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To compare perioperative outcomes of robot-assisted radical cystectomy (RARC) using a single-port (SP) or multi-port (MP) robotic platform. We conducted a comprehensive search of the PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar databases until June 2024. For a combined analysis of the data using random effects, Review Manager 5.4 was employed. To compare continuous and categorical variables, the weighted mean difference (WMD) and odds ratio (OR) were employed, respectively. Three original studies were included, comprising a total of 170 patients (SP-RARC: 73 versus MP-RARC: 93).Recovery of bowel function was faster in SP-RARC (WMD -1.02 days, 95% CI − 1.33 to − 0.17; p < 0.001), and lymph-node yield was lower than in MP-RARC patients (WMD − 6.32, 95% CI − 8.90 to − 3.75; p < 0.00001).There were no significant differences between the SP-RARC and MP-RARC groups in terms of other perioperative outcomes such as surgery duration, length of hospital stay, estimated blood loss, major complication rate, positive surgical margin rate, readmission rate, and recurrence rate. The SP robot offers a safe alternative surgical approach to RARC, providing similar postoperative outcomes compared to the MP robot. The SP system remains an attractive option that will require longer follow-up and cohort validation in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kidney Stone Disease (KSD) constitutes a multifaceted disorder, emerging from a confluence of environmental and genetic determinants, and is characterized by a high frequency of occurrence and recurrence. Our objective is to elucidate potential causative proteins and identify prospective pharmacological targets within the context of KSD. This investigation harnessed the unparalleled breadth of plasma protein and KSD pooled genome-wide association study (GWAS) data, sourced from the United Kingdom Biobank Pharma Proteomics Project (UKBPPP) and the FinnGen database version R10. Through Mendelian randomization analysis, proteins exhibiting a causal influence on KSD were pinpointed. Subsequent co-localization analyses affirmed the stability of these findings, while enrichment analyses evaluated their potential for pharmacological intervention. Culminating the study, a phenome-wide association study (PheWAS) was executed, encompassing all phenotypes (2408 phenotypes) catalogued in the FinnGen database version R10. Our MR analysis identified a significant association between elevated plasma levels of proteins FKBPL, ITIH3, and SERPINC1 and increased risk of KSD based on genetic predictors. Conversely, proteins CACYBP, DAG1, ITIH1, and SEMA6C showed a protective effect against KSD, documented with statistical significance (PFDR<0.05). Co-localization analysis confirmed these seven proteins share genetic variants with KSD, signaling a shared genetic basis (PPH3 + PPH4 > 0.8). Enrichment analysis revealed key pathways including hyaluronan metabolism, collagen-rich extracellular matrix, and serine-type endopeptidase inhibition. Additionally, our PheWAS connected the associated proteins with 356 distinct diseases (PFDR<0.05), highlighting intricate disease interrelations. In conclusion, our research elucidated a causal nexus between seven plasma proteins and KSD, enriching our grasp of prospective therapeutic targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Robotic pyelolithotomy continues to gain attention as an alternative to percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) for managing complex renal stones. We performed a single-arm meta-analysis and systematically searched the English-language literature published in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar databases up to June 2024. The risk of non-randomized bias was assessed using ROBINS-I, and the quality of the literature was assessed using MINORS (Methodological Index for Non-Randomized Studies). Merger parameters were calculated using Stata16/SE under a random-effects model. Five non-comparative single-arm studies were included in the meta-analysis. Results showed that the operative time for robotic pyelolithotomy was 168.10 min (95% CI 133.63, 202.56). The hospital stay was 2.63 days (95% CI 0.96, 4.29), and blood loss was 44.13 ml (95% CI 19.76, 68.51). The stone clearance rate was 87% (95% CI 79–93%). The incidence of minor postoperative complications (Clavien grade I–II) was 23.7% (95% CI 13.4–35.8%), and the incidence of major complications (Clavien grade ≥ III) was 7% (95% CI 0.3–20.7%).The safety and efficacy of robotic pyelolithotomy in treating complex renal stones are acceptable, but future large prospective cohort studies are needed to validate the treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This investigation sought to conduct a comprehensive meta-analysis to assess the comparative effectiveness and safety of percutaneous ablation (PCA) versus robotic-assisted partial nephrectomy (RAPN) among individuals diagnosed with cT1 renal tumors. This study rigorously followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis. A