Abstract Introduction: Sponge kidney is a renal malformation, of the collecting tubules, usually associated with nephrocalcinosis or distal tubular acidosis. The association with renal lithiasis is observed in 4-20%. Objective: The aim of our study was to describe biochemical risk factors for renal lithiasis in patients with sponge kidney. Material and methods: A retrospective, observational, cutoff study was performed between 2000 and 2017 where 37 patients with sponge kidney and renal lithiasis (26 females and 11 males) aged 37.3 ± 13.2 years were studied. The diagnosis of sponge kidney was made by excretory urogram. Results: Nephrocalcinosis was observed in 95%. The most frequent biochemical diagnosis was idiopathic hypercalciuria, which as the only and associated alteration was observed in 59.4%. Hyperuricosuria was the second diagnosis found in 32.4% (sole and associated) followed by hypocitraturia, hypomagnesuria and persistently acidic pHu. In men it was noteworthy that 46.2% did not present biochemical alteration. Conclusions: In conclusion, the relatively frequent association of sponge kidney and renal lithiasis stands out. Idiopathic hypercalciuria was the most frequent metabolic alteration as a cause of lithogenesis, followed by hyperuricosuria, similar to that described in the literature, although in a smaller proportion. Other alterations, such as hypocitraturia, hypomagnesuria and persistently acidic pHu should also be considered in the study of these patients.

Abstract  A navigation method is proposed to enable the fusion of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) for targeted prostate biopsy. This method directly establishes the transfor-mation between the preoperative MRI image and the intraoperative TRUS based on the selected coplanar MRI and TRUS images without the use of 3D TRUS. According to the real-time spatial pose of the intrao-perative TRUS, the resliced preoperative MRI image is computed and displayed along with the preoperative planning 3D model, and the planned lesion region is mapped to TRUS to guide the needle in-sertion. In the phantom experiment, the average error between the planned target point and the actual puncture position was calculated to be (1.98±0.28) mm. The experimental results show that this method can achieve high targeting accuracy and has potential value in clinical applications.

Abstract Objective In order to improve the accuracy in distinguishing subtypes of bladder cancer and to explore its potential therapeutic targets, we identify differences between two kinds of bladder cancer subtypes (basal-like and luminal) in molecular mechanism and molecular characteristics based on the bioinformatics analysis. Methods In this study, the RMA (robust multichip averaging) was applied to normalize the mrna profile which included 22 samples from basal-like subtype and 132 from luminal subtype, and the differential expression analysis of genes with top 1000 highest standard deviation was performed. Then, the Gene Ontology and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis of differentially expressed genes was performed. In addition, the protein-protein interactions networks analysis for the top 100 most significant differentially expressed genes was performed. Results A total of 742 differentially expressed genes distinguishing basal-like and luminal subtypes were found, of which 405 were up-regulated and 337 genes were down-regulated in basal-like subtype. GO enrichment analysis showed that differentially expressed genes were significantly enriched in the extracellular matrix, chemotaxis and inflammatory response. KEGG pathway enrichment analysis showed that the differentially expressed genes were significantly enriched in the pathway of extracellular matrix receptor interaction. The hub proteins we founded in protein-protein interaction networks were LNX1, MSN and PPARG. Conclusions In this study, the mainly difference of molecular mechanism between basal-like and luminal subtypes are alteration in extracellular matrix region, cell chemotaxis and inflammatory response. Genes such as LNX1, MSN and PPARG were forecast to play important roles in the classification of bladder carcinoma subtypes.

Abstract Objective To explore the method of computer discriminant on exfoliated cells in bladder urothelium cancer by Pap stain. Methods The exfoliated cells in 107 urine smears included 386 uroepi-thelium normal exfoliated cells (UNC) , 439 urothelium dysplastic exfoliated cells (UDC) and 500 blad-der urothelial cancer exfoliated cells (UCC). The cells were randomly divided into training group ( n = 1077) and identifying group ( n = 248) , and the chromatic and geometric shape parameters of cytoplasm and nuclear were tested. The stepwise discriminant analysis was used in cells of the training group to establish a discriminant function and analyze the rate of back substitution discriminant. The function was evaluated by cells of identifying group, and the coincidence rate was analyzed in 107 specimens. Results The back discriminant coincidence rate of cells in training group was 80.8%. The coincidence rate of identifying group and 107 specimens were 80.2% and 92.5% respectively. The discriminant effect was significantly better than function based on chromatics and geometric shape parameters individually (P < 0.05). Conclusions The function combined with chromatics and geometric shape parameters has good discriminant performance in bladder urothelium cancer.

Abstract Objective To deeply explore influence of three objective factors-rectal muscle tension, intra-abdominal pressure and bone in pelvic on cone beam CT calibration data of prostate cancer before radiotherapy and obtain the main factors affecting prostate target movement, so as to provide reference for optimizing radiotherapy plan design and improving image guidance accuracy. Methods Ten eligible patients with prostate cancer were screened according to the inclusion-exclusion criteria for test and scanned twice a week before random treatment by using cone beam CT to obtain prostate target calibration data. After the scanning, the influence of rectal muscle tension was quantified by using shear wave elastography, the influence of intra-abdominal pressure was indirectly quantified by air bag pressure gauge which measured the intra-bladder pressure, and the influence of bone in pelvic was quantified by using root mean square. The relationships between the three factors and cone beam CT calibration data were analyzed by using regression analysis. Results The cone beam CT calibration result was 0.513 mm±0.072 mm, 1.369 mm±0.162 mm, 1.335 mm±0.271 mm on left-right, anterior-posterior and superior-inferior direction respectively for all the patients. Young’s modulus value was 8.965 kpa±1.391 kpa, 10.211 kpa±1.544 kpa, 3.926 kpa±0.693 kpa on three directions respectively, intra-abdominal pressure (without direction) was 4.844 mmhg±1.347 mmhg (1mmhg = 133.3 Pa) and root mean square was 0.020 mm±0.011 mm, 0.069 mm±0.049 mm, 0.062 mm±0.029 mm on three directions respectively. Rectal muscle tension (R = 0.895) and intra-abdominal pressure (R = 0.523) on anterior-posterior direction were statistically correlated with the cone beam CT calibration data, and intra-abdominal pressure (R = 0.717) on superior-inferior direction was statistically correlated. Conclusions Rectal muscle tension on anterior-posterior direction and intra-abdominal pressure on superior-inferior direction were the main factors that caused prostate cancer target movement. The results were of great significance to optimize radiotherapy plan design and improve image guidance accuracy and provided methodological guidance for future target displacement reduction.