1999 rerun of the 1996 German Urinary Incontinence Survey: will doctors ever ask?

The German Incontinence Relief Society and supporting companies have been conducting numerous urinary incontinence awareness and continuing medical education campaigns. However, comparison of results from an epidemiologic survey involving 6,607 over-50-year-old patients in 1996 and a similar investigation among 6,481 patients in the same age group in 1999 reveals that German physicians are now even less likely to address this taboo subject, thus withholding appropriate care from incontinent patients. Possible reasons for this alarming development include the financial restraints imposed on German doctors in private practice and a lack of appreciation of the problems associated with incontinence among health policymakers.

Digastric muscle response as a function of knowledge of the task to be performed.

Whether the motor programme executed by the digastric muscles during a forceful bite is modified according to a subject's expectation that the resistance between the teeth will change was investigated. There were two experimental conditions: (1) tracking a ramp (drawn on an oscilloscope screen) by biting (isometrically) on a force transducer and holding it at 120 N, and (2) tracking the same ramp with a sudden unloading at 100 N. There were two groups of experiments: (1) control experiments in which subjects underwent a sudden and unexpected unloading of the jaw, and (2) experiments in which subjects were previously informed whether or not there was to be an unloading. In all experiments the subjects co-contracted their digastric muscles during the bite as compared to the state at rest. The subjects' responses fell into the three different types: (i) those who varied the level of tonic digastric activity only as a function of the experimental condition, (ii) those who co-contracted the digastric muscles at the same time as the masseter muscles, and (iii) those who changed the contraction pattern of the digastric muscles as a function of the experimental condition. If modulation of the digastric muscles occurred this is a 'feedforward' strategy mainly based on immediate past performance.

'Byte-ryte', an apparatus for the determination of the preferred vertical dimension of occlusion required for the construction of complete denture prosthesis.

A computer-controlled apparatus is described for the measurement of the preferred vertical dimension of occlusion (PVDO). The proposed apparatus guides the dentist through the measuring process and calculates the measure of the PVDO from the observations made.

Blocking of impulse conduction in peripheral nerves by local cooling as a routine in animal experimentation.

Small thermodes, cooled by the Peltier effect and heated by transistor dissipation, were developed for reversible nerve blocking. Temperature control is achieved by an electronic feedback circuit for two thermodes independently. This enables simple operation of the cooling system during animal experimentation. Any nerve temperature between 0 and 37 degrees C can be obtained within 90 s and maintained within 0.2 degree C. The instrument can be used both as a stand alone apparatus or under computer control. Effects of local cooling of the cervical vagus nerve of the rabbit on the A-wave of the compound action potential and on spontaneous activity are given as examples of application of the cooling system in biological experiments.

Recording the visual electrically evoked potential (VEEP).

A system for recording cortical responses to electrical stimulation of the visual system (electrical phosphene) is described. The system included a rotatable electrode pair for stimulation, with which artifacts caused by the relatively large stimulating currents could be reduced to suitable levels. Optical isolation on both the stimulating and recording sides of the equipment provided safety for the subject and made precise application of the stimulating current possible.