The role of lumbosacral innervating noradrenergic neurons in micturition control.

A long-standing observation is that the micturition reflex receives supraspinal descending control. Although one supraspinal nucleus (Barrington's nucleus) is identified as the pontine micturition center, it remains largely unknown whether and how other supraspinal tracts are involved in micturition control. Here, we focused on the role of lumbosacral projecting neurons located in the Locus Coeruleus (LC) in modulating micturition, since previous studies indicated that the LC is involved in controlling bladder contraction.

Fluoxetine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor used clinically, improves bladder function in a mouse model of moderate spinal cord injury.

After spinal cord injury, the upward conduction of the spinal cord is lost, resulting in the loss of micturition control, which manifests as detrusor sphincter dyssynergia and insufficient micturition. Studies have shown that serotonergic axons play important roles in the control of the descending urination tract. In this study, mouse models of moderate spinal cord contusions were established.

When is the best time to perform external physical vibration lithecbole (EPVL) after retrograde intrarenal surgery (RIRS): a multi-center study based on randomized controlled trials.

To determine the best time to perform EPVL treatment by evaluating the efficacy and safety of active stone extraction in treating residual fragments at different time points after RIRS. All participants had renal or upper ureteral stones preoperatively and still had residual stones after receiving RIRS. They were prospectively randomized into four groups: patients in group A received EPVL 3 days after RIRS; patients in group B received EPVL 7 days after RIRS; patients in group C received EPVL 14 days after RIRS; patients in group D did not receive EPVL after RIRS.

The status and characteristics of urinary stone composition in China.

Objectives: To explore characteristics of urinary stone composition in China, and determine the effects of gender, age, body mass index (BMI), stone location, and geographical region on stone composition.

Patients And Methods: We prospectively used Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy to analyse stones from consecutive patients presenting with new-onset urolithiasis at 46 hospitals in seven geographical areas of China, between 1 June 2010 and 31 May 2015. Chi-squared tests and logistic regression analyses were used to determine associations between stone composition and gender, age, BMI, stone location, and geographical region.

Efficacy and Safety of Serenoa repens Extract Among Patients with Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia in China: A Multicenter, Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Trial.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Serenoa repens among patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (lower urinary tract symptoms/benign prostatic hyperplasia [LUTS/BPH]) in China.

Methods: We conducted a double blind, placebo-controlled study of 354 patients with LUTS/BPH from 19 institutions, to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Serenoa repens. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1) into the Serenoa repens extract (320 mg) or placebo groups for 24 weeks.

Current opinions on nephrolithiasis associated with primary hyperparathyroidism.

Nephrolithiasis is a common urological disease and could be secondary to primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT). PHPT is traditionally characterised with hypercalcaemia. Recently, a normocalcemic PHPT has been officially recognised at the International Workshops.

How to accelerate the upper urinary stone discharge after extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL) for < 15 mm upper urinary stones: a prospective multi-center randomized controlled trial about external physical vibration lithecbole (EPVL).

Objective: To asset the efficacy and safety of EPVL plus ESWL compared with ESWL alone for the treatment of simple upper urinary stones (< 15 mm).

Materials And Methods: All patients with upper urinary stones (< 15 mm) were prospectively randomized into two groups. In treatment group, patients were assigned to immediate EPVL after ESWL, while in control group, ESWL alone was offered.

Efficacy and Safety of Tamsulosin in Medical Expulsive Therapy for Distal Ureteral Stones with Renal Colic: A Multicenter, Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Trial.

Background: Recent large high-quality trials have questioned the clinical effectiveness of medical expulsive therapy using tamsulosin for ureteral stones.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of tamsulosin for distal ureteral stones compared with placebo.

Design, Setting, And Participants: We conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 3296 patients with distal ureteral stones, across 30 centers, to evaluate the efficacy and safety of tamsulosin.

Clinical and genetic characterization of Chinese pediatric cystine stone patients.

Introduction: Cystine stone is the only clinical manifestation in patients with cystinuria, which is an autosomal recessive inheritable disease. However, clinical and genetic data vary among patients in different countries.

