Surgical Technique for Retroperitoneoscopic Nephrectomy: A case report.

A case of right non-functioning kidney secondary to chronic pyelonephritis is presented. The successful management through retroperitoneoscopic nephrectomy is described, emphasising the technique of this minimally invasive therapeutic option.

Erectile dysfunction among hypertensive men in a rapidly developing country.

Background: Previous studies have supported the association between hypertension and erectile dysfunction (ED). In addition, a significant correlation between hypertension in men and ED has been well established.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of ED, its severity and other sexual function domains in hypertensive patients in Qatar.

Biophysical and anthropogenic controls of forest fires in the Deccan Plateau, India.

Forest fires constitute one of the most serious environmental problems in several forested regions of India. In the Indian sub-continent, relatively few studies have focused on the assessment of biophysical and anthropogenic controls of forest fires at a landscape scale and the spatial aspects of these relationships. In this study, we used fire count data sets from satellite remote sensing data covering 78 districts over four different states of the Deccan Plateau, India, for assessing the underlying causes of fires.

Exploring the relationship between hydrologic parameters and nutrient loads using digital elevation model and GIS - a case study from Sugarcreek headwaters, Ohio, U.S.A.

Ohio is typical among the Midwestern and Eastern United States with high levels of water pollutants, the main sources being from agriculture. In this study, we used a digital elevation model in conjunction with hydrological indices to determine the role of landscape complexity affecting the spatial and temporal variation in pollutant levels, in one of the most impaired headwater streams in Ohio. More than eighty five percent of the study area is dominated by agriculture.

Climatic controls of vegetation vigor in four contrasting forest types of India--evaluation from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer datasets (1990-2000).

Ten-day advanced very high resolution radiometer images from 1990 to 2000 were used to examine spatial patterns in the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and their relationships with climatic variables for four contrasting forest types in India. The NDVI signal has been extracted from homogeneous vegetation patches and has been found to be distinct for deciduous and evergreen forest types, although the mixed-deciduous signal was close to the deciduous ones. To examine the decadal response of the satellite-measured vegetation phenology to climate variability, seven different NDVI metrics were calculated using the 11-year NDVI data.

Regional inventory of soil surface nitrogen balances in Indian agriculture (2000-2001).

Nitrogen regulates several ecological and biogeochemical processes and excess reactive nitrogen in the environment can lead to pollution problems, including the deterioration of air quality, disruption of forest processes, acidification of lakes and streams, and degradation of coastal waters. Much of the excess nitrogen inputs are related to food and energy production. An important step to understanding the sources of nitrogen and ultimately defining solutions to excess nitrogen is to describe the geographic distribution of agricultural nitrogen contributions from different regions.

Percutaneous removal of encapsulated foreign body from the peritoneum.

A novel method of removal of a walled off foreign body in the peritoneum using the percutaneous nephroscope is presented.