Efficacy of Intracavernosal Injections of 50-Unit versus 100-Unit Doses of AbobotulinumtoxinA (Masport®) in Vasculogenic Erectile Dysfunction with Phosphodiesterase Type 5 Inhibitors Resistant

Background: We aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of 50-unit dose against 100-unit dose of intracavernosal injection (ICI) of AbobotulinumtoxinA (BTX-A) (Masport®) in patients with vascular erectile dysfunction (ED) resistant to first-line therapies, including phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors (PDE5I). Methods: In this double-blind randomized controlled trial (RCT), 40 patients with ED resistant to PDE5I were randomly divided into two groups: ICI of a single dose of Masport® 50 units and single dose of 100 units. Peak systolic velocity (PSV) confirmed arterial insufficiency vascular disorder. For all patients, IIEF (International Index of Erectile Function), SHIM (Sexual Health Inventory for Men), and EHS (Erection Hardness Score) questionnaires were completed. Six weeks after the treatment, the subjects were re-examined. Results: Our results showed an acceptable clinical efficacy and safety of ICI of Masport® six weeks after injection. No systemic complications in patients were seen. Three patients complained of brief penile pain shortly after injection, but there were no other local complications. The increase in mean PSV in the 100-unit group due to treatment was significant (P-value < 0.0001). Also, there was a significant difference between the two groups of 50- and 100-unit (P-value < 0.0001). In addition, the increase in mean IIEF-EF, SHIM score, and EHS due to treatment was significant between the two groups. For the 100-unit group, P-value < 0.0001 and the difference between the two groups was also significant (P-value < 0.0001), which indicated a better response to treatment in the 100-unit group. The mean increase of IIEF score (EF domain) was 4.3 (mean IIEF: 9.4 and 13.7 after and before, respectively) in the 100-unit group and (mean IIEF: 8.1 and 9.1 after and before, respectively) in the 50-unit group. Conclusions: The results of this study showed that ICI of AbobotulinumtoxinA, especially at a dose of 100 units, in patients with refractory vasculogenic ED is safe and effective in improving sexual function and ultrasound indices.

Inclusive Approach to Education for Children With Disabilities

BRAC, a leading international development organization, has been working to ensure the rights of persons with disabilities to education through its inclusive education program. This article discusses the BRAC approach in Bangladesh and aims to identify its strategies that are effective in facilitating inclusion. It employed a qualitative research approach where data were collected from students with disabilities, their parents, and BRAC's teachers and staffs using qualitative data collection techniques. The results show that the disability-inclusive policy and all other activities are strongly monitored by a separate unit under BRAC Education Program (BEP). It mainly focuses on sensitizing its teachers and staff to the issue through training, discussing the issue in all meetings and ensuring effective use of a working manual developed by the unit. Group-based learning and involving them in income generating activities were also effective. The findings of the study would be useful for policy makers and other national and international organizations that are working on the issue.

Experience in neuromuscular diseases in children and adolescents and their comorbidities in a tertiary hospital

Introduction Neuromuscular diseases include a large group of heterogeneous and rare pathologies that affect different components of the motor unit. It is essential to optimize resources to know the prevalence of comorbidities in the most frequent groups to establish an early multidisciplinary approach in a specialized setting. Patients and methods Retrospective descriptive study of pediatric and adolescent patients with neuromuscular diseases (NMDs). The Inclusion criteria were NMDs patients with motor neuron involvement divided into three groups, depending on the affected component of the motor unit. Group I: involvement of the motor neuron; Group II: peripheral neuropathies; Group III: myopathies. Demographic variables, association with comorbidities, need for respiratory support, and rehabilitative treatment were collected in each group. Results Ninety-six patients who met the inclusion criteria were studied. In group I, when compared to the other two groups, a higher incidence of scoliosis (68.3%, p = 0.011), deformity of the rib cage (31.3%, p = 0.0001), chronic respiratory insufficiency (62.5%, p = 0.001) and bronchial aspiration (12.5%, p = 0.03) was detected. In this group, 50%of the patients required non-invasive mechanical ventilation (p = 0.0001). The in-hospital requirement for respiratory physiotherapy was higher in group I (75%, p = 0.001). We observed a higher incidence of scoliosis in Group III compared to Group II. Conclusions Neuromuscular diseases with motor neuron involvement present more comorbidities and require an early approach after diagnosis to improve prognosis.

