bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Comparison of transurethral enucleation with bipolar and transurethral resection in saline for managing benign prostatic hyperplasia
Authors: Hirasawa Yosuke , Ide Hiroki , Yasumizu Yota , Hoshino Katsura , Ito Yujiro , Masuda Takeshi 
Published: September 2012

Study Type – Therapy (case series)Level of Evidence 4What's known on the subject? and What does the study add?Transurethral enucleation with bipolar (TUEB) has been widely adopted as an alternative to standard TURP, although the surgical technique, efficacy and safety of TUEB have not been described so far.The present study provides illustrations of the TUEB technique, as well as peri‐operative, 6‐month and 12‐month follow‐up results of TUEB from a retrospective review of a single‐institution experience comparing the efficacy and safety of TUEB and transurethral resection in saline for managing BPH.OBJECTIVE
To illustrate the transurethral enucleation with bipolar (TUEB) technique and compare the efficacy and safety of TUEB and transurethral resection in saline (TURis) for managing benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).
PATIENTS AND METHODS
A retrospective review of a single‐institution experience of 110 consecutive TUEB or TURis between 2008 and 2011 at our hospital was performed aiming to compare the efficacy and safety of TUEB and TURis for managing BPH (55 patients in each group).
Peri‐operative data included operating time, resected tissue weight, changes in haemoglobin, duration of catheterization, hospital stay and early complications.
Postoperative outcomes included 6‐ and 12‐month postoperative International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), and Quality of Life (QoL) score, uroflowmetry findings, change in serum prostate‐specific antigen level and all late complications in the two groups.
RESULTS
Both groups were well matched for age, preoperative prostate volume, IPSS, QoL and uroflowmetry findings.
The change in haemoglobin at postoperative day 1 in the TUEB group was significantly less than in the TURis group (1.08 vs 1.60 g/dL; P < 0.001).
Catheterization time and hospital stay were significantly shorter in the TUEB group than in the TURis group and the mean retrieved tissue weight in the TUEB group was larger than that in the TURis group (41.3 vs 31.7 g; P= 0.007).
Patients in the two arms had comparable improvements in postoperative IPSS, QoL, maximum flow rate and postvoid residual urine volume.
The rates of complications were equally low with each procedure.
CONCLUSION
TUEB is superior to TURis, with less bleeding, as well as decreased catheter time and hospital stay, although showing equivalent efficacy at 12 months of follow‐up.
ZSI 375 artificial urinary sphincter for male urinary incontinence: a preliminary study
Authors: Staerman Frederic , G‐Llorens Christophe , Leon Priscilla , Leclerc Yves 
Published: September 2012

Study Type – Therapy (case series)Level of Evidence 4What's known on the subject? and What does the study add?Artifical Urinary Sphincter (AUS) is the treatment of choice for moderate to severe post‐radical prostatectomy incontinence with good long‐term outcomes despite risk of complications.We report preliminary results of a new preconnected AUS (ZSI 375). Main change with the device currently available is the replacement of the abdominal reservoir by a pressure‐regulated spring in the intrascrotal pump avoiding abdominal approach.OBJECTIVE
To assess retrospectively the safety and efficacy of an artificial urinary sphincter, the ZSI 375 device (Zephyr Surgical Implants, Geneva, Switzerland), in male patients with moderate‐to‐severe stress urinary incontinence after a prostate or bladder intervention.
PATIENTS AND METHODS
The ZSI 375 device is a one‐piece device consisting of an adjustable cuff, moulded to fit around the urethra, which is connected by a tube to a pump and a pressure‐regulating tank. It has no abdominal reservoir.
Patients underwent a perineal incision for cuff placement and an inguinal incision for pump and tank scrotal placement.
Complications and pads used to manage incontinence were recorded.
RESULTS
Between May 2009 and April 2011, 36 patients underwent ZSI 375 device placement. The median (range) follow‐up was 15.4 (6–28) months.
No patient experienced bladder overactivity, chronic urinary retention, or any other adverse effect after device activation. Complications leading to device removal arose in four patients (one case of erosion, three cases of infection).
Social continence (0 or 1 pad/day) was achieved in 28/36 patients (78%) at 3 months and 26/36 patients (73%) at 6 months after device activation.
In 12/14 patients for a sphincter closure pressure range of 60–70 cm H2O, in 3/3 patients for a range of 70–80 cm H2O and in 2/11 for a range of 90–100 cm, H2O social continence was achieved only after increasing the pressure of the cuff by trans‐scrotal injection of saline.
CONCLUSIONS
The ZSI 375 device is safe and effective but our follow‐up may not have been long enough to identify all potential complications.
Further research is needed to confirm these results and extend our investigation, for instance, to the peno‐scrotal approach.
Retrospective cohort study on patterns of care and outcomes of surgical treatment for lower urinary–genital tract fistula among English National Health Service hospitals between 2000 and 2009
Authors: Cromwell David , Hilton Paul 
Published: September 2012

