[The application of full-length urethral preservation without anastomosis in single-port laparoscopic radical prostate cancer].

Objective: To preliminarily examine the feasibility and outcome of single-port laparoscopic radical prostatectomy with full-length urethral preservation (FLUP-SPRP). Method: This study was a prospective case series study. A total of 25 patients with prostate cancer who met the enrollment criteria and agreed to this surgical procedure from March 2022 to December 2022 were collected at the Department of Urology, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University. The age of the patients was (67.2±7.6) years (range: 61 to 76 years). This novel procedure was performed by an experienced surgeon who performed single hole radical prostatectomy skillfully. Patient urinary control, tumor control, and related surgical complications after surgery were regularly monitored. Postoperative urinary control was evaluated using the daily amount of urine pad, 0 to 1 piece of urine pad was to restore urinary control, and 0 to 1 piece of pad within 24 hours after catheter removal was immediate urinary control. Result: All prodecures were successfully completed without transit to open surgery. The surgical time was (128.4±22.4) minutes (range: 100 to 145 minutes), the intraoperative blood loss was (68.2±13.7) ml (range: 50 to 120 ml). The urethral injury occurred in 4 cases during surgery and was repaired by sutures. The urinary control recovery rates within 24 hours, 1 week, 4 weeks, and 7 weeks after surgery were 80.0%, 84.0%, 92.0% and 100%, respectively. Postoperative large section pathology revealed 1 case with a positive basal margin of the prostate and negative margins of all prostate glands around the urethra. Postoperative complications included urinary tract infection in 3 cases, urodynia in 2 cases, and acute urinary retention in 1 case. MRI follow-up 3 months after surgery showed normal anatomy of the bladder and urethra. The follow-up values of prostate specific antigen at 3 and 6 months after surgery were less than 0.1 µg/L. Conclusions: The preliminary results of this study indicate that the FLUP-SPRP procedure is safe and feasible. The early results of postoperative urinary control and oncology are as expected.

[Preliminary application of next generation sequencing technique in pathogen identification of foodborne disease].

Objective: To analyze genomic features of pathogens based on next generation sequencing technique in a food-borne disease event. Methods: A total of 11 blood samples, stomach contents before gastric lavage from the death and patients' foods were collected. S. aureus, B. cereus and toxic substances were detected. B. cereus detected in foods were counted. The conserved region of 16 S rDNA gene and ces gene(cereulide) of B. cereus isolates were detected by real-time PCR. Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology was applied to acquire genome sequences of isolates. Different plasmids distribution and comparative genomics analysis with reference sequences in public databases were analyzed. Results: Only B. cereus tested positive in all samples. The counts of B. cereus in Egg fried rice, one food samples, were 1.9×10(7) CFU/g, and the counts of B. cereus in dried and fried fish and brine pork head meat samples were 3.0×10(3) CFU/g both. Ten isolates were carrying hlyⅢ, nheA, nheB, inlA and inhA genes, and nine isolates carried the plcR gene and nine isolates carried the nheC gene. The PCR result of 16 S rDNA gene and ces gene of all isolates were positive. All carried the complete ces genes cluster sequence which were identical to the sequence of plasmid pCER270 (NC_01 0924.1) from strain AH187 in United Kingdom and pNCcld (NC_016792.1) from NC7401 in Japan. The alignment of plasmids turned out the sequence of the isolate differed from the pXO1 and pXO2 plasmids of B. anthracis, but carried the pNCcld plasmid containing the ces genes cluster. The phylogenetic tree based on genomic sequences of ten isolates showed high similarity (distances in phylogenetic tree from 2.0×10(-6)-9.0×10(-6)) to each other and to the B. cereus strains AH187 and NC7401 (MLST ST26 type, distances in phylogenetic tree from 3.8×10(-5)-4.5×10(-5)). Conclusion: The foodborne disease event was caused by vomiting type Bacillus cereus without plasmid pXO1 and pXO2 contaminated egg fried rice. The vomiting-type food poisoning caused by B. Cereus globally is probably associated with ST26, ST164 and other strains harboring ces gene.

Comparison of imaging features and diagnostic values of MRI, CT and contrast-enhanced ultrasonography in the diagnosis of cervical carcinoma staging.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed at exploring and contrasting the clinical significances and values of MRI, CT and contrast-enhanced ultrasonography in FIGO staging of cervical carcinoma. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The contrast-enhanced ultrasonography, CT and MRI imaging data of 348 patients with cervical carcinoma confirmed by clinical pathology were analyzed retrospectively and contrasted with pathological findings. RESULTS: The total accuracy of MRI in cervical carcinoma staging was 79.89% (278/348), and the diagnostic accuracy of MRI in stage IB, stage II, stage III and stage IV of cervical carcinoma was 74.29% (26/35), 75.74% (153/202), 85.25% (52/61), 94.00% (47/50), respectively. The total accuracy of CT in cervical carcinoma staging was 73.28% (255/348), and the diagnostic accuracy of CT in stage IB, stage II, stage III and stage IV of cervical carcinoma was 60.00% (21/35), 69.80% (141/202), 78.69% (48/61), 94.00% (45/50), respectively. The total accuracy of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography in cervical carcinoma staging was 57.47% (200/348), and the diagnostic accuracy of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography in stage IB, stage II, stage III and stage IV of cervical carcinoma was 37.14% (13/35), 50.99% (103/202), 70.49% (43/61), 82.00% (41/50), respectively. The accuracy of MRI in the diagnosis of stage IB, stage II of cervical carcinoma was higher than that of CT and contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (p<0.05), and the diagnostic accuracy of CT was higher than that of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (p<0.05). The differences among the three methods were statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: According to the results of pathological sections, there were statistically significant differences among the sensitivity and specificity of MRI, CT and contrast-enhanced ultrasonography in the diagnosis of stage IB and stage II (p<0.05). MRI has high diagnostic values in the differentiation and diagnosis of cervical carcinoma staging.

