PURPOSE The aim of this study was to define if tadalafil causes detrusor muscle impairment and to observe the effect of combination of tadalafil with tamsulosin on the lower urinary tract of rats with bladder outlet obstruction (BOO) induced by chronic nitric oxide deficiency. MATERIALS AND METHODS Thirty-one male rats were randomized to following groups: 1 - control; 2 - L-Nitroarginine meth...

This chapter provides a case study of a research project investigating aspects of facial expression and viewer response to the „Uncanny Valley‟ (Mori, 1970) in realistic, human-like, virtual characters. In humans, there exists a rich variety of information that can be obtained through nonverbal communication (NVC) (Ekman, 1965). However, empirical evidence collected as part of this research pro...

OBJECTIVE To quantify earlier capillary diameter abnormalities, observed by nailfold videocapillaroscopy (NVC), in primary Raynaud phenomenon (PRP) subjects compared with RP subjects later evolved to systemic sclerosis (SSc)-associated secondary Raynaud phenomenon (SRP). METHODS There were 6112 NVC images of 191 subjects analyzed at baseline and after a mean followup of 42.77 ± 35.80 months. ...

INTRODUCTION Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) as a vasospastic response to cold and emotions has an impact on the quality of life. This also applies to patients with primary (idiopathic) RP. Moreover, RP may also be a factor of irreversible tissue injury manifested by ulceration or necrosis, especially in patients with connective tissue disease. Nailfold videocapillaroscopy (NVC) is a recognized metho...

Assistive robotics will become integral to the everyday lives of a human population that is increasingly mobile, older, urban-centric and networked. The overwhelming demands on healthcare delivery alone will compel the adoption of assistive robotics. How will we communicate with such robots, and how will they communicate with us? This research makes the case for a relatively “artificial” mode o...

Background Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos syndrome (hEDS) is the most common subtype among EDS syndromes and a rare inherited connective tissue disease characterized mostly by hyperextensible skin generalized joint hypermobility. Microvascular assessment has been documented only one case report in “vascular type” of EDS, despite vascular manifestations may occur also other subtypes [1,2]. A reduced ...

Detailed phase transition processes of poly(2-isopropyl-2-oxazoline) (PIPOZ)/poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) and PIPOZ/poly(N-vinylcaprolactam) (PVCL) mixtures in aqueous solution were investigated by DSC, temperature-variable (1)H-NMR, optical microscopy and FT-IR spectroscopy measurements accompanied with two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2Dcos) and perturbation correlation movin...

Water contamination and its purification are a global problem. The current approach to purify water is reduction of impurities to acceptable levels. One of the ways to achieve this is by use of water-soluble polymers that extract organic and metallic contaminants, from water. This paper presents a blend of composite polymers that eliminates both the contaminants simultaneously by the principle ...

Anionic poly(vinylcaprolactam-co-itaconicacid-co-dimethylitaconate) microgels were synthesized via dispersion polymerization and their responsiveness towards cations, namely Mg2+, Sr2+, Cu2+ Fe3+, was investigated.