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Smooth muscle differentiated human adipose derived stem cells (hADSCs) provide a crucial stem cell source for urinary tissue engineering, but the induction of hADSCs for smooth muscle differentiation still has several issues to overcome, including a relatively long induction time and equipment dependence, which limits access to abundant stem cells within a short period of time for further application. Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting holds great promise in regenerative medicine due to its controllable construction of a designed 3D structure. When evenly mixed with bioink, stem cells can be spatially distributed within a bioprinted 3D structure, thus avoiding drawbacks such as, stem cell detachment in a conventional cell-scaffold strategy. Notwithstanding the advantages mentioned above, cell viability is often compromised during 3D bioprinting, which is often due to pressure during the bioprinting process. The objective of our study was to improve the efficiency of hADSC smooth muscle differentiation and cell viability of a 3D bioprinted structure. Here, we employed the hanging-drop method to generate hADSC microtissues in a smooth muscle inductive medium containing human transforming growth factor β1 and bioprinted the induced microtissues onto a 3D structure. After 3 days of smooth muscle induction, the expression of α-smooth muscle actin and smoothelin was higher in microtissues than in their counterpart monolayer cultured hADSCs, as confirmed by immunofluorescence and western blotting analysis. The semi-quantitative assay showed that the expression of α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) was 0.218 ± 0.077 in MTs and 0.082 ± 0.007 in Controls; smoothelin expression was 0.319 ± 0.02 in MTs and 0.178 ± 0.06 in Controls. Induced MTs maintained their phenotype after the bioprinting process. Live/dead and cell count kit 8 assays showed that cell viability and cell proliferation in the 3D structure printed with microtissues were higher at all time points compared to the conventional single-cell bioprinting strategy (mean cell viability was 88.16 ± 3.98 vs. 61.76 ± 15% for microtissues and single-cells, respectively). These results provide a novel way to enhance the smooth muscle differentiation of hADSCs and a simple method to maintain better cell viability in 3D bioprinting.

Inflammation is increasingly reported to be associated with the prognosis of patients with cancers. And the prognostic role of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in patients with prostate cancer (PCa) remains inconsistent. Therefore, we conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis to obtain a more reliable assessment of prognostic significance of NLR in PCa. A comprehensive literature research regarding the association of NLR and prognosis of PCa was performed through PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Central, and Web of Science. The hazard ratios (HRs) and its 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for overall survival (OS), progression-free survival, or recurrence-free survival were extracted and pooled using fix-effects model or random-effects model. A total of 14 studies that met our criterion were included in this meta-analysis. Our pooled results demonstrated that elevated NLR was not significantly associated with the poor OS (HR = 1.45; 95% CI 0.77–2.71; P = 0.248) or recurrence-free survival (HR = 1.34; 95% CI 0.89–2.02; P = 0.155) of patients with localized PCa. Although elevated NLR predicted poorer OS (HR = 1.57; 95% CI 1.41–1.74; P

Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) has emerged as an alternative treatment to surgical partial nephrectomy (PN) in the treatment of small renal tumors (SRTs). But its safety and oncological efficacy are still controversial. We conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis to compare the peritoperative and oncological outcomes of RFA and PN in the treatment of SRTs. Pubmed, EMBASE, Cochrane CENTRAL, and Web of Science were searched to identify eligible studies that compared the RFA and PN in the treatment of SRTs. Twelve retrospective studies that compared RFA with PN in the treatment of SRTs met our selection criterion and were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled results indicated that the local recurrence rate (4.14% vs 4.10%, RR: 1.18, 95% CI: 0.68, 2.07, P = 0.550) and distant metastases rate (2.76% vs 1.89%, RR: 1.31, 95% CI: 0.70, 2.46, P = 0.686) were not significantly different between the RFA group and the PN group. In terms of perioperative outcomes, RFA was associated with shorter length of stay (LOS) (WMD: −2.02 days, 95% CI: −2.77, −1.27, P

