Perioperative and long-term results of ultrasonography-guided single- and multiple-tract percutaneous nephrolithotomy for staghorn calculi.

Background: It is possible that this condition will lead to urosepsis and progressive deterioration of renal function in the absence of surgical intervention. Several recent clinical studies have shown that multi-tract percutaneous nephrolithotomy (M-PCNL) has a similar stone free rate (SFR) as standard percutaneous nephrolithotomy (S-PCNL). As a result, M-PCNL was also recommended as a treatment option for staghorn calculi.

Trends in women's representation as lead authors in high impact journals of lung cancer.

Background: Women's participation in the clinical oncology practice has increased over the past decade. There is a need to investigate whether women's participation in academia, as reflected by publication activity, increased over the time. This study aimed to investigate trends in female authorship in top journals of lung cancer in the past ten years.

Model spread in tropical low cloud feedback tied to overturning circulation response to warming.

Among models participating in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6 (CMIP6), here we show that the magnitude of the tropical low cloud feedback, which contributes considerably to uncertainty in estimates of climate sensitivity, is intimately linked to tropical deep convection and its effects on the tropical atmospheric overturning circulation. First, a reduction in tropical ascent area and an increased frequency of heavy precipitation result in high cloud reduction and upper-tropospheric drying, which increases longwave cooling and reduces subsidence weakening, favoring low cloud reduction (Radiation-Subsidence Pathway). Second, increased longwave cooling decreases tropospheric stability, which also reduces subsidence weakening and low cloudiness (Stability-Subsidence Pathway).

Effect of electroacupuncture on inhibition of inflammatory response and oxidative stress through activating ApoE and Nrf2 in a mouse model of spinal cord injury.

Introduction: Electroacupuncture protects neurons and myelinated axons after spinal cord injury by mitigating the inflammatory response and oxidative stress, but how it exerts these effects is unclear.

Methods And Results: Spinal cord injury was induced in C57BL/6 wild-type and apolipoprotein E (ApoE) knockout (ApoE ) mice, followed by electroacupuncture or ApoE mimetic peptide COG112 treatment. Mice with spinal cord injury suffered loss of myelinated axons and hindlimb motor function through the detections of Basso mouse scale, histology, and transmission electron microscopy; electroacupuncture partially reversed these effects in wild-type mice but not in ApoE mice.

[Influence of electroacupuncture on locomotor function and expression of spinal HMGB1 and TLR4 in mice with spinal cord injury].

Objective: To observe the effect of electroacupuncture(EA)on locomotor activity and the expression of high-mobility group box-1(HMGB1) and Toll-like receptor 4(TLR4) in mice with spinal cord injury(SCI), so as to explore its mechanisms underlying improvement of SCI at the acute stage.

Methods: Forty-eight female C57BL/6 mice were equally randomized into 3 groups: sham operation, model and EA. The SCI model was established by clamping the spinal cord with a serrefine after laminectomy at the 1st lumbar vertebra(L1).

[Effects of electroacupuncture at "Jiaji"(EX-B2) on autophagy and endoplasmic reticulum stress in spinal cord injury mice].

Objective: To observe the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) at "Jiaji" (EX-B2) on the levels of autophagy and endoplasmic reticulum stress in mice with spinal cord injury (SCI), so as to explore its mechanism underlying improvement of SCI.

Methods: A total of 60 female C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into sham operation, model and EA groups， which were further divided into 7 d and 14 d subgroups (10 mice in each subgroup). The SCI model was established by pressing the exposed spinal cord (L1) with a vascular clamp for 15 s.

[Electroacupuncture improves locomotor function by regulating expression of inflammation and oxidative stress-related proteins in mice with spinal cord injury].

Objective: To observe the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) on the expression of apolipoprotein E (ApoE) and related proteins of inflammation and anti-oxidative stress in spinal cord in mice with spinal cord injury (SCI), so as to explore its mechanisms underlying function repair.

Methods: Thirty-six female C57BL/6 mice were equally randomized into 3 groups: sham operation, model and EA. The SCI model was established by clamping the spinal cord for 25 s with a serrefine after laminectomy of the 1 lumbar vertebra (L1).

[Effect of electroacupuncture on muscular atrophy and expression of microRNAs and muscle satellite cell proliferation related proteins in denervated gastrocnemius muscle rats].

