Assessing computational predictions of antimicrobial resistance phenotypes from microbial genomes.

The advent of rapid whole-genome sequencing has created new opportunities for computational prediction of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) phenotypes from genomic data. Both rule-based and machine learning (ML) approaches have been explored for this task, but systematic benchmarking is still needed. Here, we evaluated four state-of-the-art ML methods (Kover, PhenotypeSeeker, Seq2Geno2Pheno and Aytan-Aktug), an ML baseline and the rule-based ResFinder by training and testing each of them across 78 species-antibiotic datasets, using a rigorous benchmarking workflow that integrates three evaluation approaches, each paired with three distinct sample splitting methods. Our analysis revealed considerable variation in the performance across techniques and datasets. Whereas ML methods generally excelled for closely related strains, ResFinder excelled for handling divergent genomes. Overall, Kover most frequently ranked top among the ML approaches, followed by PhenotypeSeeker and Seq2Geno2Pheno. AMR phenotypes for antibiotic classes such as macrolides and sulfonamides were predicted with the highest accuracies. The quality of predictions varied substantially across species-antibiotic combinations, particularly for beta-lactams; across species, resistance phenotyping of the beta-lactams compound, aztreonam, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, cefoxitin, ceftazidime and piperacillin/tazobactam, alongside tetracyclines demonstrated more variable performance than the other benchmarked antibiotics. By organism, Campylobacter jejuni and Enterococcus faecium phenotypes were more robustly predicted than those of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella enterica, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumannii, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In addition, our study provides software recommendations for each species-antibiotic combination. It furthermore highlights the need for optimization for robust clinical applications, particularly for strains that diverge substantially from those used for training.

"Non-metastatic, Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer: Diagnostic and Treatment Recommendations by an Expert Panel from Brazil".

INTRODUCTION: Non-metastatic, castration-resistant prostate cancer (nmCRPC) is an important clinical stage of prostate cancer, prior to morbidity and mortality from clinical metastases. In particular, the introduction of novel androgen-receptor signaling inhibitors (ARSi) has changed the therapeutic landscape in nmCRPC. Given recent developments in this field, we update our recommendations for the management of nmCRPC. METHODS: A panel of 51 invited medical oncologists and urologists convened in May of 2021 with the aim of discussing and providing recommendations regarding the most relevant issues concerning staging methods, antineoplastic therapy, osteoclast-targeted therapy, and patient follow-up in nmCRPC. Panel members considered the available evidence and their practical experience to address the 73 multiple-choice questions presented. RESULTS: Key recommendations and findings include the reliance on prostate-specific antigen doubling time for treatment decisions, the absence of a clear preference between conventional and novel (i.e., positron-emission tomography-based) imaging techniques, the increasing role of ARSis in various settings, the general view that ARSis have similar efficacy. Panelists highlighted the slight preference for darolutamide, when safety is of greater concern, and a continued need to develop high-level evidence to guide the intensity of follow-up in this subset of prostate cancer. DISCUSSION: Despite the limitations associated with a consensus panel, the topics addressed are relevant in current practice, and the recommendations can help practicing clinicians to provide state-of-the-art treatment to patients with nmCRPC in Brazil and other countries with similar healthcare settings.

Crowdsourced benchmarking of taxonomic metagenome profilers: lessons learned from the sbv IMPROVER Microbiomics challenge.

