Emodin attenuates hypoxic-ischemic brain damage by inhibiting neuronal apoptosis in neonatal mice.

Neonatal hypoxic-ischemic brain damage (HIBD) can lead to mortality and severe neurological dysfunction. Emodin is a natural anthraquinone derivative that is easy to obtain and has good neuroprotective effects. This study aimed to investigate the neuroprotective effect of emodin on neonatal mouse HIBD. The modified Rice-Vannucci method was used to induce HIBD in mouse pups. Eighty postnatal 7-day (P7) C57BL/6 neonatal mice were randomly divided into the sham group (sham), vehicle group (vehicle), and emodin group (emodin). TTC staining and whole-brain morphology were used to evaluate the infarct volume and morphology of the brain tissue. The condition of the neurons was observed through Nissl staining, HE staining, FJC staining, immunofluorescence and Western blot for NeuN, IBA-1, and GFAP. The physiological status of the mice was evaluated using weight measurements. The neural function of the mice was assessed using the negative geotaxis test, righting reflex test, and grip test. TUNEL staining was used to detect apoptosis in brain cells. Finally, Western blot and immunofluorescence were used to detect the expression levels of apoptosis-related proteins, such as P53, cleaved caspase-3, Bax and Bcl-2, in the brain. Experiments have shown that emodin can reduce the cerebral infarct volume, brain oedema, neuronal apoptosis, and degeneration and improve the reconstruction of brain tissue morphology, neuronal morphology, physiological conditions, and neural function. Additionally, emodin inhibited the expression of proapoptotic proteins such as P53, Bax and cleaved caspase-3 and promoted the expression of the antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2. Emodin attenuates HIBD by inhibiting neuronal apoptosis in neonatal mice.

A modified sling mid-urethral suspension + subcutaneous tunnel-double point fixation technique for male stress urinary incontinence: a pilot study.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of a modified sling mid-urethral suspension + subcutaneous tunnel-double point fixation technique for the treatment of male urinary incontinence and to preliminarily evaluate the short-term clinical efficacy of this technique. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The clinical data of patients treated with the modified sling mid-urethral suspension + subcutaneous tunnel-double point fixation technique using a Pelvimesh pelvic floor repair patch as a sling were collected. The primary evaluation criteria were surgery-related indicators and daily urinal pad usage before and after treatment, and the secondary evaluation criteria were the corresponding incontinence scores and the results of surgery-related questionnaires. RESULTS: After 1-12 months of follow-up, seven patients were clinically cured. Follow-up 1 month after surgery showed that one patient (14.3%) used one pad daily, and six patients (85.7%) did not need pads. The incontinence quality of life questionnaire (I-QOL) scores at 3 days and 1 month postoperatively were 89.4 ± 2.5 and 88.1 ± 6.7, respectively, which were significantly higher than the preoperative scores (31.5 ± 18.9) (P < 0.05). The scores of the International Continence Control Association Incontinence Questionnaire Short Form (ICI-Q-SF) at 3 days and 1 month postoperatively were 3.2 ± 0.9 and 4.2 ± 1.7, respectively, which were significantly lower than the preoperative scores of 19.4 ± 5.0 (P < 0.05). In addition, the results of the surgery-related questionnaires were positive. No serious complications occurred in any of the patients. CONCLUSION: The modified sling mid-urethral suspension + subcutaneous tunnel-double point fixation technique for the treatment of male urinary incontinence patients is safe, effective, minimally invasive, and has few complications. However, further validation in large sample, randomized, comparative, and longer-term follow-up studies is still needed.

Correlation of serum circulating testosterone levels with stress urinary incontinence in postmenopausal women.

OBJECTIVES: Our study aimed to elucidate the possible relationship between endogenous circulating testosterone and the beginning and development of stress urinary incontinence (SUI) in postmenopausal women. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The clinical data of female patients with SUI who underwent surgery at our hospital from January 2014 to February 2023 and healthy female volunteers recruited during the same period were retrospectively analyzed according to age and body mass index (BMI). Venous blood samples were taken from all subjects, and levels of estradiol, luteinizing hormone, prolactin, follicle-stimulating hormone, progesterone, and testosterone were measured by radioimmunoassay. After adjusting for age, BMI, hypertension, mode of delivery, hysterectomy, and profession, multiple logistic regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between SUI and serum testosterone levels in postmenopausal women. RESULTS: Serum testosterone levels were significantly lower in women with SUI than in healthy control women (0.92 ± 0.67 vs. 1.28 ± 1.10; P < 0.05). Further comparison of testosterone levels between postmenopausal SUI women and healthy postmenopausal women in postmenopausal subjects revealed that testosterone levels were significantly lower in postmenopausal SUI women than in healthy postmenopausal women (0.84 ± 0.64 vs. 1.23 ± 1.10; P < 0.05). This difference in testosterone levels remained significant after controlling for age, BMI, hypertension, mode of delivery, hysterectomy, and profession in postmenopausal women. CONCLUSION: The results of the present study indicate that low levels of serum testosterone are associated with an increased likelihood of stress urinary incontinence in women. Low serum testosterone levels may be a risk factor for SUI in postmenopausal women.

