GISTs can arise anywhere in the gastrointestinal tract and present a great variety of clinical and radiologic features, depending mostly on size and location.

The aim of this study was to assess infectious complications in transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy (TRUSPB), comparing two groups of patients: one group with antibiotic prophylaxis and the other without prophylaxis. A total of 1,018 TRUSPBs were performed from April 1996 to July 2003. No antibiotic prophylaxis was given in the first 614; the remaining 404 procedures were performed under antibiotic prophylaxis. Biopsy complications were assessed at outpatient urologist visits after the procedure in the 212 first biopsies and by telephone interview in the remaining 806. A total of 78 infectious complications were found. Major infectious complications (n=41) were septic shock (n=3), sepsis (n=3), Fournier gangrene (n=1), urinary tract infection (n=2), and fever requiring hospital admission (n=32). Minor infectious complications were fever that did not require admission (n=29), prostatitis (n=6), and epididymitis (n=2). Infectious complications occurred in 63 of 614 (10.3%) procedures without antibiotic prophylaxis and in 15 of 404 (3.7%) of those with antibiotic prophylaxis (P=0.0001). Of the 41 major infectious complications, 31 (75.6%) occurred in procedures without antibiotic prophylaxis (n=583) versus ten (24.4%) in those with prophylaxis (n=394) (P=0.0410). In conclusion, transrectal ultrasound-guided biopsy of the prostate has a statistically significant higher risk of infectious complications when performed without antibiotic prophylaxis.

In the 16th and 17th centuries the classical Greek notions of (discrete) number and (continuous) magnitude (preserved in medieval Latin translations of Euclid's Elements) underwent a major transformation that turned them into continuous but measurable magnitudes. This article studies the changes introduced in the classical notions of number and magnitude by three influential Renaissance editions of Euclid's Elements. Besides providing evidence of earlier discussions preparing notions and arguments eventually introduced in Simon Stevin's Arithmétique of 1585, these editions document the role abacus algebra and Renaissance views on the history of mathematics played in bridging the gulf between discrete numbers and continuous magnitudes.  2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. RésuméPendant le seizième et dix-septième siècles, les notions classiques de nombre (toujours sous-entendu discrète) et de grandeur (continue), bien conservées dans les éditions latines médiévales des Éléments d'Euclide, ont connu une transformation majeur au bout de la quelle on trouve les deux notions confondues sous la nouvelle notion de grandeur mesurable ou quantifiée. Cet article étudie les modifications introduites dans les notions classiques de nombre et magnitude par trois éditions des Éléments d'Euclide parues pendant le seizième siècle et largement utilisées. Ces éditions nous montrent comment elles ont amorcé de notions et d'arguments finalement introduits dans l'Arithmétique de Simon Stevin de 1585. Elles nous enseignent aussi le rôle joué par l'algèbre des abacistes ✩ A first version of this article was submitted to the International Workshop The Origins of Algebra from Al-Khwarizmi to Descartes (Barcelona, 27-29 March 2003). Research support from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnologia (Project BHA2002-02648) and the Catalan Departament d'Universitats (2002SGR-22) is gratefully acknowledged. Many thanks are also due to Albert Presas for calling to my attention the relevance of Tartaglia [1543] for my discussion, and to the audience of the Barcelona Workshop for their useful comments. My thanks also to B. van Dalen for his helpful editorial comments.

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Idiopathic pylephlebitis and primary sclerosing peritonitis are two highly unusual entities. To our knowledge, the association of the two diseases has not been described previously. We report a 42-year-old patient with a protein S deficiency who presented with fever and chills, in whom idiopathic pylephlebitis was diagnosed. A year later, the patient was readmitted because of recurrent vomiting and weight loss. An exploratory laparotomy yielded diagnosis of sclerosing peritonitis, which resolved after surgery. The short time interval between the processes suggests that they were related to each other, and also to the protein S deficiency.