The performance of the new prognostic grade and stage groups in conservatively treated prostate cancer / 亚洲男科学杂志(英文版)

We evaluated the prognosis of the new grade groups and American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage groups in men with prostate cancer (PCa) who were treated conservatively. A total of 13 798 eligible men were chosen from the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results database. The new grade and AJCC stage groups were investigated on prostate biopsy specimens. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and multivariable hazards models were applied to estimate the association of new grade and stage groups with overall survival (OS) and PCa-specific survival (CSS). Mean follow-up was 42.65 months (95% confidence interval: 42.47-42.84) in the entire cohort. The 3-year OS and CSS rates stepped down for grade groups 1-5 and AJCC stage groups I-IVB, respectively. After adjusting for clinical and pathological characteristics, all grade groups and AJCC stage groups were associated with higher all-cause and PCa-specific mortality compared to the reference group (all P ≤ 0.003). In conclusion, we evaluated the oncological outcome of the new grade and AJCC stage groups on biopsy specimens of conservatively treated PCa. These two novel clinically relevant classifications can assist physicians to determine different therapeutic strategies for PCa patients.

VSITA, an Improved Approach of Target Amplification in the Identification of Viral Pathogens / 生物医学与环境科学（英文）

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>Unbiased next generation sequencing (NGS) is susceptible to interference from host or environmental sequences. Consequently, background depletion and virome enrichment techniques are usually needed for clinical samples where viral load is much lower than background sequences.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A viral Sequence Independent Targeted Amplification (VSITA) approach using a set of non-ribosomal and virus-enriched octamers (V8) was developed and compared with traditionally used random hexamers (N6). Forty-five archived clinical samples of different types were used in parallel to compare the V8 and N6 enrichment performance of viral sequences and removal performance of ribosomal sequences in the step of reverse transcription followed by quantitative PCR (qPCR). Ten sera samples from patients with fever of unknown origin and 10 feces samples from patients with diarrhea of unknown origin were used in comparison of V8 and N6 enrichment performance following NGS analysis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>A minimum 30 hexamers matching to viral reference sequences (sense and antisense) were selected from a dataset of random 4,096 (46) hexamers (N6). Two random nucleotides were added to the 5' end of the selected hexamers, and 480 (30 × 42) octamers (V8) were obtained. In general, VSITA approach showed higher enrichment of virus-targeted cDNA and enhanced ability to remove unwanted ribosomal sequences in the majorities of 45 predefined clinical samples. Moreover, VSITA combined with NGS enabled to detect not only more viruses but also achieve more viral reads hit and higher viral genome coverage in 20 clinical samples with diarrhea or fever of unknown origin.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The VSITA approach designed in this study is demonstrated to possess higher sensitivity and broader genome coverage than traditionally used random hexamers in the NGS-based identification of viral pathogens directly from clinical samples.</p>

Expression of serum FSTL-1 in bone metastasis of prostate cancer and its clinical implication / 中华男科学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the expression of follistatin-like protein 1 (FSTL-1) in bone metastasis of prostate cancer (BMPC), the correlation of serum FSTL-1 with the chronic inflammatory factor interleukin-6 (IL-6) and bone morphogenetic protein 6 (BMP6) , and the clinical application value of serum FSTL-1 in BMPC.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Using ELISA, we measured the expression levels of serum FSTL-1, IL-6, and BMP6 in 35 patients with BMPC and another 30 with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and performed correlation analysis on the data obtained.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with the BPH controls, the BMPC patients showed a significantly decreased expression of serum FSTL-1 ([34.45 ± 12.35] μg/L vs [20.23 ± 8.69] μg/L, P < 0.01) and increased levels of IL-6 ([11.21 ± 8.62] μg/L vs [23.56 ± 20.12] μg/L, P < 0.05) and BMP6 ([293.50 ± 39.72] μg/L vs [428.30 ± 178.40] μg/L, P < 0.05). There was a significant negative correlation between the level of serum FSTL-1 and those of IL-6 and BMP6 in the BMPC patients, with correlation coefficients of -0.971 and -0.972, respectively (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The expression of serum FSTL-1 decreases in patients with bone metastasis of prostate cancer, and it is correlated with the levels of inflammatory factor and cell transformation factor. This finding offers a novel biological marker for the development and progression of prostate cancer as well as a new biological target factor for its intervention.</p>

