Influence of preoperative antituberculosis chemotherapy duration on perioperative complications in patients treated with epididymectomy for epididymal tuberculosis.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to investigate the influence of preoperative antituberculosis chemotherapy duration on perioperative epididymectomy complications in patients with epididymal tuberculosis (ETB). METHODS: This retrospective study examined patients with ETB between January 1, 2013, and March 31, 2023, who underwent unilateral epididymectomy at our hospital. We selected preoperative antituberculosis chemotherapy duration of 2, 4, and 8 weeks as the cutoffs for this study, to explore whether there are differences in the incidence of intraoperative and 30-day postoperative complications among the patients with different preoperative antituberculosis chemotherapy durations. Intraoperative complications were graded according to the Satava classification, and 30-day postoperative complications were defined according to the Clavien-Dindo classification. The study groups were compared using the unpaired t-test, Wilcoxon rank-sum test, Pearson's chi-square test, or Fisher's exact test, as appropriate. RESULTS: Overall, 155 patients were included. Statistical analysis revealed that there were no significant differences in the incidence of intraoperative and 30-day postoperative complications between patients with shorter preoperative antituberculosis chemotherapy duration and those with longer preoperative antituberculosis chemotherapy duration. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with ETB, preoperative antituberculosis chemotherapy duration did not significantly affect the incidence of perioperative complications after epididymectomy.

Development of a prognostic model for muscle-invasive bladder cancer using glutamine metabolism.

BACKGROUND: Muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) is distinguished by its pronounced invasiveness and unfavorable prognosis. Immunotherapy and targeted therapy have emerged as key treatment options for various types of cancer. Altered metabolism is a defining characteristic of cancer cells, and there is mounting evidence suggesting the important role of glutamine metabolism (GM) in tumor metabolism. Nevertheless, the relationship between GM and clinical outcomes, immune microenvironment, and immunotherapy in MIBC remains unknown. METHODS: This study employed Mendelian randomization to explore the causal relationship between blood metabolites and bladder tumors. We systematically evaluated 373 glutamine metabolism-related genes and identified prognostic-related genes, leading to the construction of a glutamine-associated prognostic model. Further analysis confirmed the correlation between high and low-risk groups with the tumor microenvironment, immune cell infiltration, and tumor mutation burden. Subsequently, we assessed the relationship between the risk score and the sensitivity to various immunotherapies and anticancer drugs. RESULTS: We identified 14 blood metabolites at the molecular level that have a causal relationship with bladder tumors. At the gene level, the study discussed differentially expressed GM genes in MIBC. First, we established a risk model predicting overall survival (OS) based on GM genes, confirming its reliable predictive ability in MIBC patients and validated it in a GEO cohort. Additionally, a reliable column line chart was created. Secondly, two distinct molecular subtypes were identified, and the associations between different risk groups and tumor microenvironment and immune infiltration were observed. In addition, the predicted risk values correlated with responses to a broad range of pharmaceutical agents. CONCLUSION: In summary, we confirmed the causal relationship between blood metabolites and bladder tumors. Furthermore, a risk scoring model related to glutamine metabolism consisting of 9 genes was developed. This model could potentially serve as a useful tool for predicting prognosis and guiding the treatment of MIBC patients.

Assessing the diagnostic accuracy of the Xpert MTB/RIF assay in detecting epididymal tuberculosis.

To assess the diagnostic efficacy of Xpert MTB/RIF assay in detecting epididymal tuberculosis. METHODS: We analyzed 84 samples from patients with suspected epididymal TB or chronic epididymitis who received surgical treatment (epididymal resection or epididymis-testicular resection) at our hospital between July 1, 2016 and July 1, 2020. A composite reference standard (CRS) was used in this study. We determined the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and area under the curve (AUC) of the Xpert MTB/RIF assay for epididymal TB and compared its diagnostic accuracy with that of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) culture test in detecting epididymal TB. RESULTS: Three patients were excluded because of incomplete data. Comparing with the composite reference standard, the sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, and AUC of Xpert MTB/RIF assay for epididymal TB were 80.95% (69.09-89.75%); 94.44% (72.71-99.86%); 98.08% (89.74-99.95%); and 58.62% (38.94-76.48%), respectively, with an AUC of 0.88 (95% confidence interval: 0.79-0.94). The diagnostic sensitivity of the Xpert MTB/RIF assay was significantly higher than that of the MTB culture test for epididymal TB. CONCLUSIONS: We recommend the Xpert MTB/RIF assay as a diagnostic method for the detection of epididymal TB.

