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Background: Testis-sparing surgery (TSS) is a safe treatment for patients with benign testicular tumors. Presently, assessments for evaluating the suitability of TSS are poorly standardized, partially because testicular anatomical elements cannot be quantitatively described. Materials and methods: The authors developed a scoring method known as the SAVE testis-sparing score based on four critical and accessible anatomical features of a testicular tumor. The SAVE score ranges from 0 to 8 and is divided into four risk classes (low, medium, high, and extremely high) to evaluate the feasibility of TSS, wherein low-risk indicates high feasibility and vice versa. This study included 444 testicular tumor patients from eight centers. Among them, 216 patients (model group: 151 patients, validation group: 65 patients) were included in the modeling analysis, and the other 228 patients from children's centers were included in the proportion analysis. Using retrospective data, patient characteristics associated with surgical methods were identified. Furthermore, a multivariate logistic regression model was built quantify the associations between these characteristics and the surgery method. The receiver operator characteristic curve was used to evaluate the classification efficiency of SAVE. Results: The SAVE testis-sparing score includes size (tumor size as maximal diameter), available testicular tissue volume, volume ratio of the tumor to the testis, and the exophytic/endophytic properties of the tumor. The SAVE scoring system accurately classified the suitability of TSS based on the complexity of benign testicular tumors. Conclusion: The SAVE score is a reproducible and robust tool for quantitatively describing the anatomical characteristics of benign testicular tumors and guide the preoperative evaluation of TSS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mercury removal from wastewater by plants has attracted widespread research attention because of its negative health effects. This study explored the absorption and enrichment characteristics of aquatic plants under stress from the heavy metal mercury (Hg). The research also investigated the removal effect of aquatic plants on Hg pollution in water, and screened different aquatic plants to determine which were optimal for removing heavy metal polluted water. The six species of aquatic plants included in the study were: Canna indical, Eichhornia crassipes, Pistia stratiotes, Acorus calamus, Ceratophyllum demersum, and Myriophyllum spicatum. Hydroponic experiments were conducted to determine the removal rate of Hg in water and the enrichment characteristics of the aquatic plants under heavy metal Hg stress. The results showed that the six plants had a removal effect on Hg; the removal models were consistent with an exponential curve, meaning that the model effectively predicted mercury concentration in water. The best aquatic plant was Myriophyllum spicatum, with an average removal rate of 94.77 %. At low concentrations, the bioconcentration factors of Myriophyllum spicatum was the highest, which was 923.91. The study concludes that Myriophyllum spicatum is the dominant species for remediating Hg pollution in water, and can be applied to design ecological floating beds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]