OBJECTIVES: Although laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP) is accomplished within 2 to 3 hours by experienced surgeons, less is known about the operating times (OTs) for recently trained surgeons or the influence of additional factors. As of November 2001 at our institution, two senior surgeons had each performed more than 100 cases of LRP and two junior surgeons had each performed fewer than 30. We prospectively studied the next 100 consecutive LRPs to assess the factors influencing the OT.

METHODS: Transperitoneal LRPs were performed by two senior (n = 62) and two junior surgeons (n = 38) with random case assignment. We assessed body mass index, prostate size, prior abdominal surgery, androgen deprivation, surgeon experience, procedures in addition to LRP, lymph node dissection, nerve sparing, and sural nerve grafting as potential predictors of the OT.

RESULTS: Prostate weight, androgen deprivation, and prior abdominal surgery did not significantly affect the OT, but grade 1 obesity increased the OT by an average of 38 minutes. The mean OT by surgeon experience was 214 minutes for seniors and 347 minutes for juniors (P <0.001). By procedure type, the OT ranged from 180 minutes for LRP only by seniors to 459 minutes for LRP plus lymph node dissection plus sural nerve grafting by juniors. Lymph node dissection and sural nerve grafting significantly increased the OT by 46 and 101 minutes, respectively, and nerve sparing did not. For each combination of procedures, seniors averaged significantly shorter times than did juniors. A multiple regression model with stepwise selection showed that prostate weight, sural nerve grafting, pelvic lymph node dissection, use of a surgical robot, and surgeon experience significantly affected the OT.

CONCLUSIONS: The results of this prospective study of 100 cases of LRP showed that the OT for senior surgeons averaged 2 to 3 hours, but less experienced surgeons, and additional procedures, add significantly to the OT.

This paper presents a Fortran program to calculate cross sections for various reactions between composite particles in the framework of Glauber theory. The projectile nucleus is described as a core plus one valence-nucleon system. The input data needed for the calculation are the core and target densities and the nucleon–nucleon profile function. The single-particle wave function of the valence nucleon may be provided by a user or generated by the code if appropriate quantum numbers of the wave function are specified. Multiple integrations involving the valence-nucleon wave function are performed by a Monte Carlo technique with Metropolis algorithm. The program gives the total reaction cross section, the one-nucleon removal cross section, the elastic differential cross section, and the longitudinal momentum distribution of the core fragment. Sample calculations include the reactions of 13,19C+12C, 11Be+12C, 11Be+9Be, and 8B+12C systems.

The reproductive activity of Damascus goats was studied in does that were not allowed to mate (non-lactating does) (Group C) and lactating does with different suckling treatments (Groups A and B). Time resumption of sexual activity was not significantly different between lactating and non-lactating does or between does’ groups of different suckling treatments. All does started to demonstrate estrous behavior during autumn (September). In Groups A, B and C the mean length of the estrous cycle was 19.0±0.6, 19.5±0.3 and 22.0±2.0 days, duration of the estrous period 29.6±3.0, 31.0±5.3 and 25.3±5.8h, mean corpus luteum (CL) counts 1.6±0.2, 1.8±0.2 and 1.8±0.3, while mean litter size was 1.1±0.1, 1.2±0.2 and 1.3±0.5, respectively.In the three groups an increase in the plasma progesterone concentrations started from summer (mid-June), indicating the occurrence of one or more ovulatory anestrus (silent ovulation). Plasma prolactin levels were higher (P

The purpose of this paper is to provide the reader with comparative information about two new commercial echelle spectrometers equipped with intensified CCD (ICCD) detectors for laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy analysis. We carried out a performance comparison between two commercial ICCD/echelle spectrometers [ESA 3000 (LLA Instruments GmbH, Berlin-Adlershof, Germany) and a Mechelle 7500 (Multichannel Instruments, Stockholm, Sweden)] for the determination of the concentrations of Be, Mg, Si, Mn, Fe, and Cu in the same Al alloy samples adopting the same experimental conditions. The results show that both systems, despite their differences in terms of resolution, have similar performance in terms of sensitivity and precision of measurements for these elements in an Al alloy matrix at least for the range of wavelength 280–400 nm studied in this work. © 2003 Optical Society of America.