As gadolinium enhanced magnetic resonance imaging is an important tool in

selleck compound the diagnosis and surveillance of urological diseases, the severe consequences of nephrogenic systemic fibrosis demand that practicing urologists understand and know its history and treatment strategies.

Conclusions: This review provides clarification of the gadolinium based contrast agent characteristics, tissue interactions that lead to the development of nephrogenic systemic fibrosis, prevention possibilities and available treatment options.”
“Animal studies point to a role of estrogen in explaining gender differences in striatal dopaminergic functioning, but evidence from human studies is still lacking. Given that dopamine is crucial for controlling and organizing

goal-directed behavior, estrogen may have a specific impact on cognitive control functions, such as the inhibition of prepotent responses. We compared the efficiency of inhibitory control (as measured by the stop-signal task) GSK621 in young women across the three phases of their menstrual cycle (salivary estradiol and progesterone concentrations were assessed) and in young men. Women were less efficient in inhibiting prepotent responses in their follicular phase, which is associated with higher estradiol levels and with higher dopamine turnover rates, than in their luteal or menstruation phase. Likewise, women showed less efficient inhibitory control than men in their follicular phase but not in their luteal or menstruation phase. Our results are consistent with models assuming that the over-supply

of striatal dopamine in the follicular phase weakens inhibitory pathways, Cyclooxygenase (COX) thus leading to enhanced competition between responses. We conclude that gender differences in response inhibition are variable and state dependent but not structural. (C) 2010 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Purpose: We hypothesized that from 1999 to 2008 patient and tumor selection criteria, perioperative outcomes, complications and renal function outcomes may have evolved significantly in 800 laparoscopic partial nephrectomies.

Materials and Methods: We retrospectively divided 800 patients who underwent laparoscopic partial nephrectomy for tumor, as done by 1 surgeon, into 3 chronologic eras, including era 1-276 from September 1999 to December 2003, era 2-289 from January 2004 to December 2006 and era 3-235 from January 2007 through November 2008. We evaluated prospectively collected data on tumor characteristics, perioperative outcomes and renal function outcomes.

Results: When comparing eras I to 3, tumors in the most recent era were larger, more commonly 4 cm or greater, and central, and less often peripheral and less than 4 cm (each p value significant). Despite increasing tumor complexity warm ischemia time was shorter (31.9, 31.6 and 14.4 minutes, respectively, p<0.