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We reviewed 100 consecutive cases of pelvic fractures at our hospital to establish the relationship between bone injuries and urological lesions. There were 11 major urological injuries found: 6 patients had bladder laceration, 4 had rupture of the membranous urethra and 1 had a ureteral injury. Emphasis is placed on the physiopathology of the urological injuries.

Sexual dysfunction was studied in 50 patients who had had a myocardial infarction (MI) matched with 50 control patients who were comparable in terms of age, hypertension, diabetes, and smoking. The MI group revealed sexual dysfunction in 76%, with erectile dysfunction in 42%. In the control group there was sexual dysfunction in 68% and erectile dysfunction in 48%. There was no statistically significant difference observed between the two groups. However, there was a significant influence of sex counseling on subsequent sexual functioning. Patients who received information as to when it was safe for them to resume sexual activity showed a lesser degree of apprehension in the post-MI period. The need of sexual rehabilitation for these patients and more thorough epidemiological comparative studies are suggested.

The treatment of priapism has changed significantly because of better understanding of the physiology of erection and of the pathophysiology of the disease. Several operative procedures have been advised to provide better venous drainage to the corpora. Herein we describe our experience with 20 patients. In 7 cases a modification of the cavernospongiosum shunt was used. This shunt is done under direct vision at the level of the proximal glans, thus, providing a better cavernosum-spongiosum shunt.

BackgroundPrevious studies have reported that adult mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) tend to gradually lose their stem cell characteristics in vitro when placed outside their niche environment. They subsequently undergo spontaneous differentiation towards mesenchymal lineages after only a few passages. We observed a similar phenomenon with adult tendon stem cells (TSCs) where expression of key tendon genes such as Scleraxis (Scx), are being repressed with time in culture. We hypothesized that an environment able to restore or maintain Scleraxis expression could be of therapeutic interest for in vitro use and tendon cell-based therapies.MethodsTSCs were isolated from human cadaveric Achilles tendon and expanded for 4 passages. A high content imaging assay that monitored the induction of Scx protein nuclear localization was used to screen ~1000 known drugs.ResultsWe identified retinoic acid receptor (RAR) agonists as potent inducers of nuclear Scx in the small molecule screen. The upregulation correlated with improved maintenance of tendon stem cell properties through inhibition of spontaneous differentiation rather than the anticipated induction of tenogenic differentiation. Our results suggest that histone epigenetic modifications by RAR are driving this effect which is not likely only dependent on Scleraxis nuclear binding but also mediated through other key genes involved in stem cell self-renewal and differentiation. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the effect of RAR compounds on TSCs is reversible by revealing their multi-lineage differentiation ability upon withdrawal of the compound.ConclusionBased on these findings, RAR agonists could provide a valid approach for maintaining TSC stemness during expansion in vitro, thus improving their regenerative potential for cell-based therapy.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13287-016-0306-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.