Exposure to Radon and Kidney Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Observational Epidemiological Studies.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the possible association between radon exposure and kidney cancer. METHODS: We performed a systematic review and a meta-analysis based on random effect models to provide a pooled association measure. RESULTS: We subjected 8 studies (overall relative risks and 95% confidence intervals: 1.01, 0.72 to 1.43, I2 = 64.4%) to meta-analysis. Subgroup analysis revealed a marginally significant association between radon exposure and kidney cancer in studies conducted in Europe. Two population-based studies provided no evidence for the increased risk of kidney cancer in the general population. CONCLUSION: The association between radon and kidney cancer remains unclear but cannot be excluded because of its biological plausibility and the limited number and quality of existing studies. Additional data from the general population and well-designed miner cohort studies are needed to reveal the real relationship between radon exposure and kidney cancer.

90d Exposure to Nonylphenol has Adverse Effects on the Spermatogenesis and Sperm Maturation of Adult Male Rats.

This study was conducted to elucidate the reproductive effect of NP on testis, epididymis and epididymal sperm in vivo. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were gavaged with NP at 0, 40, 100, or 250 mg/kg body weight (bw) on alternate days for 90 d. The results showed that oral administration of NP may damage the structure and function of testis, induce apoptosis and oxidative stress in epididymis or even have cytotoxic effects on epididymal sperm.

The comparison of survival between active surveillance or watchful waiting and focal therapy for low-risk prostate cancer: a real-world study from the SEER database / 亚洲男科学杂志(英文版)

To reduce treatment-related side effects in low-risk prostate cancer (PCa), both focal therapy and deferred treatments, including active surveillance (AS) and watchful waiting (WW), are worth considering over radical prostatectomy (RP). Therefore, this study aimed to compare long-term survival outcomes between focal therapy and AS/WW. Data were obtained and analyzed from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. Patients with low-risk PCa who received focal therapy or AS/WW from 2010 to 2016 were included. Focal therapy included cryotherapy and laser ablation. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards models were used to compare overall mortality (OM) and cancer-specific mortality (CSM) between AS/WW and focal therapy, and propensity score matching (PSM) was performed to reduce the influence of bias and unmeasured confounders. A total of 19 292 patients with low-risk PCa were included in this study. In multivariate Cox proportional hazards model analysis, the risk of OM was higher in patients receiving focal therapy than those receiving AS/WW (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.35, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.02-1.79, P = 0.037), whereas no significant difference was found in CSM (HR = 0.98, 95% CI: 0.23-4.11, P = 0.977). After PSM, the OM and CSM of focal therapy and AS/WW showed no significant differences (HR = 1.26, 95% CI: 0.92-1.74, P = 0.149; and HR = 1.26, 95% CI: 0.24-6.51, P = 0.782, respectively). For patients with low-risk PCa, focal therapy was no match for AS/WW in decreasing OM, suggesting that AS/WW could bring more overall survival benefits.

Pretreatment elevated fibrinogen level predicts worse oncologic outcomes in upper tract urothelial carcinoma / 亚洲男科学杂志(英文版)

This study aimed to further validate the prognostic role of fibrinogen in upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) in a large Chinese cohort. A total of 703 patients who underwent radical nephroureterectomy were retrospectively identified. Fibrinogen levels of ≥4.025 g l-1 were defined as elevated. Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the association between fibrinogen and adverse pathological features. Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox regression models were used to assess the associations of fibrinogen with cancer-specific survival (CSS), disease recurrence-free survival (RFS), and overall survival (OS). Harrell c-index and decision curve analysis were used to assess the clinical utility of multivariate models. The median follow-up duration was 42 (range: 1-168) months. Logistic regression analysis revealed that elevated fibrinogen was associated with higher tumor stage and grade, lymph node involvement, lymphovascular invasion, sessile carcinoma, concomitant variant histology, and positive surgical margins (all P < 0.05). Multivariate Cox regression analysis demonstrated that elevated fibrinogen was independently associated with decreased CSS (hazard ratio [HR]: 2.33; P < 0.001), RFS (HR: 2.09; P < 0.001), and OS (HR: 2.09; P < 0.001). The predictive accuracies of the multivariate models were improved by 3.2%, 2.0%, and 2.8% for CSS, RFS, and OS, respectively, when fibrinogen was added. Decision curve analysis showed an added benefit for CSS prediction when fibrinogen was added to the model. Preoperative fibrinogen may be a strong independent predictor of worse oncologic outcomes in UTUC; therefore, it may be valuable to apply this marker to the current risk stratification in UTUC.

Residential radon and lung cancer risk: an updated meta- analysis of case-control studies.

BACKGROUND: Numbers of epidemiological studies assessing residential radon exposure and risk of lung cancer have yielded inconsistent results. METHODS: We therefore performed a meta-analysis of relevant published case- control studies searched in the PubMed database through July 2011 to examine the association. The combined odds ratio (OR) were calculated using fixed- or random-effects models. Subgroup and dose-response analyses were also performed. RESULTS: We identified 22 case-control studies of residential radon and lung cancer risk involving 13,380 cases and 21,102 controls. The combined OR of lung cancer for the highest with the lowest exposure was 1.29 (95% CI 1.10-1.51). Dose-response analysis showed that every 100 Bq/m3 increment in residential radon exposure was associated with a significant 7% increase in lung cancer risk. Subgroup analysis displayed a more pronounced association in the studies conducted in Europe. Studies restricted to female or non-smokers demonstrated weakened associations between exposure and lung cancer. CONCLUSIONS: This meta- analysis provides new evidence supporting the conclusion that residential exposure to radon can significantly increase the risk of lung cancer in a dose-response manner.