Human umbilical cord Wharton's jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cell transplantation could improve diabetic intracavernosal pressure.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) secrete various cytokines with angiogenic and neuroprotective effects. This study aimed to assess the effects of human umbilical cord Wharton's jelly-derived MSCs (hWJ-MSCs) on diabetes-related intracavernosal pressure (ICP) impairment in rats. hWJ-MSCs were isolated from human umbilical cord Wharton's jelly and transplanted into the corpus cavernosum of streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats by unilateral injection. The erectile function was evaluated at 4 weeks, as well as the expression levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1). STZ-induced diabetic rats showed impaired ICP, which was significantly improved by hWJ-MSC treatment. VEGF, eNOS, IGF1, and bFGF expression levels were higher in hWJ-MSC injection sites than those in control ones in STZ-induced diabetic rats. These results suggest that hWJ-MSC transplantation might improve diabetic erectile dysfunction through increased production of paracrine growth factors, highlighting a novel potential therapeutic option for erectile dysfunction.

[Effects of labile carbon addition on organic carbon mineralization and microbial growth strategies in subtropical forest soils.] / å¤–æºç¢³è¾“å ¥å¯¹ä¸­äºšçƒ­å¸¦æ£®æž—æ·±å±‚åœŸå£¤ç¢³çŸ¿åŒ–å’Œå¾®ç”Ÿç‰©å†³ç­–ç¾¤è½çš„å½±å“.

Deep soil is a major organic carbon pool in terrestrial ecosystems. Labile carbon inputs can stimulate soil organic carbon (SOC) mineralization, causing priming effect, which in turn affects soil carbon emission. However, the mechanism of the priming effect in deep soil is still unclear. Therefore, to know how deep soil responds to labile carbon addition is essential for better understanding of deep soil carbon dynamics. In this study, we incubated three profiled soils (0-10 cm, 10-30 cm, 30-60 cm) from a subtropical forest with 13C-labeled glucose addition to analyze the priming effects and their relationship with the shift of microbial communities (r-K strategies). The results showed that glucose addition increased SOC mineralization in all soil layers, causing positive priming effects. But glucose addition significantly decreased the specific growth rates of microorgani-sms for all soils, indicating a relative decrease of r-strategists and a relative increase of K-strategists in the microbial community. Thus, we inferred that the positive priming effect was possibly attributed to the increased contribution of K-strategists. The priming effect in deep soil (156%) was significantly higher than that in surface soil (45%). Meanwhile, the ratio of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and dissolved nitrogen (DN) after glucose addition was significantly higher in deep soil (76.03) than that in surface soil (13.00). These results suggested that there existed a stronger nitrogen limitation in deep soil. The microorganisms in deep soil tended to decompose recalcitrant SOC to acquire nitrogen, which then caused a greater priming effect. Overall, deep soil was more vulne-rable to labile carbon addition due to its carbon and nitrogen limitations, and hence was likely more sensitive to climate change in the future.

[Therapeutic effects of left ventricular assist device on pump failure caused by acute myocardial infarction].

AIM: To evaluate the therapeutic effects of a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) on pump failure caused by acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in dogs. METHODS: The pump failure caused by AMI was established in 18 dogs, 9 of them were treated with a LVAD that could expel the autoblood from the left ventricle into the aorta and named the experimental group, and the rest of them were treated with intravenous infusion and served as the control group. The changes of arrhythmia, mortality, pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP), left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP), peripheral artery pressure and the diameter of left ventricular chamber were observed. RESULTS: The ratio of ventricular extrasystole and the mortality resulted from ventricular fibrillation of the experimental group were lower than that of the control group. The systolic blood pressure of peripheral artery of the control group was significantly lower (< 100 mmHg) than that of the experimental group (>100 mmHg, P < 0.01). The PCWP and LVEDP of the experimental group during all the stages 45 minutes after the procedures were significantly lower than that of the control group (P < 0.01). The left ventricular end-diastolic diameter of the control group was larger than that of the experimental groups (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: To assist circulation by expelling autoblood from left ventricle into aorta in dogs with AMI could reduce the frequency of ventricular fibrillation, improve hemodynamics, and prevent the enlargement of left ventricle. Therefore, it could play an important role in assisting the left ventricular functions.

[The treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia by means of transurethral holmium laser enucleation].

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the clinical effect of the holmium laser enucleation and morcellation of prostate (HoLEP) in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia(BPH). METHODS: In the treatment of 35 BPH patients, 100 watt high-powered holmium laser set was used transurethrally and a reciprocating blade tissue morcellator was introduced via a nephroscope to enucleate and morcellate the prostatic tissue. RESULTS: Operations in all 35 cases were successful. The average operation time was 60 +/- 23.2 (range 30-180) min. The removed prostatic tissue weighed 31 +/- 9 (range 10-56) g on average. The average catheter time was 1.5 d (from 20 h to 4 d). No blood transfusion was performed in all cases. Histopathological analysis confirmed the diagnosis of BPH in all cases. In the 3-month follow up of 32 cases, IPSS dropped from 24 +/- 6.2 to 5.6 +/- 3.6; the peak urinary flow rate(Qmax) went up from 8.5 +/- 3.9 ml/s to 22.0 +/- 7.2 ml/s; the residual volume of urine dropped from 138 +/- 125 ml to 21 +/- 15 ml. No serious complications were found. CONCLUSIONS: HoLEP is effective in treating BPH. It can completely enucleate the hyperplastic tissue with little bleeding in operation. The treatment has the advantages of short catheter time and significant clinical improvements.