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Aims: Elevated fasting plasma glucose (FPG) levels have been associated with visual impairment. Recognising global patterns of high FPG level exposure can facilitate the prevention and treatment of related visual impairment. We aimed to assess the trends of the visual impairment burden attributable to high FPG levels globally, regionally, nationally, and by income level. Methods: We obtained data on the visual impairment burden attributable to high FPG levels from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. We evaluated the trends of related disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) from 1990 to 2019 through joinpoint regression analysis and calculated the annual percentage change (APC) and average APC (AAPC). Countries/territories were categorised into high-, upper-middle-, lower-middle-, and low-income groups based on the 2019 World Bank criteria. Results: The age-standardised rate of DALYs due to visual impairment attributable to high FPG levels significantly increased globally, from 6.75 (95% uncertainty interval [UI], 1.55–15.79) in 1990 to 8.44 per 100,000 population (95% UI, 2.00–19.63) in 2019 (AAPC, 0.79; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.69–0.89; p < 0.001). The largest increases were observed in high-income (AAPC, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.60–0.85) and lower-middle-income countries/territories (AAPC, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.62–0.73). In 2019, lower-middle-income countries/territories had the highest age-standardised DALY rate (18.94 per 100,000 population; 95% UI, 4.39–43.98), whereas high-income countries/territories had the lowest (2.97 per 100,000 population; 95% UI, 0.75–6.74). Conclusions: The visual impairment burden associated with elevated FPG levels has increased significantly, necessitating enhanced public health prevention measures, clinical management, and treatment to mitigate adverse outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Prostate cancer (PCa) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in males. Epigenetic modifier abnormalities are becoming a driving event in PCa. The specific role of KMT2C, a histone methyltransferase that is frequently aberrant in various tumors, is poorly understood in PCa. This study aimed to reveal the potential carcinogenic role of KMT2C in PCa. Methods: We first examined the expression levels of KMT2C in prostate cancer tissues. Then, we assessed the function of KMT2C in prostate cancer cell proliferation, colony formation, and migration. To explore the mechanism of the biological consequences, RNA-seq and CHIP-qPCR were performed. We also analyzed the effects of overexpression of the KMT2C downstream genes CLDN8 and ITGAV to reverse the effects of KMT2C on prostate cancer cells. Results: Herein, we first confirmed KMT2C overexpression in PCa at the transcript and protein levels. Knocking down KMT2C in VCaP and LNCaP cells inhibited cell viability, colony formation, and migration. Consistently, stable KMT2C depletion effectively decreased tumor growth by approximately 70% in vivo. Mechanistically, the results suggested that CLDN8 and ITGAV are two key downstream genes of KMT2C and further regulate the MAPK/ERK and EMT pathways. Conclusion: Our study suggests that KMT2C plays an oncogenic role in PCa. One of the mechanisms may be the epigenetic regulation of CLDN8 and ITGAV by KMT2C to modulate tumor-signaling pathways. Therefore, KMT2C may serve as a potential therapeutic target for PCa patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, in order to study the rock-breaking mechanism of the micro-coring PDC bit, a series of unit breaking experiments containing 2 breaking forms (static-pressure breaking and fracture breaking) are conducted on core columns of sandstone, limestone, and granite. Besides, a full-sized micro-coring PDC bit with a diameter of 152.4 mm is designed and manufactured and is used to conduct an indoor experiment on multiple sized sandstone core columns. The unit breaking experiment results show that ROP (rate of penetration) of the fracture breaking is higher than the static-pressure breaking. The indoor experiment results of the full-sized bit show that ROP of the micro-coring PDC bit is 49–112% higher than the conventional bit and that the diameter of core column shows greater influence on ROP, while the height of the column shows smaller. Moreover, the micro-coring PDC bit realizes volumetric fracture on all of the three types of rock samples. Since volumetric fracture produces large rock debris, the rock-breaking efficiency and ROP of the micro-coring PDC bit will be improved significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Obesity is a metabolic disease with a serious health burden in children and adults, and it induces a variety of conditions including subfecundity. Sleeve gastrectomy showed encouraging results in terms of weight loss and improve quality of life, and this study aimed to determine whether sleeve gastrectomy could reverse obesity-induced impaired fertility in male Sprague-Dawley rats.Methods: After 16 weeks of a chow diet (CD) or a high-fat diet (HFD) challenge, rats on the HFD were given a sleeve gastrectomy or sham operation and then fed an HFD for another 8 weeks. Serum glucose, insulin, lipids, sex hormone, sperm quality, inflammatory profile of the testis, and hypothalamic Kiss1 expression in the three study groups were compared.Results: Sleeve gastrectomy significantly decreased HFD-induced obesity and serum glucose and insulin levels. It also reversed the HFD-induced increase in teratozoospermia and decreases in sperm motility and progressive motility. Testicular morphological abnormalities were also improved after sleeve gastrectomy. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay showed that the expression of sex hormones increased after sleeve gastrectomy and that expression of inflammatory factors decreased. The HFD induced a hypothalamic inflammatory response that inhibited Kiss1 expression, which in turn mediated sex hormone expression. Sleeve gastrectomy treatment improved the hypothalamic response.Conclusions: The results consistently showed that sleeve gastrectomy reversed obesity-induced male fertility impairment by decreasing the inflammatory responses of the testis and hypothalamus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study is to compare the efficacy and safety of diode laser enucleation of the prostate (DiLEP) with plasmakinetic enucleation of the prostate (PKEP) for symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) patients with large prostate (volume > 80 ml). From January 2013 to June 2014, 80 consecutive patients were randomized treated with DiLEP (n = 40) or PKEP (n = 40). Perioperative and postoperative outcome data were assessed during a 1-year follow-up. There were no significant preoperative differences between the two surgical groups. The mean prostate volumes in the DiLEP and PKEP groups were 98.6 and 93.3 ml, respectively. DiLEP was equivalent to PKEP in improvement in International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), quality of life scores, and maximum flow rate. Compared with PKEP, patients treated with DiLEP showed a lower risk of blood loss (P < 0.01), shorter bladder irrigation and catheterization times (P < 0.01), as well as shorter hospital stays (P < 0.01). Moreover, the DiLEP group was significantly superior to bipolar plasmakinetic group in the irritative symptoms. However, the operation time of the DiLEP group was longer than that of PKEP group (P = 0.02). Both DiLEP and PKEP are safe and effective methods for the treatment of BPH in large prostates (volume > 80 ml). Compared with PKEP, DiLEP provides a decreased risk of hemorrhage, reduced bladder irrigation, and catheterization times, as well as shorter hospital stays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]