Preserving one artery shortens the surgical time and does not affect the efficacy of microsurgical subinguinal varicocelectomy: preliminary findings from a retrospective study.

Background: To analyze the safety and efficacy of microsurgical subinguinal varicocelectomy(MSV) performed with and without preservation of all testicular arteries and lymphatic system.

Methods: All of the 98 patients with varicocele who underwent MSV were included in the analysis. Fifty-eight male patients surgically underwent MSV with preservation of all testicular arteries and lymphatic system(Group 1).

A protocol for high-throughput screening for small chemicals promoting macrophage-mediated tumor cell phagocytosis in mice.

Macrophage-mediated phagocytosis has emerged as a pivotal mechanism for eliminating tumor cells within the realm of cancer immunotherapy. Here, we present a protocol for identifying small molecules that enhance phagocytosis in mice using a co-culture system comprising primary macrophages, cancer cells, and a blockade of phagocytic checkpoints. We describe steps for expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein-luciferase (eGFP-Luc) and producing bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs).

Suppression of Interfacial Oxidation in Core/Shell InP Quantum Dots through Solvent Assisted Core-Etching Strategy for Efficient Green Light-Emitting Diodes.

Indium phosphide (InP) quantum dots (QDs) are promising alternative heavy-metal CdSe QDs for light-emitting diode (LED) application. However, their highly reactive core surface is prone to oxidation, which reduces the photoluminescence quantum yield (PL QY) and impedes subsequent shell growth. Traditional etching methods using HF aqueous solution are problematic as water can induce reoxidation during or after etching.

Promoting macrophage phagocytosis of cancer cells for effective cancer immunotherapy.

Cancer therapy has been revolutionized by immunotherapeutic agents exploiting adaptive antitumor immunity in the past two decades. However, the overall response rate of these immunotherapies is limited, and patients also develop resistance upon treatment, promoting a rapidly growing exploration of anti-tumor innate immunity for effective cancer therapy. Among these, macrophage immunotherapy through harnessing macrophage phagocytosis has been thrust into the spotlight due to its potential for simultaneously inducing cancer cell killing effect and mobilizing adaptive antitumor responses.

Engineering source-sink relations by prime editing confers heat-stress resilience in tomato and rice.

A 2°C climate-warming scenario is expected to further exacerbate average crop losses by 3%-13%, yet few heat-tolerant staple-crop varieties are available toward meeting future food demands. Here, we develop high-efficiency prime-editing tools to precisely knockin a 10-bp heat-shock element (HSE) into promoters of cell-wall-invertase genes (CWINs) in elite rice and tomato cultivars. HSE insertion endows CWINs with heat-responsive upregulation in both controlled and field environments to enhance carbon partitioning to grain and fruits, resulting in per-plot yield increases of 25% in rice cultivar Zhonghua11 and 33% in tomato cultivar Ailsa Craig over heat-stressed controls, without fruit quality penalties.

Human birth tissue products as a non-opioid medicine to inhibit post-surgical pain.

Pain after surgery causes significant suffering. Opioid analgesics cause severe side effects and accidental death. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop non-opioid therapies for managing post-surgical pain.

Rapid assessment of the osteogenic capacity of hydroxyapatite/aragonite using a murine tibial periosteal ossification model.

Biomaterials are widely used as orthopaedic implants and bone graft substitutes. We aimed to develop a rapid osteogenic assessment method using a murine tibial periosteal ossification model to evaluate the bone formation/remodelling potential of a biomaterial within 2-4 weeks. A novel hydroxyapatite/aragonite (HAA) biomaterial was implanted into C57BL/6 mice juxtaskeletally between the tibia and tibialis anterior muscle.

[F]AlF-NOTA-pentixather PET/CT of CXCR4 in patients with suspected primary hyperaldosteronism.