Objective: To investigate the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) on muscular atrophy and expression of microRNAs (Mir-1, Mir-133a, Mir-133b) and some proliferation-related factors of muscle satellite cells as histone deacetylase4 (HDAC4) and the paired box transcription factor Pax7 (Pax7) in skeletal muscle atrophy rats.

Methods: Twenty-four male SD rats were randomly and equally divided into sham operation, model and EA groups. The skeletal muscle atrophy model was established by transection of the right sciatic nerve.

[Effect of electroacupuncture combined with Schwann cell transplantation on limb locomotor ability, regional remyelination and expression of spinal CD4 and CD8 proteins in compressive spinal injury rats].

Objective: To observe the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) combined with transplantation of Schwann cells (SCs) on limb locomotor, myelin sheath repair and expression of CD4 and CD8 in compressed spinal cord injury (CSCI) rats, so as to explore its mechanisms underlying improvement of CSCI.

Methods: A total of 45 female SD rats were randomly divided into normal control, model, EA, Schwann cell (SC) transplantation, and EA＋SC transplantation groups (＝9 rats in each group). The CSCI model was established by laminectomy at T12-L2 and clip compression.

[Effect of electroacupuncture of acupoints on the healthy limb (opposing needling) on acute skeletal muscle contusion in rats].

Objective: To observe the therapeutic effect of electroacupuncture (EA) of "Zusanli" (ST36) and ""-point on the healthy side (opposing needling) on muscular injury and expression of myogenin (myoG) and fast myosin skeletal heavy chain (Fast MyHC) proteins in the gastrocnemius muscle (GM) tissues in skeletal muscle contusion rats，so as to explore its mechanism underlying improvement of skeletal muscle injury.

Methods: A total of 54 male SD rats were divided into normal control (n ＝ 6)，model (＝24) and opposing needling (EA, ＝24) groups. The latter two groups were further randomized into 3, 5, 7 and 14 d subgroups (＝6 per subgroup).

Publishing in open access era: focus on respiratory journals.

We have entered an open access publishing era. The impact and significance of open access is still under debate after two decades of evolution. Open access journals benefit researchers and the general public by promoting visibility, sharing and communicating.

Build infrastructure in publishing scientific journals to benefit medical scientists.

There is urgent need for medical journals to optimize their publishing processes and strategies to satisfy the huge need for medical scientists to publish their articles, and then obtain better prestige and impact in scientific and research community. These strategies include optimizing the process of peer-review, utilizing open-access publishing models actively, finding ways of saving costs and getting revenue, smartly dealing with research fraud or misconduct, maintaining sound relationship with pharmaceutical companies, and managing to provide relevant and useful information for clinical practitioners and researchers. Scientists, publishers, societies and organizations need to work together to publish internationally renowned medical journals.

Genotyping of IL-8-251 T > A yields prognostic information in patients with gastric carcinoma.

This study was designed to investigate the association of the IL-8-251 T > A gene polymorphism with clinicopathological features and the prognostic role of the gene polymorphism in patients with gastric adenocarcinoma. The gene polymorphism was detected by the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method, followed by univariate and multivariate analyses to elicit its prognostic role. The frequency of IL-8-251 A/A, A/T and T/T genotypes were 11.

2-Azido-2-de-oxy-3,4-O-isopropyl-idene-2-C-methyl-d-talono-1,5-lactone.

The relative stereochemistry of the title compound, C(10)H(15)N(3)O(5), was confirmed by the crystal structure determin-ation. The absolute configuration was determined from the use of d-lyxonolactone as the starting material. The six-membered ring adopts a boat conformation with the larger azide group, rather than the methyl group, in the bowsprit position.

Expression of phosphatase regenerating liver 3 is an independent prognostic indicator for gastric cancer.

Aim: To investigate the prognostic significance of phosphatase regenerating liver 3 (PRL-3) protein expression in gastric cancer.

Methods: PRL-3 expression in paraffin-embedded tumor specimens from 293 patients with gastric cancer was studied retrospectively by immunohistochemistry. Monoclonal antibody specifically against PRL-3, 3B6, was obtained with hybridoma technique.

Protein expression of osteopontin in tumor tissues is an independent prognostic indicator in gastric cancer.

Objective: Osteopontin has been shown to facilitate the progression and metastasis of malignancies and to be of prognostic value in several human cancers. In gastric cancer, the protein expression of osteopontin has been found to be correlated with tumor invasion and metastasis, but data on its prognostic value are lacking. The aim of this study was to classify the prognostic significance of osteopontin in gastric cancer.