Objective: To investigate the characteristics of Chinese pediatric cystine stone patients.

External Physical Vibration Lithecbole Promotes the Clearance of Upper Urinary Stones after Retrograde Intrarenal Surgery: A Prospective, Multicenter, Randomized Controlled Trial.

Purpose: We assessed the efficacy and safety of external physical vibration lithecbole for the treatment of residual stones after retrograde intrarenal surgery.

Materials And Methods: A total of 173 patients (128 males and 45 females) were selected for study. All patients had residual fragments after retrograde intrarenal surgery for renal or upper ureteral stones.

[Updated treatments of castration-resistant prostate cancer].

The diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer are being improved due to the popularized screening of prostate specific antigen. Advanced prostate cancer, in spite of its response to androgen deprivation therapy, may finally develop into castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) and shorten the overall survival of the patients. Many efforts have been made by worldwide researchers for new approaches to the management of CRPC, including new hormonal therapy, cytotoxic chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and bone metastasis-targeted therapy.

miRNA-154-5p Inhibits Proliferation, Migration and Invasion by Targeting E2F5 in Prostate Cancer Cell Lines.

Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small non-coding RNAs (18-25 nucleotides) which post-transcriptionally regulate gene expression by negatively regulating the stability or translational efficiency of their target mRNAs. This study aimed to determine the function of miR-154-5p in prostate cancer (PCa) cells and identify the novel molecular targets regulated by miR-154-5p.

Materials And Methods: The effects of forced miR-154-5p expression or E2F transcription factor 5 (E2F5) knockdown on PCa cells were evaluated by cell proliferation, flow cytometry, cell migration and invasion assays as well as by Western blot analysis.

Transurethral assistant transumbilical laparoendoscopic single-site radical prostatectomy.

The laparoendoscopic single-site (LESS) technique is the latest technical innovation in laparoscopic surgery to undergo exponential development in urology. This study undertaken to illustrate our initial experience LESS radical prostatectomy (RP) and analyze early outcomes. Nineteen patients diagnosed with prostate cancer underwent LESS-RP in our institute.

[Efficacy and safety of Saw Palmetto Extract Capsules in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia].

Objective: To assess the efficacy and safety of Saw Palmetto Extract Capsules in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).

Methods: We conducted a multi-centered open clinical study on 165 BPH patients treated with Saw Palmetto Extract Capsules at a dose of 160 mg qd for 12 weeks. At the baseline and after 6 and 12 weeks of medication, we compared the International Prostate Symptom Scores (IPSS), prostate volume, postvoid residual urine volume, urinary flow rate, quality of life scores (QOL), and adverse events between the two groups of patients.

High-dose supplementation with vitamin C--induced pediatric urolithiasis: the first case report in a child and literature review.

High dose of vitamin C intake could increase urine oxalate excretion and hence the risk of calcium stone formation. We report a case of left ureteral stone in a 9-year-old boy with an extremely high urine oxalate excretion. Besides, he had a habit of taking high-dose supplementation of vitamin C since the age of 3 years.

Genetic variation in DROSHA 3'UTR regulated by hsa-miR-27b is associated with bladder cancer risk.

Purpose: miRNAs can regulate the biological processes, including differentiation, proliferation and apoptosis. DICER and DROSHA are two members of RNase III family, playing pivotal roles in the pathway of miRNAs biogenesis. In this study, we hypothesized that genetic variations of the DICER and DROSHA genes were associated with the bladder cancer risk.

The true stone composition and abnormality of urinary metabolic lithogenic factors of rats fed diets containing melamine.

To better understand the toxicity of melamine to humans, the stone composition and urinary metabolic lithogenic factors of rats fed diets containing melamine including the infant's melamine-induced stone composition were studied. Sixty 4-week-old male rats divided into three groups were, respectively, fed diets containing no melamine (control), 0.1% melamine, and 1% melamine for 4 weeks.

Possible function of urinary pH and citrate on the ceftriaxone-induced nephrolithiasis.

Objective: To test whether urinary pH and citrate is associated with ceftriaxone-induced kidney stone formation and if acidified urine could dissolve this kind of stone using an in vitro crystallization model.

