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Introduction Erectile dysfunction (ED) has been demonstrated to be reasonably prevalent among young men (≤40 yr). Objective We aimed to i) assess changes in patterns of reported ED in men ≤ 40 yr, and ii) compare the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of ED men ≤ 40 yr vs. > 40 yr of age over a 8-yr period at a single academic centre. Methods Comprehensive data of 1179 patients seeking first medical help for ED and assessed by a single Sexual Medicine expert between 2013 and 2021 were analysed. Health-significant comorbidities were scored using the Charlson comorbidity index. All patients completed the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) at baseline. Descriptive statistics tested the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of ED men ≤ 40 yr vs. > 40 yr of age. Within the two groups, multivariable linear regression models tested the association between advancing age and IIEF scores. Local polynomial regression models were applied to explore and graphically display ≤ 40 yr patients’ likelihood to report ED over the analysed time frame and to display changes of the IIEF-EF scores over increasing age between the two groups (≤ 40 yr vs. > 40 yr). Results Overall, median (IQR) age was 52 (41-62) yr. Median (IQR) IIEF-EF was 18 (15-22) at baseline. Of all, 268 (22.7%) were ≤ 40 yr whereas 911 (77.3%) were > 40 yr at baseline. Rates of severe ED according to IIEF-EF did not differ between men ≤ 40 yr and >40yr (60 (22.4%) vs. 155 (17%)). No significant differences were found for the IIEF domains (-IS, -OS, -SD) but IIEF-OF domains, which scored higher in younger men (9 () vs. 8 (), p=0.002). At baseline, younger patients reported less comorbidities, less active smoking, lower BMI, higher total testosterone (tT) levels than older patients (all p 40 yr, increasing age was linearly correlated with decreasing IIE-EF (all p 40 yr). Conclusions We observed that one out of five men seeking first medical help for ED at a single academic centre were younger than 40 yr. This trend has remained stable over the last 8-years, but slightly lower than the previous decade. Increasing age among younger patients is not associated with worse erectile function as oppositely occurs among patients > 40 yr. Disclosure No

Introduction The Masturbation Erection Index (MEI) has been recently validated in the setting of the investigation of men presenting with erectile dysfunction (ED). Objective We sought to analyze the correlation between MEI and the findings of the widely used International Index for Erectile Function (IIEF) in a cross-sectional study in men seeking medical help for ED. Methods Data from the last 87 consecutive men presenting for ED at a tertiary referral centre were analyzed. All patients were asked to complete both IIEF and MEI at the same time. Complete sociodemographic and clinical data were collected. ED severity was defined according to Cappelleri’s criteria. Linear regression model tested the association between MEI, IIEF total and IIEF domains scores. Violin plot was used to display distribution of MEI scores into IIEF-EF categories. Loess curve was applied to investigate the probability of MEI to predict ED as a function of age. Results Median (interquartile range [IQR]) age at presentation was 44 (3.5-53.5) years. According to IIEF-EF scores, ED severity was: no ED in 9 (10%), mild ED in 14 (16%), mild-to-moderate ED in 19 (22%), moderate ED 12 (14%) and severe ED in 33 (38%) patients, respectively. The more severe the ED, the higher the MEI scores (Figure 1); indeed, median MEI scored 7 (3-8) in men with no ED and 19 (10-26) in men with severe ED (p Conclusions As expected, there is a strong association between IIEF and MEI scores, which does not lower with aging. Of all, one out of 5 patients presented with lower overall and intercourse satisfaction notwithstanding high MEI scores, thus outlining the clinical relevance of both investigations in the real-life setting. Disclosure No

