Results of percutaneous endoscopic ureterolithotomy compared to that of ureteroscopy.

Percutaneous endoscopic ureterolithotomy is not a well-known method for the treatment of impacted ureteral stones. The authors performed a retrospective study to compare the effectiveness of this procedure to ureteroscopy for the treatment of ureteral calculi. Impacted ureteral stones were removed in 93 patients by percutaneous endoscopic ureterolithotomy (Group 1).

Optical coherence tomography reader agreement in neovascular age-related macular degeneration.

Purpose: To determine the interreader and intrareader agreement at the Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) Reading Center at Duke for images produced for an interventional neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) clinical trial.

Design: Retrospective, observational case series.

Methods: OCT was performed using the Stratus OCT Fast Macular Thickness Map (Carl Zeiss Meditec, Dublin, California, USA) scan mode and a 7-mm line scan centered on the fovea.

Muscle mitochondrial ATP synthesis and glucose transport/phosphorylation in type 2 diabetes.

Background: Muscular insulin resistance is frequently characterized by blunted increases in glucose-6-phosphate (G-6-P) reflecting impaired glucose transport/phosphorylation. These abnormalities likely relate to excessive intramyocellular lipids and mitochondrial dysfunction. We hypothesized that alterations in insulin action and mitochondrial function should be present even in nonobese patients with well-controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

The prognostic significance of depressive symptoms for predicting quality of life 12 months after gastric bypass.

Objective: This study was conducted to examine the relative prognostic significance of weight and depressive symptoms for 12-month postoperative health-related quality of life (HRQL) in extremely obese gastric bypass patients.

Methods: Participants comprised 137 extremely obese patients undergoing gastric bypass surgery. Presurgery and 12 months postsurgery participants completed the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 Health Survey, a standard measure of HRQL, and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI).

[Nonsense mutation 193C>T of neurofibromatosis type 2--a neurosurgical challenge].

A 15 years old male was operated because of incidentally found intercostal schwannoma. Two years later severe cerebellar ataxia and left sided anacusis developed. MRI revealed bilateral vestibularis tumors and multiple cervical intradural extramedullary myelin compressing lesions.

[Fracture of the intercondylar eminence of the tibia type II in children: 20 surgically-treated cases].

Purpose Of The Study: The purpose of this study was to detail therapeutic indications for fractures of the intercondylar eminence of the tibia with little displacement and preservation of the posterior hinge (type II fracture in the Zarincznyj classification).

Material And Methods: We reviewed retrospectively a multicentric serie of type II fractures of the intercondylar eminence observed in children treated surgically. There were twenty patients, ten girls and ten boys, mean age 11.

Hand-assisted laparoscopic retroperitoneal lymph node dissection for nonseminomatous testicular cancer.

Purpose: We describe our initial experience with hand-assisted laparoscopic retroperitoneal lymph node dissection for nonseminomatous testicular cancer.

Materials And Methods: Between April 2002 and December 2004, 10 patients with testicular tumor were operated on, 6 on the right side and 4 on the left side. Eight patients were in clinical stage I, one patient was in clinical stage IIA, and one patient was in clinical stage IIB disease.

Does diabetes mellitus target motor neurons?

A pattern of peripheral neurodegeneration occurs in chronic diabetes mellitus in which an early, but selective retraction of distal axons may occur prior to any irretrievable neuronal loss. Clinical observations suggest that sensory systems undergo damage before those of motor neurons. In this work, we examined the fate of the spinal motor neuron in a long-term chronic model of experimental (streptozotocin-induced) diabetes already known to be associated with substantial loss of sensory neurons.

Fixation switch and diplopia after full macular translocation surgery.

Purpose: We sought to identify and evaluate treatment of patients who switched fixation to the poorer-seeing eye and complained of persistent diplopia 6 to 12 months after full macular translocation surgery (MT360) and extraocular muscle surgery.

Methods: All patients enrolled in a prospective study undergoing MT360 and extraocular muscle surgery were included. All patients had sensorimotor examinations.

Anti-MuSK myasthenia gravis presenting with Epstein-Barr virus-associated mononucleosis and immune-mediated diabetes mellitus.

We report a young woman with the abrupt onset of infectious mononucleosis due to Epstein-Barr virus associated with a subsequent autoimmune form of diabetes mellitus and myasthenia gravis with anti-muscle-specific kinase (MuSK) antibodies. The simultaneous onset of these two autoimmune diseases preceded by a systemic viral illness supports a causal relationship between MuSK antibodies and myasthenia gravis and suggests the possibility of a viral trigger in some cases.

Single-shot spatiotemporal measurements of high-field terahertz pulses.

The electric field profiles of broad-bandwidth coherent terahertz (THz) pulses, emitted by laser-wakefield-accelerated electron bunches, are studied. The near-single-cycle THz pulses are measured with two single-shot techniques in the temporal and spatial domains. Spectra of 0-6 THz and peak fields up to approximately or = 0.

[Surgical aspects of breast cancer screening at our hospital].

In addition to discussing effectiveness of breast cancer screening initiated within the National Public Health Programme, the problem of how to treat non-palpable, early invasive and in situ breast cancer (DCIS) is considered. The theoretical issue of the sentinel lymph node and its impact on biopsy practice have also been dealt with. In the authors' region, screening was introduced in 1999 and after a short break has been continued since 2002.