To describe the method of lateroconal fascia suspension for the management of peritoneal tear and curtain effect during retroperitoneal laparoscopic operations. Between May 2013 and October 2014, we performed lateroconal fascia suspension in 30 cases of retroperitoneal laparoscopic operations. Peritoneal tear occurred and retroperitoneal space collapsed in 18 cases of them during the operation, and free edge of the lateroconal fascia caused curtain effect and sheltered the field of view in another 12 cases after the lateroconal fascia was incised longitudinally. The curtain effect of lateroconal fascia was eliminated successfully, and the sheltered field of view got normal in all the 12 cases. The collapsed retroperitoneal space due to peritoneal tear got enlarged effectively and was sufficient for the following operations in 15 patients of the overall 18 cases, while the collapsed retroperitoneal space did not get enlarged significantly in the other three cases. After the insertion of an extra 5-mm trocar into peritoneal space, the collapsed retroperitoneal space got enlarged eventually. Finally, retroperitoneal laparoscopic operations were continued and completed successfully in all these 30 patients. It took 4 min to complete the suspension procedure, and no related complications occurred during the whole suspension process. Lateroconal fascia suspension method could manage most peritoneal tears and curtain effect effectively during retroperitoneal laparoscopic operations.

Inflammation is increasingly reported to be associated with the prognosis of patients with cancers. And the prognostic role of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in patients with prostate cancer (PCa) remains inconsistent. Therefore, we conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis to obtain a more reliable assessment of prognostic significance of NLR in PCa.A comprehensive literature research regarding the association of NLR and prognosis of PCa was performed through PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Central, and Web of Science. The hazard ratios (HRs) and its 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for overall survival (OS), progression-free survival, or recurrence-free survival were extracted and pooled using fix-effects model or random-effects model.A total of 14 studies that met our criterion were included in this meta-analysis. Our pooled results demonstrated that elevated NLR was not significantly associated with the poor OS (HR = 1.45; 95% CI 0.77-2.71; P = 0.248) or recurrence-free survival (HR = 1.34; 95% CI 0.89-2.02; P = 0.155) of patients with localized PCa. Although elevated NLR predicted poorer OS (HR = 1.57; 95% CI 1.41-1.74; P < 0.001) and progression-free survival (HR = 1.97; 95% CI 1.28-3.04; P = 0.002) of patients with metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).Elevated NLR is a strong indicator of poorer prognosis of patients with mCRPC, whereas the NLR is not significantly associated with prognosis of patients with localized PCa. Therefore, NLR could be used in patients with mCRPC for risk stratification and decision making of individual treatment.

Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) has emerged as an alternative treatment to surgical partial nephrectomy (PN) in the treatment of small renal tumors (SRTs). But its safety and oncological efficacy are still controversial. We conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis to compare the peritoperative and oncological outcomes of RFA and PN in the treatment of SRTs. Pubmed, EMBASE, Cochrane CENTRAL, and Web of Science were searched to identify eligible studies that compared the RFA and PN in the treatment of SRTs. Twelve retrospective studies that compared RFA with PN in the treatment of SRTs met our selection criterion and were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled results indicated that the local recurrence rate (4.14% vs 4.10%, RR: 1.18, 95% CI: 0.68, 2.07, P = 0.550) and distant metastases rate (2.76% vs 1.89%, RR: 1.31, 95% CI: 0.70, 2.46, P = 0.686) were not significantly different between the RFA group and the PN group. In terms of perioperative outcomes, RFA was associated with shorter length of stay (LOS) (WMD: -2.02 days, 95% CI: -2.77, -1.27, P < 0.001), lower eGFR decline after treatment (WMD: -3.90, 95% CI: -6.660, -1.140, P = 0.006). However, the overall perioperative complication rate (7.5% vs 6.2%, RR:1.10, 95% CI: 0.64, 1.87, P = 0.740) and the major complication rate (3.7% vs 4.4%, RR: 0.83, 95% CI: 0.43, 1.60, P = 0.579) were both similar between RFA and PN groups. Compared with PN, RFA achieves an equal oncological outcome for SRTs with similar local recurrence rate and distant metastases rate. Additionally, RFA is associated with a similar perioperative complication rate, lower decline of eGFR, and shorter LOS. Therefore, RFA is an effective option in the treatment of SRTs for selected patients.