Distinguishing unilateral aldosterone-producing adenomas (APA) from idiopathic hyperaldosteronism (IHA), nonfunctional adrenal adenoma (NFA), and pheochromocytoma (PHEO) within primary aldosteronism (PA) presents a significant challenge. Studies have demonstrated high levels of chemokine receptor (CXCR) 4 expression in APA, thereby validating the use of Ga-labeled CXCR4 PET/CT for detecting APA. This study evaluates the efficacy of [F]AlF-NOTA-pentixather PET/CT in distinguishing APA from other PA types.

Magnesium depletion score and gout: insights from NHANES data.

Objectives: Gout is associated with hyperuricemia, and serum magnesium levels are negatively correlated with uric acid levels. Magnesium intake is also associated with a reduced risk of hyperuricemia. However, the relationship between the magnesium depletion score (MDS), which represents the systemic magnesium status, and gout is unclear.

The effects of temperature variability on ischemic heart disease mortality in Hangzhou, China.

Ischemic heart disease (IHD) is a leading cause of death in cardiovascular patients. In China, the disease burden of IHD deaths has significantly increased. One of the main influencing factors of IHD is changing climates, and temperature and diurnal temperature range (DTR) are important indicators of climate change.

Research Progress of Chinese Medicine in Treating Chronic Liver Disease by Regulating Autophagy.

In recent years, rising living standards and an accelerated lifestyle have led to an increase in the incidence of chronic liver disease. Modern medicine has yet to fully develop effective methods for preventing and treating these conditions due to their complex pathogenesis. Autophagy, a cellular process that maintains homeostasis by removing abnormal proteins, has emerged as a promising therapeutic target for chronic liver diseases.

Enhancing under-urine adhesion and bladder adaptation of silk fibroin hydrogels with tea polyphenols for hemorrhagic cystitis.

Hemorrhagic Cystitis (HC) presents a significant therapeutic challenge due to the dynamic fluid environment and cyclical mechanical stress within the bladder. Tissue-adhesive hydrogels have shown promise in treating HC; however, maintaining strong adhesion and mechanical integrity under these fluctuating conditions remains a critical obstacle. Herein, we designed a robust bladder-adhesive hydrogel by leveraging the affinity of tea polyphenols (TP) for damaged tissues and their ability to rapidly enhance the stability of photo-crosslinked silk fibroin methylacryloyl (SFMA) through abundant hydrogen bonding.

Daptomycin alleviates collagen-induced arthritis via suppressing inflammatory cytokines and NF-κB pathway.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease, and its pathogenic factors include bacterial infection and immune inflammation. Daptomycin (DAP) is a cyclic lipopeptide that has been approved to treat skin infections, bacteremia and right-sided endocarditis due to its effective antibacterial effects against most Gram-positive pathogenic bacteria. Herein, we focus on whether DAP exerts anti-inflammatory activity on RA to expand DAP drug indications.

Combined dual-channel fluorescence depth sensing of indocyanine green and protoporphyrin IX kinetics in subcutaneous murine tumors.

Significance: Fluorescence sensing within tissue is an effective tool for tissue characterization; however, the modality and geometry of the image acquisition can alter the observed signal.

Aim: We introduce a novel optical fiber-based system capable of measuring two fluorescent contrast agents through 2 cm of tissue with simple passive electronic switching between the excitation light, simultaneously acquiring fluorescence and excitation data. The goal was to quantify indocyanine green (ICG) and protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) within tissue, and the sampling method was compared with wide-field surface imaging to contrast the value of deep sensing versus surface imaging.

Haplotype-resolved genome assembly of poplar line NL895 provides a valuable tree genomic resource.

Poplar line NL895 can potentially become a model plant for poplar study as it is a widely cultivated elite line. However, the lack of genome resources hindered the use of NL895 as the major plant material in poplar. In this study, we provided a high-quality genome assembly for poplar line NL895 with PacBio single molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing and High-throughput chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C) technology.

Integrated analysis of single-cell and bulk RNA-sequencing identifies a metastasis-related gene signature for predicting prognosis in lung adenocarcinoma.

