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Atherosclerosis and chemokines are strongly related, but the role of the chemokine CXCL17 in atherogenesis is still poorly understood. We aim to investigate the serum CXCL17 levels in different stages of patients with coronary heart disease and explore whether these differences contribute to atherosclerosis. In the current prospective study, we enrolled 48 patients with unstable angina (UA), 51 patients with stable angina (SA) and 41 patients for the control group (CG). All subjects were diagnosed by coronary angiography and Gensini score was used to evaluate the severity of coronary artery disease. The CXCL17 levels were determined using ELISA, while lipid metabolism indicators and high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) were detected by automatic biochemical analyzer. We observed that the unstable angina group had higher CXCL17 levels compared with the stable angina and the control group. The logistic regression analysis showed that CXCL17 was an independent risk factor for unstable angina. Our results showed that CXCL17 was also statistically correlated with hs-CRP, while it was irrelevant with Gensini score. CXCL17 levels were associated with activity of inflammatory response and the instability of atherosclerotic plaques. These results suggest that CXCL17 elevation may be a potential new biomarker of unstable angina.

This study aimed to describe endoscopic anatomy of the seminal tract and summarize our experience of transutricular seminal vesiculoscopy (TSV) guided by real-time transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS) in managing persistent hematospermia. A total of 281 consecutive patients with persistent hematospermia who underwent TSV with or without real-time TRUS were enrolled in this single-center, prospective, observational study. The median follow-up period was 36.5 (range: 8.0–97.5) months. TSV was successfully performed in 272 (96.8%) patients. The approach of a 4.5/6 F rigid vesiculoscope entering the seminal tract was categorized into four types on the basis of endoscopic presentation of the ejaculatory duct orifice and verumontanum. Seven (2.6%), 74 (27.2%), 64 (23.5%), and 127 (46.7%) patients had Types I (through the ejaculatory duct in the urethra), II (through the ejaculatory duct in the prostatic utricle), III (transutricular fenestration through a thin membrane), and IV (real-time transrectal ultrasound-guided transutricular fenestration) approach, respectively. In patients who successfully underwent surgery, bleeding occurred in the seminal vesicle in 249 (91.5%) patients. Seminal vesiculitis, calculus in the prostatic utricle, calculus in the ejaculatory duct, calculus in the seminal vesicle, prostatic utricle cysts, and seminal vesicle cysts were observed in 213 (78.3%), 96 (35.3%), 22 (8.1%), 81 (29.8%), 25 (9.2%), and 11 (4.0%) patients, respectively. Hematospermia was alleviated or disappeared in 244 (89.7%) patients 12 months after surgery. Fifteen patients had recurrent hematospermia, and the median time to recurrence was 7.5 (range: 2.0–18.5) months. TSV guided by TRUS may contribute to successful postoperative outcomes in managing persistent hematospermia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although elevated prolactin levels have been shown to inhibit penile erection, the relationship between prolactin and erection of the penile tip or base has not been extensively researched. We therefore investigated the prolactin's effects on erection of the penile tip and base, with a cross-sectional study of 135 patients with erectile dysfunction, based on scores of ≤21 on the International Index of Erectile Function-5. All patients were tested for nocturnal penile tumescence, blood pressure, serum glucose, total cholesterol, triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein, luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, prolactin, estradiol, testosterone, and progesterone. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to assess the associations between prolactin levels and erection at the penile tip and base. We found no obvious relationship between erection time at penile tip and prolactin levels, but observed a negative correlation between base erection time and prolactin level (hazard ratio: −2.68; 95% confidence interval [CI]: −5.13–−0.22). With increasing prolactin concentration, multivariate analysis showed obvious reduction in base erection time among patients with normal Rigiscan results (hazard ratio: −3.10; 95% CI: −7.96–1.77; P < 0.05). Our data indicate that prolactin inhibits penile erection, particularly at the penile base. In addition, when the effective erection time of the penile base lasts longer than 10 min, prolactin has a more obvious inhibitory effect on penile base erection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new kind of hydroforming device for manufacturing bimetal-lined pipe was designed and developed to overcome the disadvantages in conventional technologies, and its operational principle and technical characteristics were introduced. Based on elasticity-plasticity theory, the stress and strain in the inner and outer pipe during the hydroforming process were analyzed and the mechanism of hydraulic expansion method was studied. By using deformation condition of compatibility, the calculating formula related hydroforming pressure to the residual contact pressure at interfaces of bimetal-lined pipe was derived and verified by experiments. The results demonstrate that the new technology is feasible and can be applied in industrial production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One new meroterpene derivative, millmerranones G ( 1 ), and three known analogues ( 2 - 4 ) were identified from the mangrove-derived fungus Aspergillus sp. GXIMD 03004, which was isolated from the leaves of mangrove Acanthus ilicifolius L. collected from Beibu Gulf in China. The structure of 1 was characterised by a comprehensive interpretation of the NMR spectroscopic and HRESIMS data. The absolute configuration for 1 was established using experimental and calculated ECD data. The anti- Vibrio activities of all compounds were evaluated, the result showed that compounds 1 and 2 has weak activity against Vibrio harveyi .

