Treatment options for patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia have traditionally revolved around pharmacotherapy or invasive surgery, both of which can negatively impact quality of life (QoL). The quest for a suitable minimally invasive surgical therapy as an alternative to long-term medication or conventional surgery, has seen the development of heat-based therapies, most of which have been...

There are over 2300 standing oil and gas platforms in the northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM). It has been argued that platforms provide reef-like habitat that increases the growth and survival rates of fishes by increasing prey availability and affording shelter for protection from predators, provide additional spawning substrate, and by acting as a visual attractant for organisms not otherwise depe...

PURPOSE We assessed the efficacy and safety of insertion of a polytetrafluoroethylene membrane-covered self-expandable metallic stent (UVENTA stent) for palliation of malignant ureteral obstruction on the basis of our early results. MATERIALS AND METHODS Eighteen patients underwent UVENTA stent insertion for extrinsic malignant ureteral obstructions of 20 ureters. The UVENTA stents were deplo...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Ureteral stents are widely used in patients with urologic disorders. This review critically evaluates the recent literature, providing an update on advances in the development and design of stents. METHODS A thorough MEDLINE and PubMed literature search on ureteral stents was performed, and all pertinent articles were reviewed in detail. This review was formulated on th...

Urethral obstruction may be caused by prostatic hypertrophy, urethral stricture, or encrustation of a urethral-catheter lumen. Bacteriuria often complicates these obstructions. The sequelae include fever, acute pyelonephritis, chronic renal inflammation, and death. We hypothesized that even brief obstruction of the urinary tract containing a nonvirulent bacterium would result in these complicat...

The objectives of this study were to describe the microscopic lesions in the respiratory tract of Fischer 344 rats as a result of 4- or 8-days exposure (6 hr/day) of 3 ppm MIC and to characterize the postexposure development of these lesions up to day 85. All rats survived the exposure regimen, although significant decreases in body weight and encrustation of the eyes, nose, or mouth were obser...

Anoxygenic phototrophic Fe(II) oxidation is usually considered to be a lithoautotrophic metabolism that contributes to primary production in Fe-based ecosystems. In this study, we employed Rhodobacter capsulatus SB1003 as a model organism to test the hypothesis that phototrophic Fe(II) oxidation can be coupled to organic carbon acquisition. R. capsulatus SB1003 oxidized Fe(II) under anoxic cond...

Microatolls of coralline algal encrustations were discovered during a reconnaissance study of environments around Cozurnel Island, 14 miles off the northeast coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. Onehundred-sixteen of them were counted in one small area along the northeastern shore in a belt approximately 100 feet wide, 150 yards offshore, and parallel to shore. The microatolls are roughly circular w...

The colonisation of clinical and industrial surfaces with pathogenic microorganisms has prompted increased research into the development of effective antibacterial and antifouling coatings. There is evidence that implanted biomedical surfaces coated with metallic silver can be inactivated by physiological fluids, thus reducing the bioactivity of the coating. In this work, we report the biofilm ...

Ferrous iron has been known to function as an electron source for iron-oxidizing microorganisms in both anoxic and oxic environments. A diversity of bacteria has been known to oxidize both soluble and solid-phase Fe(II) forms coupled to the reduction of nitrate. Here, we show for the first time Fe(II) oxidation by Sphaerotilus natans strain DSM 6575(T) under mixotrophic condition. Sphaerotilus ...