Study Type – Therapy (retrospective cohort)Level of Evidence 3aWhat's known on the subject? and What does the study add?Many case series of lower urinary tract fistula have been reported, usually reporting the results from individual surgeons using their preferred techniques. Definitions of cure and the case‐mix or complexity of reported cases vary widely, and a wide range of outcome results are reported in the literature, with primary closure rates between 53% and 95%.Using the Hospital Episode Statistics database we have demonstrated for the first time the pattern of care provided nationally. A large number of surgeons (490) are currently involved in providing this care in a large number of units (138), with individual workloads varying between 1 and 90 procedures in 10 years; only three undertook >3 operations per year. We have demonstrated an overall operative failure rate (re‐operation rate) of 12%, and a high rate of urinary diversion (24%). Cure rates varied between 50 and 100% and were higher in units undertaking >3 operations per year.OBJECTIVES
To examine patterns of care among women with urogenital fistula treated in the English National Health Service (NHS) between 2000 and 2009.
To assess whether failure of repair was associated with hospital or surgeon workload.
PATIENTS AND METHODS
We conducted a retrospective cohort study using data from Hospital Episode Statistics on women undergoing vesicovaginal or urethrovaginal fistula repair between January 2000 and December 2009 in English NHS hospitals.
The main outcome measure was the number of fistula repairs and the incidence of re‐repair; re‐repair rates were stratified by age, NHS trust and consultant team volume.
RESULTS
Between 2000 and 2009, 1194 women underwent surgical repair (n= 905) or ileal conduit (n= 289) for urogenital fistula under the care of 490 consultant teams.
A total of 281 teams performed only a single index procedure, and only three consultant teams performed a mean of >3 per year.
The rate of unsuccessful repair was 11.9% (108/905).
The rate of re‐operation at NHS trusts who performed over 30 procedures over the 10‐year study period was 7.4% compared with 13.2% at those undertaking fewer (P= 0.02).
A similar difference in re‐operations between consultant teams performing > or <30 procedures did not reach significance (8.4% v 12.7%, P= 0.13).
CONCLUSIONS
One in nine women required re‐operation after surgical repair of a urogenital fistula.
Our results lend weight to the argument for a ‘minimum workload’ for fistula management; given the number of fistulae occurring in England currently, this would best be provided by a network of supra‐regional centres.
Mechanisms linking obesity, inflammation and altered metabolism to colon carcinogenesis
Authors: Yehuda‐Shnaidman E. , Schwartz B. 
Published: September 2012

SummaryDue to its prevalence, obesity is now considered a global epidemic. It is linked to increased risk of colorectal cancer, the third most common cancer and the second leading cause of death among adults in Western countries. Obese adipose tissue differs from lean adipose tissue in its immunogenic profile, body fat distribution and metabolic profile. Obese adipose tissue releases free fatty acids, adipokines and many pro‐inflammatory chemokines. These factors are known to play a key role in regulating malignant transformation and cancer progression. Obese adipose tissue is infiltrated by macrophages that participate in inflammatory pathways activated within the tissue. Adipose tissue macrophages consist of two different phenotypes. M1 macrophages reside in obese adipose tissue and produce pro‐inflammatory cytokines, and M2 macrophages reside in lean adipose tissue and produce anti‐inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin‐10 (IL‐10). The metabolic networks that confer tumour cells with their oncogenic properties, such as increased proliferation and the ability to avoid apoptosis are still not well understood. We review the interactions between adipocytes and immune cells that may alter the metabolism towards promotion of colorectal cancer.
Ownership and Cost‐Sharing Contracts
Authors: Dalen Dag Morten , Moen Espen R. 
Published: September 2012

