Stress urinary incontinence after hysterectomy : a 10-year national follow-up study

Purpose Hysterectomy has been associated with increased risk for developing stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and having a SUI operation. We examined the long-term rate of SUI operations after hysterectomy and associated risk factors. Methods We followed up 5000 women without prior urinary incontinence (UI) who had a hysterectomy in a prospective FINHYST 2006 cohort study until the end of 2016 through a national health register. The main outcome was SUI operations, and secondary outcomes were outpatient visits for UI, and their association of preoperative patient and operation factors. Results During the median follow-up time of 10.6 years (IQR 10.3-10.8), 111 (2.2%) women had a SUI operation and 241 (4.8%) had an outpatient visit for UI. The SUI operation rate was higher after vaginal hysterectomy and laparoscopic hysterectomy (n = 71 and 28, 3.3% and 1.8%, respectively) compared to abdominal hysterectomy (n = 11, 0.8%). In a multivariate risk analysis by Cox regression, the association with vaginal hysterectomy and SUI operation remained significant when adjusted for vaginal deliveries, preceding pelvic organ prolapse (POP), uterus size, age and BMI (HR 2.4, 95% CI 1.1-5.3). Preceding POP, three or more deliveries and laparoscopic hysterectomy were significantly associated with UI visits but not with SUI operations. Conclusion After hysterectomy, 2.2% of women underwent operative treatment for SUI. The number of SUI operations was more than double after vaginal hysterectomy compared to abdominal hysterectomy, but preceding POP explained this added risk partially. Preceding POP and three or more vaginal deliveries were independently associated with UI visits after hysterectomy.Peer reviewe

Multiple self-healing Bloch surface wave beams generated by a two-dimensional fraxicon

Two-dimensional surface waves are a cornerstone for future integrated photonic circuits. They can also be beneficially exploited in sensing devices by offering dark-field illuminations of objects. One major problem in sensing schemes arises from the individual sensing objects: the interaction of surface waves with an object reduces the field amplitude, and the readout of other objects along the propagation path suffers from this reduced signal. Here we show in two experiments that nondiffracting and self-healing Bloch surface waves can be launched using a Fresnel axicon (i.e., fraxicon). First, we visualize the generation of an array of multiple focal spots by scanning near-field optical microscopy in the infrared. With a second device operating in the visible, we demonstrate the self-healing effect directly using a far-field readout method by placing metallic nanoantennas onto the multiple focal spots of the fraxicon. Our study extends the versatile illumination capabilities of surface wave systems

Diffractive beamshaping elements at the fabrication limit

We treat the generation of flat-top intensity distributions, as required for laser applications at short wavelengths. To obtain high fill factors and almost arbitrary shapes, arrays of diffractive Fresnel zone plates at the fabrication limit are investigated. The angular power spectrum noise due to the binarization of the transmission phase function is smoothed using an incoherent source. The remaining zeroth order is ommited by the addition of a constant offset phase to the transmission phase function of the array. An analysis of etch-depth errors as well as an investigation of multilevel elements is appended. Simulation results, obtained by a 2-D analysis for radial symmetry, are compared to measurements. © 1996 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers

Nanostructured surface fabricated by laser interference lithography to attenuate the reflectivity of microlens arrays

A subwavelength-scale square lattice optical nanostructure is fabricated using an interference photolithography process on the surface of a quartz microlens array. This nanostructuring of the quartz surface introduces an antireflective effect, reducing reflectivity between 10% and 30% and enhancing the transmissivity 3% in the visible spectrum. This approach permits fast fabrication on a 4-inch wafer covered with microlenses (non-flat surface) and produces monolithic devices which are robust to adverse environments such as temperature variations. [DOI: 10.2971/jeos.2010.10006

Wintertime subarctic new particle formation from Kola Peninsula sulfur emissions

The metallurgical industry in the Kola Peninsula, north-west Russia, form, after Norilsk, Siberia, the second largest source of air pollution in the Arctic and subarctic domain. Sulfur dioxide (SO2/emissions from the ore smelters are transported to wide areas, including Finnish Lapland. We performed investigations on concentrations of SO2, aerosol precursor vapours, aerosol and ion cluster size distributions together with chemical composition measurements of freshly formed clusters at the SMEAR I station in Finnish Lapland relatively close (similar to 300 km) to the Kola Peninsula industrial sites during the winter 2019-2020. We show that highly concentrated SO2 from smelter emissions is converted to sulfuric acid (H2SO4/in sufficient concentrations to drive new particle formation hundreds of kilometres downwind from the emission sources, even at very low solar radiation intensities. Observed new particle formation is primarily initiated by H2SO4-ammonia (negative-)ion-induced nucleation. Particle growth to cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) sizes was concluded to result from sulfuric acid condensation. However, air mass advection had a large role in modifying aerosol size distributions, and other growth mechanisms and condensation of other compounds cannot be fully excluded. Our results demonstrate the dominance of SO2 emissions in controlling wintertime aerosol and CCN concentrations in the subarctic region with a heavily polluting industry.Peer reviewe

CD34+ cell mobilization, blood graft composition, and posttransplant recovery in myeloma patients compared to non‐Hodgkinʼs lymphoma patients: results of the prospective multicenter GOA study

BACKGROUNDAutologous stem cell transplantation is an established treatment option for patients with multiple myeloma (MM) or non‐Hodgkinʼs lymphoma (NHL).STUDY DESIGN AND METHODSIn this prospective multicenter study, 147 patients with MM were compared with 136 patients with NHL regarding the mobilization and apheresis of blood CD34+ cells, cellular composition of infused blood grafts, posttransplant recovery, and outcome.RESULTSMultiple myeloma patients mobilized CD34+ cells more effectively (6.3 × 106/kg vs. 3.9 × 106/kg, p = 0.001). The proportion of poor mobilizers (peak blood CD34+ cell count 100 days) nonrelapse mortality (NRM; 6% vs. 0%, p = 0.003).CONCLUSIONSNon‐Hodgkinʼs lymphoma and MM patients differ in terms of mobilization of CD34+ cells, graft cellular composition, and posttransplant recovery. Thus, the optimal graft characteristics may also be different.</p