A case of penile fracture with complete urethral disruption during sexual intercourse: a case report

Penile fracture is a rare condition. Primarily it is a rupture of the corpus cavernosum that occurs when the penis is erect. The rupture can also affect the corpus spongiosum and the urethra. We report a case of a 37 year old man who presented with acute penile pain, penile swelling and the inability to pass urine after a blunt trauma during sexual intercourse. In emergency surgery we found bilateral partial rupture of the corpus cavernosum with complete urethral and corpus spongiosum disruption. In the one year follow up the patient presented with normal erectile and voiding function. Emergency surgical repair in penile fracture can preserve erectile and voiding function

Disentangling manual muscle testing and Applied Kinesiology: critique and reinterpretation of a literature review

Cuthbert and Goodheart recently published a narrative review on the reliability and validity of manual muscle testing (MMT) in the Journal. The authors should be recognized for their effort to synthesize this vast body of literature. However, the review contains critical errors in the search methods, inclusion criteria, quality assessment, validity definitions, study interpretation, literature synthesis, generalizability of study findings, and conclusion formulation that merit a reconsideration of the authors' findings. Most importantly, a misunderstanding of the review could easily arise because the authors did not distinguish the general use of muscle strength testing from the specific applications that distinguish the Applied Kinesiology (AK) chiropractic technique. The article makes the fundamental error of implying that the reliability and validity of manual muscle testing lends some degree of credibility to the unique diagnostic procedures of AK. The purpose of this commentary is to provide a critical appraisal of the review, suggest conclusions consistent with the literature both reviewed and omitted, and extricate conclusions that can be made about AK in particular from those that can be made about MMT. When AK is disentangled from standard orthopedic muscle testing, the few studies evaluating unique AK procedures either refute or cannot support the validity of AK procedures as diagnostic tests. The evidence to date does not support the use of MMT for the diagnosis of organic disease or pre/subclinical conditions

On the conservation of the slow conformational dynamics within the amino acid kinase family: NAGK the paradigm

N-Acetyl-L-Glutamate Kinase (NAGK) is the structural paradigm for examining the catalytic mechanisms and dynamics of amino acid kinase family members. Given that the slow conformational dynamics of the NAGK (at the microseconds time scale or slower) may be rate-limiting, it is of importance to assess the mechanisms of the most cooperative modes of motion intrinsically accessible to this enzyme. Here, we present the results from normal mode analysis using an elastic network model representation, which shows that the conformational mechanisms for substrate binding by NAGK strongly correlate with the intrinsic dynamics of the enzyme in the unbound form. We further analyzed the potential mechanisms of allosteric signalling within NAGK using a Markov model for network communication. Comparative analysis of the dynamics of family members strongly suggests that the low-frequency modes of motion and the associated intramolecular couplings that establish signal transduction are highly conserved among family members, in support of the paradigm sequence→structure→dynamics→function © 2010 Marcos et al

Mouse Protocadherin-1 gene expression is regulated by cigarette smoke exposure in vivo

Protocadherin-1 (PCDH1) is a novel susceptibility gene for airway hyperresponsiveness, first identified in families exposed to cigarette smoke and is expressed in bronchial epithelial cells. Here, we asked how mouse Pcdh1 expression is regulated in lung structural cells in vivo under physiological conditions, and in both short-term cigarette smoke exposure models characterized by airway inflammation and hyperresponsiveness and chronic cigarette smoke exposure models. Pcdh1 gene-structure was investigated by Rapid Amplification of cDNA Ends. Pcdh1 mRNA and protein expression was investigated by qRT-PCR, western blotting using isoform-specific antibodies. We observed 87% conservation of the Pcdh1 nucleotide sequence, and 96% conservation of the Pcdh1 protein sequence between men and mice. We identified a novel Pcdh1 isoform encoding only the intracellular signalling motifs. Cigarette smoke exposure for 4 consecutive days markedly reduced Pcdh1 mRNA expression in lung tissue (3 to 4-fold), while neutrophilia and airway hyperresponsiveness was induced. Moreover, Pcdh1 mRNA expression in lung tissue was reduced already 6 hours after an acute cigarette-smoke exposure in mice. Chronic exposure to cigarette smoke induced loss of Pcdh1 protein in lung tissue after 2 months, while Pcdh1 protein levels were no longer reduced after 9 months of cigarette smoke exposure. We conclude that Pcdh1 is highly homologous to human PCDH1, encodes two transmembrane proteins and one intracellular protein, and is regulated by cigarette smoke exposure in vivo

Measurement of D-s(+) and D-s(*+) production in B meson decays and from continuum e(+)e(-) annihilation at √s=10.6 GeV

