Biomedical subjects

Charlotte T Lee

Publications and source records attributed to Charlotte T Lee.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Climacturia following radical prostatectomy: prevalence and risk factors.

PURPOSE: Following radical prostatectomy urine leakage during orgasm is a poorly defined entity. We defined the prevalence, quantity, bother and coping mechanisms associated with this complication, called climacturia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A self-administered questionnaire was given to a cohort of sexually active men after radical prostatectomy. We inquired about the frequency, quantity, bother and coping mechanisms associated with climacturia. We also recorded uroflowmetry and an American Urological Association symptom score (International Prostate Symptom Score) in each patient. RESULTS: Of the 42 patients enrolled with a mean age of 58.9 years and average time since radical prostatectomy of 23.6 months climacturia was reported in 19 (45%). Of the men 68% reported that it happened rarely or only occasionally, while 21% reported that it occurred most of the time or always. In terms of urine quantity 58% of respondents reported only a few drops but 16% reported a loss of more than 1 ounce. Of the patients 52% percent reported no or minimal bother but 48% reported that climacturia caused significant bother. Only 21% of respondents thought that it was of significant bother to their partners. Of the respondents 84% emptied the bladder before intercourse and 11% used condoms. Age, Gleason score and time since surgery were not predictors of climacturia. No association between peak urine flow on uroflowmetry or International Prostate Symptom Score and climacturia was found. CONCLUSIONS: Climacturia is a common clinical entity, occurring in almost half of all patients after radical prostatectomy. It can be a significant problem with respect to urine volume loss, associated bother and condom use. Patients must be informed about this complication before undergoing radical prostatectomy.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2005

Demography in an increasingly variable world.

Recent advances in stochastic demography provide unique insights into the probable effects of increasing environmental variability on population dynamics, and these insights can be substantially different compared with those from deterministic models. Stochastic variation in structured population models influences estimates of population growth rate, persistence and resilience, which ultimately can alter community composition, species interactions, distributions and harvesting. Here, we discuss how understanding these demographic consequences of environmental variation will have applications for anticipating changes in populations resulting from anthropogenic activities that affect the variance in vital rates. We also highlight new tools for anticipating the consequences of the magnitude and temporal patterning of environmental variability.

Animals↗

PubMed2005

Families of discrete kernels for modeling dispersal.

Integer lattices are important theoretical landscapes for studying the consequences of dispersal and spatial population structure, but convenient dispersal kernels able to represent important features of dispersal in nature have been lacking for lattices. Because leptokurtic (centrally peaked and long-tailed) kernels are common in nature and have important effects in models, of particular interest are families of dispersal kernels in which the degree of leptokurtosis can be varied parametrically. Here we develop families of kernels on integer lattices with several important properties. The degree of leptokurtosis can be varied parametrically from near 0 (the Gaussian value) to infinity. These kernels are all asymptotically radially symmetric. (Exact radial symmetry is impossible on lattices except in one dimension.) They have separate parameters for shape and scale, and their lower order moments and Fourier transforms are given by simple formulae. In most cases, the kernel families that we develop are closed under convolution so that multiple steps of a kernel remain within the same family. Included in these families are kernels with asymptotic power function tails, which have provided good fits to some observations from nature. These kernel families are constructed by randomizing convolutions of stepping-stone kernels and have interpretations in terms of population heterogeneity and heterogeneous physical processes.

Ecology↗