Metatranscriptomic Analysis Reveals Actively Expressed Antimicrobial-Resistant Genes and Their Hosts in Hospital Wastewater.

Antimicrobial resistance is a major global concern and economic threat, necessitating a reliable monitoring approach to understand its frequency and spread via the environment. Hospital wastewater serves as a critical reservoir for antimicrobial-resistant organisms; however, its role in resistance gene distribution and dissemination remains poorly understood. This study integrates metagenomic and metatranscriptomic analyses, elucidating the dynamics of antimicrobial resistance in hospital wastewater.

Clinical Utility of Serial Circulating Tumor DNA Analysis as a Minimally Invasive Biomarker in Advanced Urothelial Cancer.

Purpose: Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) analysis is an alternative to tissue biopsy for genotyping in various cancers. We aimed to establish a plasma ctDNA sequencing assay, then evaluate its clinical utility in advanced urothelial cancer (UC).

Materials And Methods: This study included 82 patients with muscle-invasive or metastatic UC.

Impact of neurovascular bundle preservation on biochemical recurrence after robot-assisted radical prostatectomy for high-risk prostate cancer.

Purpose: To evaluate functional and oncological outcomes in patients who underwent unilateral or bilateral nerve-sparing (NS) robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) for high-risk prostate cancer.

Methods: The cohort comprised 2683 patients with clinical stage T1-4, N0M0 high-risk prostate cancer who underwent RARP in Japanese tertiary care centers from August 2011 to April 2023. High risk was defined using the European Association of Urology risk stratification criteria.

Sensing Aharonov-Bohm Phase Using a Multiply-Orbiting-Ion Interferometer.

Interferometers, which are built using spatially propagating light or matter waves, are commonly used to measure physical quantities. These measurements are made possible by exploiting the interference between waves traveling along different paths. This study introduces a novel approach to sensing of the Aharonov-Bohm phase, an ion matter-wave interferometer operating within a two-dimensional rotational trajectory in a trap potential.

Prognostic impact of lymph node invasion levels in patients with bladder cancer undergoing radical cystectomy and pelvic lymphadenectomy.

Extranodal extension in metastatic lymph nodes (LNs) is a poor prognostic factor in bladder cancer (BC). Furthermore, cancer invasion levels in sentinel LNs are associated with prognosis in melanoma. The present study aimed to evaluate the LN invasion level, defined as the extent of cancer invasion in anatomical and immunological LN substructures, and compare it with the pathological node (pN) stage of the tumor-node-metastasis staging system in BC.

Colistin Resistance Mediated by -Related Phosphoethanolamine Transferase Genes in Species Isolated from Aquatic Environments in Avaga and Pakro Communities in the Eastern Region of Ghana.

Purpose: Colistin is classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a critically important and last-resort antibiotic for the treatment of infections caused by carbapenem-resistant bacteria. However, colistin resistance mediated by chromosomal mutations or plasmid-linked mobilized colistin resistance () genes has emerged.

Methods: Thirteen -positive species isolated from water samples collected in Eastern Ghana were analyzed using whole-genome sequencing (WGS).

Oncological outcomes of prophylactic urethrectomy at the time of radical cystectomy for bladder cancer: A nationwide multi-institutional study.

Objectives: To determine the effects of prophylactic urethrectomy (PU) on oncological and perioperative outcomes in patients with bladder cancer (BC) undergoing radical cystectomy (RC).

Methods: This retrospective study analyzed data on 1976 evaluable patients with BC who underwent RC. Patients were drawn from 36 institutions within the Japanese Urological Oncology Group.

Dietary fibre supplementation enhances radiotherapy tumour control and alleviates intestinal radiation toxicity.

