The proposal to produce this final commemorative issue for the Journal of Andrology arose during our regular discussions as current editors soon after it was announced that the Journal would complete its own life course and merge into a new publication (to be named Andrology) with the International Journal of Andrology. We considered the momentous occasion to be one that should be celebrated with an enduring tribute in recognition of the Journal's exceptional 33-year existence. Among the various contributions sought for inclusion in this issue, we envisioned an article assembling collected short essays from all living former editors drawing on notable events and highlights, if not less well-known challenges and successes arising during their editorship eras. We thought that any such production of musings, viewpoints, and most of all words of wisdom from those who have had major roles in the direction and accomplishments of the Journal would offer an illuminating read for the society's members and friends and provide all readers another venue to share in and enjoy the Journal's great history. We are enthralled to have gathered these collections, all personal compositions of the former editors-in-chief, and for their effort that has helped us complete this special endeavor we express to them our tremendous gratitude. Serving as the Journal's last editors, we are also grateful to contribute our essay at the very end as part of this joyous chronicle.

CONTEXT The United States lacks timely reliable mechanisms for assessing the professional work of subspecialty physicians. OBJECTIVE The aim was to use early-career members of The Endocrine Society as a model to estimate subspecialty physician involvement in patient care, teaching, research, and administration among clinical, academic, federal, and pharmaceutical/biotech workplaces and to assess the workforce for research within individual workplaces. METHODS Physicians joining The Endocrine Society from 1991-2005 and residing in North America were invited to complete a Web-based survey. This report relies on 817 early-career endocrinologists or 29.6% of eligible respondents. RESULTS Respondents from all types of workplaces engaged in patient care, teaching, research, and administration. The time committed to the four tasks, however, differed significantly among workplaces. Research (basic, translational, disease, patient, population, and prevention) was accomplished within all workplaces, but the scope and scale of investigative work was employer dependent. Recipients of National Institutes of Health K08/23 awards succeeded in receiving federal research project grants (P < 0.001). Respondents associated research with lowered incomes, a perception validated by an estimated drop in annual earnings of 2.8% per half-day spent on research (P < 0.001). Women in academic settings earned less than men (P < 0.01) and were less likely to occupy tenure-eligible positions (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS Web-based surveys offer a simple tool for estimating the work of subspecialty physicians and provide a framework for improving biomedical investigation. Several interventions should be considered for endocrinology: recruit physicians from underrepresented demographic groups, increase K08/23 awards, incentivize investigative careers, and improve the national infrastructure for biomedical research.

Objective. To assess the workforce and workplace in rheumatology, and the research work of early-career rheumatologists.Methods. Early-career rheumatologists were defined as practicing physicians who joined the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) in 1991-2005, were 49 years of age or younger when they joined, and reside in North America. This cohort participated in a Web-based survey distributed by the ACR. A total of 247 surveys (21.2% response) were used for this analysis. Survey questions were designed to obtain core insights about the workforce, workplace, research activities, funding, and the demographic profile of respondents.Results. Respondents from all workplaces-clinical, academic, federal, and industry-engaged in clinical care, teaching, administration, and research. The time devoted to these tasks was employer dependent, and workplaces shaped the scale and scope of research. Patient-oriented research was predominant across all workplaces. Disease, population, and translational research were intermediate, and few respondents pursued basic or prevention-oriented research in any type of workplace. Rheumatologists obtained extramural funds (21.3%) and intramural funds (78.7%) to pay portions of their salaries for time spent on research. Receiving a National Institutes of Health K08/K23 award was associated with receipt of a federal research project grant (P < 0.001). Respondents associated investigative work with reduced earnings, a perception validated by an estimated drop in pre-tax annual earnings of 2.3% for each half-day/week dedicated to research (P < 0.01).Conclusion. The results of this study justify interventions for closing gaps embedded in investigational rheumatology. These include improved funding for clinical research, increasing the number of K08/K23 awards, and recruiting rheumatologists from underrepresented demographic groups.

Excerpt] The scope and scale of clinical research is unknown for any medical or surgical specialty beyond snap shots of the broad aims and expenditures of research programs sponsored by federal agencies or the pharmaceutical industry. As a consequence, the workforce and workplace for clinical investigation is enigmatic and unexamined even after explicit warnings that an essential arm for advancing clinical practice is disabled. The present study was designed to examine the nature and extent of investigative activity prevailing among rheumatologists early in their careers. This assessment provides a lens on: i) the fraction of early career rheumatologists who engage in investigative rheumatology, ii) the scope and scale of research in musculoskeletal diseases, iii) funding available for investigative work, iv) the impact of research-intensive institutions, and NIH-K-series awards on research, and v) the demographic backgrounds of early career rheumatologists. The results provide important new insights about the early career workforce for discovery and innovation in rheumatology. The findings integrate demographic, normative, and predictive data to provide the first estimate of the scope and scale of clinical investigation within rheumatology. The results also justify interventions for promoting investigative work, and ultimately advancing the clinical practice of rheumatology.

