Association of dietary carotenoid intake with the prevalence kidney stones among the general adult population.

PURPOSE: This study was to examine whether higher dietary carotenoid intake levels were associated with a lower prevalence of kidney stones. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study analyzed data from 2007 to 2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) project. Dietary carotenoid intake (α-carotene, ß-carotene, ß-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, and lutein/zeaxanthin) was assessed using two 24-h dietary recall interviews. Multiple logistic regression and weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression were applied to examine the associations between five dietary carotenoids alone, compounds, and the prevalence of kidney stones. The dose-response relationships were analyzed by restricted cubic spline regression. RESULTS: A total of 30,444 adults (2909 participants with kidney stones) were included in the analysis. The mean age of the participants was 49.95 years and 49.2% of the participants were male. Compared with the first quartile, the fourth quartile of α-carotene (odds ratio [OR] = 0.82 [0.73-0.92]), ß-carotene (OR = 0.79 [0.70-0.89]), ß-cryptoxanthin (OR = 0.88 [0.79-0.99]), and lutein/zeaxanthin (OR = 0.80 [0.71-0.91]) were significantly and inversely associated with the prevalence of kidney stones after adjusting for confounders. The dose-response analysis showed a linear relationship between five dietary carotenoid intake levels and the prevalence of kidney stones. Further WQS analysis revealed that the combination of all five dietary carotenoids was negatively associated with and the prevalence of kidney stones, with the largest effect coming from ß-carotene (weight = 0.538). CONCLUSION: Our findings indicated that higher dietary carotenoid intake levels were associated with decreased prevalence of kidney stones, and increasing the intake of foods rich in ß-carotene may prevent the development of kidney stones.

Identification of P3H1 as a Predictive Prognostic Biomarker for Bladder Urothelial Carcinoma Based on the Cancer Genome Atlas Database.

Purpose: The extracellular matrix in the tumor microenvironment are closely related to the development of tumors. This study's primary aim is to study the association between prolyl 3-hydroxylase 1 (P3H1) which mainly expresses collagen in extracellular matrix and the progression and prognosis of bladder cancer (BC). Methods: The clinical and transcriptome data were acquired from the cancer genome atlas database. BLCAsubtyping is used to evaluate tissue subtypes of BC. The COX proportional hazards can be used to evaluate the survival process's influencing factors. Immunohistochemistry was used to identify differences in the expression of P3H1 in cancer and paired adjacent tissues. GSEA was used to investigate the underlying biological processes. Finally, ssGSEA, TIMER and pRRophetic were used to study the relationship between P3H1 and immune cell infiltration and drug sensitivity. Results: The expression of P3H1 was substantially higher in highly invasive BC samples than in low invasive BC. P3H1 was an independent predictor of overall survival (HR = 1.12, p = 0.03). P3H1 expression was significantly higher in tumor tissues than adjacent normal tissues in clinical tissue samples, and was significantly higher in highly stage cancer than low stage cancer samples. Samples with high P3H1 expression had a higher level of immune cell infiltration and immune function, as well as a significant correlation with macrophage and dendritic cell infiltration and TGF-beta, Th1 cells, and macrophage regulation (cor >0.3, p <0.05). P3H1 high expression samples were substantially more sensitive to docetaxel, cisplatin, vinblastine, camptothecin, paclitaxel, and other medicines than P3H1 low expression samples. Discussion: P3H1 is a possible oncogene and an independent predictor of poor prognosis in BC; it also has enhanced sensitivity to docetaxel, cisplatin, vinblastine, camptothecin, paclitaxel, and other medications.

Association of blood metals with serum sex hormones in adults: A cross-sectional study.

Heavy metals such as lead, mercury, and cadmium have been identified to have negative impacts on human health. Although the individual effects of these metals have been extensively researched, the present study aims to explore their combined effects and their association with serum sex hormones among adults. Data for this study were obtained from the general adult population of the 2013-2016 National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHANES) and included five metal (mercury, cadmium, manganese, lead, and selenium) exposures and three sex hormones (total testosterone [TT], estradiol [E2], and sex hormone-binding globulin [SHBG]) levels. The free androgen index (FAI) and TT/E2 ratio were also calculated. The relationships between blood metals and serum sex hormones were analysed using linear regression and restricted cubic spline regression. The effect of blood metal mixtures on sex hormone levels was examined using the quantile g-computation (qgcomp) model. There were 3,499 participants in this study, including 1,940 males and 1,559 females. In males, positive relationships between blood cadmium and serum SHBG (ß=0.049 [0.006, 0.093]), lead and SHBG (ß=0.040 [0.002, 0.079]), manganese and FAI (ß=0.080 [0.016, 0.144]), and selenium and FAI (ß=0.278 [0.054, 0.502]) were observed. In contrast, manganese and SHBG (ß=-0.137 [-0.237, -0.037]), selenium and SHBG (ß=-0.281 [-0.533, -0.028]), and manganese and TT/E2 ratio (ß=-0.094 [-0.158, -0.029]) were negative associations. In females, blood cadmium and serum TT (ß=0.082 [0.023, 0.141]), manganese and E2 (ß=0.282 [0.072, 0.493]), cadmium and SHBG (ß=0.146 [0.089, 0.203]), lead and SHBG (ß=0.163 [0.095, 0.231]), and lead and TT/E2 ratio (ß=0.174 [0.056, 0.292]) were positive relationships, while lead and E2 (ß=-0.168 [-0.315, -0.021]) and FAI (ß=-0.157 [-0.228, -0.086]) were negative associations. This correlation was stronger among elderly women (>50 years old). The qgcomp analysis revealed that the positive effect of mixed metals on SHBG was mainly driven by cadmium, while the negative effect of mixed metals on FAI was mainly driven by lead. Our findings indicate that exposure to heavy metals may disrupt hormonal homeostasis in adults, particularly in older women.

