Comparison of urinary and sexual patient-reported outcomes between open radical prostatectomy and robot-assisted radical prostatectomy: a propensity score matched, population-based study in Victoria.

Background: Robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) rates have been increasing worldwide despite a lack of evidence of superior patient-reported outcomes (PROs) compared to open radical prostatectomy (ORP).

Methods: This retrospective study included men who contributed data to the Prostate Cancer Outcomes Registry-Victoria (PCOR-Vic), underwent ORP or RARP between January 2014 and May 2018, and completed the EPIC-26 questionnaire 12 months post-surgery. Urinary and sexual bother items, the urinary incontinence domain score, the urinary irritative/obstructive domain score, the sexual domain score and the pad usage item from the EPIC-26 questionnaire were compared between the two cohorts.

The metabolic regulator PGC-1α links hepatitis C virus infection to hepatic insulin resistance.

Background & Aims: Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is strongly associated with insulin resistance and diabetes mellitus. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma co-activator 1α (PGC-1α) is a transcriptional co-activator involved in the initiation of gluconeogenesis in the liver. Increased hepatic expression of PGC-1α has been implicated in insulin resistance.

Curcumin inhibits hepatitis B virus via down-regulation of the metabolic coactivator PGC-1alpha.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infects the liver and uses its cell host for gene expression and propagation. Therefore, targeting host factors essential for HBV gene expression is a potential anti-viral strategy. Here we show that treating HBV expressing cells with the natural phenolic compound curcumin inhibits HBV gene expression and replication.

Different domains regulate homomeric and heteromeric complex formation among type I and type II transforming growth factor-beta receptors.

Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) binds to and signals via two serine-threonine kinase receptors, type I (TbetaRI) and type II (TbetaRII). The oligomerization of TGF-beta receptors modulates ligand binding and receptor trafficking and may contribute to signal diversification. However, numerous features of the molecular domains that determine the homo- and hetero-oligomerization of full-length receptors at the cell surface and the mode of these interactions remain unclear.

Different routes of bone morphogenic protein (BMP) receptor endocytosis influence BMP signaling.

Endocytosis is important for a variety of functions in eukaryotic cells, including the regulation of signaling cascades via transmembrane receptors. The internalization of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) receptor type I (BRI) and type II (BRII) and its relation to signaling were largely unexplored. Here, we demonstrate that both receptor types undergo constitutive endocytosis via clathrin-coated pits (CCPs) but that only BRII undergoes also caveola-like internalization.