Methods: Crystallization was induced by mixing ceftriaxone at the standard therapeutic urinary concentration to artificial urine. The response of different physiological pH and citrate on ceftriaxone-induced crystallization was measured by the depletion ratio of ceftriaxone in the process.

Treatment of large impacted proximal ureteral stones: randomized comparison of minimally invasive percutaneous antegrade ureterolithotripsy versus retrograde ureterolithotripsy.

Objective: To provide appropriate evidence for treatment planning of patients with an impacted proximal ureteral stones ≥1.5 cm in size, by analyzing the therapeutic outcomes for those undergoing minimally invasive percutaneous antegrade ureterolithotripsy and retrograde ureterolithotripsy.

Patients And Methods: From September 2010 to November 2011, eligible patients with impacted proximal ureteral stones ≥1.

[Quercetin induces the apoptosis of human PC-3 cells].

Objective: To study the effect of quercetin on the apoptosis of human PC-3 cells.

Methods: Human PC-3 cells were cultured in vitro and then treated with quercetin at the concentrations of 50, 100, 150, 200 and 250 micromol/L. The inhibition rate of quercetin on the PC-3 cells was detected by MTT, the apoptosis of the cells determined by flow cytometry, and the changes of the cellular ultramicrostructure observed by transmission electron microscopy.

[Integrated therapy of traditional Chinese and Western medicine for BPH with diabetes mellitus: clinical observation of 52 cases].

Objective: To investigate the effect of the integrated therapy of traditional Chinese and Western medicine in the treatment of BPH complicated by diabetes mellitus.

Methods: Fifty-two cases of BPH complicated by diabetes mellitus were equally randomized to a treatment group and a control group, and both underwent transurethral plasmakentic vaporization when fasting glucose was kept at 6.0 - 8.

Cyclin D1 G870A polymorphism is associated with risk and clinicopathologic characteristics of bladder cancer.

Cyclin D1 (CCND1) is a key protein in regulation of cell cycle at the G1-to-S transition phase and is essential for regulation of cell proliferation, differentiation, and transcriptional control. We hypothesized that the CCND1 G870A polymorphism is associated with risk of bladder cancer. The CCND1 G870A polymorphism was genotyped in a hospital-based case-control study of 402 bladder cancer cases and 402 control subjects using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method.

Bis(2,6-dihy-droxy-benzoato-κO,O)(nitrato-κO,O')bis-(1,10-phenanthroline-κN,N')cerium(III).

The mononuclear title complex, [Ce(C(7)H(5)O(3))(2)(NO(3))(C(12)H(8)N(2))(2)], is isostructural to other related lanthanide structures. The Ce atom is in a pseudo-bicapped square-anti-prismatic geometry formed by four N atoms from two chelating 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) ligands and by six O atoms, four from two 2,6-dihy-droxy-benzoate (DHB) ligands and the other two from a nitrate anion. π-π stacking inter-actions between phen and DHB ligands [centroid-centroid distances = 3.

Unfavorable prognostic value of human PEDF decreased in high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia: a differential proteomics approach.

Background: High-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (HGPIN) is the most likely precursor of prostate cancer, but the frequency and timing of epigenetic changes found in prostate carcinogenesis has not been extensively documented.

Methods: Here, we performed a differential proteomic profiling study on the serum of HGPIN and prostate cancer patients. Eleven HGPIN patients were enrolled, their serum protein patterns (2D-electrophoresis and mass spectroscopy) were compared with fifteen prostate cancer patients, and the follow-up study was further performed in the HGPIN patients.

[TUBVP and HOLEP: desirable surgical options for large benign prostatic hyperplasia ( >80 ml)].

Objective: To compare the safety and efficacy of the two surgical alternatives, transurethral bipolar vaporization resection of the prostate (TUBVP) and holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (HOLEP), in the treatment of large benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).

Methods: Retrospective analyses were made of 56 cases of large BPH ( >80 ml), 34 treated by TUBVP with the Bipolar Vaporization System (ACMI Medical Ltd, U.K.