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The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of deoxycholic acid (DCA) on BGC‑823 human gastric carcinoma cells and to explore the possible mechanisms underlying any such effects. Cell proliferation was detected using a 3‑(4,5‑Dimethylthiazol‑2‑yl)‑2,5‑diphenyl tetrazolium bromide assay, cell morphology was observed by inverted microscopy, and cell cycle progression and the mitochondrial membrane potential were analyzed using flow cytometry. The expression of Bcl‑2, Bax, p53, Cyclin D1 and cyclin‑dependent kinase (CDK)2 proteins in BGC‑823 cells was analyzed with western blotting. The results demonstrated that DCA significantly inhibited cell growth, and that the cell cycle was arrested at the G1 phase. DCA was also shown to induce BGC‑823 cell apoptosis, which was associated with the collapse of the mitochondrial membrane potential. The mitochondria‑dependent pathway was activated via an increase in the ratio of Bax:Bcl‑2 in BGC‑823 cells. In addition, the expression of p53, cyclin D1 and CDK2 was altered following DCA treatment. These results suggest that DCA induces apoptosis in gastric carcinoma cells through activation of an intrinsic mitochondrial‑dependent pathway, in which p53 is involved.

Priapism secondary to chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is rarely observed in the clinic. Here, we present an 18-year-old patient with priapism for over 72 h due to hyperleukocytosis. Emergent interventions such as therapeutic aspiration and intracorporal injection of phenylephrine failed before a surgical corpora cavernosa-corpus spongiosum shunt was inserted to relieve symptoms. During hospitalization, bone marrow aspiration confirmed the diagnosis of CML.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer. Large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been performed and reported some novel CRC susceptibility variants in European ancestry including the CDH1 rs9929218. Following GWAS and candidate studies evaluated the association between the CDH1 rs9929218 polymorphism and CRC in European, Asian and American populations. However, these studies reported inconsistent associations. Evidence shows that rs9929218 may regulate different gene expressions in different human tissues. Here, we reevaluated this association using large-scale samples from 16 studies (n=131768) using a meta-analysis method. In heterogeneity test, we did not identify significant heterogeneity among these studies. Meta-analysis using fixed effect model showed significant association between rs9929218 and CRC (P=6.16E-21, odds ratio (OR) =0.92, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.91-0.94). In order to validate the effect of rs9929218 variant on CDH1 expression, we further performed a functional analysis using two large-scale expression datasets. We identified significant regulation relation between rs9929218 variant and the expression of CDH1, ZFP90, RP11-354M1.2 and MCOLN2 by both cis-effect and trans-effect. In summary, our analysis highlights significant association between rs9929218 polymorphism and CRC susceptibility.

In this study, we investigated the essential criteria for late-onset hypogonadism (LOH) syndrome based on the presence of symptoms associated with low testosterone levels in Han Chinese men. Blood tests for total testosterone (TT) and sex hormone–binding globulin (SHBG) were performed, and the aging male symptoms (AMS) questionnaire was conducted in a randomly selected cohort composed of 944 Chinese men aged 40 to 79 years from nine urban communities. Three sexual symptoms (decreased ability/frequency of sexual activity, decreased number of morning erections, and decreased libido) were confirmed to be related to the total and free testosterone levels. The thresholds for TT were approximately 12.55 nmol l−1 for a decreased ability/frequency to perform sex, 12.55 nmol l−1 for decreased frequency of morning erections, and 14.35 nmol l−1 for decreased sexual desire. The calculated free testosterone (CFT) thresholds for these three sexual symptoms were 281.14, 264.90, and 287.21 pmol l−1, respectively. TT <13.21 nmol l−1 (OR = 1.4, 95%CI: 1.0–1.9, P = 0.037) or CFT <268.89 pmol l−1 (OR = 1.5, 95%CI: 1.1–20, P = 0.020) was associated with an increase in the aforementioned three sexual symptoms. The prevalence of LOH was 9.1% under the criteria, including all three sexual symptoms with TT levels <13.21 nmol l−1 and CFT levels <268.89 pmol l−1. Our results may improve the diagnostic accuracy of LOH in older men.

Introduction Sexual curiosity and the quest for sexual excitement are the most frequent reasons for patients to introduce foreign bodies into the urethra or the bladder. Imagination and surgical skill are essential for urologists to retrieve such vesical foreign bodies. Aim The aim of this study was to describe a novel method for retrieving vesical magnetic beads, which were inserted for autoeroticism by a male adolescent, with a self-made “magnetic sheath.” Methods A 21-year-old young man inserted more than one hundred small magnetic beads into his urethra for sexual excitement, which lately caused symptoms of gross hematuria, frequent urination, and acute lower abdominal pain when walking or urinating. We invented a magnetic sheath by fixing a magnetic bead on the tip of an F9.5 ureteral access sheath to remove the foreign bodies in a minimally invasive way. Main Outcome Measure The feasibility of using magnetic sheath to remove vesical foreign bodies; and operation duration. Results Under direct visualization of an F8/9.8 ureteroscope, the magnetic sheath could firmly attach to the magnetic bead inside the bladder and could easily pull out 5 to 15 beads each time. It took about 5 minutes to remove all of the 125 magnetic beads by utilizing our magnetic sheath. Conclusions The self-made magnetic sheath can make the task of removal of magnetic foreign bodies easy to urologists, requiring less time and surgical skills. The new equipment provides a new method for urologists to deal with the challenging task of removing metal vesical foreign bodies which were self-inserted for masturbation.

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