Induratio penis plastica e soddisfazione sessuale: studio pilota su un campione di pazienti del territorio romano

Questo libro raccoglie l'esperienza di sei anni di lavoro clinico effettuato presso l'ambulatorio psico-sessuologico del Dipartimento di Urologia "Ulrico Bracci" del Policlinico Umberto I di Roma, dove le disfunzioni sessuali maschili vengono affrontate secondo il nuovo modello integrato della sessuologia clinica. Il professor Vincenzo Gentile, promotore di questo servizio innovativo, ha affiancato al gruppo di andrologi i consulenti psico-sessuologi per accogliere, insieme al tradizionale disagio del corpo, anche quello della psiche e della relazione di coppia che nella sessualità sono in una stretta interazione reciproca. Andando oltre la visione psicosomatica classica, questa sfida ha prestato attenzione anche ai forti segnali di somatopsichica, così frequenti in una clinica urologica dove problematiche francamente biologiche hanno esiti diversi in base alla storia del paziente o della coppia che si trovi ad affrontare un sintomo definito o un intervento chirurgico. All'interno del volume si chiarisce come i diversi specialisti, di fronte ad una disfunzione sessuale, lavorino sia in parallelo sia congiuntamente. È confrontandosi sui derivati biologici, psicometrici e dei colloqui individuali e di coppia che si riesce a formulare una diagnosi più articolata che consente di ipotizzare anche la prevalenza dei diversi fattori eziologici

Social, economic, and health utility considerations in the treatment of overactive bladder

Overactive bladder (OAB) is a highly prevalent urinary syndrome with a profound impact on quality of life (QoL) of affected patients and their family because of its adverse effects on social, sexual, interpersonal, and professional function. Cost-of-illness analyses showed the huge economic burden related to OAB for patients, public healthcare systems, and society, secondary to both direct and indirect costs; however, intangible costs related to QoL impact are usually omitted from these analyses. Recently many novel treatment modalities have been introduced and the need to apply the modern methodology of health technology assessment to these treatment strategies was immediately clear in order to evaluate objectively their value in term of both improvement in length/quality of life and costs. Health utilities are instruments that allow a measurement of QoL and its integration in the economic evaluation using the quality-adjusted life-years model and cost-utility analysis. The development of suitable instruments for quantifying utility in the specific group of OAB patients is vitally important to extend the application of cost-utility analysis in OAB and to guide healthcare resources allocation for this disorder. Studies are required to define the cost-effectiveness of available pharmacological and nonpharmacological therapy options for this disorder. \ua9 2010 Sacco et al

Field trial evaluation and SDN configurability of an optical terabit transmitter based on passive polymer and InP technology

A tunable, bandwidth variable, SP-IQ (Single Polarization In Phase and Quadrature) transmitter based on the hybrid integration of passive polymer PolyBoards with InP photonic chips and InP-DHBT electronic chips having the potential for operation at rates up to 64 Gbaud is presented. Device transmission performance were evaluated in a field trial in TIM metro regional network, in a complex testing environment where TIM SDN controller performed transmitter configuration through a properly developed SDO (Software Defined Optics) agent and instantiated optical connections through WDM metro network

Multiflow Transmitter With Full Format and Rate Flexibility for Next Generation Networks

We extend our proof-of-concept demonstration of a novel multiflow transmitter for next generation optical metro networks. The multiflow concept is based on the combination of spectrum and polarization sliceability, and its implementation on the combination of a polymer photonic integration platform with high-speed IQ modulators. In this paper, we replace the static scheme of our previous demonstration for the definition of the optical flows and the generation of the driving signals, and we unveil the true potential of the transmitter in terms of programmability and network flexibility. Using a software-defined optics (SDO) platform for the configuration of the digital and optical parts of the transmitter, and the configuration of the optical switch inside the node, we demonstrate operation with flexible selection of the number and type of the optical flows, and flexible selection of the modulation format, symbol rate, emission wavelength, and destination of each flow. We focus on 16 specific cases accommodating one or two optical flows with modulation format up to 64-quadrature amplitude modulation, and symbol rate up to 25 Gbaud. Through transmission experiments over 100 km of standard single-mode fiber, we validate the possibility of the transmitter to interchange its configuration within this range of operation cases with bit-error rate performance below the forward error correction limit. Future plans for transmitter miniaturization and extension of our SDO platform in order to interface with the software-defined networking hierarchy of true networks are also outlined