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Purpose: The aim of this study was to demonstrate features predictive of treatment response for patient-tailored overactive bladder (OAB) intervention with an implantable tibial neurostimulator using patient and technical prediction factors., Materials and Methods: This study was designed as a follow-up study based on parameter settings and patients' preferences during the pilot and extended study of the implantable tibial nerve stimulator (RENOVA™ iStim system). For this study, we compared all treatment parameters (stimulation amplitude, frequency, and pulse width) and usage data (duration of treatment) during the different follow-up visits., Results: We obtained usage data from a total of 32 patients who were implanted with the system between February and September 2015. Age, sex, body mass index (BMI) and previous experience with percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation (PTNS) treatment were considered as possible prediction factors for treatment success. However, only BMI was considered a statistically significant prediction factor (p = 0.042). A statistically significant increase in mean treatment level was seen in the responder group during the 3 month follow-up visit (mean: 6.7 mA, SD 0.416) as compared with the initial system activation visit (mean: 5.8 mA, SD 0.400) (p = 0.049). No other visits demonstrated statistically significant changes in both groups (responders and nonresponders) during the defined timepoints., Conclusion: This data underscores the need to use patient-tailored OAB treatment. BMI was found to be a negative predictive factor for treatment success. However, it was not possible to develop a specific responder model. A model predicting response to treatment could be useful for implementing shared decision making., (© 2022 The Authors. Neurourology and Urodynamics published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Background: Overactive bladder is a chronic condition affecting lower urinary tract function that has a significant negative impact on QoL., Objective: Evaluation of the BlueWind implantable tibial nerve system performance and safety in refractory OAB., Design, Setting, and Participants Intervention: A 6-month multi-center prospective intervention study., Outcome Measurements and Statistical Analysis: Objective assessment was done by voiding diary parameters including voids/day, volume voided/day, urgency assessment, leaking episodes/day, pads used/day, leak severity, and clinical success defined as a ≥50% reduction in the number of leaks/day or number of voids/day or number of episodes with degree of urgency >2 or a return to <8 voids/day on a 3 Day diary. Subjective assessment was based on OAB-q including HRQL and symptom severity score. Safety was evaluated by adverse event (AE) analysis., Results and Limitations: Thirty-four of the 36 implanted subjects completed the study. One subject withdrew voluntarily and one developed inflammation necessitating removal of the system. In the remaining subjects, 71% experienced clinical success at 6 months. Leaks/day, leak severity, and pad changes/day decreased significantly over time with 27.6% of urge incontinence subjects that became "dry." Voids/day, degree of urgency, volume/void, pads changed improved significantly. All quality of life aspects (concern, coping, sleep, and social) improved as well as symptom severity scores measured by the OAB-q. Adverse events included: implant site pain (13.9%), suspected infection (22.2%), and procedural wound complications (8.3%)., Conclusions: The BlueWind implantable tibial nerve stimulator is a safe, minimally invasive system that affords OAB patients significant improvements., Patient Summary: The performance and safety of the BlueWind RENOVA™ implantable tibial nerve neuromodulator for OAB was tested. Our preliminary results demonstrate that the system has a low risk safety profile and may be considered an effective treatment option for OAB management., (© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Acoustic surveys of bats are one of the techniques most commonly used by ecological practitioners. The results are used in Ecological Impact Assessments to assess the likely impacts of future developments on species that are widely protected in law, and to monitor developments' postconstruction. However, there is no standardized methodology for analyzing or interpreting these data, which can make the assessment of the ecological value of a site very subjective. Comparisons of sites and projects are therefore difficult for ecologists and decision-makers, for example, when trying to identify the best location for a new road based on relative bat activity levels along alternative routes. Here, we present a new web-based, data-driven tool, Ecobat, which addresses the need for a more robust way of interpreting ecological data. Ecobat offers users an easy, standardized, and objective method for analyzing bat activity data. It allows ecological practitioners to compare bat activity data at regional and national scales and to generate a numerical indicator of the relative importance of a night's worth of bat activity. The tool is free and open-source; because the underlying algorithms are already developed, it could easily be expanded to new geographical regions and species. Data donation is required to ensure the robustness of the analyses; we use a positive feedback mechanism to encourage ecological practitioners to share data by providing in return high quality, contextualized data analysis, and graphical visualizations for direct use in ecological reports.