systematic search was carried out in the PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases, focusing on studies published in English through February 2024. We focused on evaluating primary outcomes, specifically perioperative outcomes, functional outcomes, and oncological outcomes. In this analysis, data from 1534 patients across 13 studies were evaluated. PCA was found to have advantageous outcomes in comparison to RAPN regarding hospital stay durations, with a Weighted Mean Difference (WMD) of − 2.03 days (95% Confidence Interval [CI]: -3.78 to − 0.27; p = 0.02), operative times (WMD: -106.75 min; 95% CI: − 170.78 to − 42.72; p = 0.001), and overall complication rates (Odds Ratio [OR]: 0.61; 95% CI: 0.42 to 0.89; p = 0.01). Conversely, PCA showed a higher incidence of local recurrence compared to RAPN, with an OR of 3.20 (95% CI: 1.91 to 5.35; p < 0.00001). Moreover, there were no statistically significant differences between the two treatments in terms of major complications, declines in estimated glomerular filtration rates (eGFR), variations in creatinine levels, overall survival rates, and recurrence-free survival. While PCA exhibits higher local recurrence rates than RAPN, it also presents significant advantages, such as shorter hospital stays, decreased operative durations, and lower complication rates. This juxtaposition underscores the urgent need for further, more rigorous research to substantiate these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary objective of the current study is to undertake a comparative analysis of the effectiveness and safety of minimally-invasive partial nephrectomy (MIPN; including laparoscopic and robotic approaches) and open partial nephrectomy (OPN) for the treatment of highly complex renal tumors (defined as PADUA or RENAL score ≥ 10). A comprehensive search was conducted in four electronic databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Cochrane Library) to identify relevant studies published in the English language up to April 2023. The current study employed Review Manager 5.4 and encompassed controlled trials of both MIPN and OPN for the treatment of highly complex renal tumors. This study comprised a total of eight comparative trials involving 1161 patients. MIPN demonstrated a significant reduction in length of hospital stay (weighted mean difference [WMD] − 2.08 days, 95% confidence interval [CI] − 2.48, − 1.68; p < 0.00001), blood loss (WMD − 39.86 mL, 95% CI − 75.32, − 4.39; p = 0.03), transfusion rates (odds ratio [OR] 0.30, 95% CI 0.13, 0.71; p = 0.006), and overall complications (OR 0.46, 95% CI 0.31, 0.70; p = 0.0003). However, there were no significant differences between MIPN and OPN in terms of operative time, warm ischemia time, conversion to radical nephrectomy rates, renal functional and oncologic outcomes. This study reveals that MIPN presents several benefits in comparison to OPN, including decreased length of hospital stay, blood loss, transfusion rates, and complications, while still offering renal functional and oncological outcomes that are comparable to those of OPN in patients with highly complex renal tumors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thyroid carcinoma is a common endocrine organ cancer associated with abnormal hormone secretion, leading to the disorder of metabolism. The intestinal microbiota is vital to maintain digestive and immunologic homeostasis. The relevant information of the microbial community in the gut and thyroid, including composition, structure, and relationship, is unclear in thyroid carcinoma patients. A total of 93 samples from 25 patients were included in this study. The results showed that microbial communities existed in thyroid tissue; gut and thyroid had high abundance of facultative anaerobes from the Proteobacteria phyla. The microbial metabolism from the thyroid and gut may be affected by the thyroid carcinoma cells. The cooccurrence network showed that the margins of different thyroid tissues were unique areas with more competition; the stabilization of microcommunities from tissue and stool may be maintained by several clusters of species that may execute different vital metabolism processes dominantly that are attributed to the microenvironment of cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To explore the role of radiomics in integrating primary tumor and peritumoral areas based on PET-CT scans for predicting E-cadherin (E-cad) expression in early-stage cervical cancer (ESCC) and its correlation with pelvic lymph node metastasis (PLNM). Methods: Ninety-seven ESCC patients who had undergone PET-CT scans were retrospectively analyzed. The ROI of primary tumors, peritumoral areas, and plus tumors were semi-automatically segmented on PET-CT images. A total of 1188 radiomics features were extracted, selected, and eventually integrated into radiomics score (rad-score). The rad-score difference between patients with E-cad expression of high and low was analyzed using Mann-Whitney tests. Characteristic correlation was tested using a Spearman analysis. Four