Mechanical response of the porcine temporomandibular joint disc to an impact event and repeated tensile loading.

Aims: To test for orthotropy in the stress-strain behavior of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disc under repeated physiologic loading before and after an impact event.

Methods: Two groups, each consisting of 10 discs, were subjected to repeated tensile cycling in the dorsoventral (group 1) and mediolateral (group 3) direction. Two additional groups, each consisting of 10 discs, had preconditioning in the form of a 1.

Acupuncture ameliorates symptoms in men with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome.

Objectives: To determine in a pilot study whether acupuncture improved pain, voiding symptoms, and the quality of life of men with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome.

Methods: Men diagnosed with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (National Institutes of Health [NIH] criteria) who were refractory to standard therapy (antibiotics, alpha-blockers, anti-inflammatories, phytotherapy) were referred for acupuncture therapy. The treatment protocol involved three sets of acupuncture points totaling 30 points (8 points were electrically stimulated) given alternatively twice weekly for 6 weeks.

Classification and diagnosis of prostatitis: a gold standard?

The National Institutes of Health Classification System for prostatitis has now been accepted by the North American and International urology community. This categorization system consists of category I (acute bacterial prostatitis), category II (chronic bacterial prostatitis), category III (chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome - CP/CPPS) and category IV asymptomatic inflammatory prostatitis. The evaluation of a patient with category I and category II bacterial prostatitis consists of history and physical examination and urine culture for lower urinary tract localization cultures, respectively.

Benign prostatic hyperplasia: from A - Z.

The management of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) secondary to benign prostatic hyperplasia over the last decade underwent many changes. The introduction of many medical options including alpha blockers and 5 alpha reductase inhibitors provided alternatives to what used to be surgery or "watchful waiting". Alpha blockers evolved over the years from non specific alpha 1, and 2 blockers to alpha 1 selective and then to alpha 1a selective with a wider acceptance due to lack of need to titrate and a better safety profile.

Fully hydrated images of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm on the surface of catheter material.

We examined the applicability of environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) for non-invasive imaging of intact bacterial biofilms. Fully hydrated images of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms developing on the silicon disks in an in vitro experimental model were detected simply but clearly by ESEM and CLSM. Three-dimensional spatial images of the bioflims were obtained by ESEM using specimens with neither drying nor conductive coating.

What the prostate cancer patient should know: variations in urologists' opinions.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the questions that treating Ontario urologists think should be addressed with patients who have curable prostate cancer before treatment decisions are made. METHODS: All Ontario (Canada) urologists (179) were given a scenario describing a case of curable prostate cancer and asked to judge the importance, using one of four categories (essential/important/no opinion/avoid), of addressing each of 78 questions. RESULTS: Ninety-seven (54%) of urologists completed the survey.

Clinical ligation forces and intraoral friction during sliding on a stainless steel archwire.

The efficiency of tooth movement associated with some orthodontic mechanics can be compromised by friction between archwire and bracket. This study examined the effects of bracket ligation forces (F(N Ligation)) and mastication on friction when sliding a bracket along an archwire. Preliminary data from 5 orthodontists and 5 orthodontic residents characterized average tight and loose stainless steel F(N Ligation).

Recommendations for the evaluation of patients with prostatitis.

Prostatitis is a prevalent, confusing and frustrating clinical presentation for urologists. Three recent international and North American consensus meetings have drafted suggestions for the evaluation of a man presenting with prostatitis. Published consensus statements from the 2000 Washington meeting of the International Prostatitis Collaborative Network, the 2002 Virginia meeting of the National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Collaborative Research Network and the 2002 Giessen meeting of the International Consensus Conference on Advances in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Prostatitis were examined to develop suggestions for evaluation of the prostatitis patient by urologists.

A randomized, placebo controlled, multicenter study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of rofecoxib in the treatment of chronic nonbacterial prostatitis.

Purpose: We determine the effects of treatment with rofecoxib and placebo in patients with chronic prostatitis.

Materials And Methods: Patients diagnosed with chronic nonbacterial prostatitis were randomized to 6 weeks of 25 or 50 mg., rofecoxib or placebo in a double-blind multicenter study with a 1-week run in of placebo.

Longer term effects of ouabain on the contractility of rat isolated cardiomyocytes and on the expression of Ca and Na regulating proteins.

Cardiac glycosides like ouabain are used in the therapy of heart failure and atrial fibrillation. They exert a positive inotropic effect on cardiomyocytes by inhibiting the plasma membrane sodium pump (Na,K-ATPase), decreasing the Ca-extrusion by the sarcolemmal cardiac sodium/calcium exchanger (NCX) and increasing the intracellular Ca-concentration and Ca-release during subsequent contraction cycles.The longer term effects of ouabain treatment on the expression of proteins important for Ca- and Na-homeostasis are not well known and were investigated in this study.

Human masticatory muscle forces during static biting.

Muscle forces determine joint loads, but the objectives governing the mix of muscle forces involved are unknown. This study tested the hypothesis that masticatory muscle forces exerted during static biting are consistent with objectives of minimization of joint loads (MJL) or muscle effort (MME). To do this, we compared numerical model predictions with data measured from six subjects.

Treatment of phimosis with topical steroids in 194 children.

Purpose: Topical steroids have been advocated as an effective economical alternative to circumcision in boys with phimosis. We evaluated the effectiveness of topical steroid therapy as primary treatment in 194 patients with phimosis.

Methods: Between January 1996 and November 2000, 228 boys 16 years old or younger were referred for consideration of circumcision.

Small intestinal submucosa versus salt-extracted polyglycolic acid-poly-L-lactic acid: a comparison of neocartilage formed in two scaffold materials.