Introduction The ASCVD (Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease) risk score is a validated and standardised algorithm predicting the individual 10-year risk of developing acute cardiovascular events (CVs). Patients with erectile dysfunction (ED) are at greater risk of CVs; Objective we aimed to i) apply the ASCVD score at a homogenous cohort of men undergoing dynamic penile color doppler duplex ultrasound (CDDU) for ED, and ii) explore its predictive ability to identify patients with arteriogenic and venogenic ED at CDDU. Methods Complete data of 188 consecutive patients undergoing CDDU for ED were analysed. Health-significant comorbidities were scored using the Charlson comorbidity index. All patients completed the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) at baseline. Serum hormones (total testosterone (tT) and luteinising hormone (LH)) were dosed for every patient. The ASCVD score was applied to the entire cohort. According to the ASCVD, patients were segregated into low (≤7.5%) vs. intermediate/high risk (> 7.5%). Descriptive statistics was used to explore differences between the two groups. Logistic regression models tested the potential predictive role of ASCVD scores to predict pathological CDDU parameters (peak systolic velocity (PSV) < 35 cm/s and/or resistance index (RI) ≤ 0.70). Local polynomial smoothing models graphically displayed the probability of pathological CDDU parameters at different ASCVD scores. Results Overall, median (IQR) age was 54 (43-60) yr. Of all, 52 (27.7%) patients reported severe ED, as for IIEF-EF ≤ 11. Overall, 80 (42.6%) showed a pure arteriogenic ED and 15 (8%) pure venogenic ED at CDDU. Intermediate/high-risk patients (52.7%) were found to have lower IIEF-EF scores, higher BMI, higher CCI and presented with a greater rate of PDE5i non-responders compared to those with low-risk (47.3%) according to ASCVD (all p Conclusions The ASCVD risk score can be used as a valuable tool to identify patients with arteriogenic ED at CDDU in real-life settings. Since vasculogenic ED may anticipate CVs even by some years, the accurate identification of patients with deficient cavernosal arterial flow would certainly allow earlier and more effective cardiovascular prevention in this subset of patients. Disclosure No

Introduction Patients with erectile dysfunction (ED) may have an increased risk to report concomitant premature ejaculation (PE) Objective We aimed to explore the trend of reporting PE across three different age groups of a homogenous cohort of men seeking first medical help for ED (< 40 yr, 40-60 yr, > 70yr) over a 16-year period at a single tertiary academic centre. Methods Complete data of 1258 men consecutively assessed for ED as primary complaint by a single Sexual Medicine expert between 2005 and 2021 were analysed. Patients were divided into three age categories: i) Results Overall, median (IQR) age was 51 (40-61) years. Of all, 326 (25.9%) reported either life-long or acquired PE at time of first clinical assessment. Among the three age groups (70) there were no significant differences in terms of baseline IIEF domains. Younger patients reported higher rates of PE in respect to older ones (0.5% vs. 0.4% vs. 0.3%, p=0.001). Logistic regression analysis showed a statistically significant trend of reporting PE over the years among the < 40yr (OR: 1.4; 95%CI: 1.3-1.5) and 40-69yr (OR: 1.3; 95%CI: 1.2-1.4) groups respectively (all p Conclusions Almost one out of four patients seeking first medical help for ED also reports to suffer from PE. The probability of reporting PE (either primary or secondary) has been exceptionally increasing over the last 15 years among young ( Disclosure No

Germline DNA alterations affecting homologous recombination pathway genes have been associated with pancreatic cancer (PC) risk. BRCA2 is the most studied gene and affects the management of PC patients and their families. Even though recent reports have suggested a similar role of germline ATM pathogenic variants (PV) in familial PC, there is still a disagreement between experts on how it could affect patient management given the lack of proper PC risk estimates. We retrospectively analyzed the germline data of 257 PC patients among whom nearly 50% were sporadic cases. We showed similar frequencies of BRCA2 (4.9%) and ATM (4.4%) PV or likely pathogenic variants, which were not related to familial history. Based on our findings and that of the literature, we suggest including ATM gene among the panel of genes analyzed in PC patients pending the publication of prospective studies.

Objective: Sensory deficits are important risk factors for delirium but have been investigated in single-center studies and single clinical settings. This multicenter study aims to evaluate the association between hearing and visual impairment or bi-sensory impairment (visual and hearing impairment) and delirium. Design: Cross-sectional study nested in the 2017 "Delirium Day" project. Setting and participants: Patients 65 years and older admitted to acute hospital medical wards, emergency departments, rehabilitation wards, nursing homes, and hospices in Italy. Methods: Delirium was assessed with the 4AT (a short tool for delirium assessment) and sensory deficits with a clinical evaluation. We assessed the association between delirium, hearing and visual impairment in multivariable logistic regression models, adjusting for: Model 1, we included predisposing factors for delirium (ie, dementia, weight loss and autonomy in the activities of daily living); Model 2, we added to Model 1 variables, which could be considered precipitating factors for delirium (ie, psychoactive drugs and urinary catheters). Results: A total of 3038 patients were included; delirium prevalence was 25%. Patients with delirium had a higher prevalence of hearing impairment (30.5% vs 18%; P < .001), visual impairment (24.2% vs 15.7%; P < .01) and bi-sensory impairment (16.2% vs 7.5%) compared with those without delirium. In the multivariable logistic regression analysis, the presence of bi-sensory impairment was associated with delirium in Model 1 [odds ratio (OR) 1.5, confidence interval (CI) 1.2-2.1; P = .00] and in Model 2 (OR 1.4; CI 1.1-1.9; P = .02), whereas the presence of visual and hearing impairment alone was not associated with delirium either in Model 1 (OR 0.8; CI 0.6-1.2, P = .36; OR 1.1; CI 0.8-1.4; P = .42) or in Model 2 (OR 0.8, CI 0.6-1.2, P = .27; OR 1.1, CI 0.8-1.4, P = .63). Conclusions and implications: Our findings support the importance of routine screening and specific interventions by a multidisciplinary team to implement optimal management of sensory impairments and hence prevention and the management of the patients with delirium.

