Medical treatment of prolactinomas.

Prolactinomas, the most prevalent type of neuroendocrine disease, account for approximately 40% of all pituitary adenomas. The most important clinical problems associated with prolactinomas are hypogonadism, infertility and hyposexuality. In patients with macroprolactinomas, mass effects, including visual field defects, headaches and neurological disturbances, can also occur. The objectives of therapy are normalization of prolactin levels, to restore eugonadism, and reduction of tumor mass, both of which can be achieved in the majority of patients by treatment with dopamine agonists. Given their association with minimal morbidity, these drugs currently represent the mainstay of treatment for prolactinomas. Novel data indicate that these agents can be successfully withdrawn in a subset of patients after normalization of prolactin levels and tumor disappearance, which suggests the possibility that medical therapy may not be required throughout life. Nevertheless, multimodal therapy that involves surgery, radiotherapy or both may be necessary in some cases, such as patients who are resistant to the effects of dopamine agonists or for those with atypical prolactinomas. This Review reports on efficacy and safety of pharmacotherapy in patients with prolactinomas

Cyclic loading test of three-bay RC space frame strengthened with X-shape RC braces

© 2015, RILEM. Previous studies showed improved seismic performance of reinforced concrete (RC) plane frames by adding RC braces. However, in literature, the studies on the efficiency of RC braces for the improvement of seismic performance of RC space frame (RCSF) are very limited. This paper presents the experimental results on two 1/4-scale, two-storey and three-bay RCSFs under cyclic loading, i.e. a control RCSF and another RC X-braces strengthened RCSF (termed as CBRCSF). The test results show that compared with the control frame, the seismic performance of the CBRCSF was improved significantly in terms of lateral strength, stiffness degradation and energy dissipation capacity due to the addition of RC X-braces. Moreover, the CBRCSF could continue to bear loads after the rupture of the RC braces, thereby revealing redundancy of the CBRCSF because of the use of RC X-braces