Assessing the Utility of Ultrasound and Urinalysis for Patients with Possible Epididymo-Orchitis - A Retrospective Study.

Purpose: Many experts recommend ordering an ultrasound and a urinalysis on all patients with scrotal pain. While the ultrasound may help diagnose a number of potential causes of scrotal pain, the urinalysis primarily has value in assessing for epididymo-orchitis. This study sought to evaluate the utility of these diagnostic tests for patients who presented to the emergency department (ED) with acute scrotal pain and possible epididymo-orchitis.

New opportunities for the management and therapy of hepatitis C in correctional settings.

Hepatitis C in prison populations is now a major public health problem, and large numbers of correctional facilities have no comprehensive management program, often because of formidable projected costs and tightening budget constraints. The North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has operated a management and therapy program since 2002 using consensus interferon and ribavirin with 45% cost savings. The program has provided excellent sustained viral responses: 54.

Photosynthetic responses of plant communities to sand burial on the machair dune systems of the outer hebrides, Scotland.

Background And Aims: The effects of both short-term (2 weeks) and long-term (6 weeks) burial on the photosynthetic efficiency of four typical plant sub-communities of the machair sand dunes of the Outer Hebrides are described. Previous studies have examined the photosynthetic responses on individual species rather than the response at the community level.

Methods: Three replicate turves from four different sub-community types (foredune grassland, dune slack, three-year fallow and unploughed grassland) were subjected to short- and long-term burial treatments after acclimatisation in an unheated greenhouse for approximately 10 weeks.

Antifungal activity in seed coat extracts of woodland plants.

Aqueous extracts from seeds of four woodland ground flora species (Hyacinthoides non-scripta, Allium ursinum, Digitalis purpurea and Hypericum pulchrum) were tested for antifungal activity using a petriplate technique. Four species of fungi were investigated. The growth of three of these (Trichoderma viride, Rhizoctonia solani and Pythium sp.