The most common cause of male infertility is idiopathic, Fresh insights based on genetic and molecular analysis of the human genome permit classification of formerly unexplained disorders in spermatogenesis, In this article, we review new procedures that expand diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to male infertility, Recombinant DNA technology makes it possible to detect specific chromosomal and/or genetic defects among infertile patients. The identification of genes linked to disorders in spermatogenesis and male sexual differentiation has increased exponentially in the past decade. Genetic defects leading to male factor infertility can now be explained at the molecular level, even though the germ cell profile of infertile patients is too variable to permit classification of the clinical phenotype, Increasing knowledge of genes that direct spermatogenesis provides important new information about the molecular and cellular events involved in human spermatogenesis, Molecular analysis of chromosomes and/or genes of infertile patients offers unique opportunities to uncover the aetiology of genetic disorders in spermatogenesis, Increasing numbers of cases, previously classified as idiopathic, can now be diagnosed to facilitate the treatment of infertile men, Advanced knowledge also poses ethical dilemmas, since children conceived with assisted reproductive technologies such as intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) are at risk for congenital abnormalities, unbalanced complements of chromosomes and male infertility.

ARTICLESMathematical modeling as a tool for advanced research in endocrinology and metabolismC. Desjardins, and M. A. EpsteinC. Desjardins, and M. A. EpsteinPublished Online:01 Aug 1995https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpendo.1995.269.2.E377MoreSectionsPDF (232 KB)Download PDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesGet permissionsTrack citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInWeChat "Mathematical modeling as a tool for advanced research in endocrinology and metabolism." American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism, 269(2), p. E377 Previous Back to Top Next Download PDF FiguresReferencesRelatedInformation More from this issue > Volume 269Issue 2August 1995Pages E377-E377 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 1995 the American Physiological Societyhttps://doi.org/10.1152/ajpendo.1995.269.2.E377PubMed7653555History Published online 1 August 1995 Published in print 1 August 1995 Metrics

Testicular torsion affects prepubertal males and causes testicular infarction and subfertility. Animal models of spermatic cord torsion have been used in an attempt to study the mechanism of testicular injury from torsion. Although standardized animal models of torsion have been proposed, their reliability in producing testicular ischemia has not been documented. Dynamic enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the testis was used in a rat model with surgically induced, unilateral, 720 degrees torsion to quantify the severity of ischemia. Intravenous dysprosium diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid-bis methylamide (Dy-DTPA-BMA) was injected as a bolus followed by serial dynamic Turbo GRASS images. Region of interest (ROI) measurements were obtained within the testicular parenchyma during contrast enhancement and washout. Perfusion abnormalities ranging from minimal delay in contrast enhancement in the torqued testicle to complete absence of intraparenchymal blood flow were documented with dynamic enhanced MRI. Reperfusion scans 1 hour after surgical reduction of torsion showed normalization of testicular blood flow in all animals. Dynamic enhanced MRI appears to be a useful method of documenting the perfusion deficit arising from torsion of the testis. Standard animal models of torsion produce inconsistent results because they do not reliably reproduce testicular ischemia. The ability of MRI to quantify perfusion abnormalities in the testis may provide additional information in the evaluation of human patients with symptoms of testicular torsion.

Abstract The circulatory system delivers blood at pressures that are adequate to perfuse organs and thereby regulates the microenvironment of individual cells within each tissue. If all vessels in every tissue were completely filled with blood, and had constant flow, the total volume of blood would be enormous: significantly more energy would be required to propel blood through the vasculature (Wiedeman et al., 1981). Instead, the efficiency of the cardiovascular system is enhanced in two ways. First, the total volume of blood in the vascular compartment is limited and controlled (Guyton, 1991). Second, capillary perfusion is regulated to coincide with the metabolic needs of cells at rest, and perfusion can be increased in direct proportion to the work performed by individual cells (Duling, 1990). Tissue perfusion is governed by controlling the number of microvessels that are perfused at any instant and by regulating the number of red blood cells that flow through perfused capillary segments (Desjardins and Duling, 1987). Therefore, cell performance and tissue perfusion are intimately coupled by the microcirculation and linked to the fraction of the cardiac output that is available for tissue perfusion.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has several theoretical advantages in the evaluation of spermatic cord torsion and testicular ischemia. The technique uses no ionizing radiation, has both excellent spatial and temporal resolution and, when used with an intravenous bolus of a paramagnetic contrast agent, provides a semiquantitative assessment of tissue perfusion and vascular injury. In clinical instances of testicular torsion, accurate estimates of tissue perfusion are desirable since testicular salvage is inversely related to the duration of torsion and the degree of tissue ischemia. Perfusion imaging of the rat testis was used as a model to demonstrate the potential use of MRI in the experimental and clinical analysis of disorders that affect blood flow to the testis.

