Progression of null or mild lower urinary tract symptoms indicative of benign prostatic hyperplasia after 2 years of follow-up in non-treated men aged 40 years or older.

Objectives: After screening men aged 40 years or older for lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) indicative of benign prostatic hyperplasia over the years 1999 to 2000, non-treated men with an initial International Prostate Symptoms Score (I-PSS) equal to or lower than 2 were assessed 2 years later for symptom progression.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 1999 on 1804 men aged 40 years or older who were living in Madrid. In a telephone interview sociodemographic information was requested and LUTS assessed using the I-PSS.

Diagnostic validity of helical CT compared to ultrasonography in renal-ureteral colic.

Objectives: Helical CT without contrast is currently being evaluated for the diagnosis of renoureteral colic. Ureteral obstruction and other pathologies with similar symptoms can be rapidly identified. This study intends to evaluate the validity of CTh for these patients and to compare it with the ultrasound technique in order to consider the CTh as an efficient diagnostic alternative for these pathologies.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in UK primary care: incidence and risk factors.

We evaluated the association of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with modifiable risk factors such as smoking and prescription medications, and investigated possible risk factors unique to patients who had never smoked. The UK General Practice Research Database was used to identify a cohort of patients with a first diagnosis of COPD (n = 1927) along with age- and sex-matched controls without COPD (n = 16 546). The incidence of COPD diagnoses and the risks associated with medication use, co-morbidities, and demographic factors, were estimated.

Risk of upper gastrointestinal complications among users of traditional NSAIDs and COXIBs in the general population.

Background & Aims: Traditional nonaspirin, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (tNSAIDs) have been associated with a 3- to 5-fold increased risk in upper gastrointestinal complications (UGIC). Whether use of selective inhibitors of cyclooxygenase-2 (COXIBs) will translate into a clinically relevant reduced toxicity has not been widely investigated in the general population.

Methods: We conducted a nested case control study using The Health Improvement Network Database identifying 1561 cases of UGIC between January 2000 and 2005.

[Systematic review about the usefulness and prognostic value of the p53 oncoprotein and proliferation marker Ki-67 for upper urinary tract transitional cell carcinoma].

Objectives: To perform a systematic review on the expression and prognostic value of the p 53 oncoprotein and Ki 67 proliferation marker in transitional cell carcinoma of the upper urinary tract.

Methods: A systematic review of cohort, prospective and retrospective studies from 1/1/1990 to 11/24/2003 has been undertaken, performing a bibliographic search both manual and electronic in the main databases. 632 works were found using the keywords "ureter, renal and pelvis tumor", and 14 with "ureter, renal and pelvis tumor, and immunohistochemical".

[Writing an original research article].

Publication of a scientific work is the final and obligatory stage of any research. Among the various existing types of medical publications, the research original article is the prototype of scientific article. Its finality is to communicate the investigation undertaken to the reader in a coherent, clear and precise manner.

[Design and analysis of a study on reliability and validity of diagnostic tests in urological clinical research].

Diagnosis is a process characterized by uncertainty, which the researcher can approach through knowledge based on the theory of probability, and, as such, it is part of the general decision-making process. To use a test is a process that helps to confirm or refuse the initial probability of the patient to be sick. In this article, we analyze the essential characteristics of diagnostic tests and the principles of effective evaluation of the studies about these tests.

[Choosing study design in urologic research].

The design of an epidemiological study includes the procedures, methods and techniques by which the researcher tries to obtain valid (avoiding systematic errors or bias) and precise (avoiding random errors) answers to the research question posed. This principal question aimed to be answered is the specific objective of the study, which guides the election of an adequate type of design. The objective of this article is to describe the classification criteria (finality, temporal sequence, directionality, and control of the assignation of different study factors) of the different types of epidemiological studies (experimental, almost-experimental, and observational) and the main advantages, disadvantages, utilities and objectives of each investigation design.

[Statistics as support tool and not as a decision tool].

The use of statistics in medical articles has risen a lot during the last decades, however it is used in a thoughtless manner in many instances. Today, Statistics is the only tool that allows the medical researcher to obtain results and benefits from those studies the relationships of which can not be interpreted from a determinist perspective, because it is a branch of applied mathematics objective of which is to manage and quantify the uncertainty of the available information, to support decision taking. The objective of this article is to review the basic statistical concepts that every doctor should know to be able to perform and/or detect quality research, as well as to underline the most frequent errors committed when interpreting statistical results.

[Variable measurement in urologic clinical research].

Epidemiology develops measurements that allow to quantify the occurrence of disease within the population. There are three types of measurements: frequency measurements, explained in this article; association measurements, between the occurrence of disease and some characteristics, the effect of which on the disease is what they intend to measure; and measurements of the potential impact that modification or disappearance of some risk factors would have on the occurrence of disease in the population. The first objective of epidemiological studies is the knowledge of the frequency of disease.