Multimodal rehabilitation for faecal incontinence: experience of an Italian centre devoted to faecal disorder rehabilitation.

BACKGROUND: Sphincter exercises and biofeedback therapy have been used to treat faecal incontinence but results have been unpredictable and standards of treatment have not yet been established. The aim of this study was to retrospectively evaluate the effects of a new multimodal rehabilitation model on faecal incontinence. METHODS: All of the rehabilitative procedures are guided by manometric data. Primary study outcome criteria were the determination of changes or deterioration in incontinence, failure to achieve full continence and/or presence of faecal urgency. The clinical outcome was designed according to the Jorge-Wexner incontinence score. RESULTS: Between 1997 and 2001, one hundred forty-nine incontinent patients (85 F and 64 M; age range, 41-73 years; mean age, 60.6 years) underwent multimodal rehabilitation at our outpatient unit. The overall mean incontinence score had significantly improved after treatment ( p<0.001), and 58 patients (38.9%) were symptom free. No patient reported any deterioration in incontinence. Faecal urgency persisted in 23 patients (15.4%). CONCLUSION: In conclusion, multimodal rehabilitation, using manometric study, can modify the incontinence score.

Insulin degradation in vivo: a high-performance liquid chromatographic analysis.

The metabolism of insulin in vivo was investigated using an isocratic reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (RP-HPLC) method. After intravenous injection of A14-[125I]insulin into normals, eight labelled insulin derivatives were found in plasma (peaks 1-8). Two of them (peaks 1 and 7) showed an elution pattern identical with those of reference [125I]monoiodotyrosine and intact A14-[125I]insulin, respectively. Of the other six peaks, five (2-6) eluted before and one (peak 8) after insulin. This pattern was highly reproducible in terms of capacity factors and peak heights. Radioactivity separated by RP-HPLC was further characterized for its trichloroacetic acid precipitability and immunoprecipitability. Fractions corresponding to peaks 4-6 and 8, which showed an immunoprecipitability higher than 50%, were pooled in order to obtain sufficient radioactivity and were found to be insulin separated by Sephadex G-50 chromatography, containing in its structure, after sulphitolysis, intact A-chain and to be partially rebindable to monocyte insulin receptors. These data demonstrate that in blood, products of insulin metabolism circulate which retain a part of the immunological and biological properties of the hormone. These products are clearly separated from one another and from intact insulin by RP-HPLC, suggesting that the appropriate use of this technique may allow a further and more accurate qualitative and quantitative characterization of in vivo insulin metabolism in physiological and pathological conditions.

Familial testicular cancer in a father (bilateral seminoma-embryonal cell carcinoma) and son (teratocarcinoma): a case report and review of the literature.

Familial testicular neoplasia is reported in a father and his son. This represents only the fifth published case of father-son testicular cancer. The father had bilateral testicular seminoma with embryonal cell elements while the son had teratocarcinoma. The clinical significance of familial testicular neoplasia is discussed and the subject of father and son testicular cancer is reviewed. This case of father-son testicular neoplasia illustrates the following important points: 1) there is a continuing need to document and describe each case of familial testicular cancer in order to better evaluate the pathogenesis of this familial occurrence; 2) prospective genetic and laboratory studies will be needed to definitively clarify the specific factors involved in the familial clustering or transmission of this type of cancer; and 3) this tendency for testicular cancer to affect multiple kindred must be considered in the proper guidance and counseling of affected patients and their high-risk family members.