Colour-coded density-gradients stone mapping: A novel reporting system for stone density on non-contrast computed tomography and its clinical applications.

OBJECTIVE: To presents a novel clinically oriented system to report stone attenuation on non-contrast computed tomography (NCCT) using colour-coded density-gradients stone mapping and its clinical applications. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This study was performed on 50 patients with 63 stones. All patients had a recent history of failed shockwave lithotripsy (SWL) or failed dissolution therapy by alkalinisation of urine for radiolucent stones. A multi-detector NCCT examination of the abdomen and pelvis was performed in all patients. The stones were isolated and displayed in 'Volume Rendering Technique' using four-colour encoding. RESULTS: Eight patients with failed dissolution therapy for radiolucent stones showed an outer layer of >500 Hounsfield units (HU) or a heterogeneous composition. A total of 42 patients with failed SWL had mean attenuations of <1000 HU on NCCT. Subsequent colour-coded stone mapping showed a dense core in all stones (>1000 HU) that failed to be clearly demonstrated by the mean HU alone. CONCLUSION: The initial use of a colour-coded density-gradients stone mapping reporting system for stone density on NCCT is useful for explaining failure of SWL or failure of dissolution therapy for radiolucent stones in selected cases.Abbreviations: HU: Hounsfield units; MSD: mean stone density; NCCT: non-contrast computed tomography; PCNL: percutaneous nephrolithotomy; SWL: shockwave lithotripsy; VRT: Volume Rendering Technique.

The effect of cholesterol loaded cyclodextrins on post-thawing quality of buffalo semen in relation to sperm DNA damage and ultrastructure.

The cryopreservation of germ cells is a major tool for the propagation of animals with desired genetic traits. Although cryopreservation of spermatozoa in some animals is effective, its effectiveness is variable. For example, cryopreservation efficiency of buffalo bull spermatozoa remains very poor. In this study, we evaluated sperm DNA damage and ultrastructure in buffalo bull spermatozoa vitrified in the presence or absence of cholesterol-loaded cyclodextrins (CLC). Our results showed that cryopreserved buffalo spermatozoa had elevated levels of deteriorated plasma and mitochondrial membranes, which are the likely causes of DNA damage after vitrification. Accordingly, the levels of the activity of Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT), Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and Aspartate Aminotransferase (AST) were also elevated following exposure of buffalo bull spermatozoa to a cycle of freezing-thawing. Importantly, supplementation of Tris-Egg Yolk-Glucose (TEYG) extender with (CLC) improved the quality of buffalo spermatozoa following cryopreservation. This protective effect of CLC is likely due to decreasing mitochondrial and plasma membrane deterioration with subsequent inhibition of DNA damage. These results suggest that cholesterol loss is the likely reason for poor semen quality in buffaloes following cryopreservation, and provide evidence that manipulating lipid content during cryopreservation is a promising strategy to improve the quality of buffalo semen.