BACKGROUND: Selection of optimal computational strategies for analyzing metagenomics data is a decisive step in determining the microbial composition of a sample, and this procedure is complex because of the numerous tools currently available. The aim of this research was to summarize the results of crowdsourced sbv IMPROVER Microbiomics Challenge designed to evaluate the performance of off-the-shelf metagenomics software as well as to investigate the robustness of these results by the extended post-challenge analysis. In total 21 off-the-shelf taxonomic metagenome profiling pipelines were benchmarked for their capacity to identify the microbiome composition at various taxon levels across 104 shotgun metagenomics datasets of bacterial genomes (representative of various microbiome samples) from public databases. Performance was determined by comparing predicted taxonomy profiles with the gold standard. RESULTS: Most taxonomic profilers performed homogeneously well at the phylum level but generated intermediate and heterogeneous scores at the genus and species levels, respectively. kmer-based pipelines using Kraken with and without Bracken or using CLARK-S performed best overall, but they exhibited lower precision than the two marker-gene-based methods MetaPhlAn and mOTU. Filtering out the 1% least abundance species-which were not reliably predicted-helped increase the performance of most profilers by increasing precision but at the cost of recall. However, the use of adaptive filtering thresholds determined from the sample's Shannon index increased the performance of most kmer-based profilers while mitigating the tradeoff between precision and recall. CONCLUSIONS: kmer-based metagenomic pipelines using Kraken/Bracken or CLARK-S performed most robustly across a large variety of microbiome datasets. Removing non-reliably predicted low-abundance species by using diversity-dependent adaptive filtering thresholds further enhanced the performance of these tools. This work demonstrates the applicability of computational pipelines for accurately determining taxonomic profiles in clinical and environmental contexts and exemplifies the power of crowdsourcing for unbiased evaluation.

Metadata harmonization-Standards are the key for a better usage of omics data for integrative microbiome analysis.

BACKGROUND: Tremendous amounts of data generated from microbiome research studies during the last decades require not only standards for sampling and preparation of omics data but also clear concepts of how the metadata is prepared to ensure re-use for integrative and interdisciplinary microbiome analysis. RESULTS: In this Commentary, we present our views on the key issues related to the current system for metadata submission in omics research, and propose the development of a global metadata system. Such a system should be easy to use, clearly structured in a hierarchical way, and should be compatible with all existing microbiome data repositories, following common standards for minimal required information and common ontology. Although minimum metadata requirements are essential for microbiome datasets, the immense technological progress requires a flexible system, which will have to be constantly improved and re-thought. While FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) are already considered, international legal issues on genetic resource and sequence sharing provided by the Convention on Biological Diversity need more awareness and engagement of the scientific community. CONCLUSIONS: The suggested approach for metadata entries would strongly improve retrieving and re-using data as demonstrated in several representative use cases. These integrative analyses, in turn, would further advance the potential of microbiome research for novel scientific discoveries and the development of microbiome-derived products.

Critical Assessment of Metagenome Interpretation: the second round of challenges.

Evaluating metagenomic software is key for optimizing metagenome interpretation and focus of the Initiative for the Critical Assessment of Metagenome Interpretation (CAMI). The CAMI II challenge engaged the community to assess methods on realistic and complex datasets with long- and short-read sequences, created computationally from around 1,700 new and known genomes, as well as 600 new plasmids and viruses. Here we analyze 5,002 results by 76 program versions. Substantial improvements were seen in assembly, some due to long-read data. Related strains still were challenging for assembly and genome recovery through binning, as was assembly quality for the latter. Profilers markedly matured, with taxon profilers and binners excelling at higher bacterial ranks, but underperforming for viruses and Archaea. Clinical pathogen detection results revealed a need to improve reproducibility. Runtime and memory usage analyses identified efficient programs, including top performers with other metrics. The results identify challenges and guide researchers in selecting methods for analyses.

Treatment of Chronic Kidney Disease with Extracellular Vesicles from Mesenchymal Stem Cells and CD133+ Expanded Cells: A Comparative Preclinical Analysis.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is characterized by structural abnormalities and the progressive loss of kidney function. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) from human umbilical cord tissue (hUCT)-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and expanded human umbilical cord blood (hUCB)-derived CD133+ cells (eCD133+) maintain the characteristics of the parent cells, providing a new form of cell-free treatment. We evaluated the effects of EVs from hUCT-derived MSCs and hUCB-derived CD133+ cells on rats with CDK induced by an adenine-enriched diet. EVs were isolated by ultracentrifugation and characterized by nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA) and electron microscopy. The animals were randomized and divided into the MSC-EV group, eEPC-EV group and control group. Infusions occurred on the seventh and 14th days after CKD induction. Evaluations of kidney function were carried out by biochemical and histological analyses. Intense labeling of the α-SMA protein was observed when comparing the control with MSC-EVs. In both groups treated with EVs, a significant increase in serum albumin was observed, and the increase in cystatin C was inhibited. The results indicated improvements in renal function in CKD, demonstrating the therapeutic potential of EVs derived from MSCs and eCD133+ cells and suggesting the possibility that in the future, more than one type of EV will be used concurrently.

Tutorial: assessing metagenomics software with the CAMI benchmarking toolkit.

Computational methods are key in microbiome research, and obtaining a quantitative and unbiased performance estimate is important for method developers and applied researchers. For meaningful comparisons between methods, to identify best practices and common use cases, and to reduce overhead in benchmarking, it is necessary to have standardized datasets, procedures and metrics for evaluation. In this tutorial, we describe emerging standards in computational meta-omics benchmarking derived and agreed upon by a larger community of researchers. Specifically, we outline recent efforts by the Critical Assessment of Metagenome Interpretation (CAMI) initiative, which supplies method developers and applied researchers with exhaustive quantitative data about software performance in realistic scenarios and organizes community-driven benchmarking challenges. We explain the most relevant evaluation metrics for assessing metagenome assembly, binning and profiling results, and provide step-by-step instructions on how to generate them. The instructions use simulated mouse gut metagenome data released in preparation for the second round of CAMI challenges and showcase the use of a repository of tool results for CAMI datasets. This tutorial will serve as a reference for the community and facilitate informative and reproducible benchmarking in microbiome research.

Host genetics influences the relationship between the gut microbiome and psychiatric disorders.

The gut microbiome is associated with psychiatric disorders; however, the molecular mechanisms mediating this association are poorly understood. The ability of host genetics to modulate the gut microbiome may be an important factor in understanding the association. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the role of genetic variants associated with the gut microbiome in the susceptibility of individuals to four psychiatric disorders: schizophrenia (SCZ), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and major depressive disorder (MDD). A total of 201 host genetic markers associated with microbiome outcomes and reported in available genome-wide association studies (GWAS) were included in the analyses. We searched for these variants in the summary statistics of the largest GWAS on these disorders to date, which were published by the Psychiatric Genomic Consortium, and performed gene-based and gene set association analyses. Two variants were significantly associated with ASD (rs9401458 and rs9401452) and one with MDD (rs75036654). For the gene-based association analysis, eight genes were associated with SCZ (ASIC2, KCND3, ITSN1, SIPA1L3, RBMS3, BANK1, CSMD1, and LHFPL3), one with MDD (ACTL8), two with ADHD (C14orf39 and FBXL17), and one with ASD (PINX). The gene set comprising 83 genes was associated with SCZ (p = 0.047). These findings suggest that genes related to microbiome composition may affect the susceptibility of individuals to psychiatric disorders, mainly schizophrenia. Although less robust, the associations with ASD, ADHD, and MDD cannot be discarded.

Laparoscopic partial nephrectomy without clamping the renal pedicle.

INTRODUCTION: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) accounts for about 2-3% of all malignancies in adults and 90-95% of renal neoplasms. Curative treatment is eminently surgical, the first reports describing the laparoscopic partial nephrectomy (LPN) date from the beginning of the 1990s since then LPN has been consolidated as a safe and reproducible procedure. In order to improve the results of the LPN in relation to the postoperative renal function, while retaining the benefits of minimally invasive surgery, some surgeons began to implement the technique of laparoscopic partial nephrectomy without renal pedicle clamping (LPNWRPC) in selected cases. OBJECTIVE: To compare the perioperative, oncological and functional results of patients submitted to LPN with renal pedicle clamping (LPNRPC) and LPNWRPC in the hospitals linked to our institution. MATERIAL AND METHOD: All patients' charts were submitted to LPN from January 2000 to January 2016. Data were collected and analyzed retrospectively, patients were divided into two groups: LPNRPC (RPC group) and LPNWRPC (WRPC group). RESULTS: Data from 177 patients submitted to LPN for renal neoplasms were collected, 88 patients (49.7%) in the RPC group and 89 (50.3%) in the WRPC group. Surgical margins were positive in 2.56% of patients in the RPC group and 3.70% in the WRPC group. There was no significant difference despite the technique applied. Clavien 3 or 4 postoperative complications occurred in five cases (5.68%) in the RPC group and three cases in the WRPC group (3.7%), with no significant difference between the groups. Patients in the RPC group developed higher levels of creatinine in the postoperative period (creatinine 1.01 ± 0.16 preoperative vs. 1.12 ± 0.18 postoperatively, p = 0.031) and worsened filtration rate (EGFR) (preoperative 79.18 ± 16.28 × 74.43 ± 21.06 post-operative, p = 0.017). DISCUSSION: Our casuistry agrees with the results of previous studies with regard to major bleeding in patients submitted to LPNWRPC when compared to those submitted to LPNWRPC. However, although bleeding and surgical time were higher in the WRPC group, there was no impact on patients' postoperative evolution regarding both the need for transfusion of blood products and serious complications. In the high-complexity tumors, the mean warm ischemia time (WIT) in the RPC group was higher, this was probably responsible for a better response in the WRPC group evolving patients with lower creatinine levels and better postoperative glomerular filtration rates. CONCLUSION: LPNWRPC has been shown to be equally effective, safe, feasible, with low blood transfusion rates and postoperative complications comparable to LPNRPC, and has similar oncological results. Main impact factor in long-term renal dysfunction is WIT, which can be completely eliminated with the use of LPNWRPC.

Assessing taxonomic metagenome profilers with OPAL.

The explosive growth in taxonomic metagenome profiling methods over the past years has created a need for systematic comparisons using relevant performance criteria. The Open-community Profiling Assessment tooL (OPAL) implements commonly used performance metrics, including those of the first challenge of the initiative for the Critical Assessment of Metagenome Interpretation (CAMI), together with convenient visualizations. In addition, we perform in-depth performance comparisons with seven profilers on datasets of CAMI and the Human Microbiome Project. OPAL is freely available at https://github.com/CAMI-challenge/OPAL .

AMBER: Assessment of Metagenome BinnERs.

Reconstructing the genomes of microbial community members is key to the interpretation of shotgun metagenome samples. Genome binning programs deconvolute reads or assembled contigs of such samples into individual bins. However, assessing their quality is difficult due to the lack of evaluation software and standardized metrics. Here, we present Assessment of Metagenome BinnERs (AMBER), an evaluation package for the comparative assessment of genome reconstructions from metagenome benchmark datasets. It calculates the performance metrics and comparative visualizations used in the first benchmarking challenge of the initiative for the Critical Assessment of Metagenome Interpretation (CAMI). As an application, we show the outputs of AMBER for 11 binning programs on two CAMI benchmark datasets. AMBER is implemented in Python and available under the Apache 2.0 license on GitHub.

Critical Assessment of Metagenome Interpretation-a benchmark of metagenomics software.

Methods for assembly, taxonomic profiling and binning are key to interpreting metagenome data, but a lack of consensus about benchmarking complicates performance assessment. The Critical Assessment of Metagenome Interpretation (CAMI) challenge has engaged the global developer community to benchmark their programs on highly complex and realistic data sets, generated from ∼700 newly sequenced microorganisms and ∼600 novel viruses and plasmids and representing common experimental setups. Assembly and genome binning programs performed well for species represented by individual genomes but were substantially affected by the presence of related strains. Taxonomic profiling and binning programs were proficient at high taxonomic ranks, with a notable performance decrease below family level. Parameter settings markedly affected performance, underscoring their importance for program reproducibility. The CAMI results highlight current challenges but also provide a roadmap for software selection to answer specific research questions.

Analysis of economic impact between the modality of renal replacement therapy / Análise do impacto econômico entre as modalidades de terapia renal substitutiva

Abstract Introduction: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major health problem, determining the reduction in life expectancy and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Method: An observational, cohort, retrospective, based on patient's medical records data with CKD under hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis and kidney transplantation in the city of Curitiba, in the period from January to June 2014, evacuativo the financial impact on the Unified Health System (SUS) and the supplementary health. Results: The lowest cost of a kidney transplant in the first year was R$ 40,743.03 when cyclosporine was used and the highest was R$ 48,388.17 with the use of tacrolimus. In the second year post-transplant, hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis have a higher cost compared to kidney transplant. Transplantation with deceased donor, treated with tacrolimus: R$ 67,023.39; Hemodialysis R$ 71,717.51 and automated peritoneal dialysis automatic R$ 69,527.03. Conclusions: After the first two years of renal replacement therapy, transplantation demonstrates lower costs to the system when compared to other modalities evaluated. Based on that, this therapy justifies improvements in government policies in this sector.

Resumo Introdução: A doença renal crônica (DRC) é um grande problema de saúde, determina redução na expectativa de vida e aumento dos riscos de doenças cardiovasculares. Método: Estudo observacional, de coorte, retrospectivo, baseado em dados de prontuários de pacientes com DRC em hemodiálise, diálise peritoneal e transplante renal na cidade de Curitiba, no período de janeiro a junho de 2014, avaliando o impacto financeiro no Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) e na saúde suplementar. Resultados: O menor custo de um transplante renal no primeiro ano foi de R$ 40.743,03, quando utilizada a ciclosporina, e o maior de R$ 48.388,17, com a utilização do tacrolimo. Já no segundo ano pós-transplante, a hemodiálise e a diálise peritoneal têm valor superior ao transplante renal. Transplante com doador falecido, com tacrolimo: R$ 67.023,39; hemodiálise R$ 71.717,51 e diálise peritoneal automática R$ 69.527,03. Conclusões: Após os dois primeiros anos da terapia renal substitutiva, o transplante demonstra menores custos ao sistema, quando comparado às outras modalidades avaliadas. Baseado nisso, esta terapia justifica melhorias nas políticas governamentais nesse setor.

Analysis of economic impact between the modality of renal replacement therapy.

INTRODUCTION: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major health problem, determining the reduction in life expectancy and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. METHOD: An observational, cohort, retrospective, based on patient's medical records data with CKD under hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis and kidney transplantation in the city of Curitiba, in the period from January to June 2014, evacuativo the financial impact on the Unified Health System (SUS) and the supplementary health. RESULTS: The lowest cost of a kidney transplant in the first year was R$ 40,743.03 when cyclosporine was used and the highest was R$ 48,388.17 with the use of tacrolimus. In the second year post-transplant, hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis have a higher cost compared to kidney transplant. Transplantation with deceased donor, treated with tacrolimus: R$ 67,023.39; Hemodialysis R$ 71,717.51 and automated peritoneal dialysis automatic R$ 69,527.03. CONCLUSIONS: After the first two years of renal replacement therapy, transplantation demonstrates lower costs to the system when compared to other modalities evaluated. Based on that, this therapy justifies improvements in government policies in this sector.

Pelvic kidney for living transplantation: case report and review of the literature.

INTRODUCTION: The difference between available kidneys and the number of patients on waiting list for kidney transplantation continues to grow. For this reason the trend is to use donors with expanded criteria, such as a pelvic kidney, as we describe below. CASE REPORT: Male patient 25 years-old with end-stage kidney disease, receives as a graft a pelvic kidney from his father, 49 years-old, known to have controlled systemic arterial hypertension and nephrolithiasis by history without new episodes in the last 10 years. Function and anatomy of the pelvic kidney were evaluated through magnetic angioressonance, computerized tomography and scintigraphy. After an initial rejection episode promptly treated, the patient has had an uneventful recovery. CONCLUSION: To increase the number of kidneys available for transplantation, it is reasonable to use a pelvic kidney, after a thorough investigation.

Rim pélvico de doador vivo-relacionado para transplante: relato de caso e revisão da literatura / Pelvic kidney for living transplantation: case report and review of the literature

ResumoIntrodução:É cada vez maior a discrepância entre a fila de espera e a oferta para um transplante renal. Fica evidente a necessidade de se usar enxertos com critérios expandidos, como, por exemplo, rim pélvico, conforme relatamos a seguir.Relato de caso:Paciente masculino de 25 anos, com doença renal crônica estádio 5, recebe como enxerto rim pélvico do pai, 49 anos, com história prévia de hipertensão arterial sistêmica bem controlada e urolitíase há mais de 10 anos sem novos episódios. Função e anatomia do rim pélvico foram avaliadas com exames de imagem como ressonância magnética, tomografia computadorizada e cintilografia. Após rejeição inicial tratada adequadamente, paciente apresenta boa evolução.Conclusão:Para aumentar oferta de rins para doação, é possível a utilização de rim pélvico, desde que adequadamente estudado no pré-operatório.

AbstractIntroduction:The difference between available kidneys and the number of patients on waiting list for kidney transplantation continues to grow. For this reason the trend is to use donors with expanded criteria, such as a pelvic kidney, as we describe below.Case report:Male patient 25 years-old with end-stage kidney disease, receives as a graft a pelvic kidney from his father, 49 years-old, known to have controlled systemic arterial hypertension and nephrolithiasis by history without new episodes in the last 10 years. Function and anatomy of the pelvic kidney were evaluated through magnetic angioressonance, computarized tomography and scintigraphy. After an initial rejection episode promptly treated, the patient has had an uneventful recovery.Conclusion:To increase the number of kidneys available for transplantation, it is reasonable to use a pelvic kidney, after a thorough investigation.

Holmium Laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP) versus Transurethral Resection of the Prostate (TURP).

OBJECTIVE: to evaluate the effectiveness and applicability of Holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP) - in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) - in comparison to transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP). METHODS: patients with symptomatic prostatic hyperplasia and candidates for surgical treatment were selected. Both procedures were explained and they had choosen HoLEP or TURP. At the hospital were collected: age, date of birth, international prostate symptom score, urinary peak flow rate, prostate volume, post-voiding residual urine, globular volume and serum PSA. At the procedure operating time, morcellating time (HoLEP), bladder mucosal injury and intercurrences were collected. At the first postoperative day, globular volume and sodium. Besides that were observed the catheter indwelling time and hospital stay and after 90 days, urinary peak flow rate and international prostate symptom score. Statistical analisys have been done partially by Sinpe(r) and also by a professional team. RESULTS: twenty patients in HoLEP group and 21 at TURP were operated. Baseline urinary peak flow rate was 8 ml/s in both groups and preoperative international prostate symptom score was 22 in HoLEP and 20 in TURP, very similar. Operative time was 85 minutes in HoLEP and 60 in TURP, p<0.05. Hospital stay was 47 hours for HoLEP and 48 hours to TURP, p<0.05. At 90 day the urinary peak flow rate was raised to 21.5 ml/s in HoLEP group and to 20 ml/s in TURP and the median of international prostate symptom score had been reduced to score 3 in both groups. CONCLUSION: HoLEP is a feasible technique and is as effective as TURP on symptomatic prostatic hyperplasia surgical treatment.

Holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP) versus transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) / Enucleação da próstata com holmium laser (HoLEP) versus ressecção transuretral da próstata (RTUP)

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness and applicability of Holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP) - in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) - in comparison to transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP). METHODS: Patients with symptomatic prostatic hyperplasia and candidates for surgical treatment were selected. Both procedures were explained and they had choosen HoLEP or TURP. At the hospital were collected: age, date of birth, international prostate symptom score, urinary peak flow rate, prostate volume, post-voiding residual urine, globular volume and serum PSA. At the procedure operating time, morcellating time (HoLEP), bladder mucosal injury and intercurrences were collected. At the first postoperative day, globular volume and sodium. Besides that were observed the catheter indwelling time and hospital stay and after 90 days, urinary peak flow rate and international prostate symptom score. Statistical analisys have been done partially by Sinpe(r) and also by a professional team. RESULTS: Twenty patients in HoLEP group and 21 at TURP were operated. Baseline urinary peak flow rate was 8 ml/s in both groups and preoperative international prostate symptom score was 22 in HoLEP and 20 in TURP, very similar. Operative time was 85 minutes in HoLEP and 60 in TURP, p<0.05. Hospital stay was 47 hours for HoLEP and 48 hours to TURP, p<0.05. At 90 day the urinary peak flow rate was raised to 21.5 ml/s in HoLEP group and to 20 ml/s in TURP and the median of international prostate symptom score had been reduced to score 3 in both groups. CONCLUSION: HoLEP is a feasible technique and is as effective as TURP on symptomatic prostatic hyperplasia surgical treatment.

OBJETIVO: Avaliar a eficácia e a aplicabilidade da enucleação prostática com Holmium Laser (HoLEP), no tratamento da hiperplasia prostática benigna (HPB), comparando-a à ressecção transuretral da próstata (RTUp). MÉTODOS: Ambos os procedimentos eram explicados aos pacientes com indicação de tratamento cirúrgico e eles escolhiam qual procedimento seria realizado, HoLEP ou RTUp. Eram coletados dados da internação, dados clínicos, escore de sintomas e pico de fluxo urinário. No ato operatório registravam-se tempo cirúrgico, tempo de morcelamento (nos casos de HoLEP), lesão vesical ou intercorrências. Noventa dias após a operação era feita uma nova avaliação do pico de fluxo urinário e escore de sintomas. A análise estatística foi realizada em parte pelo programa Sinpe(r) e também por uma equipe profissional. RESULTADOS: Foram operados 20 pacientes no grupo HoLEP e 21 no RTUp. O pico de fluxo urinário pré-operatório foi 8ml/s em ambos os grupos. O escore de sintomas pré-operatório foi 22 no grupo HoLEP e 20 no RTUp. O tempo operatório foi 85 minutos no grupo HoLEP e 60 minutos no RTUp, p<0,05. A internação hospitalar foi 47 horas para o grupo de HoLEP e 48 horas para RTUp, p<0,05. Na avaliação em 90 dias o fluxo urinário aumentou para 21,5ml/s no grupo HoLEP e para 20ml/s no RTUp e a mediana do escore de sintomas reduziu para 3 em ambos os grupos.CONCLUSÃO:O HoLEP é técnica tão eficaz quanto RTUp, no tratamento da HPB. A enucleação prostática com Holmium laser (HoLEP) é técnica eficaz no tratamento da HPB e pode ser aplicável, pois produz resultados, em termos de eficácia e aplicabilidade, comparáveis à RTUp.

Laparoscopic nephrectomy with single-portal access Gelpoint®in swines.

