Purpose: Cavernous nerve injury induced erectile dysfunction (ED) is a refractory complication with high incidence in person under radical prostatectomy. Studies have shown that relaxin-2 (RLX-2) plays a vital role of endothelial protection, vasodilation, anti-fibrosis and neuroprotection in a variety of diseases. However, whether penile cavernous erection can benefit from RLX-2 remains unknown. The purpose of the experiment was to explore the effects of RLX-2 on ED in the rat suffering with bilateral cavernous nerve injury (BCNI). Materials and Methods: The rats were divided into three groups: Sham group was underwent sham operation, BCNI+RLX group or BCNI group was underwent bilateral cavernous nerve crush and then randomly treated with RLX-2 (0.4 mg/kg/d) or saline by continuous administration using a subcutaneously implanted micro pump for 4 weeks respectively. Then, erectile function was evaluated by electrical stimulation of cavernous nerves. Cavernous nerves and penile tissues and were collected for histological evaluation. Results: Erectile function of rats with BCNI was partially improved after RLX-2 treatment. The BCNI group had lower expression of relaxin family peptide receptor (RXFP) 1, p-AKT/AKT, p-eNOS/eNOS ratios than sham operation rats, but RLX-2 could partially reversed these changes. Histologically, the BCNI+RLX group had a significant effect on preservation of neurofilament, neuronal glial antigen 2 of penile tissue and nNOS of cavernous nerves when compared with BCNI group. RLX-2 could inhibited the lever of BCNI induced corporal fibrosis and apoptosis via regulating TGFβ1-Smad2/3-CTGF pathway and the expression of Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, caspase3. Conclusions RLX-2 could improve erectile function of BCNI rats by protecting cavernous nerve and endothelial function and suppressing corporal fibrosis and apoptosis via RXFP1 and AKT/eNOS pathway. Our findings may provide a promising treatment for refractory BCNI induced ED.

Purpose: To determine whether microRNA could be a therapy target of erectile dysfunction (ED) and the underlying mechanisms. Materials and Methods: Eight-week-old fasting male SD rats were intraperitoneally injected with streptozotocin to construct diabetic rat models. Diabetic ED rats were treated with miRNA-92a inhibitor. The cavernous nerves were electrically stimulated to measure the intracavernous pressure and mean arterial pressure of rats in each group. After the detection, the penile cavernous tissues are properly stored for subsequent experiments. Rat aortic endothelial cells were used in in vitro studies. Results: The expression of miR-92a was significantly increased in the corpus cavernosum of Streptozocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats and injection of miR-92a antagomir into the corpus cavernosum of diabetic rats significantly increased eNOS/NO/ cGMP signaling pathway activities, cavernous endothelial cell proliferation, endothelial cell-cell junction protein expression and decreased the levels of oxidative stress. These changes restored erectile function in STZ-induced diabetic rats. Moreover, in vitro study demonstrated that the miR-92a expression increased significantly in endothelial cells treated with high glucose, inhibiting AMPK/eNOS and AMPK/Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathways in rat aortic endothelial cells via targeting Prkaa2, causing endothelial dysfunction and overactive oxidative stress, miR-92a inhibitor can improve the above parameters. Conclusions miRNA-92a inhibitor could exert an inhibition role on oxidative stress and endothelial dysfunction to improve diabetic ED effectively.

