Ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) has brought attention to flap failure in reconstructive surgery. To improve the prognosis of skin transplantation, we performed experimental IRI by surgical obstruction of blood flow and used sodium ferulate (SF) to prevent IRI in rats. After SF treatment, the morphological and histological changes of the skin flaps were observed by H&E and Masson's trichrome staining. We also detected the expression levels of COX-1, HO-1, and Ki67 by immunohistochemical and western blot analysis. Moreover, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to identify the content of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, myeloperoxidase (MPO), malondialdehyde (MDA), and nitric oxide (NO) in peripheral blood and skin tissue. Compared with the model group, SF treatment significantly improved the recovered flap area (%) and promoted collagen synthesis. Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression was significantly inhibited by heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) induction after SF treatment. Furthermore, SF significantly inhibited the levels of TNF-α in peripheral blood, MPO and MDA in the skin tissue, and the increased synthesis of NO. Our results showed the protective effects of SF on IRI after flap transplantation and we believe that the protective effects of SF was closely related to the alleviation of the inflammatory response and the inhibition of the oxidative stress injury.

ABSTRACT Benign prostatic hyperplasia is a complex not yet well defined entity. It is commonly characterized as an increase in volume of the prostate gland that causes an obstruction to the flow of urine in the lower urinary tract, which is potentially remediable with surgical resection of the redundant glandular portion. A variety of this disease constitutes giant benign prostatic hyperplasia, defined by some authors as those weighing more than 200g, or those beyond 500g, depending on other authors. In total, to date, there are 18 giants benign prostate hyperplasia greater than 500g in the literature and our case, with530g, is ranked 15th. The case is from the Department of Urology, Central Military Hospital in Asunción, Paraguay. Key words: prostate, hyperplasia, adenoma, adenomectomy.

RESUMEN La hiperplasia prostática benigna una entidad compleja aún no bien definida. Está caracterizada comúnmente como un aumento del volumen de la glándula prostática que ocasiona una obstrucción al flujo de orina en el tracto urinario inferior; lo que es potencialmente subsanable con la resección quirúrgica de la porción glandular redundante. Una variedad de esta patología lo constituye la hiperplasia prostática benigna gigante, definida como aquellas con un peso mayor de 200g, según algunos autores; o mayor de 500g, según otros. En total, hasta la fecha, son 18 las hiperplasias prostáticas benignas gigantes mayores a 500g en la literatura y nuestro caso, con 530g, ocupa el puesto 15. El caso corresponde al Servicio de Urología del Hospital Militar Central de Asunción, Paraguay. Palabras clave: próstata, hiperplasia, adenoma, adenomectomía.

Because light emitting diodes (LEDs) have the advantages of dc working voltage, high luminescent efficiency, short ignition time, high reliability and pollution free, they have substituted for incandescent bulbs and fluorescent lamps gradually. In order to simplify circuit complexity, an active clamp forward converter with the sequential color display (SCD) control is proposed to drive red, green and blue (RGB) LED arrays. The proposed converter has zero-voltage switching (ZVS) operations of both the main switch and the auxiliary switch, resulting in high system efficiency. Driving RGB LED arrays sequentially by one converter can save components and reduce cost significantly. Additionally, the pulse-width modulation (PWM) control is applied to achieve a large chromaticity variation. The circuit operations are analyzed in detail and the circuit parameters are designed based on the practical considerations. Finally, an illustrative example is implemented to demonstrate the feasibility and validity of the proposed LED driver.

Least significant bit (LSB) embedding is a simple steganographic technique used in the spatial domain that involves replacing the LSB of each pixel in the cover work with the information bits being hidden to achieve information secrecy. However, considering the current prevalence of information theft and sabotage, the stego image produced using LSB embedding cannot prevent malicious illegal acts. Therefore, this study proposes a blind data hiding technique that combines block-coded modulation (BCM) codes with LSB embedding. The proposed method not only provides error correction capabilities to prevent errors during the extraction process, but also has a superior embedding payload. The peak signal noise ratio (PSNR) exceeds 40 dB by using our proposed method. Regarding the simulation results, the proposed method provides a superior PSNR compared to LSB embedding and a higher embedding payload than that offered by other steganographic techniques with error correction capabilities.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficacy of adjuvant intravesical doxorubicin in superficial transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder on long-term follow-up. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between July 1986 and November 1991, all patients harboring superficial bladder cancers (Ta or T1) with one or more of these criteria (stage > a, grade > 1, size > 1 cm, multiple or recurrent tumors) were randomized to receive either 50 mg doxorubicin or no adjuvant therapy. Patients with recurrences were allowed to receive doxorubicin or other intravesical agents. Recurrence, progression and survival were analyzed. RESULTS: There were 82 patients included (64 males and 18 females). The mean age was 64 years. Forty-six patients were randomized to the doxorubicin group and 36 to the control group. Final analysis was made at median follow-up of 45, 128 and 131.5 months for recurrence, progression and survival, respectively. Recurrence free, progression free and disease specific survival did not differ significantly between groups. The 10-year Kaplan-Meier estimates for recurrence free, progression free and disease specific survival were 67%, 84% and 92%, respectively for the doxorubicin group, and were 50%, 89% and 97%, respectively for the control group. Tumor size predicted recurrence (p = 0.013) and grade predicted progression (p = 0.004) with multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Adjuvant intravesical doxorubicin could not be shown to improve recurrence, progression and survival of superficial bladder cancer, compared with control on long-term follow-up. Tumor size and grade were shown to be prognostic factors for recurrence and progression, respectively.