Factors Affecting Quality of Life Among Spinal Cord Injury Patients in Korea.

PURPOSE: Complaints from spinal cord injury (SCI) patients are typically related to physical disability affecting activities of daily life. However, difficulties with voiding and defecation and/or sexual function can also be major concerns. The general population and even physicians are generally unaware of these complaints; therefore, this study focuses on surveying SCI patients regarding challenges that are faced in daily life. METHODS: A questionnaire was administered randomly and anonymously to SCI patients who visited the Korea Spinal Cord Injury Association and several rehabilitation hospitals in the Republic of Korea in 2013. All participants gave their consent prior to filling out the questionnaire. RESULTS: A total of 299 patients answered the questionnaire; the male to female ratio was 5.8:1 and common vectors for injury were motor vehicle accidents, industrial accidents, and falling down. Of the 169 patients who answered the 'most troublesome' and 'wish would improve' complaints questionnaire properly, urinary problems were most common, specifically incontinence and urinary tract infection. Among all patients, 67% were using clean intermittent catheterization, 63% were taking voiding-related medications, 83% had sexual desires, and among the 122 patients who did not have offspring, 27% had future plans for children. CONCLUSIONS: From this questionnaire, we discovered that SCI patients in the South Korea suffer not only from physical disability but also many other quality-of-life-related problems. When managing SCI patients, physicians should show greater concern and educate patients about problems related to voiding and sexual activity, rather than just physical disability.

One-layer vasovasostomy: microsurgical versus loupe-assisted.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the outcomes of microsurgical versus loupe-assisted technique for vasectomy reversal. DESIGN: Retrospective comparative study with randomization. SETTING: University hospital male infertility clinic. PATIENT(S): Fifty men with obstructive azoospermia after vasectomy. INTERVENTION(S): One-layer vasovasostomy with microscope (group I) or optical loupe (group II). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Patency, pregnancy, operation time, postoperative stricture. RESULT(S): Mean operation time was 106.4±10.3 minutes in group I and 78.3±5.7 minutes in group II, showing a statistically significant difference. Analysis of semen sampled from men, who succeeded in getting vasal patency, was performed finally at the sixth month after surgery and showed sperm concentrations of 21.5 million/mL and 20.7 million/mL and sperm motilities of 32.5% and 30.8% in groups I and II, respectively, without a statistical significance. Patency rates were 96% (24 out of 25) in group I and 72% (18 out of 25) in group II, showing a statistically significant difference. Pregnancy rates were 40% (10 out of 25) in group I and 28% (7 out of 25) in group II. There was no statistically significant difference in pregnancy rate between the two groups. Postoperative vasal stricture occurred in four patients, all of them from group II. There was no operation-related complication, such as hematoma or wound infection. CONCLUSION(S): Microscopic technique yielded a higher patency rate than loupe-assisted technique, possibly by reducing the chance of postoperative vasal stricture.

Characterization of EamaT1, a member of maT family of transposable elements from the earthworm Eisenia andrei (Annelida, Oligochaeta).

The maT family is a unique clade within the Tc1-mariner superfamily, and their distribution is to date known as being limited to invertebrates. A novel transposon named EamaT1 is described from the genome of the earthworm Eisenia andrei. The full sized EamaT1 was obtained by degenerate and inverse PCR-based amplification. Sequence analysis of multiple copies of the EamaT1, which consisted of 0.9 and 1.4 kb elements, showed that the consensual EamaT1 with inverted terminal repeats (ITRs) of 69 bp was 1,422 bp long and flanked by a duplicated TA dinucleotide. The EamaT1 is present in approximately 120-250 copies per diploid genome but undergoes an inactivation process as a result of accumulating multiple mutations and is nonfunctional. The open reading frame (ORF) of the EamaT1 consensus encoding 356 amino acid sequences of transposase contained a DD37D signature and a conserved paired-like DNA binding motif for the transposition mechanism. The result of ITRs comparison confirmed their consensus terminal sequences (5'-CAGGGTG-3') and AT-rich region on the internal bases for ITRs-transposase interaction.