Background: Non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) is a disease related to spermatogenic disorders.Currently, the specific etiological mechanism of NOA is unclear. This study aimed to use integrated bioinformatics to screen biomarkers and pathways involved in NOA and reveal their potential molecular mechanisms.Methods: GSE145467 and GSE108886 gene expression profiles were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between NOA tissues and matched obstructive azoospermia (OA) tissues were identified using the GEO2R tool. Common DEGs in the two datasets were screened out by the VennDiagram package. For the functional annotation of common DEGs, DAVID v.6.8 was used to perform Gene Ontology (GO) and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis. In accordance with data collected from the Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes/Proteins (STRING) database, a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed by Cytoscape. Cytohubba in Cytoscape was used to screen the hub genes. Furthermore, the hub genes were validated based on a separate dataset, GSE9210. Finally, potential micro RNAs (miRNAs) of hub genes were predicted by miRWalk 3.0.Results: A total of 816 common DEGs, including 52 common upregulated and 764 common downregulated genes in two datasets, were screened out. Some of the more important of these pathways, including focal adhesion, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, cell cycle, oocyte meiosis, AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signaling pathway, FoxO signaling pathway, and Huntington disease, were involved in spermatogenesis. We further identified the top 20 hub genes from the PPI network, including CCNB2,

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PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of a rapidly absorbable protein stent during microsurgical vasovasostomy.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty-four rats were randomly divided into control, conventional, and stent groups. The left vas deferens was ligated in the control group and cut with double-layer suturing in the conventional group. The stent group received full-layer suturing with protein stent implantation. Patency rate, sperm quality, and reproductive hormones were evaluated up to 8 weeks. Pathological changes were determined by assessment.RESULTS: Patency rates were similar for the stent and conventional groups (8th week) (p > 0.05). Operation time was lower for the stent group than for the conventional group (p < 0.05). The stent group did not differ significantly from the control or conventional groups in terms of effects on sperm quantity, motility, deformity rate, FSH level, LH level, and testosterone level (p > 0.05).CONCLUSIONS: This study provides a foundation for future studies that may further explore the potential of protein stents in vasovasostomy and other surgical procedures.

Background: The purpose of this protocol is to provide a updated systematic review and meta-analysis to prove the effectiveness and safety of Chinese herbal medicine in the treatment for the patients with varicocele. Method: This protocol conforms to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P) and the recommendations of the Cochrane Collaboration Handbook. We selected qualified studies published as of May 1, 2022, and systematically searched 6 English database (Embase, Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane Central of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), and Clinicaltrials.gov) and 5 Chinese database (China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), VIP Database for Chinese Technical Periodicals, Wanfandata, SinoMed, and Chinese Clinical Trial Registry). At the same time, relevant reviews and a list of references included in the study were retrieved, and Epistemonikos.org, ISI Web of Science and OpenGrey were manually searched to screen any other studies not included in the previous search. There will be no language restrictions. The inclusion criteria were clinical randomized controlled trial (RCT) involving the use of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of varicocele. The main results were fertility rate, adverse events, semen quality and scrotal pain score after 3 months, 6 months and 1 year follow-up. Bias analysis and evaluation will be performed based on risk of bias (ROB) assessment tool provided by the Cochrane Handbook. And use GRADEpro GDT to grade, evaluate and score the quality of the evidence. Heterogeneity will be judged by I2 value. At the same time, report bias assessment, subgroup analysis and sensitivity analysis were carried out. According to the Cochrane Manual of Systematic Evaluation of Interventions (Higgins 2011), if the data showed sufficiently high quality and some degree of similarity, we included the data for the meta-analysis. For dichotomy data, we selected an effect scale relative risk (RR) represented by a 95% confidence interval (CI). The continuous data is expressed as mean difference (MD) or standardized mean difference (SMD). Result: This study will provide high-quality evidence for the efficacy and safety of Chinese herbal medicine in the treatment of varicocele in subfertile men. Conclusion: This study will provide an effective and safe choice for Chinese herbal medicine to improve the fertility of patients with varicocele.