Objective:Efficacy and safety of robot-assisted laparoscopic adrenalectomy as a treatment for large adrenal tumors.Three-dimensional(3D) reconstruction can effectively assist in preoperative planning of robotic adrenalectomy and reduce potential complications.Methods:We retrospectively reviewed the relevant information of patients who had a preoperative 3D reconstruction and underwent RA for adrenal masses larger than 10 cm. Thirteen male patients and sixteen female patients were included. The median(range) age was 43(25, 57) years old and the median tumor diameter was 12.1(10.3, 16.2) cm. The patients underwent preoperative CT enhancement scanning, and three-dimensional images were reconstructed based on the examination data. Robot-assisted laparoscopic adrenalectomy was performed under general anesthesia in 29 cases in this cohort.Results:All surgeries were completed successfully without major complications such as massive bleeding, secondary surgery, or even patient death. The median operative time was 131 (80, 245) min, and the median intraoperative bleeding was 330 (50, 2 200 ml) ml. 9 patients received blood transfusions. There were 11 cases of pheochromocytoma (37.9%), 10 cases of adenocarcinoma (34.5%) as well as 2 cases of teratoma (6.9%) and 6 cases of cortical carcinoma (20.7%). The patients were followed up for a median of 30 months after surgery. Except for 3 cases lost to follow-up and 2 patients with cortical cancer who developed recurrence or metastasis after surgery and died at 16 and 23 months after surgery, respectively, the remaining 24 cases have survived to date.Conclusions:RA is a safe and effective treatment for huge adrenal tumors. The 3D reconstruction could help the preoperative planning of RA and reduce potential complications.

Objective:To explore the feasibility, safety and short-term effect of the Hood technique in robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP).Methods:The data of 24 patients with localized prostate cancer underwent RARP with Hood technique From June 2020 to March 2021 were retrospectively reviewed. The mean age was 67.8 (57-76) years, and the mean body mass index was 25.17(18.31-32.54)kg/m 2. The mean tPSA value was 18.36(4.21-67.57)ng/ml and the mean biopsy Gleason score was 7.3 (6-8). In term of the clinical T stage, the 24 cases were composed of the T 1c stage in 1 case, T 2a stage in 5 cases, T 2b stage in 4 cases and T 2c stage in 14 cases. During Hood technique, the anterior bladder were limitedly isolated without exposing the outline of pelvis and prostate. Results:All the cases were completed robotically without conversion, transfusion or positive surgical margin. The average robot-assisted operation time was 84.5(63-110) mins. Estimated blood loss was 75.3(20-180) ml. The average time for maintaining the drain was 3.7(3-5) days. The mean postoperative hospital stay was 7.1(4-11) days. The mean catheterization time was 7.3(6-9) days after surgery. 23 patients achieved continence immediately after catheter removal, while 1 patient had continence full-recovery 2 weeks after surgery. The mean surgical Gleason score was 7.9 (6-9). In term of the surgical T stage, the 24 cases were composed of the pT 2a stage in 4 case, T 2b stage in 6 cases, T 2c stage in 14 cases.During 3-12 months’ follow-up, no biochemical recurrence was found. Conclusions:Hood technique were safe and valid in RARP with excellent immediate continence recovery. It facilitated Retzius sparing in a convenient approach with low positive surgical margin rate.

Objective:To compare the laboratory diagnostic methods of Mycoplasma pneumonia(MP) and evaluate its clinical value.Methods:A prospective study.Throat swabs and double sera of children with MP infection were collected from December 2016 to January 2017 in Shengjing Hospital Affiliated to China Medical University; throat swab samples of healthy children aged 3 to 5 in Chaoyang District, Beijing were collected from March to May 2017.Passive agglutination (PA) was used to detect the double serum.Taking the 4-fold increase or decrease of the specific antibody titer of the double serum as the gold standard, the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was drawn, and the laboratory methods for detecting MP infection were compared and evaluated.Results:(1)A total of 93 children with MP infection were clinically diagnosed, including 42 males (45.2%) and 51 females (54.8%), with an average age of 5.5 years.Sixty cases (64.5%) of MP infection were diagnosed.There were 349 healthy children, 198 males and 151 females, with an average age of 4.3 years.The positive rate of throat swab culture was 0.6% (2 cases), and the positive rate of fluorescent quantitative PCR(qPCR) was 18.9% (66 cases). (2) The culture specificity was the highest (100.0%) and the sensitivity was the lowest (65.0%). PA and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were used to detect a single serum in the acute phase, the sensitivity was 71.7% and 86.5% respectively.ROC curve suggested that the current clinical diagnostic threshold MP specific antibody IgM ≥ 1∶160 was not the best diagnostic threshold.Molecular biological diagnostic methods were the most sensitive, RNA simultaneous and testing (SAT) was 85.0% and qPCR was 93.0%; while the specificity was low, 75.7% (SAT) and 63.6% (qPCR), respectively.(3) At the same time, MP nucleic acid (SAT, PCR) of throat swabs and a single serum (ELISA, PA) of children in acute phase were detected, the sensitivity was increased to 95.0%-100.0%, and the specificity was 63.6%-75.7%.Conclusions:Molecular biology is highly sensitive in diagnosing MP infection.It has asymptomatic infection or is carried after infection.Whether it needs treatment needs to be combined with clinical practice, when MP detection is positive.The detection of a single serum in the acute phase with a course of about 1 week has high sensitivity and is of reference value for the diagnosis of MP infection, but the diagnosis needs to be combined with clinical practice.The sensitivity and accuracy of detecting MP infection by single serological test combined with SAT in acute phase are higher than that by single application.