We discuss the relative merits of public and private ownership in an incomplete contract framework developed by Hart, Shleifer and Vishney (HSV). We add two new elements to their model. First, the government may offer cost‐sharing contracts when procuring the good. Second, the owner of a private firm may divert resources that increase their own profit/utility but increase total costs.The cost sharing contract allows the government to reduce the private firm's incentives to dump quality in order to save on costs. However, this also leads to resource diversion, which increases total costs. We derive the preferred mode of ownership when the government optimally chooses the power of the cost sharing scheme. We find that the presence of quality‐reducing cost reductions only favours government ownership if the scope for resource diversion is substantial. A discussion of when resource diversion is likely to be important is also provided.
Exploring Synergies between Place Branding and Agricultural Landscape Management as a Rural Development Practice
Authors: Mettepenningen Evy , Vandermeulen Valerie , Van Huylenbroeck Guido , Schuermans Nick , Van Hecke Etienne , Messely Lies , Dessein Joost , Bourgeois Marie 
Published: September 2012

AbstractThis article explores the synergies between place branding and agricultural landscape management as a rural development practice. We hypothesise that place branding strategy can be used as a process to combat the homogenisation of regions and help to build networks and institutions that strengthen rural development. In order to explore these synergies an extended case study was undertaken in four Belgian regions that display major differences in their place branding processes and agricultural characteristics. The research revealed that in all four cases vital coalitions are being formed between the organisations involved in place branding and local farmers, and that both parties have benefited as a result. Intensive and transparent communication within the place branding process has proven to be essential in strengthening these synergies.
Who’s worried about turkeys? How ‘organisational silos’ impede zoonotic disease surveillance
Authors: Jerolmack Colin 
Published: September 2012

AbstractThough emerging infectious diseases ignore boundaries between species, the agencies that respond to them do not. Based on interviews with state and federal epidemiologists, veterinarians, and physicians and on case studies of disease events, this article examines how the jurisdictional and cultural divides that exist among human and animal health agencies hinder efforts to successfully contain species‐jumping diseases (zoonoses). I argue that newly emergent zoonoses make these agencies’ organisational cultures function as silos because the institutionalised thinking and practices developed to address the diseases that traditionally concerned each agency constrain members from building the inter‐organisational bridges required to manage the latest ‘hybrid’ diseases. The silo effect is evident both across the human‐animal health divide and within the landscape of animal health, as agencies that monitor livestock and wildlife follow distinct and sometimes competing agendas. The article also touches on moments of inter‐agency cooperation in order to specify how health practitioners can begin making connections between ‘organisational silos’. This article encourages sociologists of health to explore the crucial link between animal and human health; and it introduces the concept of organisational silos to capture the relational dilemmas that arise when a ‘hybrid’ problem systemically links agencies with disparate organisational cultures.
The Optimal Asymptotic Income Tax Rate
Authors: DAHAN MOMI , STRAWCZYNSKI MICHEL 
Published: September 2012

AbstractThis paper shows that a policy maker needs only two types of information to set the optimal income tax rate at the top: a measure of labor supply elasticity and the shape of skills distribution. We find that the asymptotic tax rate is not affected by the degree of inequality aversion as long as the marginal utility of consumption converges to zero. By using empirically plausible estimates for the compensated labor supply elasticity and the shape of skills distribution, we find that the optimal marginal tax rate at the top should be between 33% and 60%, which is in line with the existing rates in the real world.
Information Advantage in a Public Good Economy with Multiplicative Structure of Utilities
Authors: HON‐SNIR SHLOMIT , SHITOVITZ BENYAMIN , SPIEGEL MENAHEM 
Published: September 2012

