Efficacy and Safety of High-Dose Vitamin D Supplementation vs Solifenacin or Standard Urotherapy for Overactive Bladder Dry in Children: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

PURPOSE: We investigated the efficacy and safety of high-dose vitamin D supplementation (VDS) plus standard urotherapy (SU) in managing overactive bladder dry in children. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A 3-arm, randomized clinical trial was performed at an academic center in China between January 2023 and June 2023. Eligible patients (n=303) were randomized to receive 8 weeks of high-dose VDS (vitamin D3 drops encapsulated as soft capsules, 2400 IU/d) plus SU (VDS + SU group; n=100), solifenacin (5-10 mg/d) plus SU (SOL + SU group; n=102), or SU alone (SU group; n=101). Reduction in voiding frequency was the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes encompassed improvement in urgency, nocturia, quality of life score, pediatric lower urinary tract symptom score, and participant satisfaction. Treatment-emergent adverse events were recorded within each group. RESULTS: Participants had a median age of 82.0 months and their baseline mean vitamin D level was 22.64 ng/mL. The VDS + SU group showed greater improvements in voids/d than the SOL + SU group (median difference 3.0; 95% CI, 2.0 to 3.5; P < .001) and the SU group (median difference 4.0; 95% CI, 3.0 to 5.0; P < .001) after intervention. The VDS + SU group also showed the greatest improvement in quality of life and pediatric lower urinary tract symptom scores. Patient satisfaction was similar between the SOL + SU and SU groups. The VDS + SU group did not exhibit a heightened risk of treatment-emergent adverse events compared to the other groups. CONCLUSIONS: High-dose VDS plus SU was effective and well-tolerated in managing overactive bladder dry in children, suggesting its potential as a novel therapeutic option for this population.

Label-free detection of trace level zearalenone in corn oil by surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) coupled with deep learning models.

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and deep learning models were adopted for detecting zearalenone (ZEN) in corn oil. First, gold nanorods were synthesized as a SERS substrate. Second, the collected SERS spectra were augmented to improve the generalization ability of regression models. Third, five regression models, including partial least squares regression (PLSR), random forest regression (RFR), Gaussian progress regression (GPR), one-dimensional convolutional neural networks (1D CNN), and two-dimensional convolutional neural networks (2D CNN), were developed. The results showed that 1D CNN and 2D CNN models possessed the best prediction performance, i.e., determination of prediction set (RP2) = 0.9863 and 0.9872, root mean squared error of prediction set (RMSEP) = 0.2267 and 0.2341, ratio of performance to deviation (RPD) = 6.548 and 6.827, limit of detection (LOD) = 6.81 × 10-4 and 7.24 × 10-4 µg/mL. Therefore, the proposed method offers an ultrasensitive and effective strategy for detecting ZEN in corn oil.

Protective effects of vitamin E against reproductive toxicity induced by di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate via PPAR-dependent mechanisms.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the protective/ameliorative effects of vitamin E on di-2-(ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP)-induced reproductive toxicity, particularly in testicular toxicity in male rats, emphasizing peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-dependent mechanism. METHODS: Sprague-Dawley females were exposed by oral route to DEHP alone or associated with vitamin E from gestation day (GD) 12.5 to postnatal day (PND) 3 according to the following treatment regimens: vehicle control (corn oil), vitamin E (200 mg/kg)+corn oil, DEHP (500 mg/kg)+corn oil, and DEHP (500 mg/kg)+vitamin E (200 mg/kg)+corn oil. Variables including litter size, sex ratio, pup weight, post-implantation losses, and the number of viable pups were also assessed. Three male pups per litter were randomly selected and necropsied to measure paired testes weight, apoptosis, and gene expression on PND 3. To evaluate the long-term protective effects of vitamin E, three randomly selected males were necropsied to measure testis histology on PND 70. RESULTS: Supplementation of vitamin E (200 mg/kg) reduced malformations, increased testes weight and prevented the maternal bodyweight loss induced by DEHP. Litter size, sex ratio, and number of viable pups were unaffected, but vitamin E co-administration declined testicular cell apoptosis, decreased the PPARs expression, and protected testis histology. CONCLUSIONS: Vitamin E cotreatment showed protective effects against DEHP-induced testicular toxicity, including reproductive malformations, testicular weight, apoptosis and histology, and the mechanisms maybe associated with PPARs.