Association between Particulate Matter Pollution Concentration and Hospital Admissions for Hypertension in Ganzhou, China.

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and respirable particulate matter (PM10) are two major air pollutants with toxic effects on the cardiovascular system. Hypertension, as a chronic noncommunicable cardiovascular disease, is also a risk factor for several diseases. We applied generalized linear models with a quasi-Poisson link to assess the effect of air pollution exposure on the number of daily admissions for patients with hypertension. In addition, we established a two-pollutant model to evaluate PM2.5 and PM10 hazard effect stability by adjusting the other gaseous pollutants. Results showed that during the study period, 24 h mean concentrations of ambient PM2.5 and PM10 at 38.17 and 59.84 µg/m3, respectively, and a total of 2,611 hypertension hospital admissions were recorded. Air pollution concentrations significantly affected the number of hospitalizations for hypertension approximately 2 months after exposure. For each 10 µg/m3 increase in PM2.5 and PM10 in single-pollutant models, the number of hospitalizations for hypertension increased by 7.92% (95% CI: 5.48% to 10.42%) and 4.46% (95% CI: 2.86% to 5.65%), respectively, at the lag day with the strongest effect. NO2, O3, CO, and SO2 had different significant effects on the number of hospitalizations over the same time period, and PM2.5 and PM10 still showed robust significant effects after adjustment of gas pollutants through a two-pollutant model. These findings may contribute to a better understanding of the health effects of ambient particulate matter.

Comparison of meatal-based flap (Mathieu) and tubularized incised-plate (TIP) urethroplasties for primary distal hypospadias: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

PURPOSE: We conducted this meta-analysis to compare postoperative outcomes between meatal-based flap (Mathieu) and tubularized incised plate (TIP) techniques for distal hypospadias. METHODS: A comprehensive literature search of PUBMED, Web of Science, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library was conducted. Outcomes evaluated in this review were fistula, meatal stenosis, wound dehiscence and flap necrosis. We calculated odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidential interval (CI) to compare postoperative outcomes between Mathieu and TIP after data extraction and literature identification. All data were analyzed using Review Manager 5.2. In order to find potential affective factors, meta-regression and subgroup analyses were applied. RESULTS: 16 studies, 1386 patients, including 762 patients receiving Mathieu and 624 individuals subjected to TIP met the inclusion criteria. The synthetic data suggested that Mathieu and TIP were comparable in terms of fistula (OR = 0.93; 95% CI: 0.65 to 1.33; P = 0.70, I2 = 14%), wound dehiscence (OR = 0.89; 95% CI: 0.33 to 2.39; P = 0.81, I2 = 11%), and flap necrosis (OR = 1.9; 95% CI: 0.51 to 7.09; P = 0.20, I2 = 38%) without significant heterogeneity for each comparison group. Pooled estimates showed a significantly lower rate of meatal stenosis with Mathieu than with TIP (OR = 0.41; 95% CI: 0.24 to 0.73; P = 0.002, I2 = 4%). Subgroup analyses showed that the difference between Mathieu and TIP was more obvious in the studies published before 2013 in meatal stenosis. The modified Mathieu technique and a running suture for urethroplasty might be relevant to a lower rate of meatal stenosis in the data, although no statistical significance in the present effects model overall was found. One-way sensitivity analysis showed that the results were stable. There was no publication bias detected using both funnel plot and Egger's test. CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis suggested that Mathieu and TIP technique were equivalent for primary distal hypospadias in terms of fistula, wound dehiscence, and flap necrosis. Pooled estimates indicated that there was a lower rate of meatal stenosis with Mathieu rather than with TIP significantly. The modified Mathieu technique and a running suture for urethroplasty might be relevant to a lower rate of meatal stenosis. TYPE OF STUDY: Meta-analysis. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: IV.