Long-term outcomes of urethral balloon dilation for anterior urethral stricture: A prospective cohort study

Objective:To prospectively follow up a cohort of anterior urethral stricture disease patients managed with balloon dilation(BD)for 3 years to evaluate the long-term outcomes and to study factors that contribute to recurrence.Methods:This study included men who had urethral BD for significant anterior urethral stricture disease between January 2017 and March 2019.Data about the patient age,stricture characteristics,and recurrence date were recorded,along with information on postoperative indwelling catheter use and operative complications.Furthermore,information about the self-calibration procedure was collected and where available,free flow(FF)measurements during the follow-up period were recorded and analyzed.Success was defined as a lack of symptoms and acceptable FF rates(maximum flow rate>12 mL/s).Results:The final analysis was conducted on 187 patients.The mean follow-up period was 37 months.The long-term overall success rate at the end of our study was 66.8%.Our recurrence rate was 7.4%at 12 months,24.7%at 24 months,and reached 33.2%at the end of our study.The time to recurrence ranged from 91 days to 1635 days,with a mean of 670 days.The stricture-free survival was significantly shorter with lengthy peno-bulbar(p=0.031)and multiple strictures(p=0.015),and in the group of patients who were not committed to self-calibration protocol(p<0.011).However,post-procedural self-calibration was the most important factor that may have decreased the incidence of recurrence(odds ratioZ5.85).Adjuvant self-calibration after BD not only reduced the recurrence rate from 85.4%in the non-self-calibration group to 15.1%in the self-calibration one(p<0.001),but also improved the overall stricture-free survival and FF parameters.

Single-use flexible ureteroscopes: Comparative in vitro analysis of four scopes

Objective:Single-use flexible ureteroscopes(fURSs)have recently been introduced by different companies.Goal of this in-vitro study was to compare four fURSs.Methods:We performed in vitro analysis of Uscope 7.5 Fr and Uscope 9.5 Fr(Pusen Ltd.,Zhuhai,China),LithoVue 9.5 Fr(LithoVue
,Boston Scientific,MA,USA),and Indoscope 9.5 Fr(Bioradmedisys
,Pune,India).Optical characteristics(image resolution,color representation,and luminosity)were compared at various distances of 10 mm,20 mm,and 50 mm.Deflection and irrigation were evaluated with and without accessories.Results:Color perception was comparable for all scopes at 10 mm(p<0.05),while Lithovue 9.5 Fr was comparable with Indoscope 9.5 Fr at the distances of 20 mm and 50 mm.Both scopes were statistically better than both Uscopes at the distances of 20 mm and 50 mm.Image resolution powers were comparable amongst all fURSs at the distances of 10 mm and 20 mm(3.56 line pairs per millimeter[lp/mm]).However,Indoscope(3.56 lp/mm)was superior to LithoVue and Uscope scopes(3.17 lp/mm)at the distance of 50 mm.Luminosity at the distance of 10 mm was comparable for LithoVue and Uscope 9.5 Fr.However,at the distances of 20 mm and 50 mm,LithoVue had the highest luminosity while Uscope 7.5 Fr had the lowest one.Indoscope had lower luminosity than other 9.5 Fr scopes at all distances.With empty working channel and 200 mm laser fiber,Indoscope had the maximum deflection(285
).With basket,Uscope 7.5 Fr had the maximum loss of deflection(30
)while Indoscope had no deflection loss.With empty working channel,all scopes had comparable irrigation flow rates in both deflected and undeflected state.Similarly,with 200 mm laser or basket,irrigation flow rates were comparable in all scopes.Conclusion:Color representation was equivalent for Indoscope and LithoVue,while being better than Uscope 7.5 Fr and Uscope 9.5 Fr.Image resolution was comparable in all scopes at the distances of 10 mm and 20 mm.Beyond the distance of 10 mm,luminosity of LithoVue was the highest and that of Uscope 7.5 Fr was the lowest.Deflection loss was the minimum with Indoscope and the maximum with 7.5 Fr Uscope.Under all scenarios,irrigation flow rates were comparable in all scopes.

BORON:an ultra-lightweight and low power encryption design for pervasive computing

We propose an ultra-lightweight, compact, and low power block cipher BORON. BORON is a substitution and permutation based network, which operates on a 64-bit plain text and supports a key length of 128/80 bits. BORON has a compact structure which requires 1939 gate equivalents(GEs) for a 128-bit key and 1626 GEs for an 80-bit key. The BORON cipher includes shift operators, round permutation layers, and XOR operations. Its unique design helps generate a large number of active S-boxes in fewer rounds, which thwarts the linear and differential attacks on the cipher. BORON shows good performance on both hardware and software platforms. BORON consumes less power as compared to the lightweight cipher LED and it has a higher throughput as compared to other existing SP network ciphers. We also present the security analysis of BORON and its performance as an ultra-lightweight compact cipher. BORON is a well-suited cipher design for applications where both a small footprint area and low power dissipation play a crucial role.