The comparison of two newborn cytomegalovirus IgG antibody screening ELISA kits / 中华实验和临床病毒学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>This study compared two newborn Cytomegalovirus (CMV) IgG antibody screening ELISA kits and evaluated the detection effectiveness of Abnova kit.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>CMV IgG antibodies were detected by both SeraQuest and Abnova kits from dried blood spot (DBS) samples of 488 newborn heel sticks. The detection abilities of these two kits were compared in different sample dilution concentrations. Relative detection effectiveness of the Abnova kit was defined by statistical method using the SeraQuest kit as a point of comparison.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Compared to the SeraQuest screening test kit, the Abnova kit revealed a sensitivity of 98.9%, specificity of 78.6%, positive predictive value of 99.3%, negative predictive value of 68.8%, and the coincidence rate for these two screening test kits at 98.3%. The consistency check of both kits based on interpretation of the kappa statistic was relatively good. For the Abnova kit, the "area under the ROC curve" was 0.887, which indicates moderate accuracy.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Abnova kit can be applied to newborn screening for congenital CMV infections. However, repeating the test for ambiguous results is suggested to increase the specificity and negative predictive value.</p>

The progress of congenital cytomegalovirus infection and detection methods / 病毒学报

Cytomegalovirus infection is extremely common in the population, especially for newborns. Congenital CMV infection may cause central nervous system damage and other related diseases, thus potentially harmful. At home and abroad, some related research had been carried out on the incidence of disease, and a variety of detection methods had been developed. In this paper, the current situation of congenital cytomegalovirus infection and detection method is reviewed.

Retroperitoneal laparoscopic radical nephrectomy in the treatment of renal cancer / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the safety and efficacy of retroperitoneal laparoscopic radical nephrectomy in the treatment of renal cancer.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The clinical data of 53 cases who underwent retroperitoneal laparoscopic radical nephrectomy were analyzed retrospectively.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Fifty-two cases achieved successful retroperitoneal laparoscopic radical nephrectomy, a conversion to open surgery was required in one case because of severe adhesion. The operation time was 75 min to 220 min (mean, 125 min), the blood loss was 50 ml to 420 ml (mean, 120 ml), and the postoperative hospital stay was 6 d to 12 d. Complications occurred in 4 cases. Pathological examination showed that 47 cases were of renal clear cell carcinoma, 5 of chromophobe carcinoma, and 1 of cystic renal cell carcinoma. Follow-up for 1 month to 5 years showed no tumor recurrence and metastasis.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Retroperitoneal laparoscopic radical nephrectomy is a safe and effective treatment for patients with stage T1 - 2N0M0 renal cell carcinoma.</p>

Preliminary study on treatment of partial androgen deficiency in aging males with Jingui Shenqi Pill / 中国结合医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the efficacy and safety of Jingui Shengqi Pill in treating partial androgen deficiency in aging males (PADAM), and to explore the new approach in improving the quality of life in PADAM patients.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Forty patients with PADAM were treated with JSP, the efficacy was evaluated with international index of erectile function (IIEF) scoring, PADAM questionnaire scoring, hormone, prostatic specific antigen (PSA), etc., and the data before treatment were compared with those after treatment in the same group.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>After 3 months of treatment, PADAM scoring and IIEF scoring were all significantly improved. Symptoms regarding physical ability, vasomotion, and psychical and mental condition all got improved more markedly than symptoms regarding sexual hypofunction. The serum level of testosterone was 3.85 +/- 0.36 before treatment and 5.02 +/- 0.83 after treatment (P < 0.05); luteinizing hormone of 7.33 +/- 2.14 and 4.84 +/- 1.43 (P < 0.01), follicle-stimulating hormone of 10.22 +/- 4.48 and 6.47 +/- 3.28 (P < 0.01), respectively. The level of PSA failed to change significantly (1.94 +/- 0.55 and 2.06 +/- 0.47, P > 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>JSP is effective and safe in treating PADAM, the mechanism of it is different from supplementing extrinsic androgen. It may have produced the effect by means of favorably regulating the condition of sex hormone to improve the balance of pituitary-sex gland axis, so it has more extensive clinical application.</p>

Stage-specific localization of transforming growth factor beta1 and beta3 and their receptors during spermatogenesis in men / 亚洲男科学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>AIM</b>To investigate the stage-specific localization of transforming growth factor (TGF) beta1 and beta3 during spermatogenesis in adult human testis.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The localization of TGFbeta1 and beta3 was investigated by immunohistochemical staining method employing specific polyclonal antibodies.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Both TGFbeta1 and beta3 and their receptors were preponderant in the Leydig cells. TGFbeta1 could not be detected in the seminiferous tubules. TGFbeta3 and TGFbeta-Receptor (R) I were mainly seen in the elongated spermatids, while TGFbeta-RII in the pachytene spermatocytes and weak in the spermatogonia, spermatids and Sertoli cells. Only TGFbeta-RII was detected in the Sertoli cells. TGFbeta3, TGFbeta-RI and TGFbeta-RII showed a staining pattern dependent upon the stages of the seminiferous epithelium cycle.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>TGFbeta isoforms and their receptors are present in the somatic and germ cells of the adult human testis, suggesting their involvement in the regulation of spermatogenesis.</p>