Error determination in the photogrammetric assessment of shoreline changes

The evaluation of error or uncertainty in shoreline change studies is an issue of prime importance for providing an adequate framework for calculated rates of change and to allow the establishment of threshold values above which the rates would be significant. In this note, a practical, easy-to-use method is presented to estimate error involved in the calculation of shoreline changes on aerial photographs, including the three most used types of shoreline indicators: high water line, dune/cliff toe and cliff top. This approach takes into account the specific characteristics of each shoreline proxy, such as relief in the case of the cliff top or tidal oscillations in the case of the high water line. At the same time it includes the error components that are independent from the proxy, basically related to the technical aspects of the process such as photo scanning and georeferencing. A practical example of application of the method is provided for several types of data inputs, based on shoreline changes around the Bay of Cádiz (SW Spain)

Does varicocele repair improve conventional semen parameters? A meta-analytic study of before-after data

Purpose The purpose of this meta-analysis is to study the impact of varicocele repair in the largest cohort of infertile males with clinical varicocele by including all available studies, with no language restrictions, comparing intra-person conventional semen parameters before and after the repair of varicoceles. Materials and Methods The meta-analysis was performed according to PRISMA-P and MOOSE guidelines. A systematic search was performed in Scopus, PubMed, Cochrane, and Embase databases. Eligible studies were selected according to the PICOS model (Population: infertile male patients with clinical varicocele; Intervention: varicocele repair; Comparison: intra-person before-after varicocele repair; Outcome: conventional semen parameters; Study type: randomized controlled trials [RCTs], observational and case-control studies). Results Out of 1,632 screened abstracts, 351 articles (23 RCTs, 292 observational, and 36 case-control studies) were included in the quantitative analysis. The before-and-after analysis showed significant improvements in all semen parameters after varicocele repair (except sperm vitality); semen volume: standardized mean difference (SMD) 0.203, 95% CI: 0.129–0.278; p<0.001; I2=83.62%, Egger’s p=0.3329; sperm concentration: SMD 1.590, 95% CI: 1.474–1.706; p<0.001; I2=97.86%, Egger’s p<0.0001; total sperm count: SMD 1.824, 95% CI: 1.526–2.121; p<0.001; I2=97.88%, Egger’s p=0.0063; total motile sperm count: SMD 1.643, 95% CI: 1.318–1.968; p<0.001; I2=98.65%, Egger’s p=0.0003; progressive sperm motility: SMD 1.845, 95% CI: 1.537%–2.153%; p<0.001; I2=98.97%, Egger’s p<0.0001; total sperm motility: SMD 1.613, 95% CI 1.467%–1.759%; p<0.001; l2=97.98%, Egger’s p<0.001; sperm morphology: SMD 1.066, 95% CI 0.992%–1.211%; p<0.001; I2=97.87%, Egger’s p=0.1864. Conclusions The current meta-analysis is the largest to date using paired analysis on varicocele patients. In the current meta-analysis, almost all conventional semen parameters improved significantly following varicocele repair in infertile patients with clinical varicocele. Keywords Controlled before-after studies; Infertility, male; Meta-analysis; Varicocel

miRNA and tropism of human parvovirus B19

Parvovirus B19 has an extreme tropism for human erythroid progenitors. Here we propose the hypothesis explaining the tropism of human parvovirus B19. Our speculations are based on experimental results related to the capsid proteins VP1 and VP2. These proteins were not detectable in nonpermissive cells in course of these experiments, although the corresponding mRNAs were synthesized. Our interpretation of these results is an inhibition of translation in nonpermissive cells by human miRNAs. We bring support to our hypothesis and propose detailed experimental procedure to test it

MP89-12 EFFICACY OF TREATMENT WITH PSEUDOEPHEDRINE IN MEN WITH RETROGRADE EJACULATION

The use of pseudoephedrine, an alpha agonist, for the treatment of retrograde ejaculation is well-known, however, there is no clear consensus from the literature regarding its efficacy and treatment protocol. We evaluated the efficacy of pseudoephedrine treatment in patients with retrograde ejaculation, utilizing a yet undescribed short-period treatment protocol. Twenty men were medically treated with pseudoephedrine for retrograde ejaculation between January 2010 and May 2016 (12 with complete retrograde ejaculation and 8 with partial retrograde ejaculation). All patients had a semen analysis and post-ejaculatory urinalysis before and after treatment. The treatment protocol consisted of 60 mg of pseudoephedrine every 6 h on the day before semen analysis and two more 60 mg doses on the day of the semen analysis. Diabetes was the most common etiology for complete retrograde ejaculation (60%), whereas an idiopathic cause was the most common etiology for partial retrograde ejaculation (82%). Of the 12 complete retrograde ejaculation patients treated with pseudoephedrine prior to semen analysis, 7 (58.3%) recovered spermatozoa in the antegrade ejaculate, with a mean total sperm count of 273.5 +/- 172.5 million. Of the eight patients with partial retrograde ejaculation, five (62.5%) had a >= 50% increase in the antegrade total sperm count. In this group, the mean total sperm count increased from 26.9 +/- 8.5 million before treatment to 84.2 +/- 24.6 million after treatment, whereas the percentage of spermatozoa in the urine declined from 43.2 +/- 9% to 17 +/- 10%, respectively (both p < 0.05). Overall, in men with retrograde ejaculation treated with a pseudoephedrine regimen prior to ejaculation, some improvement in seminal parameters occurred in 14 (70%) patients, with 10 patients (38.5% of all patients) achieving antegrade total sperm counts over 39 million