The association between mutations in ubiquitin-specific protease 26 (USP26) and male infertility: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

During recent decades, the association between mutations in ubiquitin-specific protease 26 (USP26) and male infertility remains doubtful. We conducted this meta-analysis to evaluate the association between mutations in USP26 and male infertility according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 guidelines. It was registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO; CRD42021225251). PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus were systematically searched for comparative clinical studies, which were written in English and provided eligible data. Studies were included when they compared USP26 mutations in azoospermic, oligozoospermic, and asthenozoospermic patients with controls with normal sperm parameter values or whose partners had experienced spontaneous pregnancy. Pooled odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated with random effect models. Overall, twelve studies with 3927 infertility patients and 4648 healthy controls were included. The association between overall USP26 mutations and infertility was not significant (OR = 1.60, 95% CI: 0.51-5.01). For specific mutations, the pooled ORs were 1.65 (95% CI: 1.02-2.69) for cluster mutation (including 370-371insACA, 494T>C, and 1423C>T), 1.80 (95% CI: 0.35-9.15) for c.576G>A, 1.43 (95% CI: 0.79-2.56) for c.1090C>T, and 3.59 (95% CI: 2.30-5.59) for c.1737G>A. Our results suggest that several mutations (cluster mutation, c.1737G>A) may play roles in male infertility, while others (c.576G>A and c.1090C>T) do not show notable associations with male infertility. More high-quality clinical researches are needed for validation.

[The role of androgen in male sexual arousal].

Sexual arousal is an important factor for the success of sexual behavior, and regulated by the central nervous system, its underlying mechanism is very complicated. Androgen is the most important endocrine hormone in men, which is deeply involved in the whole process of male sexual response, but how it regulates male sexual arousal has not been fully clarified and remains one of the hotspots in current andrological research. Therefore, this paper presents an overview of the advances in the studies of the related role and mechanism of androgen in male sexual arousal. In the central nervous system, androgen regulates the release of dopamine neurotransmitters by binding androgen receptors or metabolizing neurosteroids, thus activating the brain reward system. Besides, androgen regulates the neuronal plasticity and spinous process formation in the neural circuit of sexual arousal to ensure successful activation and conduction of the neural circuit. However, the specific regulating mechanism of sexual arousal remains to be further explored.

The presence of intraductal carcinoma of the prostate is closely associated with poor prognosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

We aimed to confirm the predictive ability of the presence of intraductal carcinoma of the prostate (IDC-P) for prognosis and the associations between IDC-P and clinicopathological parameters. Studies were identified in PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, Web of Science, and SCOPUS up to December 1, 2019. Hazard ratios (HRs) for survival data and odds ratios for clinicopathological data with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were extracted. Heterogeneity was evaluated by the I[2] value, and quality was assessed by the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale criteria. A total of 4179 patients from 13 studies were included. The results showed that IDC-P presence was significantly associated with poor progression-free survival (PFS; HR = 2.31; 95% CI: 1.96-2.73), cancer-specific survival (HR = 1.89; 95% CI: 1.28-2.77), and overall survival (HR = 2.14; 95% CI: 1.53-3.01). In the subgroup analysis, IDC-P presence was significantly associated with poor PFS in prostate cancer treated by radical prostatectomy (HR = 2.48; 95% CI: 2.05-3.00) and treated by radiotherapy (HR = 2.83; 95% CI: 1.65-4.85). Regarding clinicopathological characteristics, patients with IDC-P presence had significantly higher tumor clinical stages, Gleason scores, probabilities of lymph node invasion, positive surgical margins, and positive extraprostatic extension. Our meta-analysis indicates that the presence of IDC-P is closely associated with poor prognosis and adverse clinicopathological characteristics. Our data support the value and clinical utility of the routine detection of IDC-P by pathological examination. These conclusions need further validation, and prospective studies are needed to find better treatment modalities other than traditional first-line therapy for patients with IDC-P.

Progressively Enlarging Goiter: Case Reports of Primary Thyroid Lymphoma and Literature Review.

Primary thyroid lymphoma (PTL) is an exceptionally rare and highly aggressive potentially curable malignant disease. We report three typical cases of PTL referred to our hospital. All three cases had long history of Hashimoto's thyroiditis, and presented with progressively enlarging neck mass. The first two cases were confirmed by surgical biopsy to be diffuse large B cell lymphoma, and received radiotherapy combined with chemotherapy, or received only chemotherapy. The third case was confirmed by core needle biopsy to be mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma, and received radiotherapy. In summary, confirmation of PTL diagnosis is essential for further clinical decisions. Core biopsy should be one of the most important methods to make the diagnosis of PTL, while the use of fine needle aspiration cytology alone is still limited in diagnosing PTL.

[Thulium laser vaporization versus transurethral resection of the prostate and risk factors for postoperative urethral stricture].

OBJECTIVE: To compare thulium laser vaporization of the prostate (TLVP) and transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) in the treatment of benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) analyze the risk factors for postoperative urethral stricture. METHODS: From June 2015 to June 2016, 210 BPH patients in our hospital underwent TURP (n = 126) or TLVP (n = 84). We followed up the patients for 6 months, compared the effects of the two surgical strategies and analyzed the risk factors for postoperative urethral stricture by multivariate logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Compared with TURP, TLVP achieved significantly shorter time of operation (ï¼»78.6 ± 27.5ï¼½ vs ï¼»53.2 ± 21.6ï¼½ min, P <0.01), postoperative bladder irrigation (ï¼»31.5 ± 2.9ï¼½ vs ï¼»26.1 ± 3.7ï¼½ h, P <0.01), urethral catheterization (ï¼»5.3 ± 1.7ï¼½ vs ï¼»3.7 ± 1.5ï¼½ d, P <0.01) and postoperative hospitalization (ï¼»7.9 ± 2.1ï¼½ vs ï¼»5.5 ± 1.4ï¼½ d, P <0.01) as well as lower urinary leukocyte count at 6 months after surgery (ï¼»32.1 ± 12.6ï¼½ vs ï¼»24.9 ± 11.7ï¼½ /µl, P <0.01) and incidence rate of postoperative complications (11.9% ï¼»15/126ï¼½ vs 3.6% ï¼»3/84ï¼½, P <0.05), particularly that of urethral stricture (7.9% ï¼»10/126ï¼½ vs 1.2% ï¼»1/84ï¼½, P <0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that the preoperative urinary leukocyte count, postoperative urethral catheterization time, and surgical method were independent risk factors for postoperative urethral stricture. CONCLUSIONS: TLVP, in comparison with TURP, has the advantages of definite effect, fast recovery, high safety and low incidence of postoperative urethral stricture. The main risk factors for postoperative urethral stricture include preoperative urinary tract infection, postoperative urethral catheterization time and surgical method.