Objective:To summarize our preliminary experience of the individual transurethral en bloc resection of bladder tumor (ERBT) based on vesical imaging-reporting and data system (VI-RADS).Methods:The clinical data of 32 bladder cancer patients admitted from January 2019 to October 2019 were retrospectively analyzed, including 26 males and 6 females. Among them, there were 27, 5, 26 and 6 patients who had primary, recurrent, single or mutiple blader tumors, respectively. And the median number of bladder tumor was 1(1-3) and the mean diameter was 2(0.6-4.5)cm.The patients were aged 37 to 82 years, with a median age of 63 years. All patients underwent multi-parameter magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) before surgery and acquired a VI-RADS score. Among the 32 patients, there were 8, 17, 2, 5, and 0 patients in the VI-RADS score category 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, respectively. Based on the VI-RADS score and tumor size, morphology and number provided by the mpMRI, the urologists classified the tumor types into type 1, 2a, 2b, 2c, 3a, 3b, 3c, 4a, 4b or 5, and designed the surgical protocol for each type including the resection plan, boundary and depth. There were 8, 6, 7, 4, 0, 1, 1, 3, 2 and 0 patients in each type, respectively. The tumor types were further confirmed during the operation, and the operation was completed according to the surgical plans for different tumor types.Patients received intravesical therapy of gemcitabine within 24 hours after surgery.Results:All operations were successfully completed and none was converted to the traditional transurethral resection of the bladder tumor. The operation time was 5 to 35 minutes with a median time of 15 minutes. Tumor specimens from all patients contained the muscularis propria. Among the patients with scores 1, 2, 3 and 4, there were 8, 16, 1 and 0 patients diagnosed with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC), respectively. All the patients with NMIBC had negative basal resection margins and 6 out 7 muscle invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) patients had negative resection margins. There were no intraoperative complications such as bladder perforation and obturator reflex. Four patients experienced obvious postoperative bladder irritation and relieved after symptomatic treatment or removing catheter. Twelve patients received second resections, including 10 NMIBC patients and 2 MIBC patients. No residual tumor was found in the re-resected specimens. There were 9 and 12 NMIBC patients received regular intravesical therapy of gemcitabine or BCG, respectively. Among the 7 MIBC patients, 5 received radical cystectomy and two received bladder-preserving treatment including second resection, adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The follow-up period was 3-12 months, with a median of 6 months. One NMIBC patient relapsed at 9th months after surgery and underwent ERBT.Conclusions:The personalized ERBT based on VI-RADS is safe and feasible, and can achieve negative margins in all NMIBC and some MIBC without severe complications.

OBJECTIVE: To carry out genetic testing for a pedigree affected with carotid body tumor (CBT). METHODS: Members of the pedigree were enrolled and underwent physical examination, ultrasonography and CT scan. Genomic DNA of the proband was extracted from peripheral blood sample and subjected to exome sequencing. Candidate variants were predicted using bioinformatic tools and verified among members from his pedigree. RESULTS: A c.170-1G>T splicing variant of the SDHD gene was detected in 15 individuals from the pedigree. Physical examination and imaging confirmed that 9 of them had CBT and hypertension, while the remaining 6 died of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. CONCLUSION The c.170-1G>T variant of the SDHD gene probably underlies the CBT in this pedigree. Genetic testing should be considered for CBT patients with CBT in addition to conventional clinical examination.