AbstractThis paper extends results on information advantage in Cournot oligopoly to a public good economy with uncertainty and private information where the state‐dependent utilities have a multiplicative structure. We show that in a Bayesian–Nash equilibrium where consumers’ contributions are positive in all states of nature, a consumer with superior information is rewarded with a higher ex ante expected utility. Our counter example shows that in the case where one consumer does not contribute, information disadvantage might emerge. Thus, the interiority assumption is essential to obtain our results.
Amakudari: The Post‐Retirement Employment of Elite Bureaucrats in Japan
Authors: MIZOGUCHI TETSURO , VAN QUYEN NGUYEN 
Published: September 2012

AbstractThis paper analyzes the amakudari practice in Japan. Amakudari refers to a process in which government agencies contact the private firms that they regulate, asking them to provide employment for their retiring elite bureaucrats. Upon employment at the private firms, bureaucrats may collude with their former colleagues in the ministries they worked for to secure lucrative government contracts, avoid regulatory inspections, or obtain preferential treatment for their new employers. This paper provides an explicit formalization of the implicit collusion between the regulator and the regulated.
European guidelines on management of restless legs syndrome: report of a joint task force by the European Federation of Neurological Societies, the European Neurological Society and the European Sleep Research Society
Authors: Garcia‐Borreguero Diego , Ferini‐Strambi Luigi , Kohnen Ralf , O'Keeffe Shaun , Trenkwalder Claudia , Högl Birgit , Benes Heike , Jennum Poul , Partinen Markku , Fer Danyal , Montagna Pasquale , Bassetti Claudio L. , Iranzo Alex , Sonka Karel , Williams Anne‐Marie 
Published: September 2012

BackgroundSince the publication of the first European Federation of Neurological Societies (EFNS) guidelines in 2005 on the management of restless legs syndrome (RLS; also known as Willis‐Ekbom disease), there have been major therapeutic advances in the field. Furthermore, the management of RLS is now a part of routine neurological practice in Europe. New drugs have also become available, and further randomized controlled trials have been undertaken. These guidelines were undertaken by the EFNS in collaboration with the European Neurological Society and the European Sleep Research Society.ObjectivesTo provide an evidence‐based update of new treatments published since 2005 for the management of RLS.MethodsFirst, we determined what the objectives of management of primary and secondary RLS should be. We developed the search strategy and conducted a review of the scientific literature up to 31 December 2011 (print and electronic publications) for the drug classes and interventions employed in RLS treatment. Previous guidelines were consulted. All trials were analysed according to class of evidence, and recommendations made according to the 2004 EFNS criteria for rating.RecommendationsLevel A recommendations can be made for rotigotine, ropinirole, pramipexole, gabapentin enacarbil, gabapentin and pregabalin, which are all considered effective for the short‐term treatment for RLS. However, for the long‐termtreatment for RLS, rotigotine is considered effective, gabapentin enacarbil is probably effective, and ropinirole, pramipexole and gabapentin are considered possibly effective. Cabergoline has according to our criteria a level A recommendation, but the taskforce cannot recommend this drug because of its serious adverse events.
EFFECTS OF ADENINE ON THE FORMATION OF ROOTS AND BUDS IN LEAF SQUARES
Authors: MENHENETT ROGER 
Published: September 2012

SummaryAdenine sulphate promoted the formation of roots and buds in leaf squares of Begonia rex Putz. and Streptocarpus×‘Constant Nymph’ but had little or no effect on regeneration from leaf squares of Peperomia sandersii A. DC. Studies of the interactions of adenine sulphate with β‐indolyl acetic acid and with an adenine antagonist, 2,6‐diaminopurine sulphate, supported the view that in Begonia rex leaf squares adenine was not acting as a cytokinin or specific activator. A comparison of the effects of adenine sulphate and sodium nitrate suggested that adenine sulphate may be acting in a non‐specific way as a plant nutrient, perhaps as a nitrogen source.
THE INTERACTION OF KINETIN, AUXIN AND OTHER FACTORS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF NORTH TEMPERATE ORCHIDS
Authors: HADLEY G. 
Published: September 2012

