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Objective: Multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) has been increasingly utilized in prostate cancer (CaP) diagnosis and staging. While Level 1 data supports MRI utility in CaP diagnosis, there is less data on staging utility. We sought to evaluate the real-world accuracy of mpMRI in staging localized CaP., Materials and Methods: Men who underwent radical prostatectomy (RP) for CaP in 2021 at our institution were identified. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of mpMRI in predicting pT2N0 organ confined disease , extracapsular extension , seminal vesicle invasion , lymph node involvement, and bladder neck invasion were evaluated. Associations between MRI accuracy and AUA risk stratification (AUA RS), MRI institution (MRI-I), MRI strength (1.5 vs. 3T) (MRI-S), and MRI timing (MRI-T) were assessed. These analyses were repeated using Pennsylvania Urologic Regional Collaborative (PURC) data., Results: Institutional and community mpMRI CaP staging data demonstrated poor sensitivity (2.9%-49.2%% vs. 16.8%-24.4%), positive predictive value (40%-100% vs. 35.8%-68.2%), and negative predictive value (56.3%-94.3% vs. 68.4%-96.2%) in predicting surgical pathologic features - in contrast, specificity (89.1%-100% vs. 93.9%-98.6%) was adequate. mpMRI accuracy for extracapsular extension, seminal vesicle invasion, and lymph node involvement was significantly (p < 0.001) associated with AUA RS. There was no association between mpMRI accuracy and MRI-I, MRI-S, and MRI-T., Conclusion: Despite enthusiasm for its use, in a real-world setting, mpMRI appears to be a poor staging study for localized CaP and is unreliable as the sole means of staging patients prior to prostatectomy. mpMRI should be used cautiously as a staging tool for CaP, and should be interpreted considering individual patient risk strata., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interests All authors of this manuscript have directly participated in planning, execution, and/or analysis of this study. The contents of this manuscript have not been copyrighted or published previously. The contents of this manuscript are not now under consideration for publication elsewhere. The contents of this manuscript will not be copyrighted, submitted, or published elsewhere while acceptance by Urologic Oncology: Seminars and Original Investigations is under consideration. There are no directly related manuscripts or abstracts, published or unpublished, by any authors of this manuscript. No financial support or incentive has been provided for this manuscript., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Germline testing has an increasingly important role in prostate cancer care. However, a relative shortage of genetic counselors necessitates alternate strategies for delivery of pre-test education for germline testing. This study, funded by the Prostate Cancer Foundation, seeks to address the need for novel methods of delivery of pre-test germline education beyond traditional germline counseling to facilitate informed patient decision-making for germline testing., Methods: This is a two-armed randomized controlled trial (RCT) with a target enrollment of 173 participants with prostate cancer per study arm (total anticipated n = 346). Patients who meet criteria for germline testing based on tumor features, family history or Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry are being recruited from 5 US sites including academic, private practice and Veterans healthcare settings. Consenting participants are randomized to the interactive pretest webtool or germline counseling with assessment of key patient-reported outcomes involved in informed decision-making for germline testing., Results: Participants complete surveys at baseline, after pretest education/counseling, and following disclosure of germline results. The primary outcome of the study is decisional conflict for germline testing. Secondary outcomes include genetic knowledge, satisfaction, uptake of germline testing, and understanding of results., Conclusion: Our hypothesis is that the web-based genetic education tool is non-inferior to traditional genetic counseling regarding key patient-reported outcomes involved in informed decision-making for germline testing. If proven, the results would support deploying the webtool across various practice settings to facilitate pre-test genetic education for individuals with prostate cancer and developing collaborative care strategies with genetic counseling., Clinicaltrials: gov Identifier: NCT04447703., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The anterior temporal lobes (ATLs) have been shown to be crucial for recognition and naming of unique entities such as persons and places. In this chapter, we review previous research that identified the neural underpinnings of these processes, and discuss the convergence zone theory of conceptual knowledge and proper name retrieval. Lesion-deficit and neuroimaging studies have found that the temporal poles are essential for recognition and naming of unique persons and places. Research has shown laterality, in that the right anterior temporal pole is specialized for recognition and the left for naming. Here, we analyzed recognition and naming of persons and landmarks in a large neurologic sample (N=244) using the Iowa Famous Faces and Famous Landmarks tests. For both categories, education had a significant effect on recognition and naming performances, but age and gender did not. Lesion-symptom maps revealed lower naming scores for both Faces and Landmarks associated with lesions to the anterior and mesial left temporal lobe. Lower recognition scores were also linked