Different aspects of undescended testis

Delemarre-van de Waal, H.A. [Promotor]Heij, H.A. [Promotor]Hack, W.W.M. [Copromotor]Meijer, R.W. [Copromotor

Testicular microlithiasis in a 2-year-old boy with pseudoxanthoma elasticum

Pseudoxantoma elasticum (PXE) is a rare chromosomal disorder that results in mineralization of elastic fibers, especially in the skin, eye, and cardiovascular system. Recently, PXE has been associated with testicular microlithiasis (TM),1 which itself might be associated with testicular malignancy.2 Here we report on a 9-year-old boy with PXE who already had TM at 2 years. To our knowledge, this is the youngest patient with PXE in whom TM is documented. © 2008 by the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine

The corrective effects of warning on false memories in the DRM paradigm are limited to full attention conditions

Effects of attention control and forewarning on the activation and monitoring of experimentally induced false memories in the Deese/Roediger-McDermott paradigm were investigated in a young adult sample (N = 77), We found that reducing the degree of attention during encoding led to a decrease in veridical recall and an increase in non-presented critical lure intrusions. This effect could not be counteracted by a forewarning instruction. However, these findings did not emerge in a (retrieval supportive) recognition task. It seems that divided attention increases false recall when attention control and forewarning have to compete for limited cognitive resources in a generative free recall as opposed to a retrieval supportive recognition task. Forewarning instructions do not always protect young adults against experimentally induced false memories

Stress selectively and lastingly promotes learning of context-related high arousing information

The secretion of adrenal stress hormones in response to acute stress is known to affect learning and memory, particularly for emotionally arousing memory material. Here, we investigated whether stress-induced modulation of learning and memory performance depends on (i) the conceptual relatedness between the material to be learned/remembered and the stressor and (ii) the timing of stress exposure versus learning phase. Participants learned stressor-related and stressor-unrelated words of varying arousal 1 h prior to, immediately following, or 2 h after exposure to the Trier Social Stress Test (all groups n = 16). Twenty-four hours later, delayed free recall was assessed. Cortisol and alpha-amylase were sampled to evaluate if concurrent stress-induced raised glucocorticoid levels and high adrenergic activity are implicated in modulating learning performance. Our results demonstrate that immediate and delayed post-stress learning selectively enhanced the learning and delayed recall of stressor-related high arousing words. This enhancing effect was strongly associated with concurrent stress-induced cortisol and sympathetic activity. Our data suggest that when to-be-learned information is conceptually related to a stressor and considered important (i.e., arousing) by the individual, learning under stressful circumstances results in improved memorability afterwards

Reduction in the number of orchidopexies for cryptorchidism after recognition of acquired undescended testis and implementation of expectative policy

Background: Since the mid-1990s, acquired undescended testis has gradually been recognised as a separate entity for which the efficacy of prepubertal surgery has not been univocally been demonstrated. Therefore, in our hospital, orchidopexy was no longer routinely performed for acquired undescended testis. Aim: To investigate the effect of expectative policy in our hospital on the number of orchidopexies. Methods: Two 5-year periods were compared. Period A (1991-1995), in which undescended testis was treated surgically, and period B (2000-2004), in which prepubertal orchidopexy in our hospital was no longer performed for acquired undescended testis. In addition, a comparison was made between the percentage reduction in hospital and national figures. Results: In period B, the number of orchidopexies in our hospital was reduced by 61.8% (from 387 to 148), mainly in the age group >6 years. Nationally, during the same period, the number of orchidopexies decreased only by 2.4% (from 18 024 to 17 591). Conclusion: The results of this study confirm that recognition of acquired undescended testis is crucial for reducing the high number of (late) orchidopexies. © 2007 The Author(s)