Knockdown of sterol O-acyltransferase 1 (SOAT1) suppresses SCD1-mediated lipogenesis and cancer procession in prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most fatal malignant tumors that occurs in the prostate epithelium, especially in older men, the mortality of which ranks sixth among all cancer-related deaths. It has been urgently needed to elucidate the pathogenesis of PCa and provide promising therapeutic targets for PCa treatment. The Sterol O-acyltransferase 1 (SOAT1), cholesterol metabolism enzyme, was widely expressed in various cancer tissues, resulting in cancer progression. SOAT1 has been demonstrated to be highly expressed in prostate cancer tissues, whereas the underlying mechanism has not been elucidated. Herein, we found the expression of SOAT1 was elevated in human PCa tissues, which demonstrated SOAT1 level was correlated with lymph node metastasis (p = 0.006), clinical stage (p = 0.032), grading (p = 0.036), and Gleason score (p = 0.030) of PCa patients. In addition, we revealed that SOAT1 promoted proliferation and liposynthesis of PCa cells by targeting Stearoyl-CoA Desaturase 1 (SCD1). Our data further confirmed that SCD1 overexpression reversed the proliferation and liposynthesis defects caused by SOAT1 depletion in PCa cells, however, SOAT1 depletion inhibited tumor growth of PCa cells in mice. We further found SOAT1 contributed to the progression of PCa via SREBF1 pathway. Taken together, our data revealed the mechanism underlying SOAT1 promoting PCa progression in vitro and in vivo.

Comparison of the CapitalBio™Mycobacterium RT-PCR detection test and Xpert MTB/RIF assay for diagnosis of renal tuberculosis.

The purpose of this study is to compare the efficiency difference between CapitalBio™Mycobacterium real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) detection test and Xpert MTB/RIF assay for the diagnosis of renal tuberculosis (TB). We analyzed 117 samples collected between July 1, 2018, and October 31, 2019, from patients with suspected renal TB to determine the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and area under the curve (AUC) of the CapitalBio™ Mycobacterium RT-PCR detection test for renal TB and to evaluate its diagnostic accuracy compared with Xpert MTB/RIF assay. Five cases were excluded from this study because of incomplete data. Taking clinical diagnosis as the gold standard, for the Xpert MTB/RIF assay, the sensitivity was 87.95% (78.96-94.07%), specificity 96.55% (82.24-99.91%), PPV 98.65% (92.70-99.97%), NPV 73.68% (56.90-86.60%), and AUC 0.92 (0.86-0.96). For the CapitalBio™Mycobacterium RT-PCR detection test, the overall sensitivity was 84.34% (74.71-91.39%), specificity 93.10% (77.23-99.15%), PPV 97.22% (90.32-99.66%), NPV 67.50% (50.87-81.43%), and AUC 0.89(0.81-0.94). The diagnostic efficiency of the CapitalBio™Mycobacterium RT-PCR detection test was similar to that of the Xpert MTB/RIF assay in patients with renal TB. Hence, the CapitalBio™Mycobacterium RT-PCR detection test presents a valuable alternative for the diagnosis of renal TB.

Pneumatic nebulization gas-solid extraction of triazine herbicides in vegetable.

The pneumatic nebulization gas-solid extraction (PN-GSE) high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was developed and applied to the extraction, separation and determination of triazine herbicides in vegetables. The herbicides were ultrasonically extracted from vegetables with 70% methanol in water. Then the extract was introduced to PN-GSE system to further clean-up. The experimental parameters, including type and concentration of extraction solvent, ratio of solvent to sample, pH value of sample solution and PN-GSE solution, extraction time, temperature, type of sorbent, flow rate of carrier gas, pumping rate of gas, and kind and volume of elution solvent, were investigated and optimized. The limits of detection for seven herbicides range from 0.59 to 1.05µg/kg. The recoveries of the herbicides are in the range of 86.2-110.6% and relative standard deviations are equal or less than 7.51%, when the present method was applied to the analysis of spiked samples. The present method was applied to the analysis of real samples and the results were satisfactory.

A modified QuEChERS method for the determination of some herbicides in yogurt and milk by high performance liquid chromatography.

A modified quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) method was applied to the extraction of triazines and phenylureas from milk and yogurt. The herbicides was extracted by the mixture of ethyl acetate and n-hexane and cleaned by primary secondary amine (10mg/mL). The frozen-out centrifugation was applied to further remove fatty. The proposed method can achieve efficient extraction and cleanup. Some experimental parameters, such as extraction method, extraction solvent and adsorbent, pH of sample solution, extraction time and amount of primary secondary amine and sodium chloride were investigated and optimized. The precision and absolute recoveries of eight herbicides vary from 0.07 to 5.86% and from 78.9 to 99.9%, respectively. The detection limits for simeton, monuron, chlorotoluron, simetryne, atrazine, karmex, ametryne and propazine range from 0.15 to 0.35 ng/mL.

Ultrasonic nebulisation extraction: extraction column coupled with liquid phase microextraction for analysis of the volatile organic compounds in Foeniculum vulgare Mill. as a model.