This study sought to compare differences in neocartilage produced over time from two types of resorbable scaffold materials. One material was entirely synthetic and contained a polyglycolic acid-poly-L-lactic acid matrix (PGA-PLLA). The second scaffold material was bioactive and consisted of a four-layered construct of porcine small intestinal submucosa (SIS).

Clinical evaluation of the man with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome.

The various investigative procedures used in clinical, laboratory, and imaging evaluations for the patient presenting with chronic pelvic pain are discussed and categorized as mandatory, recommended, or optional procedures. These categories primarily serve to rule out underlying pathology because there is no diagnostic test for chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS). Mandatory category investigations should be performed in all patients with CPPS, and those procedures categorized as recommended or optional are generally prompted by specific findings in the history or physical examination, or by poor response to standard therapies.

Overview summary statement. Diagnosis and management of chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS).

Members of the Chronic Prostatitis Collaborative Research Network (CPCRN) met in a 1-day symposium to review recent findings and to debate unanswered issues in the diagnosis and management of chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS). The meeting was focused on producing an overview summary statement that would, as nearly as possible, represent the consensus views of the attendees. As discussed below, the participants agreed that a history, physical examination, and urinalysis/urine culture are mandatory for the evaluation of all patients presenting with CP/CPPS, with other assessments categorized as recommended or optional, depending on the history and physical findings.

Medical therapy for BPH: expanding our treatment paradigm?

Medical therapy for relief of symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is now a clinical reality. The challenge for urologists treating BPH with medical therapy is how to rationally employ the two proven classes of medications,the alpha blockers and finasteride, in their practice. To accomplish this, we must critically examine the results of multiple important clinical BPH trials published over the last decade and examine the short and long term effect of the various available medical therapies on symptoms, objective progression and consequences of the disease process and whether evidence based indicators will allow us to choose appropriate therapies.

Prostatitis-like symptoms: one year later.

Objectives: To re-survey (after 1 year) men identified in 1999 as having perineal and/or ejaculatory pain/discomfort severe enough to suggest a clinical diagnosis of chronic prostatitis (using the National Institutes of Health-Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index, NIH-CPSI), and to compare them with an age-matched population of men who had no prostatitis-like symptoms in the initial survey, to determine the effect of time on specific symptoms associated with the diagnosis of chronic prostatitis.

Subjects And Methods: A comprehensive questionnaire incorporating the pain and voiding domains of the NIH-CPSI, and data on demographics, medical history, socio-economic status, health-seeking behaviour and a quality of life assessment, was sent to 67 men who had reported prostatitis-like symptoms in the 1999 survey, and to 202 age-matched controls (1 : 3) who reported no prostatitis-like symptoms in the same survey.

Results: Forty men (60%) with previous prostatitis-like symptoms, i.

Efficacy and safety of a dual inhibitor of 5-alpha-reductase types 1 and 2 (dutasteride) in men with benign prostatic hyperplasia.

Objectives: To study the efficacy and safety of dutasteride, a dual inhibitor of the 5-alpha-reductase isoenzymes types I and II.

Methods: A total of 4325 men (2951 completed) with clinical benign prostatic hyperplasia, moderate to severe symptoms (American Urological Association-Symptom Index score of 12 points or greater), a peak flow rate of 15 mL/s or less, a prostate volume of 30 cm3 or greater (as measured by transrectal ultrasonography), and a serum prostate-specific antigen level of 1.5 to 10.

Passively acquired treponemal antibody from intravenous immunoglobulin therapy in a pregnant patient.

Intravenous immunoglobulin is purified, concentrated immunoglobulin G antibodies pooled from human blood donors. The passive transmission of various antibodies from intravenous immunoglobulin has been reported. However, to the best of our knowledge, there are no reports of acquisition of treponemal antibody from immunoglobulin therapy.

Leukocyte and bacterial counts do not correlate with severity of symptoms in men with chronic prostatitis: the National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Cohort Study.

Purpose: We examine whether leukocytes and bacteria correlate with symptom severity in men with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome.

Materials And Methods: All 488 men screened into the National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Cohort Study before close of recruitment on August 22, 2001 were selected for analysis. The National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index, including subscores, were used to measure symptoms.

[Diagnostic imaging and therapy of chondroblastoma].

The chondroblastoma is a rare lytic osseous lesion, which is typically to be found in the epiphyses of the long tubular bones. We present a case report with the differential diagnostic imaging and the surgical therapy of a chondroblastoma of the proximal tibial epiphysis. A 16-year-old male presented in the traumatological accident and emergency centre with knee pain of unclear origin that had been increasing for several months.

Cytologic evaluation of urine is important in evaluation of chronic prostatitis.

Objectives: Cytologic examination of the urine has not been a recommended part of the diagnostic workup for patients presenting with chronic prostatitis. We identified 3 patients referred to our tertiary Prostatitis Research Clinic who had carcinoma in situ of the bladder discovered after evaluation of urine cytology.

Methods: One hundred fifty consecutive patients referred to the Queen's University Prostatitis Clinic during 2000 and 2001 underwent extensive evaluation, including collection of urine specimen for cytologic examination if they also had symptoms compatible with interstitial cystitis (urinary frequency, urgency, and suprapubic pain).

Demographic and clinical characteristics of men with chronic prostatitis: the national institutes of health chronic prostatitis cohort study.

Purpose: We describe the study design of the National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Cohort (CPC) study characterizing men with chronic prostatitis/the chronic pelvic pain syndrome.

Materials And Methods: All 488 men screened into the CPC study before close of recruitment on August 22, 2001 were selected for analysis. The National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index, including subscores, was used to measure symptoms.