Objective To describe our experience of penile urethral repairs for total circumferential reconstruction of the penile urethra. repair and reconstruction, cataloguing the change in practice from one-stage flap to two-stage free graftConclusions For a patch urethroplasty of an uncomplicated stricture in the bulbar urethra, buccal mucosal procedures for anterior urethroplasty. Patients and methods Between January 1992 and free grafts are now the material of choice. For a patch urethroplasty of an uncomplicated stricture in the December 1996, 79 patients underwent anterior urethroplasty. Of the 45 one-stage bulbar patch penile urethra the Orandi procedure remains the 'gold standard'. For a circumferential repair of the urethra, urethroplasties, 37 (76%) used buccal mucosal free grafts rather than flaps. Of the 34 penile urethroplastparticularly the penile urethra, a two-stage repair using a free graft gives better results than a one-stage ies, 26 (82%) (including all of the circumferential reconstructions) were two-stage procedures.repair using a flap. Keywords Anterior urethroplasty, free grafts, bulbar Results Buccal mucosal free grafts were at least as good as local skin flaps for patch urethroplasty and twopatch, buccal mucosa, post-auricular Wolfe graft stage repairs gave much better results than one-stage and found a re-stricture rate of 11% at one year and

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SUMMARYEndothelial cells play an important role in the vascular responsiveness to many stimuli by releasing locally active agents. The intracellular signal which links the external stimulus to the release of the active compounds is almost certainly an elevation in cytoplasmic calcium (Ca2+). Thus a detailed knowledge of Ca2+ regulation is central to an understanding of the physiology and pharmacology of endothelial cells. The present experiments, on single bovine aortic endothelial cells, demonstrate that agonists stimulate complex changes in Ca2+. These include rapid and regular fluctuations in Ca2+ which are different from the oscillations reported in other endothelial cells and non-excitable cells. The fluctuations are completely abolished in media containing low calcium, 2 mM-cobalt or caffeine but are not affected if the cells are bathed in isotonic potassium solutions. The hypothesis is put forward that the fluctuations in Ca2+ are associated with localized influxes of calcium and are possibly involved with the recycling of calcium between the internal stores, the cytoplasm and the external medium.

SUMMARYThe effects of caffeine on the resting level and agonist-induced changes in intracellular calcium ([Ca2+]

SUMMARYWhen bovine aortic endothelial (BAE) solution. These data are consistent with the presence of a calcium paradox in these cells and with the hypothesis that the underlying mechanism involves the loading of the cell with Na+ during the period in low Ca2+. This process may occur as a result of the altered selectivity of the ATP-activated Ca2+ influx mechanism.