Unusual clinical, laboratory, and muscle histopathological findings in a family with myotonic dystrophy type 2.

Myotonic dystrophy type 2 (DM2) is a multisystem degenerative disorder with distinctive clinical and electrophysiological features. Recently, genetic confirmation has become available with the identification of the molecular defect, an expansion of a CCTG repeat located in intron 1 of the zinc finger protein 9 (ZNF9) gene. We present two first-degree relatives with an athletic clinical phenotype, pathological evidence of subsarcolemmal vacuolation, and molecular genetic confirmation of DM2.

In vivo BMP-7 (OP-1) enhancement of osteoporotic vertebral bodies in an ovine model.

Background Context: Prevention of osteoporotic vertebral fractures could help at-risk individuals avoid the pain and morbidity associated with these fractures. Currently, patients with osteoporosis are treated with systemic medications to reduce fracture risk. Although effective, these therapies do not eliminate fractures and also tend to have a gradual time-dependent effect on fracture risk.

Holmium:YAG laser treatment of ureteral calculi: A 5-year experience.

The purpose of this study was to provide an account of the 5-year experience we have gained using holmium:yttrium-aluminium-garnet (Ho:YAG) lasertripsy in the treatment of ureteral stones. One-hundred thirty-seven transurethral ureterolithotripsies were performed in 131 patients. A Ho:YAG laser device, fibres with diameters of 360 and 550 mum, a video camera as well as semi-rigid and flexible ureterorenoscopes were used.

Acetylcholine receptor antibodies in myasthenia gravis are associated with greater risk of diabetes and thyroid disease.

Objective: Myasthenia gravis (MG) may be associated with the presence of acetylcholine receptor antibodies (AChRAb) [seropositive MG (SPMG)] or their absence [seronegative MG (SNMG)]. Along with features of MG, the presence of the AChRAb may relate to the existence of other immune-mediated diseases. We sought to determine the association of SPMG with other potential autoimmune diseases.

Complement factor H increases risk for atrophic age-related macular degeneration.

Objective: To determine if the complement factor H gene (CFH) determines risk for development of geographic atrophy (GA).

Design: Retrospective case-control study.

Participants And Controls: The independent case-control data set contained 647 age-related macular degeneration (AMD) cases (grades 3, 4, or 5) and 163 controls (grades 1 or 2).

Diabetes, leukoencephalopathy and rage.

Longstanding diabetes mellitus damages kidney, retina, peripheral nerve and blood vessels, but brain is not usually considered a primary target. We describe direct involvement of the brain, particularly white matter, in long-term (9 months) experimental diabetes of mice, not previously modeled, correlating magnetic resonance (MR) imaging with quantitative histological assessment. Leukoencephalopathy and cerebral atrophy, resembling that encountered in diabetic humans, developed in diabetic mice and was accompanied by time-related development of cognitive changes in behavioural testing.

A comparison of two biomaterial carriers for osteogenic protein-1 (BMP-7) in an ovine critical defect model.

Critical size defects in ovine tibiae, stabilised with intramedullary interlocking nails, were used to assess whether the addition of carboxymethylcellulose to the standard osteogenic protein-1 (OP-1/BMP-7) implant would affect the implant's efficacy for bone regeneration. The biomaterial carriers were a 'putty' carrier of carboxymethylcellulose and bovine-derived type-I collagen (OPP) or the standard with collagen alone (OPC). These two treatments were also compared to "ungrafted" negative controls.

Optical cross-correlator based on supercontinuum generation.

A novel cross-correlator that can be used for temporal characterization of femtosecond laser pulses has been developed. The correlation trace is obtained by "sampling" the structure of the laser pulse with a single, high-contrast pulse produced through femtosecond white-light generation in a line focus. This correlator has, therefore, fewer "ghosts" than a conventional third-order cross-correlator and it can be used with laser pulses that span across a wide wavelength range.

Rescue and regeneration of injured peripheral nerve axons by intrathecal insulin.

Insulin peptide, acting through tyrosine kinase receptor pathways, contributes to nerve development or repair. In this work, we examined the direction, impact and repertoire of insulin signaling in vivo during peripheral nerve regeneration in rats. First, we demonstrated that insulin receptor is expressed on lumbar dorsal root ganglia neuronal perikarya using immunohistochemistry.

Remote neurotrophic support of epidermal nerve fibres in experimental diabetes.

Aims/hypothesis: The support of distal regenerating axons and epidermal nerve fibres through growth factor delivery may depend on the site of delivery. While low-dose systemic insulin provides trophic support for regenerating axons or axons from diabetic animals, its potential action upon the most distal neurites within the epidermis is unknown. In diabetic neuropathy, distal loss of axons is an important clinical and pathological feature.

Temporal characterization of femtosecond laser-plasma-accelerated electron bunches using terahertz radiation.

The temporal profile of relativistic laser-plasma-accelerated electron bunches has been characterized. Coherent transition radiation at THz frequencies, emitted at the plasma-vacuum boundary, was measured through electro-optic sampling. Frequencies up to the crystal detection limit of 4 THz were observed.