The aim was to study the number of accesses to the Emergency Room (ER) requiring psychiatric evaluation in the four months following the lockdown period for the COVID-19 outbreak (May 4th, 2020-August 31th, 2020). The study is a retrospective longitudinal observational study of the ER admissions of the Hospitals of Cesena and Forlì (Emilia Romagna region) leading to psychiatric assessment. Sociodemographic variables, history for medical comorbidities or psychiatric disorders, reason for ER admission, psychiatric diagnosis at discharge and measures taken by the psychiatrist were collected. An increase of 9.4% of psychiatric assessments was observed. The difference was more pronounced in the first two months after lockdown, with a 21.7% increase of number of ER accesses, while after two months numbers were the same as those of the year before. Admission with anxiety symptoms and history of psychiatric disorder decreased significantly. Moreover, there is an age trend with an increasing age of admission.

En el 5-10% de los casos, los canceres de ovario, de trompas y de utero se deben a una predisposicion hereditaria. Estas predisposiciones a los canceres ginecologicos se observan esencialmente en los canceres de ovario asociados a los canceres de mama en el marco de las mutaciones de los genes BRCA1 y BRCA2 , y los canceres de endometrio y de ovario asociados a los canceres colorrectales en el marco de las mutaciones de los genes hMLH1 , hMSH2 , hMSH6 y PMS2 (sindrome de Lynch). Sin embargo, existen otras predisposiciones geneticas a los canceres pelvicos (cuello uterino, ovario, endometrio) que se describiran en el articulo. La identificacion de las predisposiciones hereditarias a los canceres es esencial para las mujeres y las familias de riesgo, tanto para el tratamiento como para la prevencion de los canceres ginecologicos, pero tambien para la deteccion precoz y el tratamiento de los canceres asociados. En los ultimos anos, se ha validado el beneficio medico de las distintas estrategias de deteccion precoz y de prevencion. Estas ultimas han sido objeto de recomendaciones francesas, que se exponen en este articulo.

To report the clinical implications of an initial experience with transoral endoscopic thyroidectomy vestibular approach (TOETVA). From March to November 2017, five cases of TOETVA were performed. Data reported include patient demographics, indication for surgery, extent of surgery, operative time, the need to convert to cervicotomy, the length of hospital stay and post-operative pain and morbidity. Unconventional complications regarded as specific for TOETVA were reported. The burden of surgery on the patient’s quality of life was evaluated using the 36-item short form (SF-36) health survey 1 month after surgery. All patients were females with a mean age of 36 years. They all underwent a right-sided hemithyroidectomy for a solitary thyroid nodule measuring on average 3.5 cm in size. The nodule was reported as Bethesda category II (n = 3), III (n = 1), and IV (n = 1) on fine needle aspiration cytology. The mean operative time was 122 min. Conversion to a transverse cervicotomy was required in one case. None of the patients developed post-operative bleeding, and none experienced vocal fold or mental nerve palsy. Surgical site infection did not occur. All patients developed subcutaneous emphysema that resolved within 12–48 h. All patients reported a long-standing bothersome pulling sensation along the surgical track that resulted in a poor outcome in some scales of the SF-36 survey. Flap perforation occurred in one case. The median VAS score was 3. Patients strongly motivated to undergo a novel surgical procedure tailored to their needs and desires should be properly counselled particularly regarding unconventional procedure-related complications.