models were established using logistic regression algorithms and evaluated using ROC and calibration curves. A DeLong test was used to perform pairwise comparisons of AUCs. Results: The rad-score of patients with low E-cad expression was higher than that of patients with high E-cad expression in both training and testing cohorts (p < 0.001 and p = 0.027, respectively). A significant correlation was observed between the rad-score and E-cad (p < 0.001). PLNM correlated slightly with rad-score and E-cad values (p = 0.01 and p < 0.001, respectively). The ROC curve and calibration curve of the rad-score model performed best in both training and testing cohorts (AUC = 0.915, 0.844, p < 0.001, respectively). Conclusions: The radiomics of integrating primary tumor and peritumoral areas based on PET-CT showed correlations with PLNM. It was also able to predict E-cad expression in ESCC patients, allowing for evaluation of those patients' prognosis and more individualized medical treatment. Key Points: • By integrating the primary tumor and peritumoral area based on PET-CT, radiomics was feasible. • The rad-score was associated with E-cad expression and PLNM in patients with ESCC. • Radiomics that integrated the primary tumor and peritumoral areas based on PET-CT could predict E-cad expression in patients with ESCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yond bap is a traditional fermented milk product from the Yunnan province in China. Yond baps are mostly produced with goat's milk and occasionally with cow's milk. As a traditional dairy product produced by fermentation, yond bap contains an abundant microflora. The microbes that play a role in the fermentation of goat milk form a specific community structure. In this work, 11 types of yond bap were characterized from four different regions in the Yunnan province. We employed bar-coded pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA to analyze the bacterial community structure in the yond baps. The results indicated that the bacterial community structures of the 11 yond baps were different. Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Actinobacteria were detected in all the samples. Pseudomonas, a proteobacterium, was the predominant bacterial genus . Pseudomonas sequences were detected often and in most of the samples. Next, Streptococcaceae, Lactobacillaceae, and Lactococcus belonging to Streptococcaceae family played important roles in the fermentation of yond baps as the numbers of sequences belonging to these species were higher. The results demonstrate the presence of different bacterial community structures of yond baps from different regions in the Yunnan Province of China. This study provides information about the diversity of the microbial community of fermented food and a reliable theoretical foundation for improving the quality and flavor of yond baps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To avoid the biases associated with PCR amplification in analysis of microbial communities, a new method has been tested for direct sequencing of the cDNA of full-length Small-subunit Ribosomal RNA withOut specific PCR amplification (SROP). In silico analysis of the SROP method demonstrated that more than 99 % of the SROP sequences could be correctly annotated. Two environmental samples (activated sludge and anaerobic sludge) with complex microbial communities were used for comparison in this study. The SROP results demonstrated that the families Rhodocyclaceae and Nitrosomonadaceae in activated sludge and the phyla Synergistetes and Spirochaetes in anaerobic sludge were underestimated by PCR-based detection. One third of the 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) sequences obtained by the SROP method covered the V3 amplicon region, and they are suitable for phylogenetic and diversity index analyses. The microbial diversity index calculated from the rRNA sequences by the SROP was much higher than that calculated by conventional PCR, particularly for the anaerobic sludge. The metatranscriptome-based SROP method will contribute to our better understanding of the diversity of complex microbial communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fermented foods and beverages are important parts of human diet. Fen liquor, a Chinese liquor is a fermented beverage that uses a traditional fermentation process. Starters are the main microbial source and also provide nutrients for microorganisms during fermentation. In this study, starters of Fen liquor were produced through a complex traditional fermentation process. To investigate the community structure and the composition of microorganisms in the starter production process, bacterial 16S rRNA and fungal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions were sequenced using clone libraries and pyrosequencing, respectively. There was much higher diversity among the bacteria than among the fungi in the starter production process. Bacteria on the surface of the starters belonged mostly to the Lactobacillaceae family, while members of the Bacillacae family were dominant in the interior of the samples that lacked access to air and water. In the fungi population, diversity was high only in the raw material. In all other samples, nearly all of the fungal sequences were from Pichia kudriavzevii, a member of the Saccharomycetaceae family. Nearly all samples showed similar fungal community structures, indicating that there was little change in the fungal community. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to reveal the whole process of the starter production of Chinese traditional liquor. The findings obtained in this study provide new insights into understanding the composition of the microbial community during the traditional Chinese liquor starter production process and information about the production process control and monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tidal flats are soil resources of great significance. Nitrification plays a central role in the nitrogen cycle and is often a critical first step in nitrogen removal from estuarine and coastal environments. We determined the abundance as well as composition of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) in different soils during land reclamation process. The abundance of AOA was higher than that of AOB in farm land and wild land while AOA was not detected in tidal flats using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The different abundances of AOB and AOA were negatively correlated with the salinity. The diversities of AOB and AOA were also investigated using clone libraries by amplification of amoA gene. Among AOB, nearly all sequences belonged to the Nitrosomonas lineage in the initial land reclamation process, i.e., tidal flats, while both Nitrosomonas and Nitrosospira lineages were detected in later and transition phases of land reclamation process, farm land and wild land. The ratio of the numbers of sequences of Nitrosomonas and Nitrosospira lineages was positively correlated with the salinity and the net nitrification rate. As for AOA, there was no obvious correlation with the changes in the physicochemical properties of the soil. This study suggests that AOB may be more import than AOA with respect to influencing the different land reclamation process stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research was aimed at isolating and identifying the predominant lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in the traditional Chinese salt-fermented soybean food, douchi, from Yunnan, China. The predominant LAB present were isolated and identified by conventional culture-dependent methods combined with molecular biological methods. Two hundred and sixty isolates were obtained from thirty kinds of traditional fermented douchi from six cities and counties in Yunnan, and those strains were divided into twelve groups by their morphological and biochemical characteristics. Based on 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequencing and analysis, 56 representative strains were identified as belonging to 6 genera and 14 species: Lactobacillus (4 spp.), Weissella (3 spp.), Pediococcus (2 spp.), Staphylococcus (2 spp.), Enterococcus (1 sp.), and Bacillus (2 spp.). The results show that douchi contains a large natural population of LAB of diverse composition from which some strains could be selected as starters for functional fermented foods. This is the first study on the original douchi from Yunnan, and the results suggest that it may be a useful source for the isolation of LAB. This study has also laid a foundation for further research on developing functional douchi products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the molecular types of the Cryptococcus neoformans species complex isolates and their clinical manifestations among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive and HIV-negative patients in southeast China in the past 15 years. The molecular types of 109 isolates from 108 patients were analyzed by the PCR fingerprinting method, sequences of internal transcribed spacers of rDNA (ITS region), and sequences of the capsule-associated gene ( CAP59). In HIV-positive patients, clinical isolates were grouped into molecular types VNI (75%, 15/20), VNII (15%, 3/20), and VNIII (10%, 2/20). In HIV-negative patients, the majority of the clinical isolates were grouped into molecular types VNI (72%, 64/89), VNII (13%, 12/89), VGI (12%, 11/89), VNIII (1%, 1/89), and VGII (1%, 1/89). In reference to the mating type of the isolates, 97% (106/109) were of the MATα, 2% (2/109) were of the MATα/− and 1% (1/109) were of the MATα/ a. As for the clinical manifestations of the molecular types among the patients, the average cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pressure of the patients infected by the C. gattii was higher than that of the patients infected by the C. neoformans. These results suggest that both HIV-positive and HIV-negative cryptococcal patients in the southeast of China are mostly infected by the C. neoformans strains. No C. gattii strains were found in HIV-positive patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]