Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing has caused a steep increase in the incidence of prostate cancer, especially the incidence of localised low risk disease. In order to decrease the overdiagnosis accompanied by PSA testing, analysis of inherited genetic variants have been suggested as potential tools for clinical assessment of disease risk. With the aim of minimizing overtreatment and postpone side-effects of curative treatment for low risk prostate cancer, active surveillance, a treatment strategy with initial surveillance and deferred radical prostatectomy at the time of progression has evolved.  The aim of this thesis was to study the validity of PSA (paper I) and inherited genetic variants (paper II) for early diagnosis of prostate cancer, to assess the extent of PSA testing in Sweden (paper III), and to study the safety of deferred radical prostatectomy in localised low to intermediate risk prostate cancer (paper IV). The study designs were i) case-control studies nested within the Västerbotten intervention project (paper I and II), ii) observational study in the Cancer Register of Sweden (paper III), and iii) observational study in the NPCR Follow-up study (paper IV). PSA had a high validity in predicting a prostate cancer diagnosis with an area under the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve of 0.86 (95% CI, 0.84 to 0.88). A combined test, including PSA, the ratio of free to total PSA, and 33 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in a genetic risk score, increased the area under curve to 0.87 (95% CI, 0.85 to 0.89). The estimated uptake of PSA testing among men aged 55 to 69 years increased from zero to 56% between 1997 and 2007 and there were large variations in the uptake of PSA testing between counties in Sweden. After a median follow-up time of eight years there was no significant difference in presence of any one or more adverse pathology features or prostate cancer specific mortality after primary compared to deferred radical prostatectomy in localised low to intermediate risk prostate cancer. Results from these studies indicate that PSA and the hitherto identified SNPs are not suitable biomarkers in single-test prostate cancer screening. It is possible to estimate the uptake of PSA testing on a population level. Initial surveillance and deferred radical prostatectomy represent a feasible treatment strategy in localised low to intermediate risk prostate cancer.

Die Belastungsinkontinenz des Mannes ist eine häufige Komplikation der radikalen Prostatovesikulektomie. Abgewandelte Operationstechniken und Rekonstruktions-verfahren führen zu verbesserten postoperativen Kontinenzraten und weisen auf die Bedeutung einzelner Komponenten am urethralen Verschlussmechanismus hin. Im Vergleich zum weiblichen ist der männliche Harnkontinenzmechanismus nur ansatzweise verstanden. In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden die am urethralen Verschluss beteiligten Komponenten und ihre Verbindungen zu angrenzenden Strukturen makroskopisch und mikroskopisch analysiert und auf ihre funktionelle Bedeutung untersucht. Zehn konservierte Leichname wurden für Untersuchungen des männlichen Urogenitaltraktes genutzt, aus drei Becken wurden Organpakete für die Erstellung von mikroskopischen Schnittpräparaten entnommen. Die histologischen Untersuchungen konnten zeigen, dass die Form des Musculus sphincter urethrae externus im Transversalschnitt von der Schnitthöhe abhängig ist. Seine Fasern strahlen in die Faszie des Musculus levator ani ein. Auch die Fasern des Corpus perineale inserieren in die Faszie dieses Muskels. Anhand dieser Ergebnisse wird die zentrale Rolle des Musculus levator ani im männlichen Harnkontinenzapparat deutlich. Der eigentliche Verschlussdruck wird demnach durch den Musculus levator ani aufgebaut und durch das Corpus perineale von dorsal auf die Urethra übertragen. Die Aufgabe des Musculus sphincter urethrae externus wird nicht als primär aktiv, sondern als dynamisches Widerlager für die membranöse Urethra beschrieben. Außerdem geht die Arbeit auf die noch wenig erforschte Mediatorfunktion der glatten Muskulatur im männlichen Urogenitaltrakt ein. Diese Ergebnisse präzisieren die Vorstellung des Kontinenzmechanismus des Mannes als Zusammenspiel von unterschiedlichen Komponenten und geben Anlass, aktuelle Standardtechniken der Beckenchirurgie zu überdenken und den Fokus auf schonende bzw. rekonstruktive Operationsverfahren zu richten.

