Calpain inhibition improves erectile function in diabetic mice via upregulating endothelial nitric oxide synthase expression and reducing apoptosis.

Calpain activation contributes to hyperglycemia-induced endothelial dysfunction and apoptosis. This study was designed to investigate the role of calpain inhibition in improving diabetic erectile dysfunction (ED) in mice. Thirty-eight-week-old male C57BL/6J mice were divided into three groups: (1) nondiabetic control group, (2) diabetic mice + vehicle group, and (3) diabetic mice + MDL28170 (an inhibitor of calpain) group.

Clinicopathological significance of Bmi-1 overexpression in esophageal cancer: a meta-analysis.

Aim: The clinicopathological effects of Bmi-1 expression in esophageal cancer remain widely disputed. Our aim was to clarify this relationship.

Methods: Available studies were retrieved from diverse databases.

Safety and Efficacy of En Bloc Transurethral Resection With 1.9 µm Vela Laser for Treatment of Non-Muscle-invasive Bladder Cancer.

Objectives: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of 1.9 µm Vela laser in treatment of primary non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

Methods: The data of the patients with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer treated by either en bloc transurethral resection with 1.

In Situ Activation and Preservation of Penile Progenitor Cells Using Icariside II in an Obesity-Associated Erectile Dysfunction Rat Model.

Obesity-associated erectile dysfunction (ED) involves pathologic change that may be related to deficit of the penile endogenous stem/progenitor cells. Therefore, an in-depth study of the penile stem/progenitor cells in the pathogenesis of ED is warranted. For this study, eight Zucker Lean (ZUC-Lepr 186; ZL group) and 16 Zucker Fatty (ZUC-Lepr 185; ZF) male rats received an intraperitoneal injection of 5-ethynyl-2-deoxyuridine (EdU) to track endogenous stem cells.

Study of the disparity of noninvasive and invasive blood pressure measured by the Philips Intellivue MP50 monitor in surgeries inducing gall cardiac reflex under general anesthesia.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to comprehensively compare noninvasive and invasive blood pressure (BP) measured by the Philips Intellivue MP50 monitor in surgeries that may induce gall cardiac reflex under general anesthesia.

Participants And Methods: Seventy-eight patients undergoing cholecyst or bile duct operations under general anesthesia were enrolled in our study. Both invasive (intraradial, femoral, or dorsalis pedis artery) and noninvasive (oscillometric) BP were monitored by the Philips Intellivue MP50 monitor simultaneously.

Maternal Obesity, Gestational Weight Gain, and Asthma in Offspring.

Introduction: Obesity is common among women of childbearing age; intrauterine exposure to maternal obesity or gestational weight gain may influence the development of asthma in early childhood. We examined the relationships of maternal obesity and gestational weight gain with asthma in offspring.

Methods: We used data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort, which has a nationally representative sample of children followed from birth in 2001 through age 4 (n = 6,450).

Lipoxin A4 improves erectile dysfunction in rats with type I diabetes by inhibiting oxidative stress and corporal fibrosis.

Previous studies have shown that oxidative stress and corporal fibrosis in penile tissues of rats were key pathological factors of erectile dysfunction induced by diabetic mellitus (DMED). Lipoxin A4 (LXA4) was reported to inhibit oxidative stress and fibrosis diseases, while whether it could exert a protective role on erectile function was not clear. Type I diabetic mellitus (DM) was induced in thirty male 10-week-old Sprague-Dawley rats using streptozotocin.

Metabolic syndrome in rats is associated with erectile dysfunction by impairing PI3K/Akt/eNOS activity.

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a risk factor for erectile dysfunction (ED), but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. The aims of this study were to determine the underlying mechanisms of metabolic syndrome-related ED (MED). Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were fed a high-fat diet for 6 months, and metabolic parameters were then assessed.

Frequencies of circulating B- and T-lymphocytes as indicators for stroke outcomes.

Background: Stroke has high mortality and morbidity. Biomarkers are required for to predict stroke outcomes, which could help clinicians to provide rationale approaches for patient management. The dynamic changes in circulating immune cells have been reported in stroke patients and animal models of stroke.

SbS thickness-dependent lateral photovoltaic effect and time response observed in glass/FTO/CdS/SbS/Au structure.

As an interesting one dimensional ribbon material, SbS has recently attracted much attention in recent years due to its exciting optical properties. However, SbS-based photovoltaic or photoelectronic devices are still in research, and there are many things unknown to us and need to be well studied. In this work, the glass/FTO/CdS/SbS/Au structures were successfully prepared with different SbS thicknesses, and the lateral photovoltaic effect (LPE) was firstly observed in this structure, suggesting its great potential in position sensitivity detectors (PSD).

Interpregnancy weight change and adverse maternal outcomes: a retrospective cohort study.

Purpose: Examine associations between interpregnancy body mass index (BMI) change (difference in the pre-pregnancy BMIs of two consecutive pregnancies) and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), pre-eclampsia (PE), gestational hypertension (GHtn), primary cesarean delivery, and vaginal birth after cesarean delivery (VBAC).

Methods: Modified Poisson regression models estimated adjusted associations.

Results: Every 1-unit increase in interpregnancy BMI increased risks of GDM (relative risk [RR]: 1.

The effect of cavernous nerve traction on erectile function in rats.