This is the pre-print version of the Article. The official published version can be accessed from the links below. Copyright @ 2002 APSNew measurements of Ds+ and Ds*+ meson production rates from B decays and from qq̅ continuum events near the Υ(4S) resonance are presented. Using 20.8 fb-1 of data on the Υ(4S) resonance and 2.6 fb-1 off-resonance, we find the inclusive branching fractions B(B⃗Ds+X)=(10.93±0.19±0.58±2.73)% and B(B⃗Ds*+X)=(7.9±0.8±0.7±2.0)%, where the first error is statistical, the second is systematic, and the third is due to the Ds+→φπ+ branching fraction uncertainty. The production cross sections σ(e+e-→Ds+X)×B(Ds+→φπ+)=7.55±0.20±0.34pb and σ(e+e-→Ds*±X)×B(Ds+→φπ+)=5.8±0.7±0.5pb are measured at center-of-mass energies about 40 MeV below the Υ(4S) mass. The branching fractions ΣB(B⃗Ds(*)+D(*))=(5.07±0.14±0.30±1.27)% and ΣB(B⃗Ds*+D(*))=(4.1±0.2±0.4±1.0)% are determined from the Ds(*)+ momentum spectra. The mass difference m(Ds+)-m(D+)=98.4±0.1±0.3MeV/c2 is also measured.This work was supported by DOE and NSF (USA), NSERC (Canada), IHEP (China), CEA and CNRS-IN2P3 (France), BMBF (Germany), INFN (Italy), NFR (Norway), MIST (Russia), and PPARC (United Kingdom). Individuals have received support from the Swiss NSF, A. P. Sloan Foundation, Research Corporation, and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation

Measurement of the branching fraction and CP content for the decay B(0) -> D(*+)D(*-)

This is the pre-print version of the Article. The official published version can be accessed from the links below. Copyright @ 2002 APS.We report a measurement of the branching fraction of the decay B0→D*+D*- and of the CP-odd component of its final state using the BABAR detector. With data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.4  fb-1 collected at the Υ(4S) resonance during 1999–2000, we have reconstructed 38 candidate signal events in the mode B0→D*+D*- with an estimated background of 6.2±0.5 events. From these events, we determine the branching fraction to be B(B0→D*+D*-)=[8.3±1.6(stat)±1.2(syst)]×10-4. The measured CP-odd fraction of the final state is 0.22±0.18(stat)±0.03(syst).This work is supported by DOE and NSF (USA), NSERC (Canada), IHEP (China), CEA and CNRS-IN2P3 (France), BMBF (Germany), INFN (Italy), NFR (Norway), MIST (Russia), and PPARC (United Kingdom). Individuals have received support from the A.P. Sloan Foundation, Research Corporation, and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation

Conducting research in individual patients: lessons learnt from two series of N-of-1 trials

BACKGROUND: Double-blind randomised N-of-1 trials (N-of-1 trials) may help with decisions concerning treatment when there is doubt regarding the effectiveness and suitability of medication for individual patients. The patient is his or her own control, and receives the experimental and the control treatment during several periods of time in random order. Reports of N-of-1 trials are still relatively scarce, and the research methodology is not as firmly established as that of RCTs. Recently, we have conducted two series of N-of-1 trials in general practice. Before, during, and after data-collection, difficulties regarding outcome assessment, analysis of the results, the withdrawal of patients, and the follow-up had to be dealt with. These difficulties are described and our solutions are discussed. DISCUSSION: To prevent or anticipate difficulties in N-of-1 trials, we argue that that it is important to individualise the outcome measures, and to carefully consider the objective, type of randomisation and the analysis. It is recommended to use the same dosages and dosage forms that the patient used before the trial, to start the trial with a run-in period, to formulate both general and individualised decision rules regarding the efficacy of treatment, to adjust treatment policies immediately after the trial, and to provide adequate instructions and support if treatment is adjusted. SUMMARY: Because of the specific characteristics of N-of-1 trials it is difficult to formulate general 'how to do it' guidelines for designing N-of-1 trials. However, when the design of each N-of-1 trial is tailored to the specific characteristics of each individual patient and the underlying medical problem, most difficulties in N-of-1 trials can be prevented or overcome. In this way, N-of-1 trials may be of help when deciding on drug treatment for individual patients

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Compressed representation of a partially defined integer function over multiple arguments

In OLAP (OnLine Analitical Processing) data are analysed in an n-dimensional cube. The cube may be represented as a partially defined function over n arguments. Considering that often the function is not defined everywhere, we ask: is there a known way of representing the function or the points in which it is defined, in a more compact manner than the trivial one

Azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles at high transverse momenta in PbPb collisions at sqrt(s[NN]) = 2.76 TeV

The azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles in PbPb collisions at nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV is measured with the CMS detector at the LHC over an extended transverse momentum (pt) range up to approximately 60 GeV. The data cover both the low-pt region associated with hydrodynamic flow phenomena and the high-pt region where the anisotropies may reflect the path-length dependence of parton energy loss in the created medium. The anisotropy parameter (v2) of the particles is extracted by correlating charged tracks with respect to the event-plane reconstructed by using the energy deposited in forward-angle calorimeters. For the six bins of collision centrality studied, spanning the range of 0-60% most-central events, the observed v2 values are found to first increase with pt, reaching a maximum around pt = 3 GeV, and then to gradually decrease to almost zero, with the decline persisting up to at least pt = 40 GeV over the full centrality range measured.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO