A Clinical Study of Minilaparoscopy in the Treatment of Cryptorchidism with an Ipsilateral Inguinal Hernia.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate the safety and efficacy of performing minilaparoscopy compared with standard laparoscopy in the treatment of cryptorchidism with an ipsilateral inguinal hernia. Materials and Methods: In total, 46 patients with cryptorchidism and an ipsilateral inguinal hernia were admitted to the Urology and Hernia and Abdominal Wall Surgery Departments of Beijing Chaoyang Hospital between October 2009 and July 2019. They were assigned to two groups: Group M and Group S. In Group M, 24 patients underwent herniorrhaphy and orchiopexy using minilaparoscopy, and in Group S, 22 patients underwent herniorrhaphy and orchiopexy using standard laparoscopy. Surgeons chose the procedure at random, and the patients were blinded to the selected procedure. Results: Postoperative painkiller demand (P = .043) and first postoperative day Numerical Rating Scale scores (P = .032) were lower in Group M than Group S, and the average hospital stay was shorter (P = .041) in Group M. Furthermore, 21 of the 24 procedures in Group M were successful, 3 procedures of Group M were converted from mini- to standard laparoscopy, and all 22 procedures in Group S were successful. The Observer Scar Assessment Scale questionnaire results of Group M were significantly higher than for patients in Group S (P = .038). Conclusion: Our findings suggest that treatment of cryptorchidism with ipsilateral inguinal hernia using minilaparoscopy is as safe and effective as standard laparoscopy.

Impact of meteorological conditions at multiple scales on ozone concentration in the Yangtze River Delta.

Tropospheric ozone is known to have adverse effects on human health. Ozone pollution events are often associated with specific atmospheric circulation conditions. Therefore, studying the relationship between atmospheric circulation and ozone is particularly important for early warning and forecasting of ozone pollution events. Focusing on the Yangtze River Delta region, particularly in four important large industrial cities (Xuzhou, Nanjing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou) in the Yangtze River Delta, the T-mode objective classification method was applied to classify the weather circulation that mainly affects the Yangtze River Delta region into nine types. Local wind fields for the four industrial cities were classified according to their propensity for ventilation, stagnation, and recirculation based on the Allwine and Whiteman method. Based on the analysis of large-scale atmospheric circulation, we concluded that certain circulation patterns correspond to excessive ozone concentrations, while other circulation patterns correspond to good air quality. Moreover, ozone pollution was not closely related to local regional transmission. The importance of high temperatures in potentiating ozone pollution was also identified in the study area, whereas the effect of relative humidity was negligible. Finally, the importance of the different scale atmospheric motions was analyzed by studying two specific ozone pollution events in Xuzhou area (March, 2019) and Nanjing area (July-August, 2017). This analysis was complemented by HYSPLIT model's outputs to simulate the pollutant diffusion path. Regarding the first episode, ozone concentration is often closely related to the slowly approaching thermal high-pressure system. In the second episode, local transmission had little effect on the generation and spread of ozone pollution. Furthermore, and comparing the circulation conditions with local meteorological factors, it was found that the increase in ozone concentration was often accompanied by higher temperature, and the response to humidity was not clear.

Effects of potential recirculation on air quality in coastal cities in the Yangtze River Delta.

Air quality is closely related to the synoptic circulation and local wind field affecting a certain area as they have distinct influence on the path and speed of pollutants. The Yangtze River Delta is located on the eastern coast, and the air returning from coastal areas has a detrimental effect on air quality in the area. This study proposes to analyze if certain circulation types and the occurrence of recirculation are predominantly related to the occurrence of bad air quality in the Yangtze River Delta. Using sea level pressure data from 2006 to 2016, we used T-mode objective classification to classify circulation in the Yangtze River Delta into nine categories. At the same time, using the Allwine and Whiteman (AW) method, we categorized local winds in the region as ventilation, stagnation, and recirculation types, and we found that the local wind tends to be under recirculation conditions when the region was controlled by circulation types 3 (CT3, southeast low pressure), CT4 (northeast low pressure), CT7 (northwest high pressure), and CT8 (north high pressure, south low pressure, with a large pressure gradient). By comparing concentrations of pollutants and different local wind types, we found that recirculation tended to promote high pollution situations. Use of the HYSPLIT (Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory) model to simulate the diffusion of pollutants by recirculation in Shanghai in March 2016 confirmed this conclusion. The outputs of HYSPLIT model can show the track of air mass intuitively, and then reflect the effect of recirculation.

Age-related activation of MKK/p38/NF-κB signaling pathway in lung: from mouse to human.

We and others previously reported that the pro-inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß) and IL-6 significantly accumulate with age in mouse lung. This is accompanied by elevated phosphorylation of p38. Here, we further investigate whether aging affects activation of p38 signaling and the inflammatory reaction after exposure to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in the lungs of mice in vivo and humans ex vivo. The data showed that activation of p38 peaked at 0.5h and then rapidly declined in young (2-month-old) mouse lung, after intranasal inhalation challenge with LPS. In contract, activation of p38 peaked at 24h and was sustained longer in aged (20-month-old) mice. As well as altered p38, activations of its upstream activator MKK and downstream substrate NF-κB were also changed in the lungs of aged mice, which corresponded with the absence in the early phase but delayed increases in concentrations of TNF-α, IL-1ß and IL-6. Consistent with the above observations in mice, similar patterns of p38 signaling also occurred in human lungs. Compared with younger lungs from adult-middle aged subjects, the activation of p38, MKK and NF-κB, as well as the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines were significantly increased in the lungs of older subjects ex vivo. Exposure of human lung cells to LPS induced rapid activation of p38, MKK and NF-κB in these cells from adult-middle aged subjects, but not older subjects, with increases in the production of the pro-inflammatory cytokines. The LPS-induced rapid activation in the lung cells from adult-middle aged subjects occurred as early as 0.25h after exposure, and then declined. Compared with adult-middle aged subjects, the LPS exposure did not induce marked changes in the early phase, either in the activation of p38, MKK and NF-κB, or in the production of TNF-α, IL-1ß or IL-6 in the lung cells from older subjects. In contrast, these changes occurred relatively late, peaked at 16h and were sustained longer in the lungs of older subjects. These data support the hypothesis that the sustained activation of the p38 signaling pathway at baseline and the absence in the early phase but delayed of p38 signaling pathway response to LPS in the elderly may play important roles in increased susceptibility of aged lungs to inflammatory injury.

[Seasonal dynamics and vertical distribution pattern of bud bank in different erosion environments on hilly-gully Loess Plateau of Northwest China].

This paper studied the vegetation composition, bud composition, and the seasonal dynamics and vertical distribution pattern of bud bank in five erosion environments (sunny gully slope, sunny hilly slope, hilltop, shady hilly slope, and shady gully slope) on the hilly-gully Loess Plateau of North Shaanxi. In the study area, the perennial species with perennial bud bank accounted for 80.3% of the total species, while the annual species with seasonal bud bank took up 19.7% of the total. In vegetation turning-green season, there was a relatively large perennial bud bank stock on the sunny hilly-gully slope where serious erosion occurred, while seasonal bud bank showed a higher bud bank density in blossom and fruit-setting season on the hilltop and two shady slopes where soil erosion intensity was relatively gentle. The proportion of underground bud bank to total perennial bud bank in different erosion environments was relatively stable. On the land surface, the perennial bud bank stock was larger on the sunny slope where the soil disturbance often occurred, whereas the seasonal bud bank stock was larger on the shady slope and hilltop. Due to the different species composition of plant communities in different erosion environments, in addition to the disturbance of soil erosion and the seasonal plant regeneration, the seasonal dynamics and vertical distribution pattern of bud bank changed. It was suggested that bud bank played an important role in the vegetation regeneration after the disturbance of soil erosion on the hilly-gully Loess Plateau of North Shaanxi.

[Ecological adaptability of leaf epidermis of erosion-resistant plants in hilly-gully area of Loess Plateau, Northwest China].

By the temporary slide method of leaf epidermis, an observation was made on the morphological characteristics of the leaf epidermis of six erosion-resistant plant species in different soil erosion environments (gully, inter-gully, and inter-gully artificial Robinia pseudoacacia forest land) in hilly-gully area of Loess Plateau. Compared with those in the gully, the stomata aperture, stomata density, stomata index, stomata apparatus length/width plasticity, stomata apparatus area plasticity, epidermal hair density, and epidermal cell density of the leaf upper and lower epidermis of the plants in the inter-gully were 93.8% and 90.4%, 66.8% and 76.6%, 17.9% and 9.8%, 36.4% and 47.1%, 42.3% and 43.9%, 199.4% and 98.2%, and 46.5% and 50.1% higher, respectively; while in the inter-gully artificial R. pseudoacacia forest land, the same morphological indices of the leaf upper and lower epidermis of the plants were 66.7% and 106.7%, 20.5% and 45.8%, 11.9% and 11.9%, 37.9% and 41.3%, 19.8% and 21.2%, 113.1% and 52.2%, and 10.8% and 28.1% higher than those in the gully, respectively. The epidermal hair length and epidermal cell area of the leaf upper and lower epidermis of the plants in the inter-gully were 58.8% and 29.7%, and 40.3% and 37.0% lower than those in the gully, and the same morphological indices of the leaf upper and lower epidermis of the plants in the intergully artificial R. pseudoacacia forest land were respectively 25.0% and 23.6%, and 22.2% and 19.2% lower than those in the gully, respectively. The results suggested that the erosion-resistant plants in the study area were able to adapt to various soil erosion environments by increasing their leaf stomata aperture, stomata density, stomata index, stomata apparatus length/width plasticity, stomata apparatus area plasticity, epidermal hair density, and epidermal cell density, and by reducing their epidermal hair length and epidermal cell area.