Objectives To design and establish a model to examine in left renal tissue integrity on day 2 only (P<0.001), whereas RI for 40 min caused significant left renal whether brief periods of renal artery occlusion (ischaemic preconditioning, IP) confers protection dysfunction on day 0, day 2 and day 9 (P∏0.01). For a given duration of ischaemia, there was no significant from the eÂects of a subsequent period of ischaemia and reperfusion of the rat kidney.diÂerence between results from (IP+RI) rats compared with RI-only rats at any of the three times. There was Materials and methods Ninety rats were randomized into six groups, i.e. sham-operated controls; IP alone; no significant alteration in renal tissue integrity in the IP-only rats compared with sham-operated controls. a 20 or 40 min period of left renal ischaemia (RI) alone; and IP followed by a 20 or 40 min period of Histological findings paralleled the data obtained from DMSA uptake. RI. Preconditioning involved the sequential clamping of the left renal artery for 4 min and its release for 11Conclusions The IP regimen and 30 min 'critical interval' confers no protection to the kidney from a 20 or min, a total of four times, a 'critical interval' of 30 min before the ischaemic insult. Left renal tissue integrity 40 min ischaemic episode. The IP regimen itself appears to have no eÂect, confirming the validity of was determined by dimercapto-succinic acid (DMSA) radionuclide imaging on a c-camera both immediately our experimental model.

The accuracy of different ultrasound methods for determining the volume of urine in the bladder was compared using three methods in current use. Each method was applied to the same ultrasound images from 16 patients with prostatic hypertrophy. The calculated volumes were compared with the true volumes derived by measurement of voided and catheter-drained urine. All methods showed similar degrees of accuracy in quantifying bladder volumes. The range of errors of the best method tested was +/- 35% of true volume and this suggests that ultrasound measurement of bladder volume is not sufficiently accurate for many clinical and research applications.

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Intracavernosally injected vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) (2 micrograms and 4 micrograms) resulted in penile tumescence even in men with predominantly organic impotence. Papaverine and phentolamine were successful in inducing erections in all subjects studied but the addition of VIP to this combination improved the erectile response further. A combination of papaverine and VIP produced penile rigidity similar to that with papaverine and phentolamine. While intracavernosal VIP alone produced disappointing penile responses, its combination with papaverine potentiated the response to this drug, probably by increasing venous outflow resistance.