Understanding the effects of pressure-induced deformations on the optoelectronic properties of nanomaterials is important not only from the fundamental point of view, but also for po- tential applications such as stress sensors and electromechanical devices. Here we describe the novel insights into these piezochromic ef- fects gained from using a linear-scaling den- sity functional theory framework and an elec- tronic enthalpy scheme, which allow us to ac- curately characterize the electronic structure of CdS nanocrystals with a zincblende-like core of experimentally relevant size. In particu- lar we focus on unravelling the complex inter- play of size and surface (phenyl) ligands with pressure. We show that pressure-induced de- formations are not simple isotropic scaling of the original structures and that the change in HOMO-LUMO gap with pressure results from two competing factors: (i) a bulk-like linear in- crease due to compression, which is offset by (ii) distortions/disorder and, to a lesser ex- tent, orbital hybridization induced by ligands affecting the frontier orbitals. Moreover, we observe that the main peak in the optical ab- sorption spectra is systematically red-shifted or blue-shifted, as pressure is increased up to 5 GPa, depending on the presence or absence of phenyl ligands. These heavily hybridize the frontier orbitals, causing a reduction in over- lap and oscillator strength, so that at zero pres- sure the lowest energy transition involves deeper hole orbitals than in the case of hydrogen- capped nanocrystals; the application of pressure induces greater delocalisation over the whole nanocrystals bringing the frontier hole orbitals into play and resulting in an unexpected red shift for the phenyl-capped nanocrystals, in part caused by distortions. In response to a growing interest in relatively small nanocrystals that can be difficult to accurately characterize with ex- perimental techniques, this work exemplifies the detailed understanding of structure-property re- lationships under pressure that can be obtained for realistic nanocrystals with state-of-the-art first principles methods and used for the charac- terization and design of devices based on these and similar nanomaterials.

Minimally invasive video-assisted parathyroidectomy (MIVAP) is one of the most widespread targeted parathyroid surgeries for primary hyperparathyroidism (PHP). The aim of this study was to assess its limits and propose an expansion of its indications in the management of parathyroid pathology. A retrospective analysis of 77 consecutive patients who underwent MIVAP for PHP between Jan and Oct 2016 was conducted. The adequacy of the procedure and/or the need to convert to a standard cervicotomy was the main outcome of interest. Secondary outcomes of interest included: operative time, postoperative morbidity, postoperative pain assessed by the visual analogue scale (VAS) score, and the length of the surgical incision. There were 64 females and 13 males with a mean age of 51 years. In one patient a concomitant en bloc thyroid lobectomy was required due to features suspicious of parathyroid carcinoma while exploration was required in two other patients. None of these three cases required conversion to standard cervicotomy. The mean operative time, length of incision and VAS score was 31 min, 17 mm and 1.6, respectively. Biochemical cure was achieved in all patients, and no postoperative morbidities were reported. MIVAP offers the ability to perform a neck exploration and/or an en bloc thyroid lobectomy without the need to convert to a standard cervicotomy. Therefore, it not only serves as a targeted parathyroid procedure but also a potential alternative to full neck exploration.

Over the last two decades, it has been demonstrated that size effects have significant consequences for the atomic arrangements and phase behavior of matter under extreme pressure. Furthermore, it has been shown that an understanding of how size affects critical pressure-temperature conditions provides vital guidance in the search for materials with novel properties. Here, we report on the remarkable behavior of small (under ~5 nm) matrix-free Ge nanoparticles under hydrostatic compression that is drastically different from both larger nanoparticles and bulk Ge. We discover that the application of pressure drives surface-induced amorphization leading to Ge-Ge bond overcompression and eventually to a polyamorphic semiconductor-to-metal transformation. A combination of spectroscopic techniques together with ab initio simulations were employed to reveal the details of the transformation mechanism into a new high density phase-amorphous metallic Ge.

Criteria used for the diagnosis and treatment of recurrent prostate adenocarcinoma after radiotherapy are examined according to recently published studies in the literature. The diagnosis of recurrence is confirmed by the histological test of a biopsy performed due to the gradual increase in prostate-specific antigen (PSA). Proper sampling, nomenclature and analysis of prostate biopsies allow an early diagnosis to identify some important prognostic parameters and to plan the most appropriate therapeutic strategy for every single case. Androgen suppressive therapy only induces a temporary benefit in these patients. Transperineal salvage cryosurgery (SC) represents a recognized effective treatment option. Technological advances, including computerized treatment planning and miniaturized cryoprobes, allow further potential therapeutic advantages and reduce complications. Results of SC are promising even in patients with other comorbidities; therefore, it is useful to include it among therapeutic instruments for failures following radiotherapy.

