Comparative Evaluation of the Safety and Efficacy of Long-Term Use of Imidafenacin and Solifenacin in Patients with Overactive Bladder: A Prospective, Open, Randomized, Parallel-Group Trial (the LIST Study)

Objectives. Overactive bladder (OAB) is a chronic disease, but comparative trials of anticholinergics, which are commonly used for treatment of OAB, have generally been performed for up to 12 weeks only. There is no comparative study of a long-term intervention. Methods. We conducted a 52-week prospective randomized comparative study to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of two anticholinergics. Results. Forty-one Japanese patients with untreated OAB were randomly assigned to imidafenacin and solifenacin groups. There was no difference in OABSS and KHQ scores between the two groups, but the severity and incidence of adverse events caused by the anticholinergics showed increased differences between the groups with time. The severity of dry mouth and the incidence of constipation were significantly lower in the imidafenacin group (P = 0.0092 and P = 0.0013, resp.). Conclusions. This study is the first long-term trial to show differences in the properties of anticholinergics that were not detected in short-term studies. Since OAB is a chronic disease, we conclude that imidafenacin is preferable to solifenacin from a perspective of safety

INTER-TRIAL DIFFERENCE ANALYSIS THROUGH APPEARANCE-BASED MOTION TRACKING

The purpose of this study is to develop a method for quantitative evaluation and visualization of inter-trial differences in the motion of athletes. Previous methods for kinematic analyses of human movement have required attaching specific equipment to a body segment or can only be used in an environment designed for analyses. Therefore, they are difficult to use for observing motions in real games. To enhance the applicability to real-game situations, we propose appearance-based motion tracking. Our method only requires an image sequence from a camera. From the image sequence, automatic detection of trials and a difference analysis of them are conducted. We applied our method to the analysis of pitching motions in actual baseball games. Though we have no quantitative evaluations yet, the experimental results imply the efficacy of our method

A Case of Hydrocele Stone with Its Composition Analysis

Hydrocele stones are freely mobile calcified bodies lying between the tunica vaginalis layers, and they are relatively rare. We present here another case of hydrocele stone incidentally discovered when castration was being undergone for the endocrine treatment of prostate cancer. A 71-year-old man was diagnosed as stage D2 prostate cancer with his prostate-specific antigen 387 ng/ml. A white smooth stone of 11 mm in diameter was incidentally found moving freely in the right hydrocele space during castration. The hydrocele stone was of yellow hard center with white materials around it. Crystallographical analysis of the hydrocele stone by a infrared spectrophotometer showed that the center was composed of 64% calcium carbonate and 36% calcium phosphate, while the outer portion was protein. Our case is the fourth where crystallographical analysis was reported for hydrocele stones

Heating-free, room-temperature operation of a radiofrequency-to-light signal transducer with a membrane oscillator and a built-in metasurface mirror

We present an electro-mechano-optical radiofrequency (rf)-to-light signal transducer robust against laser heating and thus operational at room temperature. A metal-free, low-loss metasurface mirror and an aluminum electrode made separately on a Si₃N₄ membrane oscillator comprise a chain of electro-mechanical and opto-mechanical systems, mediating electrical and optical signals through the (2, 2)-mode characteristic oscillation. We demonstrate up-conversion of rf signals at 175.2 MHz by 6 orders of magnitude in frequency to an optical regime with the transfer efficiency of 2.3 × 10⁻⁹, also showing stable operation due to reduced laser heating of the mirror

A Case of Giant Bladder Carcinosarcoma without Submucosal Invasion

Carcinosarcoma is a rare biphasic neoplasia containing both malignant mesenchymal and epithelial elements. Bladder carcinosarcoma commonly presented as high-grade, advanced stage, and aggressive behavior with a poor prognosis. An 83-year-old male presented with painless gross hematuria to our hospital. Cystoscopy revealed massive nonpapillary bladder tumor on the right wall. The 91 g tumor could be completely removed with transurethral resection. Histology of the tumor was diagnosed as carcinosarcoma with no submucosal invasion composed of biphasic malignant epithelial and mesenchymal cells. Epithelial malignancy was urothelial cancer and mesenchymal one was chondrosarcoma and leiomyosarcoma. The specimens taken at the second-look TUR-Bt revealed that carcinoma in situ (urothelial cancer) but not sarcoma existed at the mucosa surrounding the previous tumor site. 80 mg of BCG instillation intravesically every week for six weeks was successfully administered to the patient. There is no tumor recurrence for 6 months after treatments

Heat-Stress Responses Differ among Species from Different ‘Bangia’ Clades of Bangiales (Rhodophyta)

Acknowledgments: We are grateful to Hiromi Nakao from Betsukai Fishery Cooperative, Shyoichi Itakura from the Hiyama Fisheries Extension Office, Yoshitomo Hamaya from the Esashi Branch of the Fisheries Co-operative Association of Hiyama, and Hidehiko Sasaki from the Main Branch of the Fisheries Co-operative Association of Hiyama for permission and support in collecting seaweed on Kamomejima Island in Esasi. We also thank Ryunosuke Irie for technical assistance in phylogenetic analysis, Chengze Li for the maintenance of ‘Bangia’ sp. ESS2, and Yuji Hiwatashi for technical assistance in microscopic observation. Ho Viet Khoa was supported by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan. Puja Kumari is an International Research Fellow supported by JSPS with Postdoctoral Fellowship for Research in Japan (Standard). We also thank Hiroyuki Mizuta for permission of Ho Viet Khoa to study in the Miyagi UniversityPeer reviewedPublisher PD

A Case of Severe Hemorrhagic Cystitis Caused by Melphalan with Successful Bladder Preservation by Ligation of Bilateral Internal Iliac Arteries

Hemorrhagic cystitis is a disorder which causes bleeding from diffusely inflammatory bladder mucosa. Here we present a case of severe hemorrhagic cystitis caused by melphalan. A 70-year-old man with multiple myeloma was presented with suddenly commenced massive gross hematuria. During an attempt of transurethral coagulation of bladder mucosa, bladder perforation into peritoneal cavity was suspected, then open laparotomy was indicated. We isolated bilateral internal iliac arteries and ligated them in order to control continued bleeding. After that, bladder bleeding was suddenly diminished. Ligation of internal iliac arteries may be a choice in controlling massive bleeding from bladder with severe hemorrhagic cystitis when laparotomy was inevitable

Transient Occlusion of Bilateral Internal Iliac Arteries Facilitates Bloodless Operative Field in Subcapsular Prostatectomy

Transurethral resection of the prostate is the gold standard of surgical treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Nevertheless, open subcapsular prostatectomy is still performed for large BPH. While enucleation of prostatic adenoma is being performed, unneglectable bleeding can occur and surgeons need to rush to remove adenomas, often using fingers and in a blinded fashion. The blood supply to the prostatic capsule and adenoma can be reduced to a marked extent in subcapsular prostatectomy if the bilateral internal iliac arteries are transiently occluded. Thus, a bloodless operative field is reasonably acquired during enucleation of adenoma, which would, otherwise, be a cause for concern to surgeons due to bleeding. It is not always applicable, but it could be an option if the estimated volume of BPH is more than 100 mL. In two cases, bilateral internal iliac arteries were occluded with Bulldog clamps, and then adenomas of 159 and 97 g were enucleated