Dysregulated palmitic acid metabolism promotes the formation of renal calcium-oxalate stones through ferroptosis induced by polyunsaturated fatty acids/phosphatidic acid.

The pathogenesis of renal calcium-oxalate (CaOx) stones is complex and influenced by various metabolic factors. In parallel, palmitic acid (PA) has been identified as an upregulated lipid metabolite in the urine and serum of patients with renal CaOx stones via untargeted metabolomics. Thus, this study aimed to mechanistically assess whether PA is involved in stone formation. Lipidomics analysis of PA-treated renal tubular epithelial cells compared with the control samples revealed that α-linoleic acid and α-linolenic acid were desaturated and elongated, resulting in the formation of downstream polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). In correlation, the levels of fatty acid desaturase 1 and 2 (FADS1 and FADS2) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (PPARα) in these cells treated with PA were increased relative to the control levels, suggesting that PA-induced upregulation of PPARα, which in turn upregulated these two enzymes, forming the observed PUFAs. Lipid peroxidation occurred in these downstream PUFAs under oxidative stress and Fenton Reaction. Furthermore, transcriptomics analysis revealed significant changes in the expression levels of ferroptosis-related genes in PA-treated renal tubular epithelial cells, induced by PUFA peroxides. In addition, phosphatidyl ethanolamine binding protein 1 (PEBP1) formed a complex with 15-lipoxygenase (15-LO) to exacerbate PUFA peroxidation under protein kinase C ζ (PKC ζ) phosphorylation, and PKC ζ was activated by phosphatidic acid derived from PA. In conclusion, this study found that the formation of renal CaOx stones is promoted by ferroptosis of renal tubular epithelial cells resulting from PA-induced dysregulation of PUFA and phosphatidic acid metabolism, and PA can promote the renal adhesion and deposition of CaOx crystals by injuring renal tubular epithelial cells, consequently upregulating adhesion molecules. Accordingly, this study provides a new theoretical basis for understanding the correlation between fatty acid metabolism and the formation of renal CaOx stones, offering potential targets for clinical applications.

Particle nature of the photonic spin Hall effect.

It is widely recognized that light exhibits a wave-particle duality. However, the explanation for the photonic spin Hall effect (PSHE) primarily relies on the wave nature of light as dictated by Maxwell's Equations. There is a lack of exploration into the particle nature of light in this regard. In this context, we offer a fresh interpretation of the PSHE from the perspective of particle nature of light. For the out-of-plane PSHE, the spin shifts result from the macroscopic manifestation of the conservation of spin-orbital angular momentum of one photon. For the in-plane PSHE, the spin shifts arise from the spread of in-plane wavevector. Based on the wave nature of light, we also obtain the same spin shifts, confirming the consistency of the wave-particle duality of light. Furthermore, we find that the spin shifts of the PSHE are not the overall displacement of photons with the same handedness, but the outcome of coherent superposition among photons of the same handedness. These discoveries further enhance our comprehension of the fundamental nature of the PSHE.

Vacuum-assisted dedusting lithotripsy in the treatment of kidney and proximal ureteral stones less than 3 cm in size.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to compare the outcomes of vacuum-assisted dedusting lithotripsy (VADL) using flexible vacuum-assisted ureteral access sheath (FV-UAS) versus traditional flexible ureteroscopic lithotripsy (fURL) in patients with kidney or proximal ureteral calculi less than 3 cm in size. METHODS: A total of 371 patients who successfully underwent fURL treatment were enrolled. These patients were divided into traditional fURL group and VADL group. Outcomes of both groups were compared using 1:1 propensity score-matched analysis. Stratified analyses based on stone size and location were also conducted. RESULTS: Finally, 103 well-matched patients in each group were identified. No septic shock or death occurred. The immediate stone-free rate (SFR) and follow-up SFR of VADL group were significantly higher (78.6% vs. 50.5%, p < 0.001; 94.2%% vs. 75.7%, p < 0.001). No difference was observed in postoperative fever rate (2.9% vs. 3.9%, p = 1.000) and duration of lithotripsy (37.7 ± 20.1 min vs. 40.3 ± 18.9 min, p = 0.235). For patients with stones ≤ 2 cm in size, the immediate SFR and follow-up SFR in VADL group were higher (86.7% vs. 60.6%, p < 0.001; 96.0% vs. 83.1%, p = 0.010). The same trend was observed in the 2-3 cm subgroup (57.1% vs. 28.1%, p = 0.023; 89.3% vs. 59.4%, p = 0.009). Although the in situ fragmentation strategy was employed more frequently in VADL group for lower pole stones, the SFR was still higher. Subgroup analyses did not reveal any significant differences in either infectious complications or duration of lithotripsy. CONCLUSION: VADL technique can significantly improve the postoperative SFR for the patients with kidney or proximal ureteral stones less than 3 cm in size treated by flexible ureteroscope.