PURPOSE: To analyze the viability of using Gelpoint® (single-port access) to make partial and total nephrectomy in pigs and to describe the technical difficulties found during these surgical procedures. METHODS: Ten pigs (Landrace specie) with 20 kg in average were distributed in two groups. Group A: total right nephrectomy and Group B: partial left nephrectomy. The procedures were performed inside the Surgical Technique Room from Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Parana (PUCPR). RESULTS: In Group A, time to single-port insertion varied from one to two minutes and total time of the procedures were 20.4 ± 8.2 minutes. Bleeding was under than 20 mL in 70% of animals. Time of instrument excision was 20.7 ± 12 seconds and time of hilum dissection was 3.9 ± 2.2 minutes. In Group B, after total contralateral nephrectomy two surgical procedures were not concluded due to bleeding. In this group, time of surgery was 6.8 ± 4.2 minutes. With the exception of the second surgery, the highest blood volume loss was 50 mL. The mean excision time was 22.3 ± 22.3 seconds. CONCLUSION: Total and partial nephrectomy through umbilical single-access using GelPoint® was feasible and safe in pigs.

Avaliação do uso do captopril na fibrose peritoneal induzida em ratos pelo uso de solução de glicose a 4,25% / Evaluation of the use of captopril on peritoneal fibrosis induced in rats by the use of glucose solution 4.25%

INTRODUÇÃO: A Insuficiência Renal Crônica (IRC) tem incidência alarmante neste século. A diálise peritoneal, uma das modalidades de terapia renal pode ter complicações, e entre estas a fibrose peritoneal, que ocorre com o decorrer dos anos nestes pacientes. Sua forma mais grave é a chamada peritonite esclerosante encapsulante, levando à mudança de terapia dialítica. OBJETIVO: Estudar a influência do uso do captopril na fibrose peritoneal induzida em ratos pelo uso de solução de glicose a 4,25 %. MÉTODOS: Estudo prospectivo controlado, em ratos Wistar não urêmicos. Foram estudados 20 animais. Os animais foram submetidos diariamente à punção abdominal, sendo infundida solução de diálise peritoneal com glicose a 4,25% na dose de 10 ml/100 g de peso. Os animais foram divididos em 2 grupos: experimental e controle. O grupo experimental recebeu captopril na dose de 30 mg/kg/dia por gavagem. O grupo controle não recebeu nenhuma droga. Foram acompanhados por 21 e 49 dias. Ao final do período foram submetidos à procedimento cirúrgico para retirada de peritônio parietal e visceral. As amostras obtidas foram analisadas histologicamente, usando-se coloração Hematoxilina - Eosina e Sirius Red, para avaliação do grau de fibrose. RESULTADOS: A análise mostrou que a intensidade da fibrose, a espessura do peritônio e o número de células não atingiram diferença estatisticamente significante entre os grupos experimental e controle. CONCLUSÃO: O estudo mostrou que o uso do captopril não foi capaz de alterar a intensidade da fibrose peritoneal induzida pelo uso de solução de diálise em ratos.

INTRODUCTION: Chronic renal failure has alarming incidence all over the world in this century. Among the modalities of dialytic treatment, peritoneal dialysis has a major spot. This method of dialytictreatment may present complications, and among those is peritoneal fibrosis. It occurs in patients submitted to peritoneal dialysis along years. It's most dangerous form is sclerosing encapsulant peritonitis, wich leads to a need of change in modality and many times lead to death. OBJECTIVE: Study the influence of using captopril on the peritoneal fibrosis induced in rats using solution with glucoses 4.25%. METHODS: Prospective controlled study in 20 non-uremic Wistar rats. The animals received a peritoneal infusion of 10 ml/100g of peritoneal dialysis solution glucose 4.25% on a daily basis. The animals were divided in two groups: experimental and control. The experimental group received captopril 30 mg/kg/d, by a gastric tube. The control group did not receive any drug. The follow-up was 21 and 49 days. At the end, one surgical procedure was performed to get histological samples of visceral and parietal peritoneum. The samples were analyzed using Hematoxylin Eosin and Sirius Red, to evaluate the severity of the fibrosis. RESULTS: The analysis showed that the intensity of the fibrosis, the peritoneal thickness and the cell number in experimental and control groups were not statistically significant different in experimental and control groups. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that captopril do not decrease the intensity of fibrosis on the peritoneal membrane that happens on rats on peritoneal dialysis.