Background: Non-toxic approaches to enhance radiotherapy outcomes are beneficial, particularly in ageing populations. Based on preclinical findings showing that high-fibre diets sensitised bladder tumours to irradiation by modifying the gut microbiota, along with clinical evidence of prebiotics enhancing anti-cancer immunity, we hypothesised that dietary fibre and its gut microbiota modification can radiosensitise tumours via secretion of metabolites and/or immunomodulation. We investigated the efficacy of high-fibre diets combined with irradiation in immunoproficient C57BL/6 mice bearing bladder cancer flank allografts.

Comparative evaluation of analytical pipelines for illumina short- and nanopore long-read 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing with mock microbial communities.

Utility of a recently developed long-read pipeline, Emu, was assessed using an expectation-maximization algorithm for accurate read classification. We compared it to conventional short- and long-read pipelines, using well-characterized mock bacterial samples. Our findings highlight the necessity of appropriate data-processing for taxonomic descriptions, expanding our understanding of the precise microbiome.

Validation study on the 2 mm diameter cutoff in lymph node-positive cases following radical prostatectomy in accordance with the AJCC/UICC TNM 8th edition: Real-world data analysis from a Japanese cohort.

Objectives: The American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC)/Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) 8th edition has proposed micrometastasis as a lymph node metastasis (LN+) of diameter ≤2 mm in prostate cancer. However, supporting evidence has not described. We evaluated LN+ patients' survival after radical prostatectomy (RP) based on the LN maximum tumor diameter (MTD).

Minimally invasive total pelvic exenteration for symptomatic locally advanced prostate cancer with rectal invasion: Indications and technical considerations.

In cases of rectal invasion by locally invasive prostate cancer (LAPC) leading to severe pain or bleeding, total pelvic exenteration (TPE) is necessary. Here, we present two cases of successful minimally invasive TPE: one performed laparoscopically for local recurrence with rectal bleeding after laparoscopic radical prostatectomy, and another done robotically for LAPC (clinical T4N1M0) accompanied by rectal bleeding. Medical treatments were ineffective in the latter case, and the tumor occupied a significant portion of the pelvis.

Prognostic impact of histological discordance between transurethral resection and radical cystectomy.

Objective: To analyse the impact of histological discordance of subtypes (subtypes or divergent differentiation [DD]) in specimens from transurethral resection (TUR) and radical cystectomy (RC) on the outcome of the patients with bladder cancer receiving RC.

Patients And Methods: We analysed data for 2570 patients from a Japanese nationwide cohort with bladder cancer treated with RC between January 2013 and December 2019 at 36 institutions. The non-urinary tract recurrence-free survival (NUTR-FS) and overall survival (OS) stratified by TUR or RC specimen histology were determined.

Hydronephrosis severity as a predictor of postoperative renal function decline following laparoscopic radical nephroureterectomy.

Background: This study aimed to investigate factors, including the degree of hydronephrosis, that may be associated with decreased renal function after radical nephroureterectomy (RNU).

Methods: This study included 252 patients who underwent laparoscopic RNU with an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) ≥ 30 ml/min/1.73 m in three institutions.

Additional mutation in and phenotypic differences in a Kallmann syndrome/normosmic congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism family carrying missense mutation.

Congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (CHH) is a genetically and clinically diverse disorder encompassing Kallmann syndrome (KS) and normosmic CHH (nCHH). Although mutations in numerous genes account for nearly 50% of CHH cases, a significant portion remains genetically uncharacterized. While most mutations follow the traditional Mendelian inheritance patterns, evidence suggests oligogenic interactions between CHH genes, acting as modifier genes to explain variable expressivity and incomplete penetrance associated with certain mutations.

Variation in presepsin and thrombomodulin levels for predicting COVID-19 mortality.

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has caused extensive mortality globally; therefore, biomarkers predicting the severity and prognosis of COVID-19 are essential. This study aimed to evaluate the application of presepsin (P-SEP) and thrombomodulin (TM), which are biomarkers of sepsis and endothelial dysfunction, respectively, in the prognosis of COVID-19. Serum P-SEP and TM levels from COVID-19 patients (n = 183) were measured.