A modified triangular Double-J stent for retrograde intrarenal surgery improvement of free-stone rate, and quality of life: a randomized controlled, multiple centers, perspective trial.

PURPOSE: The goal of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of modified triangular double-J (DJ) stent in 1-2 cm renal or ureter calculi after retrograde intrarenal surgery (RIRS) via a randomized, controlled clinical study. METHODS: A total of 196 patients with 1-2 cm renal or ureter calculi who were performed RIRS and received 7Fr modified triangular DJ stents (100 cases) or 6Fr normal DJ stents (96 cases). All operations were performed by experienced surgeons. The clinical characteristics and outcomes were analyzed. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between two groups in terms of age, gender, BMI, location, hydronephrosis, urea WBC, urea RBC, BUN, Cr, laser emission time, operation time, Hb loss, postoperative BUN, postoperative Cr. Patients who received modified triangular DJ stents were shown to have higher stone-free rate (p = 0.038), but lower general health (p = 0.004). CONCLUSION: The modified triangular 7Fr DJ stents were more efficient for patients underwent RIRS than 6Fr normal DJ stents.

Characteristics of and antibiotic resistance in urinary tract pathogens isolated from patients with upper urinary tract stones.

To investigate the distribution characteristics and antibiotic resistance patterns of uropathogens in patients with upper urinary calculi and urinary tract infections, data on sex, age, positive midstream urine culture results and drug sensitivity results were collected. The statistical program SPSS 26.0 was used for statistical analysis. Among the 1414 positive urine samples, the most common pathogens were Escherichia coli (36.4%), Enterococcus faecalis (13.8%), Staphylococcus epidermidis (7.5%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (5.0%), Streptococcus agalactiae (3.4%) and Enterococcus faecium (3.3%). The incidences of E. coli (48.6%), K. pneumoniae (6.3%) and Proteus mirabilis (4.2%) were higher in female patients than in male patients (23.2%, 3.5%, 0.6%, respectively; P<0.05). E. faecalis was detected more frequently in the young group (16.0%) than in the elderly group (11.2%; P<0.01). Most of the isolates were resistant to levofloxacin and ciprofloxacin, while few were resistant to imipenem, meropenem, cefoperazone/sulbactam, piperacillin/tazobactam and amikacin. The bacterial spectra in patients with urinary stones varied by sex and age, which should be taken into consideration during treatment. The proportion of E. faecium showed an upward trend, while those of S. epidermidis and S. agalactiae demonstrated downward trends in the study period. Regardless, carbapenems, cefoperazone/sulbactam, piperacillin/tazobactam and amikacin are good choices for serious cases.

Transformation from asymmetric spin splitting to symmetric spin splitting with phase compensation in photonic spin Hall effect.

Generally, when an arbitrary polarized light beam is reflected or refracted from an isotropic interface, the spin splitting in photonic spin Hall effect (SHE) shows asymmetry properties. In this paper, we theoretically propose a phase compensation scheme to achieve the transformation from asymmetric spin splitting to symmetric spin splitting in photonic SHE. We experimentally acquire the spin splitting after phase compensation in the case of a 45 degrees linear polarized Gaussian light beam totally internally reflected from a prism-air interface. Particularly, whether or not phase compensation, the transverse shift of total barycenter of reflected field [i.e., the Imbert-Fedorov (IF) shift] does not change. These findings can solve this problem that asymmetric spin splitting cannot be observed by weak measurements.

Study on the pathogenesis and prevention strategies of kidney stones based on GC-MS combined with metabolic pathway analysis.

