A prospective, randomized, placebo controlled, double-blind study of pelvic electromagnetic therapy for the treatment of chronic pelvic pain syndrome with 1 year of followup.

Purpose: Male chronic pelvic pain syndrome is a condition of uncertain etiology and treatment is often unsatisfactory. There is evidence that the symptom complex may result from pelvic floor muscular dysfunction and/or neural hypersensitivity/inflammation. We hypothesized that the application of electromagnetic therapy may have a neuromodulating effect on pelvic floor spasm and neural hypersensitivity.

Effects of leptin on intracellular calcium concentrations in isolated porcine somatotropes.

Leptin, the product of the obese gene, is a protein that is secreted primarily from adipocytes. Leptin can influence the function of the pituitary gland through its action on the hypothalamus, but it can also directly act at the level of the pituitary gland. The ability of leptin to induce an increase in intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) in somatotropes was examined in dispersed porcine pituitary cells using a calcium imaging system.

A polyamidoamine dendrimer-capped mesoporous silica nanosphere-based gene transfection reagent.

We synthesized a MCM-41-type mesoporous silica nanosphere (MSN)-based gene transfection system, where second generation (G2) polyamidoamines (PAMAMs) were covalently attached to the surface of MSN. The G2-PAMAM-capped MSN material (G2-MSN) was used to complex with a plasmid DNA (pEGFP-C1) that encodes for an enhanced green fluorescence protein. The gene transfection efficacy, uptake mechanism, and biocompatibility of the G2-MSN system with various cell types, such as neural glia (astrocytes), human cervical cancer (HeLa), and Chinese hamster ovarian (CHO) cells, were investigated.

The secret of the phantom stone: a case report.

A 50-year old man, who has a history of allergies to i.v. contrast and NSAID, was presented with right renal colic.

Excision as treatment of dermal melanomatosis in horses: 11 cases (1994-2000).

Objective: To determine whether excision was an acceptable treatment for dermal melanomatosis in horses.

Design: Retrospective study.

Animals: 11 horses with dermal melanomatosis involving the perineal, perianal, or perirectal region or ventral surface of the tail in which treatment consisted of tumor excision.

Role of i.v. urography in patients with haematuria.

Objective: Traditionally, patients presenting with haematuria undergo a series of investigations, including urine cytology, cystoscopy, i.v. urography (IVU) and renal tract ultrasound (US).

Detection of apoptotic cells in intestines from horses with and without gastrointestinal tract disease.

Objective: To identify apoptosis in equine intestines and determine whether apoptosis is associated with gastrointestinal tract disease or a specific tissue layer of intestine.

Animals: 38 horses that underwent surgery or were euthanatized for small or large intestine obstruction, strangulation, or distension and 9 control horses euthanatized for reasons other than gastrointestinal tract disease or systemic disease.

Procedure: Specimens were collected at surgery from intestine involved in the primary lesion and distant to the primary lesion site or at necropsy from several sites including the primary lesion site.

Oxalate-degrading enzymes from Oxalobacter formigenes: a novel device coating to reduce urinary tract biomaterial-related encrustation.

Background And Purpose: The long-term placement of biomaterials within the urinary tract is limited by the development of encrustation. In a noninfected urinary environment, encrustation often results from the deposition of calcium oxalate on the biomaterial surface. There is an association between the absence of Oxalobacter formigenes, a commensal colonic bacterium capable of degrading oxalate, and calcium oxalate stone formation.

Mutations in the clathrin-assembly gene Picalm are responsible for the hematopoietic and iron metabolism abnormalities in fit1 mice.

Recessive N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU)-induced mutations recovered at the fitness-1 (fit1) locus in mouse chromosome 7 cause hematopoietic abnormalities, growth retardation, and shortened life span, with varying severity of the defects in different alleles. Abnormal iron distribution and metabolism and frequent scoliosis have also been associated with an allele of intermediate severity (fit14R). We report that fit14R, as well as the most severe fit15R allele, are nonsense point mutations in the mouse ortholog of the human phosphatidylinositol-binding clathrin assembly protein (PICALM) gene, whose product is involved in clathrin-mediated endocytosis.

Ureteral segmental replacement using multilayer porcine small-intestinal submucosa.

Purpose: To assess the outcome of segmental ureteral replacement using a new multilayer porcine small-intestinal submucosa (SIS), Surgisis ES (Cook Inc., Stouffville, ON, Canada) designed to provide enhanced strength.

Materials And Methods: The ureters of five female farm pigs were accessed through a median laparotomy incision.

Efficacy and safety of sibutramine for weight loss in obese patients with hypertension well controlled by beta-adrenergic blocking agents: a placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomised trial.

Sibutramine is a serotonin-noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor that is effective for long-term weight reduction and maintenance in obese patients when used as an adjunct to dietary and behavioural measures. Because the inhibition of noradrenaline reuptake may be expected to increase systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP) and pulse rate (PR), a 12-week multi-centre, placebo-controlled, double-blind study was designed to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of sibutramine for weight loss in obese patients whose hypertension was well controlled (DBP < or = 95 mm Hg) by beta-adrenergic blocking agents (beta-blockers), with or without concomitant thiazide diuretics. Of the 61 patients randomised to sibutramine 20 mg once daily or placebo, 55 patients (90%) completed the study.

Sibutramine is safe and effective for weight loss in obese patients whose hypertension is well controlled with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors.

