Finite element analysis of female pelvic organ prolapse mechanism: current landscape and future opportunities.

The prevalence of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) has been steadily increasing over the years, rendering it a pressing global health concern that significantly impacts women's physical and mental wellbeing as well as their overall quality of life. With the advancement of three-dimensional reconstruction and computer simulation techniques for pelvic floor structures, research on POP has progressively shifted toward a biomechanical focus. Finite element (FE) analysis is an established tool to analyze the biomechanics of complex systems. With the advancement of computer technology, an increasing number of researchers are now employing FE analysis to investigate the pathogenesis of POP in women. There is a considerable number of research on the female pelvic FE analysis and to date there has been less review of this technique. In this review article, we summarized the current research status of FE analysis in various types of POP diseases and provided a detailed explanation of the issues and future development in pelvic floor disorders. Currently, the application of FE analysis in POP is still in its exploratory stage and has inherent limitations. Through continuous development and optimization of various technologies, this technique can be employed with greater accuracy to depict the true functional state of the pelvic floor, thereby enhancing the supplementation of the POP mechanism from the perspective of computer biomechanics.

Top 100 most-cited articles on hemorrhoids: A bibliometric analysis and visualized study.

Background: Hemorrhoids have a significant incidence in people and are becoming a common public health problem. This study provides a bibliometric and visualized analysis of the most influential literature in the field. The aim is to reveal trends in the field of hemorrhoids and to provide a reference for researchers. Methods: The 100 most frequently cited studies in the field of hemorrhoids were collected from the Web of Science(WOS), and were analyzed in terms of the annual publication, types of literature, countries, institutions, authors, journals, and keywords. During the study, we used a combination of VosViewer, Carrot2, Microsoft Excel, and Tableau tools to better present the visual information. Results: A total of 4,481 articles were retrieved, of which 3,592 were of the Article and Review types, among which we selected the 100 most frequently cited. A large amount of highly cited literature on hemorrhoid surgery emerged from 1990 to 2010, and the interest of researchers in hemorrhoid surgery seems to have waned after 2010. The sources of highly cited literature in the field of hemorrhoids are predominantly Western, with the United States. and the United Kingdom accounting for almost half of the publications worldwide. However, countries with higher prevalence populations do not have significant research on hemorrhoids. St. Mark's Hospital has published the largest number of influential articles in the field of hemorrhoid disease. Kamm MA and Phillips RKS are the most authoritative authors in the field. Diseases of the Colon & Rectum and the British Journal of Surgery are the most influential journals in this field. The highly cited literature covers a wide range of disciplines, with Thomson's classic "The nature of hemorrhoids" receiving the most attention among the studies focusing on hemorrhoids. Keyword and clustering analysis revealed that The most famous focus in the field of hemorrhoid research is the evolution of stapled hemorrhoidectomy (SH) and Milligan-morgan hemorrhoidectomy (MMH). Conclusions: This study is the first to explore developments in the field of hemorrhoids, and it helps surgeons quickly understand global trends in the field of hemorrhoids. In recent years, the development of hemorrhoids seems to have hit a bottleneck, with scholarly interest in the field of waning, especially in surgery Procedures. The theory of inferior anal cushion migration has proven to be the most influential theory in the field, but after studies based on SH and MMH, more high-quality evidence is needed to continue advancing the field of hemorrhoids. The results of this study are intended to add to the attention and interest of scholars in this area and provide a reference for further research.

Corrigendum to: Aristolochic acid I induces impairment in spermatogonial stem cell in rodents.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1093/toxres/tfab038.].

Aristolochic acid I induces impairment in spermatogonial stem cell in rodents.

Aristolochic acid I (AAI) is a natural bioactive substance found in plants from the Aristolochiaceae family and impairs spermatogenesis. However, whether AAI-induced spermatogenesis impairment starts at the early stages of spermatogenesis has not yet been determined. Spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) are undifferentiated spermatogonia that balance self-renewing and differentiating divisions to maintain spermatogenesis throughout adult life and are the only adult stem cells capable of passing genes onto the next generation. The objective of this study was to investigate whether AAI impairs SSCs during the early stages of spermatogenesis. After AAI treatment, we observed looser, smaller and fewer colonies, decreased cell viability, a decreased relative cell proliferation index, and increased apoptosis in SSCs in a concentration- and/or time-dependent manner. Additionally, AAI promoted apoptosis in SSCs, which was accompanied by upregulation of caspase 3, P53 and BAX expression and downregulation of Bcl-2 expression, and suppressed autophagy, which was accompanied by upregulation of P62 expression and downregulation of ATG5 and LC3B expression, in a concentration-dependent manner. Then we found that AAI impaired spermatogenesis in rats, as identified by degeneration of the seminiferous epithelium, and increased apoptosis of testicular cells. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that AAI causes damage to SSCs and implicate apoptosis and autophagy in this process. The impairment of SSCs may contribute to AAI-induced testicular impairment. Our findings provide crucial information for the human application of botanical products containing trace amounts of AAI.

Enhancement of antroquinonol production during batch fermentation using pH control coupled with an oxygen vector.

BACKGROUND: Antroquinonol, a ubiquinone derivative that shows anticancer and anti-inflammatory activities, is produced during solid-state fermentation of Antrodia camphorata; however, it cannot be biosynthesized via conventional submerged fermentation. RESULTS: A method for enhancing the biosynthesis of antroquinonol by controlling pH and adding an oxygen vector in a 7 L bioreactor was studied. In shake-flask experiments, a maximum antroquinonol production of 31.39 ± 0.78 mg L-1 was obtained by fermentation with adding 0.2 g L-1 coenzyme Q0 (CoQ0 ), at the 96th hour. Following kinetic analysis of the fermentation process, pH control strategies were investigated. A maximum antroquinonol production of 86.47 ± 3.65 mg L-1 was achieved when the pH was maintained at 5.0, which exhibited an increase of 348.03% higher than the batch without pH regulation (19.30 ± 0.88 mg L-1 ). The conversion rate of CoQ0 improved from 1.51% to 20.20%. Further research revealed that the addition of n-tetradecane could increase the production of antroquinonol to 115.62 ± 4.87 mg L-1 by increasing the dissolved oxygen in the fermentation broth. CONCLUSION: The results demonstrated that pH played an important role in antroquinonol synthesis in the presence of the effective precursor CoQ0 . It was a very effective strategy to increase the yield of antroquinonol by controlling pH and adding oxygen vector. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.