Insignificant influence of the matrix on the melting of incoherently embedded tin and zinc nanoparticles.

For studying the melting point depression of metals, isolated metallic nanoparticles embedded in a matrix are usually prepared by mechanical milling. Al is the main available matrix material. In this work, to explore possible alternative matrices for further investigation of melting, mechanically milled metal-nonmetal systems are developed, namely Sn-LiF, Zn-LiF and Zn-Al2O3. The outcome indicates that different matrices do not have a significantly different influence on the melting of Sn and Zn. Theoretical analyses of both the thermodynamics and kinetics of surface-induced melting may support this experimental finding.

[Cell activities in primate areas F2 and F4 of the monkey during memorized spatial motor task].

Single-cell activities were recorded in the area F2 of dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) and area F4 of ventral premotor cortex (PMv) while a monkey was performing a memorized spatial motor task of sequence (MSS). For the task of MSS-G, using green light as a cue during the cue period, 78.2% and 41.5% of the task-related neurons exhibited changes in activities in the areas F2 and F4, respectively( (2) 15.2, P<0.005), whereas there were more neurons exhibiting changes in activities in F4 than in F2 during the image and the touch periods. The differences were both statistically significant. Similar results were obtained for the task of MSS-R using red light as a cue. Furthermore, there were more cells responding to the cue signal in F2 than in F4, while the situation was reversed during the image and touch periods. The present findings indicate that neurons in the PMd and PMv examined are differentially involved in the MSS task.

[Changes of inhibitory amino acid in the monkey frontal cortex during a figure recognition guided sequential movement task].

The levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glycine (Gly) in the micro-dialysate from the monkey frontal cortex were measured by using the techniques of intracerebral microdialysis and high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescent detection while the animal was performing the Figure Recognition Motor Sequence (FRS) task. The probes were sited in the prefrontal cortex (PFC, 46 area), premotor cortex (PM, F7 and F2 areas) and primary motor cortex (MI, F1 area). The results showed that the level of GABA in PFC increased during the FRS task, whereas the level of Gly showed no significant changes.

[Cell activities in primate areas F2 and F4 of the monkey during sequential motor task guided by recognition of figures].

Single-unit activities were recorded in the area F2 of dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) and area F4 of ventral premotor cortex (PMv) while a monkey was performing a sequential motor task guided by recognition of figures (FRS). During the cue period, 52% (39/75) and 16.9% (13/77) of the task-related neurons exhibited changes in activities in the areas F2 and F4, respectively. During the touch period, 51% (38/75) and 87% (67/77) of the task-related neurons exhibited changes in activities in the areas F2 and F4, respectively. There were more cells responding to the cue signal in F2 than in F4 (X(2) 20.8, P<0.005). In contrast, there were more cells responding during the touch period in F4 than in F2 (X(2) 23.5, P<0.005). The present findings indicate that a lot of neurons in the PMd and PMv are differently involved in the FRS task.

Use of site-directed mutagenesis to define the limits of sequence variation tolerated for processing of the M13 procoat protein by the Escherichia coli leader peptidase.

Leader peptidase cleaves the leader sequence from the amino terminus of newly made membrane and secreted proteins after they have translocated across the membrane. Analysis of a large number of leader sequences has shown that there is a characteristic pattern of small apolar residues at -1 and -3 (with respect to the cleavage site) and a helix-breaking residue adjacent to the central apolar core in the region -4 to -6. The conserved sequence pattern of small amino acids at -1 and -3 around the cleavage site most likely represents the substrate specificity of leader peptidase. We have tested this by generating 60 different mutations in the +1 to -6 domain of the M13 procoat protein. These mutants were analyzed for in vivo and in vitro processing, as well as for protein insertion into the cytoplasmic membrane. We find that in vivo leader peptidase was able to process procoat with an alanine, a serine, a glycine, or a proline residue at -1 and with a serine, a glycine, a threonine, a valine, or a leucine residue at -3. All other alterations at these sites were not processed, in accordance with predictions based on the conserved features of leader peptides. Except for proline and threonine at +1, all other residues at this position were processed by leader peptidase. None of the mutations at -2, -4, or -5 of procoat (apart from proline at -4) completely abolished leader peptidase cleavage in vivo although there were large effects on the kinetics of processing.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

A critical role for complement in maintenance of self-tolerance.

The role of complement in the maintenance of self-tolerance has been examined in two models: an immunoglobulin transgenic model of peripheral tolerance and a lupus-like murine model of CD95 (Fas) deficiency. We find that self-reactive B lymphocytes deficient in complement receptors CD21/CD35 or transferred into mice deficient in the complement protein C4 are not anergized by soluble self-antigen. In the second model, deficiency in CD21/CD35 or C4 combined with CD95 deficiency results in high titers of anti-nuclear antibodies leading to severe lupus-like disease. These findings suggest a novel role for the complement system in B cell tolerance and provide insight into the genetic association of complement deficiency with susceptibility to systemic lupus erythematosus.