The vacuum erectile device (VED) uses negative pressure to increase blood inflow into the corpora cavernosum, with a ring at the base of the penis to maintain erection for intercourse or without a ring for penile rehabilitation. Owing to the limitation of phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitors (PDE5I) shown in the treatment of refractory erectile dysfunction (ED), the use of VED has resurged and is becoming the first line therapy in the treatment of ED following radical prostatectomy (RP). Currently, the combination therapy of VED with PDE5I and that of VED with intracavernous injection are advocated for post-RP ED. Hereby, we review the role of VED in penile rehabilitation, its underlying mechanisms, and the combination therapies for it.
Coitus ; Combined Modality Therapy ; methods ; Erectile Dysfunction ; drug therapy ; etiology ; rehabilitation ; Humans ; Male ; Penile Prosthesis ; Penis ; blood supply ; Phosphodiesterase 5 Inhibitors ; therapeutic use ; Prostatectomy ; adverse effects ; Regional Blood Flow ; Vacuum

The contrast-enhanced ultrasound(CEUS) been equipped in most commercial ultrasound system, is a newer technology which could evaluate the blood flow of soft tissue. It could not only make qualitative and semi-quantitative analysis, but also the quantitative analysis could be acquired. At present, it has been applied on cardiovascular imaging and tumor perfusion assessment in clinical. The clinical usage of CEUS in rheumatoid arthritis(RA) was summarized in the paper which included its common clinical type, dose of ultrasound contrast agent and various method of usage described. Besides, the paper not only introduced the evaluation of the synovitis in RA with the parameters resulted from CEUS, but also illuminated the progress of the researches. Through compared these parameters, indexes and methods, this summary revealed the limitation and application value of CEUS to RA, and more exploration need be done in future.

A total of 256 medical professionals at the hospitals of different levels were interviewed and requested to complete the relevant questionnaires.The findings revealed that the top five unsatisfied items were growth & development,working conditions,doctor-patient relationship,income and social status.The levels of job satisfaction varied with their specific occupations and technical titles.Around two thirds of them once had the thought of leaving their pre-hospital care posts.

Erectile Dysfunction ; Humans ; Male ; Men's Health ; Penile Diseases ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; Urologic Diseases

BACKGROUNDConsidering the existence of a large number of liver cell degeneration and necrosis in fibrotic liver, liver function was damaged severely and could not effectively regenerate after partial hepatectomy (PHx). The aim of this study was to investigate whether decorin (DCN) could promote the liver regeneration after PHx in fibrotic mice.

METHODSForty mice (5-week-old, Balb/c) were injected with CCl4 intraperitoneally and liver fibrosis model was established after 5 weeks. The survival mice were randomly divided into two groups: control group and DCN group. Then, we performed 70% PHx on all these mice and injected DCN or phosphate-buffered saline plus normal saline (NS) to each group, respectively, after surgery. Liver body weight ratio (LBR), quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, and immunohistochemistry were used to analyze liver regeneration and fibrosis degree in both groups, and to find out whether exogenous protein DCN could promote the regeneration of fibrosis liver after PHx.

RESULTSExpressions of a-smooth muscle actin (SMA) mRNA and LBR had significant increases in the DCN group at postoperative Day 3 (POD 3, P < 0.05). The protein expressions of CD31, a-SMA, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-a were higher in the DCN group than those in the control group by immunohistochemistry at POD 3 (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONExogenous protein DCN could promote liver regeneration after PHx in fibrotic mice.

Animals ; Decorin ; therapeutic use ; Hepatectomy ; Immunohistochemistry ; Liver Cirrhosis ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; surgery ; Liver Regeneration ; drug effects ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Platelet Endothelial Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 ; metabolism