to left temporal lobe damage, possibly due to the method we used for measuring recognition (verbally based). Overall, the results demonstrate the importance of the temporal lobes for recognition and naming of unique persons and places., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: The primary objective was to characterize the underlying intent of Instagram posts using the hashtag metadata term "#pharmacist" over a 1-year period. The secondary objective was to determine whether statistically significant relationships existed between the categories and the 2 dichotomous variables tested, self-portrayed images, and relation to health care., Design: Retrospective, cross-sectional, mixed methods, exploratory, descriptive study., Setting: A review of available Instagram posts using the hashtag metadata "#pharmacist" from November 4, 2014, to November 3, 2015. Data were collected using software provided by NEXT Analytics. A sample of 14 random days was selected., Participants: Six hundred sixty-one Instagram posts containing "#pharmacist" in the caption., Outcome Measures: Categorization of post (including both picture and primary caption), self-portrayed images (i.e., "selfie"), and health care-related images., Results: One thousand three hundred thirty-eight posts were collected from the 14-day sample. Of the posts, 661 (49.4%) were analyzed; the remainder were excluded for being written in a non-English language or containing "#pharmacist" in the comments of the post, rather than the primary caption; 19.7% of all posts fell into the Celebration category, followed by Work Experience and Advertisement with 18.6% and 12.6%, respectively. The remainder of the categories contained 10% or fewer posts. Less than 25% of posts were self-portrayed images, and 88% of posts were deemed health care-related., Conclusions: Instagram is an emerging social media platform that can be used to expand patient education, professional advocacy, and public health outreach. In this study, the majority of #pharmacist posts were celebratory in nature, and the majority were determined to be related to health care. Posts containing #pharmacist may provide the opportunity to educate the public regarding the knowledge and capabilities of pharmacists., (Copyright © 2017 American Pharmacists Association®. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Iliac vein stenting has emerged as a promising new technology to address a wide spectrum of advanced chronic venous disease. Wallstent™ has been the commonest stent type used in reported experience. It has excellent long-term patency with good clinical outcome, but is prone to compression/migration of the upper end of the stent requiring reinterventions. Extension of the stent into the vena cava to avoid this problem may render subsequent contralateral stenting technically difficult and possibly contribute to partial jailing of contralateral flow. A technical modification in which a Gianturco Z stent™ is added to the upper end of the Wallstent stack that may ameliorate some of these concerns is described., Methods: The details of technique, complications, patency, and reinterventional rate of the Z stent modification in 217 limbs followed up to 24 months are reported., Results: Cumulative primary and secondary patency (24 months) were 69% and 93%, respectively. Eight stents were occluded and lysis restored patency in 6 patients. There was no mortality. Deep venous thrombosis (<30 day) occurred in 4% of patients similar to the incidence in native disease. Reinterventions were required in 11% of patients over the follow-up period to correct stent malfunction. Most of these (23/25) were related to the Wallstent tail of the combination stent stack. The Z stent modification provides increased radial strength at the iliac-caval junction which is a choke point. The Z stent modifications greatly facilitate staged or sequential bilateral stenting technique and may reduce the incidence of reinterventions related to retraction or compression of the upper end commonly seen with prior Wallstent experience., Conclusion: The Z stent modification appears to improve functionality of the stent stack at the upper end and greatly facilitates simultaneous or staged bilateral stenting technique., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Exploitation of the physical, chemical and electrically conductive properties of poly(3-dodecylthiophene) (P3DDT) for the preconcentration and release in solid phase microextraction (SPME) of organometallic arsenobetaine (AsB) from aqueous media was investigated. Hydrophobic interactions between this neutral arsenic species and an undoped polythiophene (no applied potential) with n-substituted alkyl groups (n=12) in the three position were used for the diffusion-controlled preconcentration. After absorption into the polymer matrix, the chemical properties of this conductive polymer were changed by applying an external potential. This potential provides a sufficient driving force for desorption of the analyte from the extraction phase into an aqueous solution for subsequent analysis. The applied positive potential oxidizes the polymer to its charged hydrophilic state, which releases the neutral analyte. The concentration and speciation of the analyte from the sample matrix was analyzed by HPLC coupled to an ICP-MS. The diffusion-controlled uptake was fast (equilibrium attained within minutes) and did not require pretreatment of the analyte. The electrochemically-controlled release of the analyte is also very rapid (within minutes). This conducting polymer film system, therefore, can offer analytical applications for the convenient preconcentration and subsequent analysis of neutral environmental species.