The aim of our study was to investigate the role of platelet parameters including mean platelet volume (MPV) and platelet count (PC) in the pathogenesis of penile arteriogenic erectile dysfunction (ED) and to evaluate the association between the platelet parameters and arteriogenic ED. There were 244 patients with ED (based on the International Index of Erectile Function [IIEF]-5 ≤21) and 60 healthy controls (IIEF-5 >21) enrolled. All participants were asked to undergo a laboratory examination, and penile vascular function was evaluated using penile color Doppler ultrasonography (pDUS). Among these ED patients, 24 patients with no abnormality on nocturnal penile tumescence (NPT) and 84 with normal vasculature or mixed vascular abnormalities were excluded. The other patients were classified into three groups as follows: control ( n = 60), arteriogenic ED ( n = 99), and venous leakage ( n = 37) groups. MPV and PC were significantly higher in the arteriogenic ED group compared with the venous and control groups ( P < 0.05). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed that the area under the curve for MPV to predict arteriogenic ED was 0.707. MPV ≥9.65 fl was recognized as a cut-off value for potential arteriogenic ED (sensitivity: 47.5%; specificity: 91.7%). A significant inverse correlation was detected between MPV and 10-min peak systolic velocity (PSV) ( r = -0.34; P < 0.001) in the arteriogenic ED group. These findings suggest that the MPV might be a powerful indicator to predict and diagnose arteriogenic ED, and MPV may be a marker for ED when using pDUS., (Copyright © 2019 Asian Journal of Andrology | Published by Wolters Kluwer – Medknow.)

Objective: To develope an easy to use, rapid and accurate test for detecting buprenorphine based on the principle of competitive immunoassay., Methods: Monoclonal antibody against buprenorphine was conjugated with colloidal gold and dispensed on the glass fiber. The complete antigen Buprenorphine-BSA and the goat anti-mouse IgG polyclonal antibody were separately sprayed on the nitrocellulose membrane as the test line (T line) and the control line (C line). The rapid test kit was the final assembled product of test strip with the plastic cover., Results: A total of 100 urine samples were tested for buprenorphine by immunochromatographic and GC/ MS methods. The accuracy was 99.0%. It is found the test kit can only detect by cross reaction with other 45 kind drugs., Conclusion: Rapid test kit can detect buprenorphine in the samples in 5 minutes. The cut-off value of the test is 100 ng/mL.

Objective: To study the feasibility of monoamine neurotransmitters, serum glucose, serum glycerinate and cholesterol as objective indices for evaluating occupational stress., Methods: Job stressors, modifiers, job strains in 844 people with four kinds of occupation were investigated, and the concentration of monoamine neurotransmitters, glucose, glycerinate and cholesterol in blood were detected at the same time. The methods of multiple stepwise regression and covariance analysis were used to analyze the data., Results: There was close relationship between monoamine neurotransmitters and job stressors, the forecast of the equation of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), dopamine (DA) and norepinephrine (NE) was 0.7238, 0.5703, 0.4438 respectively, the critical values of them were 804.00, 226.00 and 275.00 ng/ml respectively. There was a little contribution of job stressors to the equation of glucose, glycerinate and cholesterol, the critical values were 6.40, 2.51 and 5.92 mmol/L respectively., Conclusion: Monoamine neurotransmitters may be a direct objective evaluating indices. Sugar, glycerinate and cholesterol may be an indirect objective indices.