Although we did not observe significant relationships between sperm DNA damage and either fertilization or pregnancy rates, the potential adverse effect of sperm DNA damage on embryo quality and spontaneous pregnancy loss is concerning.

RARC with PLND can be performed safely at a high-volume newly established robotic surgery program with an experienced team without compromising operative, postoperative, and short-term pathologic outcomes during the LC for surgeons who are experienced in ORC.

The primary objective was to test the ability of a laparoscopic camera system to detect the fluorescent signal emanating from sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) approximately 2 d after injection and imaging of a positron-emitting molecular imaging agent into the submucosa of the porcine urinary bladder. Three female pigs underwent a submucosal injection of the bladder with fluorescent-tagged tilmanocept, radiolabeled with bothGa and Tc. One hour after injection, a pelvic PET/CT scan was acquired for preoperative SLN mapping. Approximately 36 h later, robotic SLN mapping was performed using a fluorescence-capable camera system. After identification of the fluorescent lymph nodes, a pelvic lymph node dissection was completed with robotic assistance. All excised nodal packets ( = 36) were assayed for Tc activity, which established a lymph node as an SLN.Tc activity was also used to calculate the amount of dye within each lymph node. All of the SLNs defined by the ex vivo γ-well assay ofTc activity were detected by fluorescence mode imaging. The time between injection and robotic SLN mapping ranged from 32 to 38 h. A total of 5 fluorescent lymph nodes were detected; 2 pigs had 2 fluorescent lymph nodes and 1 pig exhibited a single lymph node. Four of the 5 SLNs exhibited increased SUVs of 12.4-139.0 obtained from PET/CT. The dye content of the injection sites ranged from 371 to 1,441 pmol, which represented 16.5%-64.1% of the injected dose; the amount of dye within the SLNs ranged from 8.5 to 88 pmol, which was equivalent to 0.38%-3.91% of the administered dose. Fluorescent-labeledGa-tilmanocept allows for PET imaging and real-time intraoperative detection of SLNs during robotic surgery.

PSV of renal transplant vessels, calculated during allograft ultrasonography, has previously been shown to correlate with TRAS. Controversy exists regarding the threshold PSV value (adult range: 1.5-3.0 ms), which should prompt further, more invasive investigations to confirm the diagnosis of TRAS. Furthermore, there is a paucity of literature regarding PSV values in the pediatric renal transplant population. In a group of pediatric renal transplant patients, we correlated post-operative renal transplant PSV values with BP, renal function (serum creatinine) and TRAS. All patients who underwent cadaveric or living-related renal transplantation at the HSC between 2001 and 2004 with at least 6 months of follow-up were reviewed through the HSC multi-organ transplant database. Post-operative allograft Doppler ultrasonography was performed during routine follow-up. PSV values obtained were correlated with BP and serum creatinine performed concomitantly. Finally, we correlated PSV in those patients who underwent more intensive investigations, including magnetic resonance and conventional angiography. Fifty-three patients underwent transplantation during the study period. Complete data available for 50/53 demonstrated a mean PSV of 2.13 m/s (range: 0.9-6.1 m/s) for all patients. Of six patients who underwent MRA for suspicion of TRAS, two (with mean PSV values of 1.93 m/s) were found to have clinically significant stenoses. Four of six without angiographic evidence of TRAS had mean PSV values of 2.22 m/s. Patients suspected of having TRAS demonstrated elevated median serum creatinine values compared with those without clinical suspicion of TRAS. However, both mean PSV and BP were not found to be statistically different in both patient subgroups. Furthermore, there was no correlation identified between PSV and serum creatinine and BP in these patient populations. Despite the utility of PSV for monitoring adult renal transplant patients, we did not find that PSV correlated with BP, nadir creatinine or identify those patients who, through subsequent investigations, were found to have TRAS in this pediatric population. Maintaining cognizance in conjunction with close clinical follow-up may identify patients at risk for this rare but potentially morbid complication of transplantation.

Background Prostate cancer (PrCa) is one of the most genetically driven solid cancers with heritability estimates as high as 57%. Men of African ancestry are at an increased risk of PrCa; however, current polygenic risk score (PRS) models are based on European ancestry groups and may not be broadly applicable. The objective of this study was to construct an African ancestry-specific PrCa PRS (PRState) and evaluate its performance. Methods African ancestry group of 4,533 individuals in ELLIPSE consortium was used for discovery of African ancestry-specific PrCa SNPs. PRState was constructed as weighted sum of genotypes and effect sizes from genome-wide association study (GWAS) of PrCa in African ancestry group. Performance was evaluated using ROC-AUC analysis. Results We identified African ancestry-specific PrCa risk loci on chromosomes 3, 8, and 11 and constructed a polygenic risk score (PRS) from 10 African ancestry-specific PrCa risk SNPs, achieving an AUC of 0.61 [0.60–0.63] and 0.65 [0.64–0.67], when combined with age and family history. Performance dropped significantly when using ancestry-mismatched PRS models but remained comparable when using trans-ancestry models. Importantly, we validated the PRState score in the Million Veteran Program (MVP), demonstrating improved prediction of PrCa and metastatic PrCa in individuals of African ancestry. Conclusions African ancestry-specific PRState improves PrCa prediction in African ancestry groups in ELLIPSE consortium and MVP. This study underscores the need for inclusion of individuals of African ancestry in gene variant discovery to optimize PRSs and identifies African ancestry-specific variants for use in future studies.