We performed this study to evaluate the effect of cavernous nerve (CN) traction on erectile function in rats. Thirty-two 8- week-old Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into four groups: control, 1-minute CN traction, 2-minute CN traction, and 2-minute CN crush. CN traction was performed using a glass hook with a tensile force of 0.

Detection of Free Polyamines in Plants Subjected to Abiotic Stresses by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC).

High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is a sensitive, rapid, and accurate technique to detect and characterize various metabolites from plants. The metabolites are extracted with different solvents and eluted with appropriate mobile phases in a designed HPLC program. Polyamines are known to accumulate under abiotic stress conditions in various plant species and thought to provide protection against oxidative stress by scavenging reactive oxygen species.

The First Nationwide Multicenter Prevalence Study of Germline BRCA1 and BRCA2 Mutations in Chinese Ovarian Cancer Patients.

Objective: Subjects with germline BRCA1/2 mutations (gBRCAm) have an increased risk of developing ovarian cancer and enhanced sensitivity to platinum-containing agents and PARP (poly[ADP-ribose] polymerase) inhibitors. BRCA mutations in Asian patients are poorly understood compared with other populations. We aimed to investigate gBRCAm prevalence and characteristics in Chinese ovarian cancer patients.

Palladium-catalyzed geometrically selective hydrogenation of (Z)-trifluoromethyl alkenyl triflate: an efficient approach to (Z) or (E)-3,3,3-trifluoropropenyl derivatives.

A Pd-catalyzed hydrogenation of (Z)-trifluoromethyl alkenyl triflate providing either (Z)- or (E)-3,3,3-trifluoropropenyl derivatives with excellent divergent geometric control in good yield is described. Catalyzed by Pd(OAc)/PPh, the reduction of (Z)-trifluoromethyl alkenyl triflates with HSiEt gave (E)-3,3,3-trifluoropropenyl derivatives, and while using HCOOH/EtN as the reducing agent, the (Z)-isomers were obtained through an elimination/hydrogenation tandem pathway. Both transformations showed excellent geometrical selectivity.

Minimally Invasive Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy versus Retrograde Intrarenal Surgery for Upper Urinary Stones: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Minimally invasive percutaneous nephrolithotomy (mini-PCNL) and retrograde intrarenal surgery (RIRS) are both alternatives for PCNL to treat renal calculi. This study is aimed at comparing the stone-free rate (SFR) and other surgery parameters of two approaches for treating upper urinary calculi. We performed this meta-analysis in September 2016 by searching studies about mini-PCNL and RIRS for treating upper urinary calculi in various databases, and RevMan v.

Traditional Chinese medical therapy for erectile dysfunction.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), including acupuncture and Chinese herbs, is used as an alternative therapy to increase the curative effect for erectile dysfunction (ED). A large number of studies have been conducted to investigate the effect and mechanism of TCM for treating ED. The therapeutic effect of acupuncture on ED is still controversial at present.

Expression of β gene in breast carcinoma and the relevance in neoadjuvant therapy.

In the present study, we examined the expression of the estrogen receptor β (β) gene in breast cancer and its relevance in neoadjuvant therapy. In total, 120 breast cancer patients who were hospitalized in the Departments of Breast Disease and Medical Oncology served as the subjects of this study. The subjects were diagnosed with breast cancer phase II to phase IIIA, as confirmed by aspiration biopsy and iconography.

Satb2 Ablation Impairs Hippocampus-Based Long-Term Spatial Memory and Short-Term Working Memory and Immediate Early Genes (IEGs)-Mediated Hippocampal Synaptic Plasticity.

Special AT-rich sequence-binding protein 2 (Satb2) is a protein binding to the matrix attachment regions of DNA and important for gene regulation. Patients with SATB2 mutation usually suffer moderate to severe mental retardation. However, the mechanisms for the defects of intellectual activities in patients with SATB2 mutation are largely unclear.

Ethyl Acetate Extracts of Semen Impatientis Inhibit Proliferation and Induce Apoptosis of Human Prostate Cancer Cell Lines through AKT/ERK Pathways.

To investigate the inhibitory effect of ethyl acetate extracts of L. on prostate cancer cells. L.

A Delayed-Excitation Data Acquisition Method for High-Frequency Ultrasound Imaging.

High-frequency ultrasound imaging (at >20 MHz) has gained widespread attention due to its high spatial resolution being useful for basic cardiovascular and cancer research involving small animals. The sampling rate of the analog-to-digital converter in a high-frequency ultrasound system usually needs to be higher than 120 MHz in order to satisfy the Nyquist sampling-rate requirement. However, the sampling rate is typically within the range of 40-60 MHz in a traditional ultrasound system, and so we propose a delayed-excitation method for performing high-frequency ultrasound imaging with a traditional data acquisition scheme.

Predictive value of FSH, testicular volume, and histopathological findings for the sperm retrieval rate of microdissection TESE in nonobstructive azoospermia: a meta-analysis.

We performed this meta-analysis to evaluate the predictive value of different parameters in the sperm retrieval rate (SRR) of microdissection testicular sperm extraction (TESE) in patients with nonobstructive azoospermia (NOA). All relevant studies were searched in PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and EBSCO. We chose three parameters to perform the meta-analysis: follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), testicular volume, and testicular histopathological findings which included three patterns: hypospermatogenesis (HS), maturation arrest (MA), and Sertoli-cell-only syndrome (SCOS).