Neuroprotective Mechanism of Icariin on Hypoxic Ischemic Brain Damage in Neonatal Mice.

Objective: Our previous results showed that icariin (ICA) could inhibit apoptosis and provide neuroprotection against hypoxic-ischemic brain damage (HIBD) in neonatal mice, but the specific mechanism of its neuroprotective effect remains unknown. This study aims at exploring whether ICA plays a neuroprotective role in apoptosis inhibition by regulating autophagy through the estrogen receptor α (ERα)/estrogen receptor ß (ERß) pathway in neonatal mice with HIBD. Methods: A neonatal mouse model of HIBD was constructed in vivo, and an oxygen and glucose deprivation (OGD) model in HT22 cells from the hippocampal neuronal system was constructed in vitro. The effects of ICA pretreatment on autophagy and the expression of ERα and ERß were detected in vitro and in vivo, respectively. ICA pretreatment was also supplemented with the autophagy inhibitor 3-methyladenine (3-MA), ERα inhibitor methylpiperidino pyrazole (MPP), and ERß inhibitor 4-(2-phenyl-5,7-bis (trifluoromethyl) pyrazolo [1,5-a] pyramidin-3-yl) phenol (PHTPP) to further detect whether ICA pretreatment can activate the ERα/ERß pathway to promote autophagy and reduce HIBD-induced apoptosis to play a neuroprotective role against HIBD in neonatal mice. Results: ICA pretreatment significantly promoted autophagy in HIBD mice. Treatment with 3-MA significantly inhibited the increase in autophagy induced by ICA pretreatment, reversed the neuroprotective effect of ICA pretreatment, and promoted apoptosis. Moreover, ICA pretreatment significantly increased the expression levels of the ERα and ERß proteins in HIBD newborn mice. Both MPP and PHTPP administration significantly inhibited the expression levels of the ERα and ERß proteins activated by ICA pretreatment, reversed the neuroprotective effects of ICA pretreatment, inhibited the increase in autophagy induced by ICA pretreatment, and promoted apoptosis. Conclusion: ICA pretreatment may promote autophagy by activating the ERα and ERß pathways, thus reducing the apoptosis induced by HIBD and exerting a neuroprotective effect on neonatal mice with HIBD.

Combined model of radiomics and clinical features for differentiating pneumonic-type mucinous adenocarcinoma from lobar pneumonia: An exploratory study.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to distinguish pneumonic-type mucinous adenocarcinoma (PTMA) from lobar pneumonia (LP) by pre-treatment CT radiological and clinical or radiological parameters. Methods: A total of 199 patients (patients diagnosed with LP = 138, patients diagnosed with PTMA = 61) were retrospectively evaluated and assigned to either the training cohort (n = 140) or the validation cohort (n = 59). Radiomics features were extracted from chest CT plain images. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to develop a radiomics model and a nomogram model, and their clinical utility was assessed. The performance of the constructed models was assessed with the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and the area under the curve (AUC). The clinical application value of the models was comprehensively evaluated using decision curve analysis (DCA). Results: The radiomics signature, consisting of 14 selected radiomics features, showed excellent performance in distinguishing between PTMA and LP, with an AUC of 0.90 (95% CI, 0.83-0.96) in the training cohort and 0.88 (95% CI, 0.79-0.97) in the validation cohort. A nomogram model was developed based on the radiomics signature and clinical features. It had a powerful discriminative ability, with the highest AUC values of 0.94 (95% CI, 0.90-0.98) and 0.91 (95% CI, 0.84-0.99) in the training cohort and validation cohort, respectively, which were significantly superior to the clinical model alone. There were no significant differences in calibration curves from Hosmer-Lemeshow tests between training and validation cohorts (p = 0.183 and p = 0.218), which indicated the good performance of the nomogram model. DCA indicated that the nomogram model exhibited better performance than the clinical model. Conclusions: The nomogram model based on radiomics signatures of CT images and clinical risk factors could help to differentiate PTMA from LP, which can provide appropriate therapy decision support for clinicians, especially in situations where differential diagnosis is difficult.