Aim: Over the past few years, we have been doing an increasing number of revisions for artificial urinary sphincters (AUS) at our center. The study aims to investigate reason for this change in our practice., Methods: Demographics and surgical outcomes of patients who received AUS in 2003-2014 at our center were retrospectively evaluated, and patients were contacted to check the current status of their AUS. The outcomes of the study were: percentage of revisions and explanation, survival, and the risk factors associated with these events., Results: A total of 102 patients (72 years (30-87)) underwent 214 procedures: 99 primary implants, 11 secondary implants, 84 revisions, and 20 explantations-median follow-up was 54 months (5-146). The 5-years and 10-years revision-free survival for AUS were 47% and 23%, respectively. The 5 and 10 years explantation-free survival were 77% and 72%, respectively. The median time to revision for AUS implanted in 2010-2014 was shorter than in AUS implanted in 2003-2009 (6 vs. 13.5 months, P = 0.08). The percentage of AUS that were preceded by urethral surgery for incontinence was significantly higher in AUS implanted in 2010-2014 than in those implanted in 2003-2009 (19% vs. 63%, P = 0.001). The percentage of patients with AUS who received radiotherapy in the past 5 years was higher than in 2003-2009 (53% vs. 30%, P = 0.09)., Conclusions: In modern urological practice, more exposure to RT and previous surgeries for incontinence are associated with increased risk for revision with decline in AUS survival., (© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Inactivation of mouse serum by heat treatment (30 min at 56 degrees C) decreased antibody reactivity as shown by haemagglutination assays. This appeared to be due to loss of antibody since Ouchterlony analysis showed disappearance of antibody after heat treatment. By both isotype-specific ELISA and Ouchterlony analysis it was shown that mouse IgM, IgG2b and IgG3 are sensitive to heat treatment whereas IgG2a is relatively resistant. IgG1 is not sensitive to heat treatment. To avoid complement-dependent lysis in haemagglutination assays EDTA should be added to the serum samples.

Mice immunized against Plasmodium berghei parasites by drug-controlled infection exhibited decreased immunoresponsiveness against rabbit red blood cells (RRBC). Increasing RRBC antigen dose increased responsiveness, but agglutinating anti-RRBC antibodies of the IgG class remained undetectable. Clearance of colloidal carbon from the bloodstream of malaria-immunized mice was not different from controls. Removal of all the persistent parasites from immune mice did not restore responsiveness until 140 days after treatment, suggesting that the parasite per se did not influence responsiveness directly. Because of this, and because of the fact that priming of mice with RRBC before P. berghei immunization was not more effective than priming after immunization, it was concluded that antigen uptake and subsequent presentation were not impaired in P. berghei immune mice, in contrast to infected mice. Anti-RRBC antibodies were detected in serum of P. berghei immune mice, but regulation of responsiveness to RRBC by transfer of such immune mouse serum was not found. Immunoglobulin levels, especially of the IgG2 and IgG3 subclass were elevated in sera of P. berghei immune mice, which indicated an LPS-like polyclonal activation. The results also suggest that during drug-controlled infection, which leads to immunity against infection, a state of B-cell tolerance is induced.

The serum from mice developing resistance against Plasmodium berghei infection using chemotherapeutic treatment has been analysed in vivo and in vitro. During the immunization period pathological as well as protective activities which could be transferred by serum were generated. The pathological activity, which was defined as destruction of erythrocytes in normal recipient mice, was generated early in the immunization procedure, peaked at day 21, and decreased to undetectable levels by day 35. After reinfection of the donor mice the pathological activity reappeared in the serum, and was maintained for at least 56 days. Analysis of the transferred serum samples showed the presence of anti-erythrocyte antibodies (ELISA), but no correlation with the in-vivo anti-erythrocyte effect could be found. The anti-erythrocyte effect of the serum samples indirectly increased the parasitaemia in the recipient mice through the induction of reticulocytosis. The protective effect of the serum samples could only be detected in samples taken from animals beyond day 61 of the immunization procedure. This net protective effect was reflected in a decreased parasitaemia at 7 days after challenge of the recipient mice with P. berghei infected erythrocytes. The protective activity of the serum was correlated with high titres of anti-erythrocyte antibodies. Anti-erythrocyte antibody titres were strongly correlated with titres against heterologous red blood cells as well as total immunoglobulin content of the serum samples, indicative of polyclonal activation of lymphocytes. Except for IgG1, all (sub-)classes were elevated during the immunization procedure, of which IgG3 was abundant. After immunity was obtained these immunoglobulin levels remained high, and the relative amount of IgG1 in the serum was restored.