Current treatment for male infertility: an umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

This umbrella review aimed to summarize and provide a general evaluation of the effectiveness of current treatments for male infertility and assess the quality of evidence and possible biases. An umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses available in PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus, covering studies published up to October 2023, was conducted. Sperm concentration, morphology, and motility were used as endpoints to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatments.

Development and validation of a nomogram to predict perioperative blood transfusion in patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty.

Background: The need for a transfusion is one of the adverse events following total knee arthroplasty (TKA), and accurately predicting this need remains challenging for arthroplasty surgeons. The purpose of the present research is to study the preoperative predictors of transfusion risk in patients following TKA and develop a nomogram.

Methods: The nomogram was developed based on a training set of 5402 patients who underwent TKA at the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University between September 2013 and November 2018.

Oncological Outcome of Cytoreductive Radical Prostatectomy in Prostate Cancer Patients With Bone Oligometastases.

Objective: To explore the role of cytoreductive radical prostatectomy (CRP) for locally resectable and distant oligometastatic prostate cancer (CaP).

Patients And Methods: Oligometastases were defined as the presence of 5 or fewer metastatic lesions detected on 99mTc bone scan and no suspicious visceral involvement at pretreatment imaging. Clinical data on 111 consecutive patients who were diagnosed as oligometastatic CaP in our center from 2005 to 2016 was retrospectively collected.

Regional gray matter abnormality in hepatic myelopathy patients after transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt: a voxel-based morphometry study.

Hepatic myelopathy is a complication seen in patients with chronic liver failure with physiologic or iatrogenic portosystemic shunting. The main symptom is progressive lower limb dyskinesia. The role of the brain motor control center in hepatic myelopathy is unknown.

Longitudinal behavioral and fMRI-based assessment of inhibitory control in heroin addicts on methadone maintenance treatment.

The objective of the present study was to determine whether methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) in heroin-dependent patients affects inhibitory control, whether any MMT-induced changes correlate with methadone dose and MMT duration, and whether these changes depend on the psychological characteristics of patients, such as depression, anxiety and impulsivity. Response inhibition in the GO/NO-GO test was combined with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning data to examine whether MMT affects inhibitory control in 21 heroin-addicted patients who had already undergone at least three months of MMT. Patients were evaluated one year prior to and after the MMT period.

[Clinical efficacy of different doses of gamma globulin combined with glucocorticoid in treatment of moderate/severe acute Guillain-Barré syndrome in children: a comparative analysis].

Objective: To investigate the clinical efficacy and safety of intravenous injection of low-dose versus high-dose gamma globulin combined with glucocorticoid pulse therapy in the treatment of children with moderate/severe acute Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS).

Methods: A total of 100 children with moderate/severe acute GBS were randomly assigned to low-dose group (n=48) and high-dose group (n=52). The children in the low-dose and high-dose groups were treated with 0.

The NLRP3 inflammasome and stroke.

Inflammasome pattern recognition receptors, which belong to the family of multi-meric proteins, play an important role in innate immunity, including NLRPs, NLRC, and NAIP. Among these receptors, NLRP3 (nucleotide-binding domain (NOD)-like receptor protein 3) inflammasome may activate the inflammation and participate in atherosclerosis, pathophysiology of myocardial infarction, resultin ischemia/reperfusion injury and stroke and other cardiovascular diseases. Effective regulation of NLRP3 may help prevent or even treat stroke.

Effect of Nozzle Geometry on Characteristics of Submerged Gas Jet and Bubble Noise.

Submerged exhaust noise is one of the main noise sources of underwater vehicles. The nozzle features of pipe discharging systems have a great influence on exhaust noise, especially on the noise produced by gas-liquid two-phase flow outside the nozzle. To study the influence of nozzle geometry on underwater jet noises, a theoretical study was performed on the critical weber number at which the jet flow field morphology changes.

Comparison of gadobenate dimeglumine and gadopentetate dimeglumine for Breast MRI Screening: a meta-analysis.

Background: As a common and essential contrast medium at present, gadobenate dimeglumine has shown better performance than some other agents when applied to Breast Magnetic Resonance Imaging Screening (Breast MRI Screening). Nevertheless, reports on the diagnostic performance of these two mediums (gadobenate dimeglumine and gadopentetate dimeglumine) are not completely consistent.

Objective: To assess the diagnostic value of gadobenate dimeglumine and gadopentetate dimeglumine for Breast MRI Screening in patients suffering from breast cancer and to provide more convinced evidence to guide clinical practice in terms of appropriate contrast agents.

Gracilibacillus marinus sp. nov., isolated from the northern South China Sea.

Two gram-positive, aerobic, spore-forming, rod-shaped bacteria, designated HB09003(T) and HB12160, were isolated from seawater and sediment in the northern South China Sea, respectively. Cells were found to be motile by means of peritrichous flagella. The strains were found to grow with 0-15 % (w/v) NaCl, at 10-45 °C and pH 5.

[The incidence discriminant model for close contacts of active tuberculosis patients].

Objective: To establish a discriminant model and to provide a relatively accurate scientific basis for the early diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) and detection of the close contacts.

Methods: Through logistic regression analysis, key factors were selected according to Bayes theory and key factors of TB incidence of the close contacts were screened as well as a discriminant model was established.

Results: The non-TB incidence discriminant function of the close contacts was described as: Y1= -39.

The cellular distribution and stage-specific expression of two dynein light chains from the human blood fluke Schistosoma japonicum.

Schistosomes are pathogenic helminth parasites of human portal veins. Their body wall is a highly active syncytial tegument involved in an array of host interactions. The cytoskeletal organization and dynamics of this syncytium are poorly understood, but predominant motor components are the LC8 class of cytoplasmic dynein light chains (DLC).

[Logistic analysis on risk factors related to smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis].

Objective: To explore the risk factors on relapsing tuberculosis related to smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis which had been cured for five years.

Methods: Patients with smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis registered in 1995 from ten countries in Hubei province were studied and logistic regression was used for data analysis.

Results: The 5-year relapse rate of smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis was 3.