Summary Background Thalidomide, as a single agent, has been recently found to induce a clinical response in one third of refractory or relapsed myeloma patients. Although it has been reported that thalidomide significantly inhibits angiogenesis, it is still unclear whether its clinical effect is mediated, at least in part, by its anti-angiogenic properties. Patients and methods We evaluated thalidomide as a single agent in myeloma, myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and histiocytosis, i.e. hematological diseases characterized by increased angiogenesis, and measured prospectively a number of surrogate angiogenesis markers. Results Clinical responses were observed in 7 of 17 myeloma and 2 of 5 MDS patients. The histiocytosis patient had a partial response. At the time of the best clinical response, plasma levels of angiogenic growth factors, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and basic-fibroblast growth factor (b-FGF), were significantly decreased, and flow cytometry indicated a decrease of activated endothelial cells in the bone marrow of responding MDS patients. Conclusions These observations confirm thalidomide efficacy in myeloma, suggest a possible use in MDS and histiocytosis and may contribute to the prediction of clinical response and to understanding the mechanism of thalidomide’s action.

We present an implementation in a linear-scaling density-functional theory code of an electronic enthalpy method, which has been found to be natural and efficient for the ab initio calculation of finite systems under hydrostatic pressure. Based on a definition of the system volume as that enclosed within an electronic density isosurface [Phys. Rev. Lett., 94, 145501 (2005)], it supports both geometry optimizations and molecular dynamics simulations. We introduce an approach for calibrating the parameters defining the volume in the context of geometry optimizations and discuss their significance. Results in good agreement with simulations using explicit solvents are obtained, validating our approach. Size-dependent pressure-induced structural transformations and variations in the energy gap of hydrogenated silicon nanocrystals are investigated, including one comparable in size to recent experiments. A detailed analysis of the polyamorphic transformations reveals three types of amorphous structures and their persistence on depressurization is assessed., Comment: 11 pages and 13 figures (accepted for publication by The Journal of Chemical Physics on the 29th of July 2013)

International audience; The objective of this work is to perform a virtual planning of surgical repairs in patients with congenital heart diseases--to test the predictive capability of a closed-loop multi-scale model. As a first step, we reproduced the pre-operative state of a specific patient with a univentricular circulation and a bidirectional cavopulmonary anastomosis (BCPA), starting from the patient's clinical data. Namely, by adopting a closed-loop multi-scale approach, the boundary conditions at the inlet and outlet sections of the three-dimensional model were automatically calculated by a lumped parameter network. Successively, we simulated three alternative surgical designs of the total cavopulmonary connection (TCPC). In particular, a T-junction of the venae cavae to the pulmonary arteries (T-TCPC), a design with an offset between the venae cavae (O-TCPC) and a Y-graft design (Y-TCPC) were compared. A multi-scale closed-loop model consisting of a lumped parameter network representing the whole circulation and a patient-specific three-dimensional finite volume model of the BCPA with detailed pulmonary anatomy was built. The three TCPC alternatives were investigated in terms of energetics and haemodynamics. Effects of exercise were also investigated. Results showed that the pre-operative caval flows should not be used as boundary conditions in post-operative simulations owing to changes in the flow waveforms post-operatively. The multi-scale approach is a possible solution to overcome this incongruence. Power losses of the Y-TCPC were lower than all other TCPC models both at rest and under exercise conditions and it distributed the inferior vena cava flow evenly to both lungs. Further work is needed to correlate results from these simulations with clinical outcomes.

The paper analyses aspects of a radiographic magnification technique consisting of obtaining very high definition radiographic images (on single emulsion film), subsequently magnified through a pho...

The authors studied 14 asymptomatic sportsmen (mean age 17.6 years, range 11-35), practising agonistic activity, with arrhythmias in standard electrocardiograms (ECGs) and normal echocardiograms. The study had three main aims: (1) the search for discriminant parameters to identify threatening arrhythmias with respect to those not at risk, (2) the connection with changes in sympathetic and parasympathetic components, and (3) a pathophysiological understanding of the mechanisms causing the onset of ventricular arrhythmias. The study evaluated arrhythmia behavior by the cycloergometer-effort test, 48 hours Holter monitoring, head-up tilt test, and serum catecolamines RIA evaluation. ECG analysis was performed by the computer with an algorithm procedure. >