INTRODUCTION: As the concentrations of the volatile organic compounds are always low and their matrix is complex, it is necessary to pre-concentrate the volatile organic compounds before analysis. Ultrasonic nebulisation extraction with a self-made extraction column coupled with liquid phase microextraction is developed for the extraction of active constituents from spices. OBJECTIVE: To develop an environmentally compatible extraction technique for the preparation and analysis of the volatile organic compounds from spices. METHOD: The sample is placed into the nebulisation vessel of a nebulisation humidifier and a purging gas is blown through the vessel continuously. When the nebuliser is switched on, a ultrasonic fountain is formed by ultrasonic vibration and the target analytes are transferred from the sample solution to the vapour phase and then concentrated on the extraction solvent in the extraction column. After extraction for 3 min and allowed to stand upright for 5 min, the extract is analysed by GC and GC-MS. Different methods of comparison can then be carried out. RESULTS: Optimum conditions were found to be: 30 µL of n-tetradecane as the extraction solvent, a flow rate for the purging gas of 40 mL/min, a purging time of 3 min and a standing time was 5 min. The contents of constituents in the extract obtained by the proposed method were close to those obtained by hydrodistillation (HD). Moreover, the proposed method achieves higher enrichment efficiency. CONCLUSION: A method was developed for the extraction of volatile organic compounds from spices. The study has shown that it is a fast and environmentally sustainable technique.

Pneumatic nebulization gas-solid extraction of some pesticides in liquor.

In general, solid phase extraction (SPE) was applied to the separation and concentration of analytes from liquid samples. However, the SPE generally cannot be applied directly to the separation and concentration of analytes from liquor in which the concentration of ethanol is high, because the ethanol can elute the analytes from the SPE column and the analytes can hardly been adsorbed onto the column. In the work, the pneumatic nebulization coupled with gas-solid extraction (PN-GSE) was applied to the extraction of several pesticides, including fenuron, chlortoluron, karmex, linuron and prebane, from liquor samples. The high concentration of ethanol in the liquor samples cannot elute the analytes from the SPE column. The high performance liquid chromatography was applied to the separation and determination of the analytes. Experimental parameters affecting the performances of PN-GSE, such as types and amount of packed material of the column, temperature of the spray chamber, flow rate of carrier gas, pumping rate of gas and volume of elution solvent were examined and optimized. The limits of detection for the analytes were in the range of 0.19-0.26 µg L⁻¹. Liquor samples were analyzed and the recoveries of the analytes in spiked samples were from 91.0 to 106.3%. The relative standard deviations were lower than 6.5%.

Extraction of eight triazine and phenylurea herbicides in yogurt by ionic liquid foaming-based solvent floatation.

The ionic liquid foaming-based solvent floatation (ILF-SF) was developed for extracting triazines and phenylureas from yogurt. These analytes were separated and determined by high performance liquid chromatography. Some experimental parameters, such as the pH value of floatation solution, extraction solvent, kind of ionic liquid and floatation time were investigated and optimized. The mixture of n-propyl alcohol and ethyl acetate was used as extraction solvent and 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate was used as foaming agent. The precision and recoveries of eight herbicides vary from 0.17 to 6.90% and from 86.5 to 118.7%, respectively. The detection limits for simeton, simazine, chlortoluron, isoproturon, ametryn, propazine, prometryne and prebane are 0.59, 0.44, 0.44, 0.46, 0.32, 1.01, 0.34 and 0.23 µgL(-1), respectively. The enrichment factors for the solvent floatation range from 11.6 to 18.6 for the eight herbicides.

Application of pneumatic nebulization single-drop microextraction for the determination of organophosphorous pesticides by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Organophosphorous pesticides (OPPs) including dichlorvos, diazinon, malathion, phenamiphos and chlorpyrifos, in water samples were extracted by pneumatic nebulization single-drop microextraction (PN-SDME) and then determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Experimental parameters affecting the performances of PN-SDME, such as flow rate of carrier gas, extraction time and microdrop volume, were examined and optimized. The limits of detection for the analytes were in the range of 0.0014-0.0019 µg/mL. The linear range was 0.0050-0.50 µg/mL, except dichlorvos (0.0070-0.50 µg/mL). Water samples were analyzed and the recoveries of the analytes in the spiked water samples were from 75.2 to 105.3%. The relative standard deviations were lower than 12.7%.

Ultrasonic nebulization extraction-heating gas flow transfer-headspace single drop microextraction of essential oil from pericarp of Zanthoxylum bungeanum Maxim.

The ultrasonic nebulization extraction-heating gas flow transfer coupled with headspace single drop microextraction (UNE-HGFT-HS-SDME) was developed for the extraction of essential oil from Zanthoxylum bungeanum Maxim. The gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was applied to the determination of the constituents in the essential oil. The contents of the constituents from essential oil obtained by the proposed method were found to be more similar to those obtained by hydro-distillation (HD) than those obtained by ultrasonic nebulization extraction coupled with headspace single drop microextraction (UNE-HS-SDME). The heating gas flow was firstly used in the analysis of the essential oil to transfer the analytes from the headspace to the solvent microdrop. The relative standard deviations for determining the five major constituents were in the range from 1.5 to 6.7%. The proposed method is a fast, sensitive, low cost and small sample consumption method for the determination of the volatile and semivolatile constituents in the plant materials.