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Breast implants do not appear to alter the risk of subsequent breast cancer.

Aims of this study: To determine the associations, if any, of cavernosal oxygen tension with vasculogenic impotence. Materials and Methods: We evaluated penile cavernosal blood gas levels in men with suspected vasculogenic impotence during penile duplex ultrasonography andaor dynamic infusion cavernosometry and cavernosography (DICC). Patients with suspected impotence were evaluated from 1992 ± 1996. Patient ages ranged from 24 ± 75 y (mean 48 y). Eighteen men had arteriogenic impotence diagnosed by abnormal penile duplex ultrasound after injection of a vasoactive agent, and 23 men had venous leakage diagnosed by DICC. Results: Eighteen men with arteriogenic impotence had the following mean blood gas values: pH 7.38 AE 0.01, PCO2 45.50 AE 0.94, PO2 65.17 AE 2.16. Twenty-three men with venogenic (venous leak) impotence had the following mean cavernosal blood gas values: pH 7.41 AE 0.01, PCO2 42.26 AE 0.83, PO2 74.17 AE 2.51. The differences in PO2 were signi®cant (P`0.05). A subgroup of men with severe venous leakage had PO2 values that were similar to the low arterial PO2 values. Conclusion: The low PO2 in patients with arteriogenic impotence, and the subset of men with severe venous leak impotence, support a global concept of low cavernosal PO2 as a mechanism for both arteriogenic and venogenic impotence.

Fecal pellets and pseudofeces of estuarine benthic infauna were analysed for cadmium, copper, nickel and zinc content (using a weak acid leach and a concentrated acid leach) and compared with metal concentrations in surface sediment. Fecal pellets of the gastropod mollusc Hydrobia ulvae, and bivalve molluscs Mya arenaria, Cerastoderrna edule, Scrobicularia plana and Macorna balthica contained higher metal concentrations than surface sediment samples. Average enrichment factors over sediment ranged from 1.5 to 3.6 for cadmium, 2.2 to 7.7 for copper, 1.5 to 4.0 for nickel, and 2.2 to 4.6 for zinc. Average values for metal concentrations in the polychaete Arenicola marina fecal casts were also slightly higher than sediment levels (enrichment factors of 1.2 to 1.8). Bivalve pseudofeces generally contained higher metal concentrations than surface sediment. Average enrichment factors over sediment ranged from 1.1 to 1.8 for cadmium, 1.5 to 2.6 for copper, 1.0 to 7.5 for nickel and 1.3 to 2.4 for zinc. Feces contained a larger percentage of small particles than surface sediment, particularly the bivalve fecal pellets. Metal concentrations in pooled fecal materials and sediments were inversely related to particle size and positively correlated with organic carbon content. These observations suggest that selection by animals in feeding for small particles and for organic substrates strongly influences metal concentrations in fecal materials. Since large numbers of infauna may occur in estuarine mud flats, sediment processing via fecal production by suspension feeders and selective deposit feeders is likely to be an important pathway of element cycling in estuarine ecosystems.