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Few studies of long-term outcome of hypospadias treatment in terms of voiding, surgical complications, sexual functioning, intimate relationships and cosmetic results have been investigated and contrasting results have been obtained so far. The aim of our study is to investigate the long-term outcome of urinary and sexual function, cosmesis and the quality of intimate relationships in a series of hypospadias. In this study, 42 patients who underwent surgery for hypospadias were prospectively followed for 15 years. Medical records provided the hypospadias data, the number of reconstructive operations and the reconstruction technique that was used. Patients underwent physical examination, including penile length measurement and completed International Prostatic Symptoms Score (I-PSS), International Index Of Erectile Function (IIEF 15) and the Penile Perception Score questionnaire (PPPS). Twenty patients agreed to participate in the study. At the enrolment, the median value of HOSE was 13, as regards PPPS, 18/20 (90%) were satisfied, while in 1998 only 80% were satisfied. No significant statistical difference has been reported from the results obtained at enrolment and those obtained at follow-up, in terms of PPPS (P = 0.81), IPSS and IIEF-15. Penile length was 6.5 cm flaccid and 10.5 cm stretched. Our data show how cosmesis, function and psychosexual development for these patients are highly connected to surgical outcome, which is understood to be a decrease in penile size.

We report on the first, to the best of our knowledge, continuous-wave quasi three-level lasers emitting in the cyan-blue spectral range in praseodymium-doped crystalline materials. Applying Pr^3+:BaY_2F_8 as an active medium, up to 201 mW of output power at 495 nm could be obtained with a slope efficiency of 27% under pumping with an optically pumped semiconductor laser (2ω-OPSL) at 480 nm. In the same pumping scheme using Pr^3+:LiYF_4, output powers up to 70 mW were realized at 491 and 500 nm, respectively. With Pr^3+:BaY_2F_8, diode-pumped laser operation with up to 11% slope efficiency and 44 mW output power was also achieved. In the latter case, detailed investigations on the temperature dependency of the laser output were conducted. Moreover, comparative experiments were carried out for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, with green-emitting Pr^3+:BaY_2F_8 lasers at 524 and 553 nm both under diode and 2ω-OPSL excitation.

Coral is used worldwide for bone reconstruction. The favorable characteristics that make this material desirable for implantation are (i) osteoinduction, (ii) and osteoconduction. These proprieties have been demonstrated by in vivostudies with animal models and clinical trials over a twenty-year period. Also poly(2-hydroxyethylmethacrylate) [poly(HEMA)] is a widely used biomaterial. By using coral and poly(HEMA), a scaffold for bone reconstruction application has been recently synthesized. Cytological, histological and genetic analyses were performed to characterize this new alloplastic material. Four samples were analyzed: (a) white coral (WC), (b) red coral (RC), (c) WC plus polymer (WCP) and (d) RC plus polymer (RCP). Quantification of mitochondrial dehydrogenase activity by MTT assay was performed as indirect detector of cytotoxicity. In vivoeffects were revealed by implanting corals and coral-based polymers in rabbit tibia. Samples were collected after 4 weeks and subjected to histological analysis. To evaluate the genetic response of cells to corals and coral-derived polymers an osteoblast-like cell line (i.e. MG63) was cultured in wells containing (a) medium, (b) medium plus corals and (c) medium plus two types of scaffolds (RCP or WCP). RNAs extracted from cells were retro-transcribed and hybridized on DNA 19.2K microarrays. No cytotoxicity was detected in corals and coral-based biopolymers. No inflammation or adverse effect was revealed by histological examination. By microarray analysis 154 clones were differentially expressed between RC and WC (81 up and 73 down regulated) whereas only 15 clones were repressed by the polymer. Histological evaluation not only confirmed that coral is a biocompatible material, but also that the polymer has no adverse effect. Microarray results were in agreement with cytological and histological analyses and provided further data regarding the genetic effects of RC, WC and the new polymer.

Single crystal LiF fibers have been grown by the micro-pulling-down (µ-PD) technique. The fibers are 0.6 mm in diameter and 100 mm in length and of good optical quality. We describe the experimental apparatus for growth and analyze the sample structure and its spectroscopic characteristics. (© 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Thermal noise in mirror suspension will be the most severe fundamental limit to the low-frequency sensitivity of future interferometric gravitational wave detectors. We propose a new type of materials to realize low thermal noise suspension in such detectors. Monocrystalline suspension fibres are good candidates both for cryogenic and for ambient temperature interferometers. Material characteristics and a production facility are described in this paper.

A method for estimating the effectiveness factor in a catalytic pellet submitted to deactivation using neural networks is proposed. When a catalyst is deactivated by poisoning, the function η = η (t,ϕ) presents a minimum when strong diffusional resistances exist. In this particular case, the few methods published in the literature are not able to calculate η. A feedforward neural network trained with the back‐propagation algorithm was used to estimate the effectiveness factor. This methodology is especially useful when the function η = η (t,ϕ) presents a minimum. The predicted values using the neural network successfully fit those obtained solving the differential equation system. An extrapolation using temperatures outside the training range can be satisfactorily performed.

An efficient Ho:LuLiF_4 laser in-band pumped by a cladding-pumped Tm-doped silica fiber laser operating at 1937 nm is reported. At low-cavity output coupling, the Ho:LuLiF_4 laser yielded 5.1 W of output at a wavelength of 2066 nm for 8.0 W of absorbed pump power with a slope efficiency of 70%. At high-cavity output coupling, the lasing wavelength shifted to 2053 nm and the laser produced an output power of 5.4 W with a slope efficiency of 76%. The beam propagation factor (M^2) was measured to be ~1.1 at the maximum output power confirming fundamental transverse mode (TEM_oo) operation. The influence of resonator design on laser performance is discussed, along with prospects for further power scaling and improvement of the laser efficiency.

An efficient Ho:LuLiF_4 laser in-band pumped by a cladding-pumped Tm-doped silica fiber laser operating at 1937 nm is reported. At low-cavity output coupling, the Ho:LuLiF_4 laser yielded 5.1 W of output at a wavelength of 2066 nm for 8.0 W of absorbed pump power with a slope efficiency of 70%. At high-cavity output coupling, the lasing wavelength shifted to 2053 nm and the laser produced an output power of 5.4 W with a slope efficiency of 76%. The beam propagation factor (M^2) was measured to be ~1.1 at the maximum output power confirming fundamental transverse mode (TEM_oo) operation. The influence of resonator design on laser performance is discussed, along with prospects for further power scaling and improvement of the laser efficiency.

We report a room-temperature single-frequency Tm:LiLuF_4 laser with a maximum output power of 120 mW, a slope efficiency of 13%, and a wavelength tunability range from 1875 to 1895 nm. Both frequency and relative intensity noise have been investigated, showing an emission linewidth of ~300 kHz over 1 ms observation time and an intensity noise spectrum limited by quantum noise for Fourier frequencies larger than 5 MHz.