Urethral dilatation with the renal sheath dilator under the ureteroscope to treat male urethrostenosis / 中华男科学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the efficacy of urethral dilatation with the renal sheath dilator under the ureteroscope in the treatment of male patients with urethrostenosis.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Eighteen male patients with urethrostenosis underwent urethral dilatation with the renal sheath dilator. Under the ureteroscope, a zebra-guide wire was inserted through the stenosed urethra into the bladder and the stenosis was gradually dilated with the renal sheath dilator, followed by placing a Foley catheter of proper size for 1-4 weeks. For children, the renal sheath dilator was selected according to their age, while for adults, metal dilators (> or = F20) were used following dilatation with the F18 renal sheath dilator. All the patients were followed up for 6-24 months.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The operation was successfully performed in all the 18 cases, with no urethral false passage, urethral perforation or urethra tearing. Sixteen of the patients were cured, and the other 2 received urethroplasty for stenosis recurrence. The maximum flow rate was increased to 13.6-30.2 (18.1 +/- 3.5) mL/s after the operation.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Urethral dilatation with the renal sheath dilator under the ureteroscope is a simple, safe and effective method for the treatment of urethrostenosis.</p>

Molecular cloning of a novel human testis-specific gene TDRG1 / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To clone a novel human testis-specific gene TDRG1.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A new contig of expression sequence tags (ESTs) Hs.180197 was identified from the testis libraries using digital differential display (DDD) to screen the novel human testis-specific gene. To validate the use of bioinformatics approaches in gene discovery, the ESTs Hs.180197, which was predicted to be testis specific, was chosen for further study. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed on different normal tissues to identify the expression of Hs.180197 in human testis. Using bioinformatics methods and IMAGE cloning of this contig, the full-length cDNA sequence of the noval human gene was cloned.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>This novel gene was 1197 bp in length, located in chromosome 6p21.1-p21.2. The sequence of the open reading frame was 504-806 bp, as confirmed by RT-PCR and sequencing in human testis. The cDNA encodes a novel protein of 100 amino acids with a theoretical molecular weight of 10 000 and isoelectric point of 6.81. The sequence shares no significant homology with any known protein in the databases. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis of multiple tissues further showed that the novel gene was expressed specifically in adult human testis. Considering a possible relation of this novel gene with the function of human testis, we named this new gene TDRG1 (testis development related gene 1, GenBank accession number: DQ168992).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>DDD combined with laboratory validation is an efficient method for identifying new human functional genes.</p>