Quality of life of patients after retropubic prostatectomy - Pre- and postoperative scores of the EORTC QLQ-C30 and QLQ-PR25

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Patients with newly diagnosed early stage prostate cancer (PCa) face a difficult choice of different treatment options with curative intention. They must consider both goals of optimising quantity and quality of life. The quality of life (QoL) is a psychometric outcome which is measured using validated questionnaires. Only few data are published concerning pre - and postoperative QoL.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This study investigated pre perative QoL of 185 patients who consecutively underwent open radical retropubic prostatectomy for organ-confined PCa to postoperative QoL of another 185 patients. The EORTC QLQ-C30, EORTC QLQPR25 module and 24 h ICS pad test were used (mean follow-up 28.6 months).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The examined symptom scores of the EORTC QLQ-PR25 were on lowest level. In the dyspnoea symptom score differences of age emerged: the amount of patients who are short of breath rose significantly in older patients after surgery (p < 0.05 paired, two-tailed student's t-test).. Lastly, the urinary symptom score was found postal-therapeutically low; this fact was age independent. The results of sexual symptom score need to be taken into consideration, since prostatectomy resulted in a significant reduction of sexual activity independent of age. All functioning scales postoperatively reached high values without significant changes (p > 0.05 student's t-test ), which implies a high QoL after surgery. A reliable and satisfying status of continence was found in our patients after retropubic prostatectomy. A high rate of patients (89.2%) would choose retropubic prostatectomy again.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Retropubic prostatectomy represents a reliable and accepted procedure in the treatment of organ-confined PCa. For the first time it could be shown that patients` QoL remained on a high level after retropubic prostatectomy. Nevertheless, the primary avoidance or postoperative therapy of erectile dysfunction should be in the focus of surgeons.</p

Hadron Formation Time and Dilepton Mass Spectra in Heavy Ion Collisions

We point out that formation time of pions produced in heavy ion collisions modifies the mass spectrum of dileptons produced via pipi -> ee annihilation. Increasing formation time enhances the production of dileptons with lower masses. The effect offers an explanation of a part of the enhanced production of dileptons below the rho-meson mass as observed by the CERES and HELIOS Collaborations at the CERN SPS.Comment: 10 pages, Revtex, 2 figure

Anaphylatoxins Activate Ca2+, Akt/PI3-Kinase, and FOXO1/FoxP3 in the Retinal Pigment Epithelium

Purpose: The retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) is a main target for complement activation in age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The anaphylatoxins C3a and C5a have been thought to mostly play a role as chemoattractants for macrophages and immune cells;here, we explore whether they trigger RPE alterations. Specifically, we investigated the RPE as a potential immunoregulatory gate, allowing for active changes in the RPE microenvironment in response to complement. Design: In vitro and in vivo analysis of signaling pathways. Methods: Individual activities of and interaction between the two anaphylatoxin receptors were tested in cultured RPE cells by fluorescence microscopy, western blot, and immunohistochemistry. Main outcome measures: Intracellular free calcium, protein phosphorylation, immunostaining of tissues/cells, and multiplex secretion assay. Results: Similar to immune cells, anaphylatoxin exposure resulted in increases in free cytosolic Ca2+, PI3-kinase/Akt activation, FoxP3 and FOXO1 phosphorylation, and cytokine/chemokine secretion. Differential responses were elicited depending on whether C3a and C5a were co-administered or applied consecutively, and response amplitudes in co-administration experiments ranged from additive to driven by C5a (C3a + C5a = C5a) or being smaller than those elicited by C3a alone (C3a + C5a < C3a). Conclusion: We suggest that this combination of integrative signaling between C3aR and C5aR helps the RPE to precisely adopt its immune regulatory function. These data further contribute to our understanding of AMD pathophysiology

Farmer Participatory Early-Generation Yield Testing of Sorghum in West Africa: Possibilities to Optimize Genetic Gains for Yield in Farmers’ Fields