Background: Metastasis has been documented as an independent and significant prognostic feature of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) patients. However, the underlying genetic and molecular mechanisms responsible for LUAD metastasis and their prognostic significance are not exactly defined.

Methods: The single-cell transcriptomic profiles of primary and metastatic LUAD samples were integrated as a whole dataset.

Role of Metal-Oxide Interfaces in Methanol Decomposition: Reaction of Methanol on CeO/Ag(111) Inverse Model Catalysts.

Metal-oxide interfaces play a critical role in catalytic processes, such as methanol adsorption and decomposition reactions. In this work, we investigated methanol reactions on the inverse model CeO/Ag(111) catalyst surfaces, i.e.

Targeting GPR39 in structure-based drug discovery reduces Ang II-induced hypertension.

The endothelium-dependent vascular injury, a primary pathological feature of angiotensin II (Ang II)-induced hypertension. This study aimed to explore the role and underlying mechanisms of G protein-coupled receptor 39 (GPR39) in the pathogenesis of Ang II-induced hypertension. For in vivo studies, GPR39 knockout (KO) mice (C57BL/6 J, male) were generated and administered Ang II for 4 weeks.

Cystic ductal adenocarcinoma of pancreas complicated with neuroendocrine tumor: A case report and review of literature.

Background: Difficulties in making an accurate preoperative diagnosis of cystic pancreatic lesions pose a challenge for radiologists. It would be helpful to report rare cases and review the literature.

Case Summary: In the present report, a case of a patient with a pancreatic cystic lesion initially misdiagnosed as a pseudocyst by radiologist was documented, which was later pathologically confirmed as pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma with neuroendocrine tumor.

Quantifying the impact of disease severity changes on the burden of blindness: A global decomposition analysis.

Background: Despite the significant impact of blindness on the affected individuals' quality of life, its burden has not been assessed according to temporal cause-specific changes in severity, impeding our ability to evaluate the impact of blindness on population health accurately. Therefore, we aimed to comprehensively quantify the changes in cause-specific blindness burden according to changes in disease severity for 18 causes of blindness.

Methods: For this cross-sectional population-based study, we derived data on prevalence, disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), and population size between 1990 and 2019 from the Global Burden of Disease 2019 study.

The transition from hypertension to hypertensive heart disease and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: a retrospective cross-sectional study of myocardial magnetic resonance strain and tissue characteristics.

Background: Due to the variability of symptoms and signs associated with heart failure, along with the lack of specific tests for definitive diagnosis, the noninvasive diagnosis of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) continues to pose significant clinical challenges. This investigation was designed to elucidate the clinical manifestations of HFpEF and to analyze cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR)-derived myocardial strain metrics and tissue characteristics in a cohort exhibiting HFpEF with hypertension (HFpEF-HTN).

Methods: This retrospective analysis consisted of 128 patients diagnosed HFpEF-HTN, 78 individuals with hypertensive heart disease (HHD), 89 individuals with hypertension (HTN), and 60 normotensive healthy controls and was conducted from August 2021 to February 2024.

Biomolecular condensation programs floral transition to orchestrate flowering time and inflorescence architecture.

Biomolecular condensation involves the concentration of biomolecules (DNA, RNA, proteins) into compartments to form membraneless organelles or condensates with unique properties and functions. This ubiquitous phenomenon has garnered considerable attention in recent years owing to its multifaceted roles in developmental processes and responses to environmental cues in living systems. Recent studies have revealed that biomolecular condensation plays essential roles in regulating the transition of plants from vegetative to reproductive growth, a programmed process known as floral transition that determines flowering time and inflorescence architecture in flowering plants.

MRI-guided Near-infrared Spectroscopic Tomography (MRg-NIRST) Imaging System with Wearable Breast Optical Interface for Breast Cancer Imaging.

To develop a novel Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)-guided Near-Infrared Spectroscopic Tomography (MRg-NIRST) imaging system with an MRI-compatible breast optical interface for breast imaging.