Low testosterone levels induce apoptosis via active 3-caspase dependent signaling in the bladder wall of male rats.

Objective: The bladder can be considered a target organ for testosterone action, and low testosterone levels possibly cause damage to bladder cells. We set out to study whether hypoandrogenism influences bladder wall cell damage in castrated and senile male rats.

Methods: Thirty male Wistar rats were divided into three groups of 10 animals each: group I (3 months old), sham animals; group II (27 months old), senile animals; group III (3 months old), subjected to bilateral orchiectomy, and sacrificed 8 weeks after the procedure.

Elderly men's quality of life and lower urinary tract symptoms: an intricate relationship.

Purpose: To evaluate the impact of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) on the quality of life (QoL) in a group of elderly men.

Materials And Methods: Observational clinical study contained 200 men recruited between March-September 2008 in the community and Urology and Geriatrics ambulatories. The data collected included health and sociodemographic conditions; the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS); an anxiety/depression inventory; the World Health Organization Quality of Life -Bref and -Old questionnaires (WHOQoL).

Quality of life in elderly men with aging symptoms and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS).

Aims: The aims of this study were to investigate quality of life (QoL) due to physical and psychological changes occurring in elderly men and to identify associated factors between lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and aging male symptoms (ADAM).

Materials And Methods: This was a case-control study whereby 200 elderly men were recruited from the community and the Urology and Geriatrics ambulatories. Subjects were asked to fill out the Aging Male Symptoms Scale (AMS), World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF and -OLD, and IPSS questionnaires.

HIV prevalence among blood donors in a blood bank in Curitiba (Brazil).

There still is no cure for the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Its etiologic agent is the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and transmission occurs through sexual relationships, contacts with blood, and vertically (mother to child). In this study, we sought to determine the prevalence of HIV among blood donors at a blood bank in Curitiba.