specific phosphodiesterase (PDE) 5, has offered great advantage in the pharmacotherapy of ED and other diseases of the genitourinary tract.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: People with severe illness often meet and compare themselves with other patients. Some of these comparison standards do well, others do poorly. Such comparisons could have positive as well as negative consequences depending on whether people identify or contrast from the standard.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: The benign prostatic syndrome, comprising lower urinary tract symptomatology secondary to benign prostatic hyperplasia/enlargement, represents a major health care issue in westernized countries. The pharmacological management involves alpha-adrenoceptor antagonists, intervention into the hormonal control of prostate growth using inhibitors of the enzyme 5-alpha-reductase, and stimulation of the nitric oxide/cyclic GMP pathway by tadalafil, an inhibitor of the phosphodiesterase type 5.
Methods: This review summarizes the achievements which have been made in the development of drug candidates assumed to offer opportunities as beneficial treatment options in the management of the benign prostatic syndrome.
The nitric oxide (NO) pathway plays a role in maintaining the function of the prostate. An impairment in the activity of the NO system may have an impact in the manifestation of lower urinary tract symptomatology and benign prostatic hyperplasia. Arginase enzymes (Arg) counteract the generation of NO by depleting the intracellular pool of L-arginine, known to be the substrate of the NO synthases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe ability to delay rewards is one of the most useful qualities one may wish to develop. People who possess this quality achieve more successful careers, display better interpersonal skills and are less vulnerable to psychopathology, obesity or addictions. In the present online studies, we investigated the extent to which delay-of-reward behaviors in female participants can be improved by observing others mastering it.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHelping often occurs in a broader social context. Every day, people observe others who require help, but also others who provide help. Research on goal contagion suggests that observing other people's goal-directed behavior (like helping) activates the same goal in the observer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Mobile technology gives researchers unimagined opportunities to design new interventions to increase physical activity. Unfortunately, it is still unclear which elements are useful to initiate and maintain behavior change.
Objective: In this meta-analysis, we investigated randomized controlled trials of physical activity interventions that were delivered via mobile phone.
-Nitrosothiols or thionitrites with the general formula RSNO are formally composed of the nitrosyl cation (NO) and a thiolate (RS), the base of the corresponding acids RSH. The smallest -nitrosothiol is HSNO and derives from hydrogen sulfide (HSH, HS). The most common physiological -nitrosothiols are derived from the amino acid L-cysteine (CysSH).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrevious research has demonstrated that comparing two persons activates a frontoparietal network associated with numbers and nonsocial magnitudes. However, it is unclear whether this network is also recruited by comparisons involving the self. Self-reflection engages self-serving motivations (e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSocial neuroscience aims to understand the biological systems that underlie people's thoughts, feelings and actions in light of the social context in which they operate. Over the past few decades, social neuroscience has captured the interest of scholars, practitioners, and experts in other disciplines, as well as the general public who more and more draw upon the insights and methods of social neuroscience to explain, predict and change behavior. With the popularity of the field growing, it has become increasingly important to consider the validity of social neuroscience findings as well as what questions it can and cannot address.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSubclinical narcissism is a personality trait with two faces: According to social-cognitive theories it is associated with grandiosity and feelings of superiority, whereas psychodynamic theories emphasize vulnerable aspects like fluctuating self-esteem and emotional conflicts. The psychodynamic view, however, is commonly not supported by self-report studies on subclinical narcissism. Personality neuroscience might help to better understand the phenomenon of narcissism beyond the limits of self-report research.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA wide array of social decisions relies on social comparisons. As such, these decisions require fast access to relative information. Therefore, we expect that signatures of the comparative process should be observable in electrophysiological components at an early stage of information processing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To investigate the expression and distribution of phosphodiesterase (PDE) isoenzymes PDE1A, PDE2A, PDE4A, PDE4B, and PDE5A in human urethral tissue.
Methods: Specimens of penile urethra were obtained from male subjects who had undergone male-to-female sex reassignment surgery. Using immunohistochemistry (immunofluorescence), the occurrence of PDE1A, PDE2A, PDE4A, PDE4B, and PDE5A, the neuronal nitric oxide synthase, calcitonin gene-related peptide, and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide was examined in urethral sections.
Int J Food Microbiol
March 2015
A major hurdle in producing a useful probiotic food product is bacterial survival during storage and ingestion. The aim of this study was to test the effect of γ-PGA immobilisation on the survival of probiotic bacteria when stored in acidic fruit juice. Fruit juices provide an alternative means of probiotic delivery, especially to lactose intolerant individuals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe so-called Induratio penis plastica (IPP), also known as Peyronie Disease or Morbus Peyronie, is the most common cause for deviation of the male penis. In most cases, the deviation is directed to the dorsal side. In face of a lawsuit related to a sexual offence, the opponent might argue that, due to an existing IPP, he is generally unable to insert his penis into a female's vagina.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhenever we interact with others, we judge them and whenever we make such judgments, we compare them with ourselves, other people, or internalized standards. Countless social psychological experiments have shown that comparative thinking plays a ubiquitous role in person perception and social cognition as a whole. The topic of social comparison has recently aroused the interest of social neuroscientists, who have begun to investigate its neural underpinnings.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExperimental and clinical studies have suggested a role for phosphodiesterase (PDE) isoenzymes in the control of the human lower urinary tract. This study aimed to investigate the expression of PDE isoenzymes and the effects of PDE inhibitors (PDE-Is) in isolated human urethral smooth muscle (USM). The expression of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) specifically encoding for PDE isoenzymes and isoforms (1A, 1B, 1C, 2A, 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 5A and 11A) was analyzed by means of reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExternal stress factors in the form of ionic species or temperature increases have been shown to produce a stress response leading to enhanced PHA production. The effect of five different NaCl concentrations, namely 3.5, 6.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To elucidate the functional responses of isolated human urethral smooth muscle to various agents known to exert smooth muscle contraction or relaxation.
Methods: Specimens of penile urethra were obtained from male patients who had undergone male-to-female gender reassignment surgery. Using the tissue bath technique, the contraction induced by increasing concentrations (1 nM-10 μM) of norepinephrine, phenylephrine, acetylcholine, carbachol, prostaglandin F2α, endothelin 1, angiotensin II, and oxytocin was measured.
The misfortunes of enviable individuals are met by observers with pleasure whereas those of "average", non-enviable individuals elicit pain. These responses are mirrored in deservingness judgments, as enviable individuals' misfortunes are perceived as deserved and those of non-enviable individuals perceived as undeserved. However, the neural underpinnings of these deservingness disparities remain unknown.
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