In December 2019, a novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) epidemic occurred in Wuhan and spread to many countries and regions around the world. In order to better enhance the pertinence and effectiveness of prevention and control method of COVID-19 during daily urological practices, we drew up this detailed suggestion based our previous successful work experiences in Wuhan.

Objective: To investigate the clinical characteristics during the perioperative period of pheochromocytoma in patients aged 60 years and over. Methods: Data of age, sex, tumor size, anesthesia time, intraoperative bleeding volume, intraoperative blood pressure, complications and hospitalization time from patients with pheochromocytoma in our hospital treated by the retroperitoneal laparoscopic adrenalectomy from January 2008 to October 2018 were retrospectively analyzed.The relationships of age with the intraoperative hemodynamic instability and postoperative complications were analyzed. Results: A total of 203 patients with pheochromocytoma met the inclusion criteria were enrolled.Age over 60 years(OR1.771, 95%CI=1.015-3.089, P=0.044)was an independent risk factor for intraoperative hemodynamic instability. Conclusions Laparoscopic retroperitoneal adrenalectomy is a safe surgical method for pheochromocytoma patients aged 60 years and over.For elderly patients with pheochromocytoma, especially those with a tumor diameter of more than 5 cm, special attention should be paid to the prevention of intraoperative hypertension crisis.

Objective To evaluate the pathological stage,the presence of detrusor muscle and the clinical significance for standardized examination of specimens for en bloc transurethral resection technique with Hybrid Knife to treat NMIBC (ERBT) compared with conventional TURBT.Methods This was prospective randomized controlled study.This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Tongji Hospital,Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology (TJ-IRB20180604),and patients all signed informed consent.The clinical study registration number of this study:NCT03221062.The margin of the tumor was recognized and marked by with Hybrid Knife (0.5 cm away from the normal mucosa).Then water was injected into the submucosa and form a water pad,with a circular cutting layer by layer (0.5 cm away from the marked position),reaching the detrusor muscle in depth.After complete resection,the tumor was removed by specimen bag.Specimens for ERBT cohort were given standard handling.Resected specimen of ERBT stretched with pins on foam and its margin was stained.The basement of specimen was also stained.Total specimen sectioned into appropriate pieces for histological assessment in the department of pathology.TURBT cohort performed traditional surgical methods and pathological examination.All patients received postoperative intravesical instillation according to their pathology.Imaging and cystoscopy were performed every 3 months.The primary study end-point was the quality of resection,including the pathological stage and the presence of DM.Secondary outcomes were:short-term tumour recurrence rate (18 month),feasibility,and safety.Results From January 2017 to October 2017,109 patients were enrolled.51 patients underwent ERBT,and 58 patients underwent TURBT.The clinical characteristics of the patients in each cohort,such as average age,gender,average BMI,smoking history,the mean number of lesions and tumour size had no significant differences (P ＞ 0.05).The operation of 109 cases was completed successfully.There was no statistical difference between the operative time and the postoperative bladder irrigation time.Major intraoperative or postoperative complications (Clavien ≥ Ⅱ) did not occur in all of the patients.The percentage of T1 staging was higher in the ERBT cohort vs.TURBT cohort [21/51 (41.2％) vs.13/58 (22.4％),P =0.035],of which ERBT cohort accurately detected 9 cases (42.8％) of T1b patients,significantly higher than TURBT cohort (2 cases,15.4％) (P =0.096).All the ERBT samples showed the presence of DM (100.0％),while there was only 77.4％ in TURBT cohort (P ＜ 0.05).Mean follow-up (20.3 ± 3.1) months (ranged from 18 to 24 months).Recurrence rate were 8.9％ (4/45) in ERBT cohort vs.22.2％ (12/54) in TURBT cohort (P=0.059).Conclusions ERBT with Hybrid Knife for treatment NMIBC is a safe,effective,and provides high-quality specimens compared to TURBT.More high-risk NMIBC patients,especially T1 b patients,can be detected obviously by pathologist with the standardized treatment of specimens.