RATIONALE: Most kidney stone composition analyses include organic compounds, and only few organic volatile compounds have been reported. METHODS: In the present study, a novel approach for studying the pathogenesis and prevention of kidney stones was established. First, common organic volatile compounds were detected using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) in 137 kidney stone samples. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes database and MetaboAnalyst 5.0 software were then used to analyze the metabolic pathways associated with the development of kidney stones. RESULTS: The metabolic pathway analysis of the common component cholesterol revealed that two metabolic pathways, the steroid biosynthesis pathway and the primary bile acid biosynthesis pathway, were closely associated with the formation of kidney stones. The pretreatment process for stone analysis, including the solvent type, solvent volume, and extraction time, was optimized to improve the detection efficiency. The calibration curve was y = 756 299x - 8 000 000, with a correlation coefficient (r) of 0.9992, which was obtained over the concentration range of 10-500 µg ml-1 of cholesterol. The recovery values of cholesterol ranged from 93.34% to 94.67%, 96.98% to 99.23%, and 87.27% to 93.00% when spiked with 0.75, 1.00, and 1.25 µg, respectively, with a relative standard deviation of no less than 3.18%. Finally, the content of common compounds was determined in 37 renal stone samples using the modified GC-MS method. CONCLUSIONS: The common organic volatile compound in the kidney stone samples detected using GC-MS was cholesterol, and the steroid biosynthesis and primary bile acid biosynthesis pathways were determined to be closely associated with the formation of kidney stones. The GC-MS method for detecting cholesterol in kidney stones was optimized for efficiency and accuracy.

Weak measurements of the waist of an arbitrarily polarized beam via in-plane spin splitting.

As an important parameter to determine the transmission characteristics of a Gaussian beam, the beam waist holds a huge impact in laser technology and imaging systems. Although it is necessary to clearly measure the specific value of the beam waist, the traditional measurement steps are complex and easily introduce error in the measurement process. In this work, we propose an effective method using the in-plane spin splitting (IPSS) generated by the photonic spin Hall effect (PSHE) to precisely estimate the beam waist. We establish a highly sensitive propagation model to describe the relationship between the IPSS shifts and the beam waist of an arbitrary linearly polarized light and then combine with the quantum weak measurement system to amplify the IPSS shifts. We reveal that the IPSS shifts are sensitive to the variation of beam waists when the beam is reflected near the Brewster angle. With the huge amplified IPSS shifts (maximum of 1500 microns), the variation of beam waist can be accurately detected, even by propagation amplification alone. Prospectively, our scheme may provide an effective method for accurately determining the Gaussian beam waist of arbitrary polarization.

Detection of magneto-optical Kerr signals via weak measurement with frequency pointer.

Detection of the magneto-optical Kerr effect with high precision is of great significance but has challenges in the field of magnetic physics and spintronic devices. Kerr rotation angle and Kerr ellipticity always coexist and are difficult to distinguish, which jointly determines the light intensity received by the detector and limits the improvement of measurement precision. In this Letter, a nonlinear weak measurement scheme for magneto-optical Kerr signals with a frequency pointer is proposed. The Kerr rotation and Kerr ellipticity can be separately detected by constructing different pre-selections and choosing the appropriate coupling strength. Moreover, two signals obtained through the weak measurement scheme have higher precision and signal-to-noise ratio compared with the standard polarimetry scheme. Our method may have important applications in the field of magneto-optic parameters measurement or magnetic sensors.

Novel Use of a Modified Triangular Prismatic Double-J Stent for 2- to 3-cm Renal Stones after One-Stage Retrograde Intrarenal Surgery.

OBJECTIVES: To initially evaluate the outcomes of the modified triangular prismatic double-J (DJ) stent in the management of 2- to 3-cm renal stones after one-stage retrograde intrarenal surgery (RIRS). METHODS: Patients with 2- to 3-cm renal stones who underwent one-stage RIRS with indwelling DJ stents were retrospectively evaluated. Eighty-eight patients who were placed the triangular prismatic DJ stents and 64 patients who received standard DJ stents were randomly included. The clinical characteristics and intraoperative and postoperative outcomes of the 2 groups were compared and analyzed. RESULTS: The 2 groups had similar baseline characteristics. The urinary symptom score and pain score did not differ between groups (p > 0.05). The residual fragments of the 2 groups were similar 1 day after operation (p = 0.134). There was no significant difference in residual fragments in the lower calyx between groups at the time of stent removal (p = 0.834). The patients in the modified group had better spontaneous passage of residual fragments in the nonlower calyx than those in the standard group during the 2 weeks with the stents (p = 0.005). Fewer patients in the modified group had residual fragments (>4 mm) in the nonlower calyx (p = 0.026) and ureter (p = 0.010) than the patients with standard stents at the time of stent removal. CONCLUSION: The indwelling triangular prismatic DJ stent is a safe and efficient treatment method. Patients with these stents had better spontaneous residual fragment passage than those with the standard DJ stents.

