To estimate the prevalence of urinary stone disease in Koreans, and to determine the inter-relationships between urinary stone disease and various epidemiological factors, 1,521 controls and 1,177 cases with urinary stones were evaluated. Of special interest in this study were: 1) proportion of past urinary stone history among controls; 1.9% 2) the point prevalence rate of urinary stones among controls; 0.2% 3) the recurrence rate of urinary stones (the proportion of past history of urinary stone) among cases; 56.8% 4) high incidences (76.3%) in the thirties to the fifties among cases 5) the risk factors for urolithogenesis; obesity [higher than 25 of BMI (body mass index, weight/height2)], more than 10 year-experience as a production worker, past stone history, familial stone history, low physical activity (< 2,000 Kcal/day), and low intake of fruit. However, the well-known risk factors for urinary stones; over intake of meat or fish and milk or dairy products, perspiration, amount and kind of drinking water, and stress unexpectedly were not significantly different between the controls and the cases.

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The aim of this study was to determine the incidence and characteristics of pain following intracavernous injection of prostaglandin E1 (PGE). We injected PGE into the cavernous tissues of 156 patients with erectile dysfunction who had never previously been injected with PGE. The incidence and characteristics of pain after injection were evaluated by the patients' response to a questionnaire. The intensity of pain was determined by the degree of impediment to intercourse, verbal rating scale (VRS), numerical rating scale (NRS), and visual analogue scale (VAS). Patients scoring 'no pain' on the VRS, NRS, and VAS were 11.5%, 7.7%, and 7.7%, respectively. Overall incidence of pain was 91%. There was 'much' or 'very much' impediment to intercourse because of pain in 14 (9.1%) patients. The most common kind of pain was 'heavy pain' in 90% of the patients followed by 'throbbing' in 38%, 'aching' in 21%, 'tightening' in 18%, and 'shooting' in 13%. The mean duration of pain was 101.2 +/- 63.7 minutes and it lasted during the entire erection period in 71(50.4%) patients. There were significant correlations among the degree of impediment to intercourse, VRS, NRS, and VAS scores (all p < 0.01). However, no association was noted between pain intensity and both erectile response to PGE and injected dose. The higher incidence of intracavernous PGE-induced pain reported here compared to other studies might be related to difference in pain thresholds among races. The high incidence of pain but low frequency of much impediment to intercourse would be related to the pain characteristics as well as the intensity of pain.

Purpose: Testosterone deficiency has recently captured attention as a possible risk factor for metabolic syndrome. This study was conducted to investigate a correlation of the serum testosterone level with insulin resistance (IR) and metabolic syndrome (MS). Materials and Methods:The metabolic risk factors, the blood pressure, the waist circumference and the fasting serum levels of glucose, triglyceride and high density lipoprotein cholesterol were measured for a total of 215 patients (mean age; 61.04±0.54 years) with erectile dysfunction (ED) or/and symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). The serum total testosterone and insulin were measured at the same time, and the free testosterone, bioavailable testosterone and IR were calculated. Results: The prevalence of MS and the number of associated MS risk factors were significantly higher in the insulin resistance group (IRG) than in the insulin sensitive group (ISG). The serum testosterone level significantly decreased with more risk factors. The IRG showed a significantly lower level of serum testosterone than the patients with ED and the total patients. Conclusions: The negative correlation of a decrease in the serum testosterone level with IR and MS suggests that late onset hypogonadism might be a risk factor of MS. (Korean J Urol 2008;49:556-561)