A cubic analogue of the Friedlander–Iwaniec spin over primes

In 1998 Friedlander and Iwaniec proved that there are infinitely many primes of the form $$a^2+b^4$$ a 2 + b 4 . To show this they used the Jacobi symbol to define the spin of Gaussian integers, and one of the key ingredients in the proof was to show that the spin becomes equidistributed along Gaussian primes. To generalize this we define the cubic spin of ideals of $${\mathbb {Z}}[\zeta _{12}]={\mathbb {Z}}[\zeta _3,i]$$ Z [ ζ 12 ] = Z [ ζ 3 , i ] by using the cubic residue character on the Eisenstein integers $${\mathbb {Z}}[\zeta _3]$$ Z [ ζ 3 ] . Our main theorem says that the cubic spin is equidistributed along prime ideals of $${\mathbb {Z}}[\zeta _{12}]$$ Z [ ζ 12 ] . The proof of this follows closely along the lines of Friedlander and Iwaniec. The main new feature in our case is the infinite unit group, which means that we need to show that the definition of the cubic spin on the ring of integers lifts to a well-defined function on the ideals. We also explain how the cubic spin arises if we consider primes of the form $$a^2+b^6$$ a 2 + b 6 on the Eisenstein integers.

Unit group structure of the quotient ring of a quadratic ring

Let [Formula: see text] be the rational filed. For a square-free integer [Formula: see text] with [Formula: see text], we denote by [Formula: see text] the quadratic field. Let [Formula: see text] be the ring of algebraic integers of [Formula: see text]. In this paper, we completely determine the unit group of the quotient ring [Formula: see text] of [Formula: see text] for an arbitrary prime [Formula: see text] in [Formula: see text], where [Formula: see text] has the unique factorization property, and [Formula: see text] is a rational integer.

Food Insecurity and Related Factors among Farming Families in Takhar Region, Afghanistan

Improved food security remains a major challenge for policymakers in Afghanistan. The objective of this study is to investigate the prevalence and drivers of food insecurity among farming households in the Takhar region of Afghanistan. Household questionnaire survey datasets were obtained from 262 farmers via multi-stage sampling across four districts. The Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) was constructed to assess the prevalence of food insecurity, and an ordered probit econometric model was used to identify the factors influencing the prevalence rates in farming families. The findings indicate that 66.79% of the farming households were food insecure, whilst 30.53% were severely food insecure. After adjustment of socio-economic and demographic characteristics of families, the ordered probit results reveals that household head education, dependency ratio, farm income, access to non-agricultural income, livestock unit, group membership, borrowing, farm diseases, flood, and war significantly influenced farming households’ food insecurity in the study area. Our findings highlight the urgent requirement for policies and initiatives to support farmers to improve their overall food security. Such strategies should focus on introducing improved farming techniques, enhancing farmer education levels, livestock development programs, building and empowering farmers groups, creating credit access to households, and providing humanitarian food support.

Migraine and premenstrual syndrome: comorbid disorders?

IntroductionHeadache is a common symptom among women, including during the menstrual cycle. The migraine frequency in women who present migraine associated with the menstrual period ranges from 50% to 70%. Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is prevalent among women, affecting 80% to 90% of them throughout their lives.ObjectiveThe objectives of this study were to verify PMS prevalence and its characteristics among women who present with cephalalgia in the neurology ambulatory care unit and show the prevalence of headache and its association with PMS in the gynecology ambulatory care unit.MethodsIt is a descriptive and qualitative study which was carried out at Emilio Carlos Teaching Hospital in the neurology and gynecology ambulatory care units with women aged 18 to 52 years old. Eighty-seven questionnaires were distributed and self-applied throughout the year of 2018 for data collection. Each questionnaire consisted of 27 questions about the life cycle of the women and their headache episodes. The diagnostic criteria for headache and migraine from the International Headache Society were used. Criteria for PMS were met according to the quality of life questionnaire.ResultsIn gynecology unit group, 9% of the women did not present headache, 76% had PMS and 94% presented with headache during PMS. In neurology, 79% of the women had PMS and 79% of the women who presented with cephalalgia also had PMS.ConclusionThere is a large percentage of PMS in both groups, i.e. neurological unit and gynecological unit, showing it is not a spurious correlation.

Unit group of semisimple group algebras of some non-metabelian groups of order 120

In this paper, we give the characterization of the unit groups of semisimple group algebras of some non-metabelian groups of order 120. This study completes the study of unit groups of semisimple group algebras of all groups up to order 120, except that of the symmetric group [Formula: see text] and groups of order 96.