Neurogenic bladder is a very broad disease definition that encompasses varied disease and injury states affecting the bladder. The majority of patients with neurogenic bladder dysfunction do not have concomitant intrinsic sphincteric deficiency (ISD), but when this occurs the challenges of management of urinary incontinence from neurogenic bladder are compounded. There are no guidelines for sur...

OBJECTIVE To review the literature on the surgical and nonsurgical treatment options for stress urinary incontinence in women, focusing exclusively on randomized clinical trials and high quality meta-analyses. MATERIALS AND METHODS A computer-aided and manual search for published randomized controlled trials and high quality meta-analyses investigating both conservative and surgical treatment...

We investigated the dynamics of the microfauna community in activated sludge, with special reference to sludge bulking, in two parallel municipal wastewater treatment systems in Beijing, China over a period of 14 months. Annual cyclic changes in microfauna community structures occurred in both systems. RELATE analysis based on Spearman's Rank correlation indicated that microfauna community stru...

OBJECTIVE A patulous Eustachian tube ([ET] tuba aperta) may cause symptoms as autophony, breath synchronous tinnitus, pressure sensation, and conductive hearing loss and thus lead to an enormous cutback in quality of life. In combination with "sniffing," it can trigger the development of cholesteatoma. Because of the ambiguous symptoms, the diagnosis can be challenging. A patulous ET can only b...

Drug formulation, an integral step in the regulated pharmaceutical industry, involves the careful blending and processing of precisely specified and measured components to create a final product that can be administered to deliver the required clinical dose. The production of counterfeit drugs is a major challenge to the industry and has the potential to endanger health, threaten reputation and...

The goals of IBS therapy are to provide global relief of the multiple symptoms of IBS and to relieve single IBS symptoms. Although traditional IBS therapies (e.g., laxatives, antidepressants, antispasmodics, and bulking agents) are useful for some patients in relieving single IBS symptoms, patients generally are dissatisfied with their overall efficacy and tolerability. Development of new visce...

About 20% of the population suffer from constipation. For the common types of functional constipation, idiopathic and IBS related constipation, the proportion of women is about 80-90%. It is important to structure the management of this large patient group. The duration of symptoms is of relevance. In general, a long history allows for more restricted investigations, and the management can be f...

There is an increasing recognition of the importance of internal anal sphincter (IAS) dysfunction presenting as passive faecal incontinence. This problem may manifest after anal sphincterotomy or following the more minimally invasive operations for haemorrhoids, as well as with advancing age. Because of the poor results of IAS plication and the beneficial outcomes with peri-urethral bulking age...