Tunable in-plane and transverse spin angular shifts in layered dielectric structure.

The photonic spin Hall effect (SHE) manifests itself as the spin-dependent spatial and angular shifts. There are some ways for controlling the spatial shifts, however, lacks an effective method for manipulating angular shifts. In this work, we propose a simple and effective way for manipulating the spin angular shifts in photonic SHE by considering the light beam reflected at the air-layered structure interface. We theoretically derive the general expressions of the in-plane and transverse spin angular shifts in this layered structure. It is found that the in-plane and transverse spin angular shifts can be effectively regulated by adjusting the structure parameters of layered model, including amplifying or suppressing the magnitude of the angular shifts and switching their signs. Interestingly, the in-plane angular shifts can be adjusted from spin-independent to spin-dependent or vice versa when the polarization state of the incident beam varies. Importantly, as for the incident beam with vertical polarization, a near-zero reflection angle similar to Brewster angle appears. In the vicinity of this point, the large spin angular shifts can be explored.

Large in-plane asymmetric spin angular shifts of a light beam near the critical angle.

The photonic spin Hall effect (SHE) manifests itself as the transverse and in-plane spin-dependent shifts of a light beam. Normally, the spin shifts are tiny due to the weak spin-orbit coupling. Therefore, it is very important and interesting to explore some effective methods for enhancing this phenomenon. In this Letter, we theoretically propose and experimentally verify a simple method for obtaining large and asymmetric in-plane spin angular shifts when an arbitrary linearly polarized beam reflects near the critical angle (for total internal reflection). The universal expressions of spatial and angular shifts are deduced. Remarkably, by modulating the incident and polarization angles, the left- and right-handed circularly polarized components can be distinguished directly.

Unveiling the spin Hall effect of light in Imbert-Fedorov shift at the Brewster angle with weak measurements.

The Imbert-Fedorov (IF) shift is defined as the transverse shift of barycenter of the entire beam when a circular or elliptically polarized incident beam is reflected. In this work, we examine the IF shift of Gaussian beam at the Brewster angle. Interestingly, the spin Hall effect of light takes place in the IF shift at the same time. Furthermore, this interesting phenomenon is experimentally observed using weak measurements. These findings may have useful applications in spin optics.

Precision improvement of surface plasmon resonance sensors based on weak-value amplification.

In this paper, a method to improve the precision of prism-coupler-based surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors using weak-value amplification (WVA) is presented. A general theory model to describe the post-selected SPR sensing system is established and the polarization-dependent amplitude and phase evolutions induced by the SPR are regarded as the weak interactions in the WVA formalism. As a consequence of WVA, the detected signal can be enhanced with respect to the technical noise which is dependent on the post-selected light intensity. The precision of our method reaches 2.9 × 10-7RIU, which is improved nearly one order of magnitude compared to the conventional sensing technique.

Estimation of optical rotation of chiral molecules with weak measurements.

From its beginning, the measurement of optical rotation (OR) is crucial for the analysis of chiral molecules in many fields. However, the precision measurement of a weak OR signal with conventional setup remains elusive. In this Letter, we experimentally propose a precision method to determine the OR of glucose and fructose based on weak measurements. By using the spin Hall effect of light (SHEL) as a probe, a nonlinear weak measurements model is established that is applicable beyond the Aharonov-Albert-Vaidman (AAV) limit. Due to the high sensitivity of weak measurements amplification with respect to the OR, a tremendous variation of the amplified beam displacement of the SHEL is observed, while the concentration of glucose and fructose is slightly changed.