Objective To establish a new method for monitoring aspirin response by platelet activated-release experiment.Methods The platelets in whole blood were activated by ARA,and the MPC was measured by hematology analyzer.Blood samples were drawn from five healthy volunteers for measuring MPC,LTAARA and platelet membrane CD62P expression.Blood samples were mixed thoroughly right after venipuncture. The concentration of ARA (0,0. 5,1.0,1.5,5.0 and 10. 0 mmol/L) and the time for platelet activation (5,10,20,30,40,50,60,70,80 and 90 min in 37℃ water bathe) were optimized to evaluate the stability (0,1,2 and 3 h after venipuncture) and reproducibility (MPC, LTAARA and platelet membrane CD62p were measured ten times and the CV was calculated). Platelets were mixed with acetylsalicylic acid at different concentrations in vitro in order to verify the validity for monitoring aspirin response. The percentage of CD62p positive platelets after activated by ARA was measured using flow cytometer with CD61-PerCP and CD62p-PE antibodies. The correlation between MPC and CD62P was determined. 100 patients without taking or stop taking aspirin more than 7 days and 93 patients who took aspirin at least 7 days were enrolled. Duplicate measurements of platelet function were performed using the change of MPC (ARA 0. 5 mmol/L) and LTA (ARA 0. 5 mmol/L) among two patient groups to evaluate the accuracy of the new method. Results Platelcts were completely activated by ARA at final concentration of 0. 5 mmol/L. MPC negatively correlated with platelet membrane CD62p(r=-0. 755,P<0. O1 ). MPC was stable for 30 minutes in 37 ℃ water bathe after ARA activation. The result of MPC was consistent at room temperature within 3 hours after blood collection. This method had good reproducibility. CV in batch using fresh whole blood was 1.35% and CV between batches using commercial control whole blood were 0. 71% and 0. 74%. With the concentration of acetylsalicylic acid increased (0-6. 95 μmol/L), MPC increased as CD62P decreased, which showed negative correlation (r=-0. 765 ,P <0. 01 ). The difference of MPC before and after ARA activation (ΔMPC) and MPC variance ratio of the group taking aspirin were ( 8. 2±8. 6) g/L and ( 3.4±3.6) %, and they were (37.4±10. 3 ) g/L and ( 15.7±4.0) % in control group, respectively.ΔMPC and MPC variance ratio showed significant difference between the two groups ( t=21. 522, 22. 409, all P < 0. 01 ). Area under the ROC curve for MPC variance ratio was 0. 992 with sensitivity of 96. 8% and specificity of 99.0% for monitoring the aspirin response using the cut-off of 8. 7%. MPC variance ratio had good correlation with LTAARA (r = 0. 720, P < 0. O1 ). Conclusions A new method for monitoring aspirin response by platelet activated-release experiment is established. It may replace LTAARA for routine clinical examination.

Objective To investigate the changes of T lymphocyte subsets of severe acute respiratory syndrome(SARS) patients during acute phase and recovery stage and study its clinical significance in early diagnosis of SARS.Methods T lymphocyte subsets of 40 patients of SARS and 22 cases of SARS recovery stage were detected by flow cytometry.Results Compared with normal group, T lymphocyte, Th and Ts cell counts of SARS patients decreased obviously( P =0.013, P 0.05). Conclusion The cellular immunity of SARS patients were badly damaged during acute phase. Their T lymphocyte, Th and Ts cell counts decreased obviously. This could be a guideline of early diagnosis of SARS. The counts of T lymphocyte subsets of SARS patients can return to normal after they were cured.

Objective To research on a whole blood control material for lymphocyte subset counting by flow cytometry(FCM).Methods To detect lymphocyte subset in whole blood with different preservers by flow cytometric multi-color analysis.Results whole blood control material for lymphocyte subset counting by FCM was prepared.In 2-8℃ refrigerator, the light scatter and CD45 of leukocytes of whole blood control were stable in 72 days. The cluster of lymphocyte, monocyte, neutrophil in plot were separated easily from debris. The lymphocyte subset of whole blood control can be counted by FSC/SSC or CD45/SSC gating. The variation of lymphocyte subset count was less in different preserving day. The coefficient of variation (CV) of lymphocyte subset count was less than 6.5% in our laboratory and less than 13% in external quality assessment among 56 laboratories in China.Conclusion The whole blood control prepared by us can be used for internal quality control and external quality assessment in lymphocyte subset counting by FCM, it is very important signification to ensure the quality and accuracy of lymphocyte subset count.

The 3D gait analysis system (Vicon) was used for the gait analysis of health persons and amputees who wear lower limb prosthesis. The result indicated that gait analysis can supply changes of kinematics and biomechanics; which can be used to analyze the difference of joint movement between the health persons and amputees. The 3D gait analysis is feasible for amputees in rehabilitation.