The effectiveness of on-farm and/or on-station early generation yield testing was examined to maximize the genetic gains for sorghum yield under smallholder famer production conditions in West Africa. On-farm first-stage yield trials (augmented design, 150 genotypes with subsets of 50 genotypes tested per farmer) and second-stage yield trials (replicated α-lattice design, 21 test genotypes) were conducted, as well as on-station α-lattice first- and second-stage trials under contrasting phosphorous conditions. On-farm testing was effective, with yield showing significant genetic variance and acceptable heritabilities (0.56 in first- and 0.61 to 0.83 in second-stage trials). Predicted genetic gains from on-station yield trials were always less than from direct testing on-farm, although on-station trials under low-phosphorus and combined over multiple environments improved selection efficiencies. Modeling alternative designs for on-farm yield testing (augmented, farmer-as-incomplete-block, multiple lattice, and augmented p-rep) indicated that acceptable heritabilities (0.57 to 0.65) could be obtained with all designs for testing 150 progenies in 20 trials and 75 plots per farmer. Ease of implementation and risk of errors would thus be key criteria for choice of design. Integrating results from on-station and on-farm yield testing appeared beneficial as progenies selected both by on-farm and on-station first-stage trials showed higher on-farm yields in second-stage testing

Computing Heritability and Selection Response From Unbalanced Plant Breeding Trials

Heritability is often used by plant breeders and geneticists as a measure of precision of a trial or a series of trials. Its main use is for computing the response to selection. Most formulas proposed for calculating heritability implicitly assume balanced data and independent genotypic effects. Both of these assumptions are often violated in plant breeding trials. This article proposes a simulation-based approach to tackle the problem. The key idea is to directly simulate the quantity of interest, e.g., response to selection, rather than trying to approximate it using some ad hoc measure of heritability. The approach is illustrated by three examples

Prioritätsregeln zur kostenorientierten Leistungsabstimmung von Fließlinien

Amen M. Prioritätsregeln zur kostenorientierten Leistungsabstimmung von Fließlinien. In: Kischka P, Lorenz H-W, Derigs U, Domschke W, Kleinschmidt P, Möhring R, eds. Operations Research Proceedings 1997 - Selected Papers of the Symposion on Operations Research (SOR 97), Jena, September 3-5, 1997. Berlin u. a.: Springer; 1998: 456-461

Problems in parameter estimation for power and AR(1) models of spatial correlation in designed field experiments

The AR(1) and power models of spatial correlation are popular in the analysis of field trial data. Numerical difficulties in estimation and interpretation of these models may occur when the autocorrelation parameter ρ tends to either zero or unity. These problems are considered here using three different examples. The first example is based on simulated data for a partially replicated design, where the true underlying variance-covariance structure is known. The other two examples involve real data from a precision farming trial and a plant breeding trial. We suggest four options to deal with the observed numerical problems and illustrate their use with the examples. It is shown in the examples that re-scaling of the spatial coordinates or a re-parameterization of the AR(1) model as an exponential model can be useful to help the model converge. We conclude that individual parameter estimates of the AR(1) model should be interpreted with care, especially when the autocorrelation estimate is close to either zero or unity.Hans-Peter Piepho and Jens Möhring acknowledge support by DFG grant PI 377/13-1

Ein exaktes Verfahren zur kostenorientierten Abtaktung von Fließlinien

Amen M. Ein exaktes Verfahren zur kostenorientierten Abtaktung von Fließlinien. In: Zimmermann U, Derigs U, Gaul W, Möhring RH, Schuster K-P, eds. Operations Research Proceedings 1996 - Selected Papers of the Symposion on Operations Research (SOR 96), Braunschweig, September 3-6, 1996. Berlin u. a.: Springer; 1997: 224-229

Vista del exterior del inmueble

Objectives The present study explored associations between sleep and children's dual-task performance using cognitive-motor dual tasks (eg, walking and talking). Previous research with older adults indicated correlations between higher gait variability and unfavorable sleep continuity variables. Based on this research, as a first objective, we investigated similar correlations in a sample of children. Second, we explored correlations between dual-task performance and dimensions of sleep architecture. Third, we tested moderating effects of prematurity on these associations. Methods In this study, 7-to 12-year-old children were tested in dual-task situations; of those, 39 were formerly preterm, and 59 were full-term born children. They were asked to walk and simultaneously perform different cognitive tasks. Gait was measured using an electronic walkway system. Sleep was measured using in–home sleep-electroencephalography. Results After accounting for age and cognition, regression analyses revealed correlations between a higher number of awakenings after sleep onset and lower dual-task performance; concerning sleep architecture, analyses revealed correlations between a higher amount of rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep and lower gait variability. Furthermore, associations between a higher amount of slow wave sleep (SWS) and children's higher cognitive performance were found. Moderation analyses indicated no effects of prematurity. Conclusions Our exploratory study suggests that a more disrupted sleep was related to children's poorer dual-task performance. Our findings support claims that REM sleep seems more related to performance in procedural tasks whereas SWS seems more related to performance in declarative tasks, suggesting that different sleep stages may support the processing of different performance types