Learning curve for magnetic resonance imaging/ultrasound fusion prostate biopsy in detecting prostate cancer using cumulative sum analysis.

Background: Targeted magnetic resonance (MR) with ultrasound (US) fusion-guided biopsy has been shown to improve detection of prostate cancer. The implementation of this approach requires integration of skills from radiologists and urologists. Objective methods for assessment of learning curves, such as cumulative sum (CUSUM) analysis, may be helpful in identifying the presence and duration of a learning curve.

Early and late implications of COVID-19 on male reproductive health: 3 years of data.

Introduction: COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), caused by SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), has significantly affected global health. Research has shown that the virus can be found at high concentrations in male gonadal tissue. Yet, the virus's long-term implications on male reproductive health remains relatively unclear.

Validation of an MRI-based prostate cancer prebiopsy Gleason score predictive nomogram.

Background: Gleason score grading is a cornerstone of risk stratification and management of patients with prostate cancer (PCa). In this work, we derive and validate a nomogram that uses prostate multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (MP-MRI) and clinical patient characteristics to predict biopsy Gleason scores (bGS).

Materials And Methods: A predictive nomogram was derived from 143 men who underwent MP-MRI prior to any prostate biopsy and then validated on an independent cohort of 235 men from a different institution who underwent MP-MRI for PCa workup.

Peyronie's Disease: What About the Female Sexual Partner?

Introduction: Peyronie's disease (PD) is an acquired wound-healing disorder of the penis involving fibrosis and scar formation within the tunica albuginea that can lead to various penile deformities resulting in penile pain, sexual dysfunction, low self-esteem, and emotional distress. While many studies highlight the psychosocial impact of PD on the patient, little is known about the female partner's experience regarding PD and its management.

Objectives: To evaluate and summarize the available clinical data on the effects of the disease and its management on female sexual partners of patients with PD.

Performance of PI-RADS v2 assessment categories assigned prior to MR-US fusion biopsy in a new fusion biopsy program.

Objective: To validate the performance of PI-RADS v2 for detection of clinically significant prostate cancer (csPca, Gleason ≥7) within the context of a new fusion biopsy program.

Material And Methods: Patients with a PI-RADS v2 assessment category assigned on pre-biopsy mpMRI between March 2015 and November 2017 were identified. Diagnostic performance of PI-RADS v2 was calculated using fusion biopsy results as reference standard using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis.

Delineating the membrane-disrupting and seeding properties of the TDP-43 amyloidogenic core.

The amyloidogenic core in the TAR DNA-binding protein (TDP-43) C-terminal fragment has been characterized with its chemical, biochemical, and structural properties delineated. Various properties of the core sequence, including membrane impairment ability and the seeding effect, have also been studied.

Abnormalities in mitochondrial structure in cells from patients with bipolar disorder.

Postmortem, genetic, brain imaging, and peripheral cell studies all support decreased mitochondrial activity as a factor in the manifestation of Bipolar Disorder (BD). Because abnormal mitochondrial morphology is often linked to altered energy metabolism, we investigated whether changes in mitochondrial structure were present in brain and peripheral cells of patients with BD. Mitochondria from patients with BD exhibited size and distributional abnormalities compared with psychiatrically-healthy age-matched controls.

Structural parameterization and functional prediction of antigenic polypeptome sequences with biological activity through quantitative sequence-activity models (QSAM) by molecular electronegativity edge-distance vector (VMED).

Only from the primary structures of peptides, a new set of descriptors called the molecular electronegativity edge-distance vector (VMED) was proposed and applied to describing and characterizing the molecular structures of oligopeptides and polypeptides, based on the electronegativity of each atom or electronic charge index (ECI) of atomic clusters and the bonding distance between atom-pairs. Here, the molecular structures of antigenic polypeptides were well expressed in order to propose the automated technique for the computerized identification of helper T lymphocyte (Th) epitopes. Furthermore, a modified MED vector was proposed from the primary structures of polypeptides, based on the ECI and the relative bonding distance of the fundamental skeleton groups.

Expression of noradrenergic alpha1, serotoninergic 5HT2a and dopaminergic D2 receptors on neurons activated by typical and atypical antipsychotic drugs.

Antipsychotic agents produce activation of a subset of largely dynorphinergic/GABAergic neurons in the shell of nucleus accumbens (AcbShB), central amygdaloid nucleus (CeA) and midline thalamic central medial nucleus (CM) in rats. It is not known why these particular neurons respond to antipsychotic drugs. The present study tested the hypothesis that activated neurons bear subtypes of monoamine receptors to which antipsychotic drug are known to bind, including dopaminergic D2, serotoninergic 5HT2a and noradrenergic alpha1 receptors.

Cells in midline thalamus, central amygdala, and nucleus accumbens responding specifically to antipsychotic drugs.

Rationale: Determining brain regions in which neuroleptic drugs of different types produce similar effects, especially where these effects are not shared with drugs lacking antipsychotic efficacy, provides evidence as to how and where the clinical effects of neuroleptic drugs are mediated.

Objective: For this study, the pattern of expression of the protein Fos, a marker of cellular activation, was compared after administration of the typical neuroleptic haloperidol, the antipsychotic drug clozapine, and the atypical neuroleptic olanzapine, as well as the sedative drug diphenhydramine and the anxiolytic lorazepam.

Methods: Animals (Sprague-Dawley rats, three per cohort) received intraperitoneal injections of haloperidol (1 mg/kg), clozapine (20 mg/kg), olanzapine (5 mg/kg), diphenhydramine hydrochloride (1 mg/kg), lorazepam (5 mg/kg) or vehicle (2% lactic acid, 1 ml/kg).