J.M. Orth: Cell biology of testicular development in the fetus and neonate P.N. Goodfellow et al: Molecular genetics of the human and mouse Y-chromosome J.R. McCarrey: Development of the germ cell C.E. Chubb: Genetic control of spermatogenesis and steroidogenesis P.K. Donahoe: Mullerian inhibiting substance C. Desjardins: Design and function of the microcirculation L.L. Ewing: Leydig cell: structure/function B.R. Zirkin: Regulation of spermatogenesis in the adult mammal: gonadotropins and androgens C.W. Bardin, G.L. Gunsalus & C.Y. Cheng: The cell biology of the sertoli cell D.M. Robertson, G.P. Risbridger & D.M. de Kretser: Inhibin and inhibin-related proteins B.T. Hinton & T.T. Turner: The seminiferous tubular microenvironment M.L. Meistrich & M.E.A.B. van Beek: Spermatogonial stem cells H. Stern: The process of meiosis Y. Clermont, R. Oko & L. Hermo: Cell biology of mammalian spermiogenesis W.W. Wright: Cellular interactions in the seminiferous epithelium N. Hecht: Gene expression during male germ cell development D.J. Wolgemuth et al: Patterns of expression and potential functions of cellular oncogenes and heat shock protein genes during germ cell development D.G. Myles: Sperm cell surface proteins of testicular origin: expression and localization in the testis and beyond K.S.K. Tung: Regulation of autoimmune disease.

Convective transport is a critical element in the regulation of steroidogenesis and spermatogenesis in the testis. Steroid hormones are distributed to their target cells within seminiferous tubules via interstitial fluid. The movement of interstitial fluid and lymph, which transports protein hormones and many of the substrates required for spermatogenesis and steroidogenesis, is driven by capillary filtration. Despite the importance of convective transport in testicular function, however, the mechanisms regulating transvascular exchange in the testis are unknown. As a first step in understanding this process, we measured directly the microvascular hydrostatic pressure distribution in the hamster testis (pentobarbital sodium, 70 mg/kg ip). Using a servo-null transducer, intravascular pressure was measured in all vessel types accessible beneath the surface of the testis of 19 animals. Systemic arterial pressure averaged 89 +/- 2 (SE) mmHg. The most significant observations were that mean capillary pressure was extremely low (10.1 +/- 0.8 mmHg) and remarkably constant (range 8.2-13.3 mmHg), despite a 45 mmHg range in systemic mean arterial pressure among the animals observed. The maintenance of a low hydrostatic pressure in testicular capillaries may serve to sustain fluid filtration at a rate that prevents washout of essential solutes while preserving convective transport. Unfortunately, the anatomical and functional characteristics that determine this unique microvascular environment may also expose the testis to significant pathological risks. For example, the large pre- to postcapillary resistance ratio observed suggests that testicular capillaries must be highly susceptible to increases in venous pressure.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Physiological stimuli induce rapid and unexplained increases in the number of red blood cells within capillaries of skeletal muscle. We hypothesized that such alterations in intracapillary red cell numbers might be due to an undefined interaction between one or more components of blood and the luminal surface of the capillary. This proposition was tested by in situ microperfusion of capillaries with enzymes directed against macromolecules likely to be expressed on the surface of endothelial cells. The instantaneous fractional volume of red blood cells within a capillary (tube hematocrit) was used as an index of a capillary's response to enzyme microperfusion. Five to 8 min of perfusion with enzyme vehicle (0.25% albumin-Ringer solution) produced no significant alteration in capillary tube hematocrit. Perfusion with solutions containing heparinase raised the tube hematocrit at least twofold (P less than 0.05) without a significant change in red cell velocity. Heat-denatured heparinase and other enzymes such as neuraminidase, hyaluronidase, papain, pronase E, and clostripain had no detectable effect on the tube hematocrit (P greater than 0.05). After enzyme treatment, application of adenosine (10(-4) M) or oxygen caused brisk vasomotor responses in arterioles feeding perfused capillary units, but the usual changes in the tube hematocrit were not observed. Thus heparinase treatment results in a sustained elevation in the capillary tube hematocrit and a dissociation of the typical relationship between vasomotor changes and red cell distribution in capillaries. These findings suggest that physiological stimuli which alter the number of red blood cells within capillaries may operate by modifying interactions between plasma and one or more components on the luminal surface of capillaries.

Annals of the New York Academy of SciencesVolume 564, Issue 1 p. 243-249 The Microcirculation of the Testis CLAUDE DESJARDINS, CLAUDE DESJARDINS Department of Physiology School of Medicine University of Virginia Charlottesville, Virginia 22908Search for more papers by this author CLAUDE DESJARDINS, CLAUDE DESJARDINS Department of Physiology School of Medicine University of Virginia Charlottesville, Virginia 22908Search for more papers by this author First published: July 1989 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1989.tb25901.xCitations: 11AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume564, Issue1Regulation of Testicular Function Signaling Molecules and Cell‐Cell CommunicationJuly 1989Pages 243-249 RelatedInformation