No description available.

Doctor of Medicine / Publications 1-49 represent studies that I have undertaken myself or conjointly over a 34 year period to investigate a variety of issues relating to diseases of the kidney and urinary tract in children. The studies were carried out at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children, Camperdown when I was Clinical Superintendent from 1968 - 1970; The Department of Paediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA when I was Overseas Research Fellow of the Post Graduate Foundation in Medicine, University of Sydney, 1970 - 1972, then as Staff Physician in Nephrology at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children, Camperdown, 1972 - 1977, and then Head of that Department at the Hospital until 1995 and then as an Honorary Staff Specialist at that hospital. Some of the studies were done conjointly with members of the Renal Unit of Royal Prince Alfred Hospital where I hold an Honorary appointment and others conjointly with members of the Renal Unit of Prince Henry Hospital, Little Bay. I was appointed Clinical Associate Professor to the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Sydney in 1993. In 1966 paediatric nephrology was in the early phase of development as a medical subspecialty. There was no definitive textbook, the first was published in 1975 (Pediatric Nephrology, Ed. Mitchell I. Rubin. Williams and Wilkins.). In the preface to the 2nd edition of Renal Disease (Blackwell) in 1967 the editor D.A.K. Black noted that he had included a chapter on paediatric aspects which had been planned for the 1st edition in 1962 but ”it could not be arranged”. In the chapter on Renal Disease in Children the author, D.Macauly, comments that the mortality rate of acute renal failure in children was 50%. When I joined the resident staff of the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children in 1966, children with renal disease were managed by general paediatricians. There was no active program for the treatment of children with acute or chronic renal failure. A small number of kidney biopsies had been performed by Dr Trefor Morgan who, together with Dr Denis Wade, had taught me the technique while I was a resident medical officer at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in the preceding year. With the guidance and support of Dr S.E.J. Robertson and Dr C. Lee, Honorary Medical Officers, and Dr R.D.K. Reye, Head of the Department of Pathology, I began performing kidney biopsies on children at the request of the paediatrician in charge. In the same year, encouraged again by Doctors Robertson and Lee, and by J.C.M. Friend and J. Brown, I introduced peritoneal dialysis for the treatment of children with acute renal failure, a technique which I had also been taught by Dr Trefor Morgan whilst I was a resident at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. Dr Robertson encouraged me to present my experience in percutaneous renal biopsy in children at the Annual Meeting of the Australian Paediatric Association in 1968 and this study became the first paper I published in relation to disease of the urinary tract in children (1). In 1970 I was granted an Overseas Research Fellowship by the Post Graduate Foundation in Medicine, University of Sydney, to enable me to undertake a fellowship in the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Minnesota. I had the great fortune in undertaking studies in the new discipline of paediatric nephrology and related research under the guidance of Dr A. F. Michael, Dr R.L.Vernier and Dr A. Fish. I acquired the techniques of immunopathology and electron microscopy. On my return to Australia I established a Department of Nephrology at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children. I introduced immunofluorescent and electron microscopic studies for the kidney biopsies that I continued to perform and, with the support of Dr R.D.K. Reye, I provided the official reports of these studies until 1990. As a result these studies became part of the histopathologic service provided by the hospital. I continue to be consulted concerning the interpretation of some electron microscopic findings in renal tissue. With the assistance of Dr J.D. Harley I set up a laboratory in the Children’s Medical Research Foundation to continue and expand the studies I had commenced during my Fellowship. Establishing a dialysis and transplant program for children with end stage renal disease (ESRD) was extremely time consuming. At that time most children with ESRD died. The program was initially established jointly with the Renal Unit at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in 1972 and eventually dialysis facilities were established at the Children’s Hospital using predominantly peritoneal dialysis. By 1978 the existence of the Unit was well known in the general community and articles appeared in the press. One prompted the late Sir Lorimer Dods, the first Professor of Paediatrics in Australia to write to me congratulating me on what I had achieved. He remarked “I have just read with special interest Shaun’s review in the SMH of some of your recent achievements in the field of renal failure in infancy and childhood and want to offer you my personal congratulations on all that you have achieved and are achieving in this area of paediatrics which, in my little world of yesterday, meant nothing more than progressive and unrelenting fatal illness”. Taking part in the development of a relatively new discipline led me to study a number of areas. I encouraged trainees to write reports concerning clinical observations and eventually I was joined by Fellows whom I encouraged and supported to study a number of different areas to ensure that children were being cared for in an environment of strong and open enquiry. This led to studies on investigations of chronic renal failure which Dr Elisabeth Hodson pursued and studies on urinary tract infection in small children for which Dr Jonathon Craig was awarded a PhD. As I had been a contributor and co-author in a number of these studies they have been included in my list of publications. As a result of this diversity I have listed the publications in 9 sections. The overall theme is to study diseases of the renal tract in children and treatments used to understand the processes and ensure the most effective treatment. Some published abstracts of papers presented at scientific meetings have been included to clarify invitations I received to prepare reviews and chapters on various subjects and my involvement in some conjoint studies. I was author or coauthor of several book chapters, reviews, editorials and certain published studies to which I was invited to contribute as a result of my primary studies and these I have included as “Derivative References”numbered 50-76.