A novel tubular device has been developed for hydrogen sulfide determination in air. Several substrates such as commercial silica gel and alumina TLC plates, silica gel powder, alumina, CaSO(4), CaCO(3), BaSO(4), MgO, chalk, alpha-cellulose and ethyl cellulose were tested as solid substrates. 30-70-mesh silica gel was finally employed in glass tubes of 4.0 mm internal diameter. Silica gel is treated with 0.5 M aqueous CdCl(2) solution, dried, filled into the glass tube and sample gas is passed through the device using nitrogen as the carrier gas where 70% relative humidity is employed. The analyte reacts with the solid substrate to form a luminescent spot whose length in the tube is measured and correlated to concentration. The flow rate was 68 ml min(-1). The analytical system is linear in the range of 0.2-1.3 ppm H(2)S for the specified conditions. The prepared devices are stable at least for 3 months prior to sampling; and after sampling, the luminescing spot is stable also at least for 3 months.

A new potentiometric sensor electrode for sulfide based on conducting polymer films is introduced. The electrode is formed by electrochemically depositing a film of poly(3-methylthiophene) and poly(dibenzo-18-crown-6) onto an alloy substrate. Different methods were used for the electrode preparations. The alloy used has a low melting point, which allowed its use for manufacturing a microsize version of this electrode. The electrode response is stable for 3 days. The working temperature range for this electrode is between 10 and 40 degrees C. The linear dynamic range is 1.0x10(-7)-1.0x10(-2) M and measures total sulfide concentration over a range of pH from 1 to 13. The polymer electrode showed high selectivity for sulfide in the presence of many common interfering anions. The electrode is useful for the measurement of total sulfide in biological environments and can be manufactured in the micron scale. Therefore, it will be useful for the measurement within biofilms.

The development of a sensor for the direct and selective determination of atmospheric ethanol is in the initial stages. The sensor takes advantage of the selective chemical reaction between ethanol and vanadium oxinate. This reaction occurs in an organic medium where a red colored complex is the product. This reaction is determined spectrophotometrically where the absorbance maxima is 475 nm. The focus of this paper is to discuss the parameters necessary to develop a solid sorbent sampling-sensor which can be used to determine atmospheric ethanol.

A discrepancy which exists in the literature, concerning the derivation of Schubert's ion-exchange equations, is resolved.

A review is given of the principles and application of catalytic and reaction rate methods of analysis.

A review is given of the methods that have been proposed for enrichment of trace elements in samples that are to be analysed by neutron-activation methods. The emphasis is on classification of methods, with full illustrations by means of practical examples.

A review is made of the various factors, such as the mathematical basis, measurement instrumentation, reaction mechanism, synergistic effects, etc, affecting the accuracy and precision of kinetic-based analytical methods. Recommendations are made concerning the research involved in developing new methods and/or applications and concerning the manner of presentation of the results for publication.

Ion-exchange membranes were used in conjunction with neutron-activation analysis and anodic stripping voltammetry for the determination of certain trace metal ions. The various parameters which govern the applicability, limitations and sensitivity of the methods were investigated. A new membrane "barrier" electrode assembly was introduced and found to be useful for the anodic stripping determination of trace metal ions in the presence of surface active materials.