Sibutramine treatment in obesity results in significantly greater weight reduction compared with placebo, although weight loss with sibutramine may be accompanied by small but statistically significant mean increases in blood pressure (BP). This 52-week, placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomised study investigated the effects of sibutramine 20 mg once daily or placebo on body weight in 220 obese (body mass index (BMI) 27-40 kg/m2), hypertensive patients. At randomisation, hypertension was well controlled (< or = 95 mm Hg diastolic blood pressure (DBP)) with an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor, with or without concomitant thiazide diuretic therapy.

Effects of sibutramine on body weight and serum lipids: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study in 322 overweight and obese patients with dyslipidemia.

Background: Cardiovascular risk factors associated with obesity, including dyslipidemia, can be improved by weight loss. The main dyslipidemia associated with obesity is elevated serum triglyceride and decreased serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels.

Methods: A total of 322 obese patients (body mass index > or = 27) with serum triglyceride levels > or = 250 mg/dL and < or = 1000 mg/dL and serum HDL-C levels < or = 45 mg/dL (women) and < or = 40 mg/dL (men) were placed on a step I American Heart Association diet and subsequently randomized to sibutramine 20 mg (n = 162) or placebo (n = 160) once daily for 24 weeks.

Weight loss with sibutramine improves glycaemic control and other metabolic parameters in obese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Aim: To determine the efficacy and tolerability of sibutramine hydrochloride in obese patients whose type 2 diabetes was poorly controlled on diet alone or with an oral antidiabetic agent.

Methods: This study was a 24-week, double-blind, multicentre trial following a 5-week placebo run-in period. One hundred and seventy-five obese (body mass index (b.

Evaluation of sepramesh biosurgical composite in a rabbit hernia repair model.

Background: In cases such as incisional hernia repair, polypropylene mesh (PPM) can be exposed to the underlying viscera and cause adhesions to the mesh. In this study, a composite prosthesis that was designed to be less susceptible to adhesion formation than PPM was evaluated in a rabbit incisional hernia repair model.

Materials And Methods: A 5 x 7-cm full-thickness defect was created in the abdominal wall of 30 female New Zealand White rabbits.

Efficacy and safety of sibutramine in obese white and African American patients with hypertension: a 1-year, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial.

Background: Obesity is a highly prevalent medical condition and is commonly accompanied by hypertension. This study assessed the efficacy and safety of treatment with sibutramine hydrochloride for promoting and maintaining weight loss in obese patients with controlled hypertension, including a subset analysis of African American patients.

Patients And Methods: Obese patients with a body mass index (BMI, calculated as weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters) between 27 and 40 and a history of hypertension controlled with a calcium channel blocker (with or without concomitant thiazide diuretic treatment) were randomized to receive sibutramine (n = 150) or placebo (n = 74) with minimal behavioral intervention for 52 weeks.

The timing of academic difficulties among maltreated and nonmaltreated children.

Objective: In this study we examined the relationship between child maltreatment and the timing of academic difficulties.

Method: This study uses survival analysis to investigate the timing of risk of experiencing an academic difficulty for the first time. Three types of academic difficulties were examined-grade repetitions, poor English grades, and poor math grades.

Sample size for comparing linear growth curves.

Assuming a linear growth curve model under a suitable link function, we compute the sample size for comparing two treatment groups when the repeated measurements marginally follow exponential family distributions. From the treatment profiles of the chosen link function, we compute the common intercept beta0 and the regression slopes beta1 and beta2 to define delta = beta1 - beta2, the difference to be detected, under a specified alternative hypothesis. The dispersion matrices of the generalized estimating equations estimators are obtained under the null and alternative hypotheses using a suitable working correlation matrix.

A typology of parent rated child behavior for a national U.S. sample.

The purpose of the current study was to build on the emerging effort to produce a meaningful typology of child behavior for school-aged children. The Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC) Parent Rating Scales for Children (PRS-C) norming data were collected for 2029 6- to 11-year-old children at 116 sites representing various regions of the United States. The PRS-C has 130 items that are rated by the parent on a 4-point scale of frequency, ranging from "never" to "almost always".

Preferential interactions of fluorescent probe Prodan with cholesterol.

The fluorescent probe Prodan has been widely used as a probe of model and biological membranes. Its fluorescent maxima in phospholipid bilayers vary as a function of phase state, with maxima at 485 for the liquid crystal Lalpha, 435 nm for the gel L'beta, and 507 nm for the interdigitated gel LbetaI phase, with excitation at 359 nm. These spectral changes have been used for the detection of phase changes among these phases.

Effects of hyaluronic acid/carboxymethylcellulose gel on bowel anastomoses in the New Zealand white rabbit.

Intra-abdominal adhesions form in more than 90% of patients undergoing major abdominal surgery and can lead to significant complications. Application of a bioresorbable gel consisting of chemically modified hyaluronic acid (HA) and carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) has shown promise as a means of preventing intra-abdominal adhesions, but there have been concerns that the presence of the gel might interfere with the integrity and healing of bowel anastomoses. We tested the effects of HA/CMC gel on adhesion formation and anastomotic healing in 60 New Zealand white rabbits after transection and complete (100%) or incomplete (90%) anastomosis of the ileum.

Role of cholesterol in the modulation of interdigitation in phosphatidylethanols.

Phosphatidylethanol (Peth) is formed in biological membranes when ethanol replaces water in the transphosphatidylation reaction catalyzed by phospholipase D. This charged lipid accumulates in the presence of ethanol, and it has unusual properties that can influence membrane structure and function. We have previously shown that dimyristoylphosphatidylethanol (DMPeth) and dipalmitoylphosphatidylethanol (DPPeth) form the interdigitated gel phase in the presence of Tris-HCl [O.