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Background: While many investigators have studied symptomatic prostatitis, little research has been done with regard to asymptomatic (NIH-IV) prostatitis. Purpose: To describe the prevalence of and risk factors for NIH-IV prostatitis among a large male population. Methods: The study population was comprised of 1,868 men at the second phase recruitment of a population-based cohort in China. Asymptomatic and symptomatic men were defined by the National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis (CP) Symptom Index. Meanwhile, EPS specimens and their leukocyte count were collected. Lifestyle and demographic characteristics were obtained through a questionnaire. Results: Prevalence of NIH-IV prostatitis was 21.1% among 1,868 asymptomatic men aged 19–78 years and increased with age. After adjusteing for potential confounding variables (age, smoking habits, alcohol drinking habits, education, physical activity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, obesity and diabetes), age remained a significant factor for NIH-IV prostatitis (OR = 1.35; 95% CI = 1.06–1.71; P = 0.01) and the risk of NIH-IV prostatitis was significantly higher in smokers≧15 pack/years than non-smokers (OR = 1.33; 95% CI = 1.01–1.75; P = 0.03). In addition, compared with non-drinkers, the OR of NIH-IV prostatitis in drinkers ≧1 drinks/week was 1.35 (95% CI = 1.03, 1.77, p = 0.02) after adjusting for the other variables above. In addition, having less than a college education may be a risk factor for NIH-IV prostatitis, although a statistically significant difference did not exist in our data (OR = 1.22; 95% CI = 0.97–1.52; P = 0.08). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that NIH-IV prostatitis is prevalent in China. Age, smoking, drinking and lower education levels were associated with an increased risk of NIH-IV prostatitis. The prevalence of NIH-IV prostatitis should be taken into account when estimating the total prevalence of CP in future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open data science and algorithm development competitions offer a unique avenue for rapid discovery of better computational strategies. We highlight three examples in computational biology and bioinformatics research in which the use of competitions has yielded significant performance gains over established algorithms. These include algorithms for antibody clustering, imputing gene expression data, and querying the Connectivity Map (CMap). Performance gains are evaluated quantitatively using realistic, albeit sanitized, data sets. The solutions produced through these competitions are then examined with respect to their utility and the prospects for implementation in the field. We present the decision process and competition design considerations that lead to these successful outcomes as a model for researchers who want to use competitions and non-domain crowds as collaborators to further their research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sheep are a key source of meat, milk and fibre for the global livestock sector, and an important biomedical model. Global analysis of gene expression across multiple tissues has aided genome annotation and supported functional annotation of mammalian genes. We present a large-scale RNA-Seq dataset representing all the major organ systems from adult sheep and from several juvenile, neonatal and prenatal developmental time points. The Ovis aries reference genome (Oar v3.1) includes 27,504 genes (20,921 protein coding), of which 25,350 (19,921 protein coding) had detectable expression in at least one tissue in the sheep gene expression atlas dataset. Network-based cluster analysis of this dataset grouped genes according to their expression pattern. The principle of ‘guilt by association’ was used to infer the function of uncharacterised genes from their co-expression with genes of known function. We describe the overall transcriptional signatures present in the sheep gene expression atlas and assign those signatures, where possible, to specific cell populations or pathways. The findings are related to innate immunity by focusing on clusters with an immune signature, and to the advantages of cross-breeding by examining the patterns of genes exhibiting the greatest expression differences between purebred and crossbred animals. This high-resolution gene expression atlas for sheep is, to our knowledge, the largest transcriptomic dataset from any livestock species to date. It provides a resource to improve the annotation of the current reference genome for sheep, presenting a model transcriptome for ruminants and insight into gene, cell and tissue function at multiple developmental stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Only a small proportion of genetic variation in serum ferritin has been explained by variant genetic studies, and genome-wide association study (GWAS) for serum ferritin has not been investigated widely in Chinese population. We aimed at exploring the novel genetic susceptibility to serum ferritin, and performed this two stage GWAS in a healthy Chinese population of 3,495 men aged 20–69 y, including 1,999 unrelated subjects in the first stage and 1,496 independent individuals in the second stage. Serum ferritin was measured with electrochemiluminescence immunoassay, and DNA samples were collected for genotyping. A total of 1,940,243 SNPs were tested by using multivariate linear regression analysis. After adjusting for population stratification, age and BMI, the rs5742933 located in the 5′UTR region of PMS1 gene on chromosome 2 was the most significantly associated with ferritin concentrations (P-combined = 2.329×10−10) (β = −0.11, 95% CI: −0.14, −0.07). Moreover, this marker was about 200kb away from the candidate gene SLC40A1 which is responsible for iron export. PMS1 gene was the novel genetic susceptibility to serum ferritin in Chinese males and its relation to SLC40A1 needs further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To achieve decreased invasiveness and lower morbidity, minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) was introduced in 1997 for localized esophageal cancer. The combined thoracoscopic-laparoscopic esophagectomy (left neck anastomosis, defined as the McKeown MIE procedure) has been performed since 2007 at our institution. From 2007 to 2011, our institution subsequently evolved as a high-volume MIE center in China. We aim to share our experience with MIE, and have evaluated the outcomes of 142 patients. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 142 consecutive patients who had presented with esophageal cancer undergoing McKeown MIE from July 2007 to December 2011. The procedure, surgical outcomes, disease-free and overall survival of these cases were assessed. Results: The average total procedure time was 270.5±28.1 min. The median operation time for thoracoscopy was 81.5±14.6 min and for laparoscopy was 63.8±9.1 min. The average blood loss associated with thoracoscopy was 123.8±39.2 ml, and for laparoscopic procedures was 49.9±14.3 ml. The median number of lymph nodes retrieved was 22.8. The 30 day mortality rate was 0.7%. Major surgical complications occurred in 24.6% and major non-surgical complications occurred in 18.3% of these patients. The median DFS and OS were 36.0±2.6 months and 43.0±3.4 months respectively. Conclusions: Surgical and oncological outcomes following McKeown MIE for esophageal cancer were acceptable and comparable with those of open-McKeown esophagectomy. The procedure was both feasible and safe – properties that can be consolidated by experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The ferritin is an important participant of iron-storage but its regulation and related factors were not well defined. The present objective was to explore the potential association between serum ferritin levels and sex hormones. Methods: 1999 Chinese men in the Fangchenggang Area Male Health and Examination Survey (FAMHES) were recruited in this cross-sectional study. Levels of serum ferritin, total testosterone (free testosterone was calculated from the total one), estradiol and sex hormone-binding protein were detected in venous blood samples. The effects of age, BMI, smoking as well as alcohol consumption were analyzed on ferritin levels, respectively, and then the Pearson’s correlation analysis was used to evaluate the association between ferritin levels and sex hormones adjusting for the above factors. Results: The age, BMI and alcohol consumption significantly affected serum ferritin levels, but there was no significant difference between smokers and nonsmokers. Ferritin levels were significantly and negatively associated with total testosterone (R = −0.205, P< 0.001), sex hormone-binding protein (R = −0.161, P<0.001) and free testosterone (R = −0.097, P<0.001). After age and alcohol consumption were adjusted, the above associations were still significant (R = −0.200, −0.181 and −0.083, respectively, all P<0.001). However, there was only borderline negative association between ferritin levels and estradiol (adjusted R = −0.039, P = 0.083). Conclusion: The large scale of epidemic results showed the significantly negative associations between serum ferritin levels and sex hormones, which may provide more clues to explore the potential regulation and biological mechanism of ferritin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased serum uric acid (SUA) levels may be involved in the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in men presenting with metabolic syndrome (MetS) and/or insulin resistance. We aimed to determine the independent relationship between SUA and NAFLD in non-diabetic Chinese male population, and to explore the determinants of SUA levels among indexes of adiposity, lipid, and genotypes pertaining to triglycerides metabolism, inflammation, oxidative stress, and SUA concentrations. A total of 1440 men, classified depending on the presence of ultrasonographically detected NAFLD, underwent a complete healthy checkup program. Genotypes were extracted from our previously established genome-wide association study database. After adjusting for age, smoking, drinking, body mass index, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance, C-reactive protein, creatinine, alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and components of metabolic syndrome, the odds ratio for NAFLD, comparing the highest with the lowest SUA quartile, was 2.81 (95% confidence interval 1.66–4.76). A stepwise multivariate linear regression analysis (R2 = 0.238, P<0.001) retained age, waist circumference, serum creatinine, triglycerides, the Q141K variant in ABCG2 (rs2231142) and NAFLD as significant predictors of SUA levels (all P<0.001). Besides, ALT and Met196Arg variant in TNFRSF1B (rs1061622) additionally associated with SUA among individuls with NAFLD. Our data suggest that in Chinese men, elevated SUA is significantly associated with NAFLD, independent of insulin resistance and other metabolic disorders, such as central obesity or hypertriglyceridemia. Meanwhile, among subjects with NAFLD, index of liver damage, such as elevated ALT combined with genetic susceptibility to inflammation associated with increased SUA levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This manuscript describes the creation of comprehensive gene wiki, seeded with data from public domain sources, which will enable and encourage community annotation of gene function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]