Identifying the predictors of change in severity of untreated lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in men: a systematic review

Background: Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) fluctuate in severity. Factors that influence the change in symptomatology are a key area of interest, and knowledge of these may provide the opportunity for both primary prevention of LUTS and secondary prevention of worsening LUTS. Objective: The objective of this systematic review was to synthesise the available evidence assessing the predictors of change in the severity of untreated LUTS in men in a non-hospital setting. Method: Studies that included human males aged > 18 years of age in a non-hospital setting with untreated LUTS were considered for this review. A comprehensive search strategy was designed to find both published and unpublished studies that examined individual exposures and their influence on LUTS severity. Databases searched included PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, Grey Literature Report and DIVA Academic Archive Online. Results: Twelve studies were included in this systematic review. The total number of men with untreated LUTS examined was 16,105. The mean age of men ranged from 49.7 to 72.7 years. The duration of follow-up ranged from 3-17 years. Heterogeneity within the study methodology, patient groups and outcome measures prevented the conduct of a meta-analysis. Fourteen grouped modifiable exposures and three non-modifiable exposures were examined that indicated that psychological health, cardiovascular risk factors, hormone status and some medications may influence the natural history of LUTS. Conclusion: Lower urinary tract symptoms are influenced by factors outside the urological system. Systemic diseases, hormonal status and some medications appear to be associated with fluctuations in LUTS. A causative relationship is still hypothesised, rather than proven, as is the potential role of intervening on modifiable factors.Thesis (MClinSc) -- University of Adelaide, The Joanna Briggs Institute, 201

Interpreting granulite facies events through rare earth element partitioning arrays

The use of rare earth element (REE) partition coefficients is an increasingly common tool in metamorphic studies, linking the growth or modification of accessory mineral geochronometers to the bulk silicate mineral assemblage. The most commonly used mineral pair for the study of high-grade metamorphic rocks is zircon and garnet. The link from U–Pb ages provided by zircon to the P–T information recorded by garnet can be interpreted in relation to experimental data. The simplistic approach of taking the average REE abundances for zircon and garnet and comparing them directly to experimentally derived partition coefficients is imperfect, in that it cannot represent the complexity of a natural rock system. This study describes a method that uses all the zircon analyses from a sample, and compares them to different garnet compositions in the same rock. Using the most important REE values, it is possible to define zircon–garnet equilibrium using an array rather than an average. The array plot describes partitioning between zircon and garnet using DYb and DYb/DGd as the defining features of the relationship. This approach provides far more sensitivity to mineral reactions and diffusional processes, enabling a more detailed interpretation of metamorphic history of the sample

A genome-wide linkage analysis of alcoholism on microsatellite and single-nucleotide polymorphism data, using alcohol dependence phenotypes and electroencephalogram measures

The Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA) is a large-scale family study designed to identify genes that affect the risk for alcoholism and alcohol-related phenotypes. We performed genome-wide linkage analyses on the COGA data made available to participants in the Genetic Analysis Workshop 14 (GAW 14). The dataset comprised 1,350 participants from 143 families. The samples were analyzed on three technologies: microsatellites spaced at 10 cM, Affymetrix GeneChip(® )Human Mapping 10 K Array (HMA10K) and Illumina SNP-based Linkage III Panel. We used ALDX1 and ALDX2, the COGA definitions of alcohol dependence, as well as electrophysiological measures TTTH1 and ECB21 to detect alcoholism susceptibility loci. Many chromosomal regions were found to be significant for each of the phenotypes at a p-value of 0.05. The most significant region for ALDX1 is on chromosome 7, with a maximum LOD score of 2.25 for Affymetrix SNPs, 1.97 for Illumina SNPs, and 1.72 for microsatellites. The same regions on chromosome 7 (96–106 cM) and 10 (149–176 cM) were found to be significant for both ALDX1 and ALDX2. A region on chromosome 7 (112–153 cM) and a region on chromosome 6 (169–185 cM) were identified as the most significant regions for TTTH1 and ECB21, respectively. We also performed linkage analysis on denser maps of markers by combining the SNPs datasets from Affymetrix and Illumina. Adding the microsatellite data to the combined SNP dataset improved the results only marginally. The results indicated that SNPs outperform microsatellites with the densest marker sets performing the best

Timing of UHT metamorphism at Mather Peninsula in Rauer Islands: Zircon and monazite U-Th-Pb and rare earth elements chemistry constraints

第6回極域科学シンポジウム[OG] 地圏11月16日（月）　国立極地研究所３階セミナー

Strain shadow “megapores” in mid-crustal ultramylonites

Mylonitic shear zones are important fluid conduits in the Earth's crust. They host transient and permeable porosity that facilitates fluid transfer and controls fluid-rock interaction. Here we present microstructural observations from a mid-crustal ultramylonite with very large pores that occupy the strain shadows of albite porphyroclasts. Our non-invasive three-dimensional X-ray microtomographic data show that the largest of these strain shadow megapores have substantial volumes of as much as ∼1.7 × 105 µm3. Given that the sample shows no signs of retrogressive overprint or weathering, these pores must be synkinematic. Importantly, the close proximity of the pores to creep cavities in dynamically recrystallized quartz ribbon grains suggests a potential hydraulic link between fluid in the strain shadow megapores and fluid in the creeping rock matrix. The evolving megapores constitute very large syndeformational local fluid reservoirs in mylonites that likely fed into the granular fluid pump established by the dynamically evolving creep cavities. Our findings add to an emerging picture of the dynamic transport properties of ultramylonitic shear zones, where the formation and destruction of porosity are intrinsically linked to microscale deformation processes. They also suggest that despite many studies on porphyroclast systems, open questions remain, especially concerning the interaction of clasts with their matrix

Magnetic Materials: Novel Monitors of Long-Term Evolution of Engineered Barrier Systems

Most safety cases for the deep geological disposal of radioactive waste are reliant on the swelling of bentonite in the engineered barrier system as it saturates with groundwater. Assurance of safety therefore requires effective monitoring of bentonite saturation. The time- and fluid-dependent corrosion of synthetic magnets embedded in bentonite is demonstrated here to provide a novel and passive means of monitoring saturation. Experiments have been conducted at 70 °C in which neo magnets, AlNiCo magnets, and ferrite magnets have been reacted with saline (NaCl, KCl, CaCl2) solutions and alkaline fluids (NaOH, KOH, Ca(OH)2 solutions; pH = 12) in the presence of bentonite. Nd-Fe-B magnets undergo extensive corrosion that results in a dramatic change from ferromagnetic to superparamagnetic behaviour concomitant with bentonite saturation. AlNiCo magnets in saline solutions show corrosion but only limited decreases in their magnetic intensities, and ferrite magnets are essentially unreactive on the experimental timescales, retaining their initial magnetic properties. For all magnets the impact of their corrosion on bentonite swelling is negligible; alteration of bentonite is essentially governed by the applied fluid composition. In principle, synthetic magnet arrays can, with further development, be designed and embedded in bentonite to monitor its fluid saturation without compromising the integrity of the engineered barrier system itself