The use of a modified tanagho flap in the repair of posterior urethral stricture after primary exstrophy closure.

Introduction: In patients with classic bladder exstrophy (CBE), posterior urethral strictures after primary bladder closure can be difficult to manage and therefore necessitate alternative techniques in reconstruction of the proximal urethra. There is a paucity of literature describing treatment and management of posterior urethral stricture arising after repair of classic bladder exstrophy.

Objective: To describe the technique of a bladder neck reconstruction (BNR) with a modified Tanagho anterior detrusor flap in the treatment of posterior urethral stricture arising after repair of classic bladder exstrophy.

Application of Correlation Pre-Filtering Neural Network to DNA Methylation Data: Biological Aging Prediction.

We introduce the CPFNN (Correlation Pre-Filtering Neural Network) for biological age prediction based on blood DNA methylation data. The model is built on 20,000 top correlated DNA methylation features and trained by 1810 healthy samples from GEO database. The input data format and the instructions for parser and CPFNN model are detailed in this chapter.

Age Prediction by DNA Methylation in Neural Networks.

Aging is traditionally thought to be caused by complex and interacting factors such as DNA methylation. The traditional formula of DNA methylation aging is based on linear models and little work has explored the effectiveness of neural networks, which can learn non-linear relationships. DNA methylation data typically consists of hundreds of thousands of feature space and a much less number of biological samples.

Exploring the Link Between Platelet Numbers and Vascular Homeostasis Across Early and Late Stages of Fibrosis in Hepatitis C.

Background: Thrombocytopenia is a hallmark of advanced liver disease. Platelets, growth factors (GFs), and vascular integrity are closely linked factors in disease pathogenesis, and their relationship, particularly in early disease stages, is not entirely understood. The aim was to compare circulating platelets, growth factors, and vascular injury markers (VIMs) in hepatitis C-infected (HCV) patients with early fibrosis and cirrhosis.

Bacterial Translocation and Host Immune Activation in Chronic Hepatitis C Infection.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infects 71 million individuals, and barriers to treatment remain. Bacterial translocation is a complication of chronic HCV infection, and this study evaluated circulating microbial components including lipopolysaccharide, peptidoglycan, and β-D-glucan in addition to their pattern recognition receptors and degree of hepatic macrophage uptake. The findings suggest that regulation of serum peptidoglycan and β-D-glucan differs from that of lipopolysaccharide.