Long-term results of a prospective randomized trial comparing tension-free vaginal tape versus transobturator tape in stress urinary incontinence.

Introduction And Hypothesis: This study was aimed at investigating the long-term effectiveness of minimally invasive mid-urethral sling (MUS) surgery and at comparing the outcomes between retropubic (tension-free vaginal tape, TVT) and transobturator tape (TOT) methods in the treatment of stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and mixed urinary incontinence (MUI) with a predominant stress component in a long-term follow-up of a randomized controlled trial.

Methods: This work is a long-term follow-up study of a previous prospective randomized trial conducted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Oulu University Hospital between January 2004 and November 2006. The original 100 patients were randomized into the TVT (n=50) or TOT (n=50) group.

Bragg coherent diffraction imaging of single 20 nm Pt particles at the ID01-EBS beamline of ESRF.

Electronic or catalytic properties can be modified at the nanoscale level. Engineering efficient and specific nanomaterials requires the ability to study their complex structure-property relationships. Here, Bragg coherent diffraction imaging was used to measure the three-dimensional shape and strain of platinum nanoparticles with a diameter smaller than 30 nm, significantly smaller than any previous study.

The serum levels of circulating matrix metalloproteinase MMP-9, MMP-2/TIMP-2 complex and TIMP-1 do not change significantly during normal pregnancy: a pilot study.

Objective: Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are important regulators of vascular and uterine remodeling. They exhibit proteolytic activity implicating the efficiency of trophoblast invasion to the uterine wall involving marked hemodynamic and uterine changes. In this pilot study sera of 13 women with normal pregnancy was analyzed to evaluate the usage of MMPs as diagnostic tool.

Additively manufactured hierarchical stainless steels with high strength and ductility.

Many traditional approaches for strengthening steels typically come at the expense of useful ductility, a dilemma known as strength-ductility trade-off. New metallurgical processing might offer the possibility of overcoming this. Here we report that austenitic 316L stainless steels additively manufactured via a laser powder-bed-fusion technique exhibit a combination of yield strength and tensile ductility that surpasses that of conventional 316L steels.

Aqueous Bismuth Titanium-Oxo Sulfate Cluster Speciation and Crystallization.

Inorganic aqueous metal-oxo clusters are both functional "molecular metal oxides" and intermediates to understand metal oxide growth from water. There has been a recent surge in discovery of aqueous Ti-oxo clusters but without extensive solution characterization. We use small-angle and total X-ray scattering, dynamic light scattering, transmission electron microscopy, and a single-crystal X-ray structure to show that heterometals such as bismuth stabilize labile Ti-oxo sulfate clusters in aqueous solution.