Published papers (M.D.)--Dept. of Paediatrics and Child Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney, 2005. / Title from title screen (viewed June 28, 2007). Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Medicine to the Dept. of Paediatrics and Child Health, Faculty of Medicine. Includes bibliographical references. Also issued in print.

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Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) constitute a group of vasculitides characterized by neutrophil-rich necrotizing inflammation of small vessels and the presence of ANCA in the circulation. Dying neutrophils surrounding the walls of small vessels are a histological hallmark of AAV. Traditionally it has been assumed that these neutrophils die by necrosis, but neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) have recently been visualized at the sites of vasculitic lesions. NETs were first described to be involved in capture and elimination of pathogens but dysregulated production and/or clearance of NETs are thought to contribute to vessel inflammation in AAV; directly by damaging endothelial cells and indirectly by acting as a link between the innate and adaptive immune system through the generation of pathogenic PR3-ANCA and MPO-ANCA that can activate neutrophils. ANCA can, however, be found in all individuals and are therefore suggested to belong to the repertoire of natural antibodies produced by innate-like B cells, implying that not all ANCA are pathogenic.  In paper I, we found neutrophils in patients to be more prone to undergo NETosis/necrosis spontaneously compared with neutrophils in healthy controls (HC), as well as that active patients possessed elevated levels of NETs in the circulation. Our results also suggest that ANCA during remission could contribute to the clearance of NETs as we observed an inverse relation between ANCA and NETs. In paper II, we observed neutrophils in patients to be more easily activated upon ANCA stimulation as they produced more ROS than neutrophils in HC. In paper III, we showed for the first time that cells of adaptive immunity (B and T cells) in addition to cells of innate immunity can release ET-like structures, in this case consisting of mitochondrial (mt) DNA. mtDNA can act as a damage-associated pattern molecule (DAMP) and promote inflammation, and increased levels of mtDNA has been observed in AAV. Our finding broadens our perspective of the possible roles of T and B cells in immunological responses, and should be further investigated in AAV. In paper IV, we observed reduced frequencies of MZ-like B cells, considered to be innate-like B cells that produce natural antibodies, and of the proposed regulatory B (Breg) cell populations CD24highCD27+ and CD25+CD27+ B cells in patients, particularly in those with active disease. We also observed the phenotypes of these different Breg cell populations to be different from the corresponding cells in HC. We hypothesize that the increased activation potential by neutrophils in AAV to produce ROS and undergo NETosis/necrosis contribute to the excessive inflammation as well as an increased antigen load of PR3 and MPO, and that this in combination with dysregulation of innate-like B cells and Breg cells could lead to break of tolerance to these antigens and production of pathogenic autoantibodies. ANCA can in turn activate neutrophils to release NETs, suggesting a vicious circle in disease development.