SummaryConcentrations (w/v) of 1–10 ppm kinetin, with or without 1 ppm indoleacetic acid, may retard the germination of Dactylorhiza (Orchis) purpurella seed but increase the rate of growth of protocorms to the point where shoot initials form. Subsequently diurnal illumination enhances the development of the shoot initial. Chlorophyll production is independent of growth factors and occurs most rapidly at temperatures below 15°C. Green shoot‐initials undergo further development only after prolonged cold treatment and this stage appear to be independent of growth factors or symbiotic fungi. Similar results were obtained with Coeloglossum viride and Platanthera bifolia.Goodyera repens, an evergreen rhizomatous species, did not respond to mixtures of kinetin and indoleacetic acid, or coconut milk, but grew well on potato or yeast extracts, or after infection with symbiotic fungi.Symbiotic development of north temperate orchids occurs on defined media lacking growth factors and is always more rapid than that in any axenic system so far tested.
NITROGEN METABOLISM IN LICHENS: III. NITROGEN FIXATION BY INTERNAL CEPHALODIA IN LOBARIA PULMONARIA
Authors: MILLBANK J. W. , KERSHAW K. A. 
Published: September 2012

SummaryCephalodia are shown to be a characteristic feature of Lobaria pulmonaria, occurring as internal aggregations of Nostoc in the medulla. Using acetylene reduction methods they have been shown to fix nitrogen actively.
THE FUNGUS‐ALGA ASSOCIATION IN THE LECANORACEAE: AN ULTRASTRUCTURAL STUDY*
Authors: GALUN MARGALITH , PARAN NAVAH , BEN‐SHAUL Y. 
Published: September 2012

SummaryElectron micrographs of four lichen species of the Lecanoraceae were examined. The contact between the symbionts ranges from active penetration of the algal cell wall by fungal haustoria in a supposedly primitive growth‐form, through intermediate stages, to a kind of hyphal entrapment in an advanced form. Penetration beyond the plasma membrane of intact algal cells has not been observed.Whereas penetrations may occur in all the algal cells composing the algal layer of the primitive thallus, in the more advanced growth‐forms, only those cells which have reached a certain stage of their life cycle are attacked.
Initial characterization of shade avoidance response suggests functional diversity between Populus phytochrome B genes
Authors: Karve Abhijit A. , Jawdy Sara S. , Gunter Lee E. , Allen Sara M. , Yang Xiaohan , Tuskan Gerald A. , Wullschleger Stan D. , Weston David J. 
Published: September 2012

Summary

Shade avoidance signaling involves perception of incident red/far‐red (R/FR) light by phytochromes (PHYs) and modulation of downstream transcriptional networks. Although these responses are well studied in Arabidopsis, little is known about the role of PHYs and the transcriptional responses to shade in the woody perennial Populus.

Tissue expression and subcellular localization of Populus PHYs was studied by quantitative real‐time PCR (qRT‐PCR) and protoplast transient assay. Transgenic lines with altered PHYB1 and/or PHYB2 expression were used in phenotypic assays and transcript profiling with qRT‐PCR. RNA‐Seq was used to identify transcriptional responses to enriched FR light.

All three PHYs were differentially expressed among tissue types and PHYBs were targeted to the nucleus under white light. Populus PHYB1 rescued Arabidopsis phyB mutant phenotypes. Phenotypes of Populus transgenic lines and the expression of candidate shade response genes suggested that PHYB1 and PHYB2 have distinct yet overlapping functions. RNA‐Seq analysis indicated that genes associated with cell wall modification and brassinosteroid signaling were induced under enriched FR light in Populus.

This study is an initial attempt at deciphering the role of Populus PHYs by evaluating transcriptional reprogramming to enriched FR and demonstrates functional diversity and overlap of the Populus PHYB1 and PHYB2 in regulating shade responses.