The comparison of perioperative outcomes of robot-assisted and open partial nephrectomy: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Robot-assisted partial nephrectomy (RAPN) has been widely used worldwide, to determine whether RAPN is a safe and effective alternative to open partial nephrectomy (OPN) via the comparison of RANP and OPN. METHODS: A comprehensive literature search was performed within the databases including PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Embase updated on 30 September 2015. Summary data with their corresponding 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using a random effects or fixed effects model. Heterogeneity and publication bias were also evaluated. RESULTS: A total of 16 comparative studies including 3024 cases were used for this meta-analysis. There are no significant differences in the demographic characteristic between the two groups, but the age was lower and the tumor size was smaller for the RAPN group. RAPN had a longer operative time and warm ischemia time but which showed less estimated blood loss, hospital stay, and perioperative complications. No differences existed in the margin status, the change of glomerular filtration rate, transfusion rate, and conversion rate between the two groups. There was no significant publication bias. CONCLUSIONS: RAPN offered a lower rate of perioperative complications, less estimated blood loss, and shorter length of hospital stay than OPN, suggesting that RAPN can be an effective alternative to OPN. Well-designed prospective randomized controlled trials will be helpful in validating our findings.

Expression of long noncoding RNA lncRNA-n336928 is correlated with tumor stage and grade and overall survival in bladder cancer.

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been implicated playing important roles in human urologic cancers. In the present study, microarray analysis was initially performed to screen the differentially expressed lncRNAs between bladder cancer tissues and paired adjacent non-cancerous tissues (n = 3). Subsequent qRT-PCR validation was conducted using tissue samples from 95 patients with bladder cancer. Results showed that the expression level of lncRNA-n336928 (noncode database ID: n336928) was significantly higher in bladder cancer tissues compared to that in adjacent noncancerous tissues (P < 0.001). Chi-square test showed that expression of lncRNA-n336928 was positively correlated with bladder tumor stage and histological grade (P < 0.001). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis revealed that patients with bladder cancer with high expression of lncRNA-n336928 had shorter overall survival time compared to the patients with low expression of lncRNA-n336928. Multivariate analysis indicated that lncRNA-n336928 was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival for bladder cancer patients. Collectively, our study shows that high expression of lncRNA-n336928 is associated with the progression of bladder cancer, and that lncRNA-n336928 might serve as a biomarker for prognosis of bladder cancer.

Diffraction-dependent spin splitting in spin Hall effect of light on reflection.

We report on a diffraction-dependent spin splitting of the paraxial Gaussian light beams on reflection theoretically and experimentally. In the case of horizontal incident polarization, the spin splitting is proportional to the diffraction length of light beams near the Brewster angle. However, the spin splitting is nearly independent with the diffraction length for the vertical incident polarization. By means of the angular spectrum theory, we find that the diffraction-dependent spin splitting is attributed to the first order expansion term of the reflection coefficients with respect to the transverse wave-vector which is closely related to the diffraction length.

Incident-polarization-sensitive and large in-plane-photonic-spin-splitting at the Brewster angle.

In this Letter, we report a phenomenon of large in-plane-photonic-spin-splitting (IPPSS) in the case of a linear polarized Gaussian light beam reflected from an air-glass interface at the Brewster angle. The IPPSS-induced displacement reaches ∼12.4 µm, which is quite larger than the previously reported value. Particularly, the IPPSS is extremely sensitive (∼70 µm/deg) to the incident polarization. We also find that the direction of the spin accumulation can be switched by adjusting the incident polarization slightly. These findings may have useful applications in spin manipulation and precise polarization metrology.

Genetic variations rs11892031 and rs401681 are associated with bladder cancer risk in a Chinese population.

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified a number of genetic variants associated with risk of bladder cancer in populations of European descent. Here, we assessed association of two of these variants, rs11892031 (2q37.1 region) and rs401681 (5p15.33 region) in a Chinese case-control study, which included 367 bladder cancer cases and 420 controls. We found that the AC genotype of rs11892031 was associated with remarkably decreased risk of bladder cancer (adjusted odds ratio (OR), 0.27; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.09-0.81; p=0.019), compared with the AA genotype of rs11892031; and that CT/CC genotypes of rs401681 were associated with significantly increased risk of bladder cancer (adjusted OR, 1.79; 95% CI, 1.10-2.91; p=0.02), compared with the TT genotype of rs401681. We further conducted stratification analysis to examine the correlation between single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs11892031/rs401681 and tumor grade/stage. Results showed that heterogeneity in ORs of tumor categories was not significant for either rs11892031 or rs401681 (p>0.05), indicating that the two SNPs seemingly do not associate with tumor grade and stage of bladder cancer in our study population. The present study suggests that the SNPs rs11892031 and rs401681 are associated with bladder cancer risk in a Chinese population. Future analyses will be conducted with more participants recruited in a case-control study.