In clinical practice,the microscopic examination of urine sediment is considered an important in vitro examination with many broad applications.Measuring the amount of each type of urine sediment allows for screening,...In clinical practice,the microscopic examination of urine sediment is considered an important in vitro examination with many broad applications.Measuring the amount of each type of urine sediment allows for screening,diagnosis and evaluation of kidney and urinary tract disease,providing insight into the specific type and severity.However,manual urine sediment examination is labor-intensive,time-consuming,and subjective.Traditional machine learning based object detection methods require hand-crafted features for localization and classification,which have poor generalization capabilities and are difficult to quickly and accurately detect the number of urine sediments.Deep learning based object detection methods have the potential to address the challenges mentioned above,but these methods require access to large urine sediment image datasets.Unfortunately,only a limited number of publicly available urine sediment datasets are currently available.To alleviate the lack of urine sediment datasets in medical image analysis,we propose a new dataset named UriSed2K,which contains 2465 high-quality images annotated with expert guidance.Two main challenges are associated with our dataset:a large number of small objects and the occlusion between these small objects.Our manuscript focuses on applying deep learning object detection methods to the urine sediment dataset and addressing the challenges presented by this dataset.Specifically,our goal is to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the detection algorithm and,in doing so,provide medical professionals with an automatic detector that saves time and effort.We propose an improved lightweight one-stage object detection algorithm called Discriminatory-YOLO.The proposed algorithm comprises a local context attention module and a global background suppression module,which aid the detector in distinguishing urine sediment features in the image.The local context attention module captures context information beyond the object region,while the global background suppression module emphasizes objects in uninformative backgrounds.We comprehensively evaluate our method on the UriSed2K dataset,which includes seven categories of urine sediments,such as erythrocytes(red blood cells),leukocytes(white blood cells),epithelial cells,crystals,mycetes,broken erythrocytes,and broken leukocytes,achieving the best average precision(AP)of 95.3%while taking only 10 ms per image.The source code and dataset are available at https://github.com/binghuiwu98/discriminatoryyolov5.展开更多
BACKGROUND Maple syrup urine disease(MSUD)is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder caused by defects in the catabolism of the branched-chain amino acids(BCAAs).However,the clinical and metabolic screening is limited...BACKGROUND Maple syrup urine disease(MSUD)is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder caused by defects in the catabolism of the branched-chain amino acids(BCAAs).However,the clinical and metabolic screening is limited in identifying all MSUD patients,especially those patients with mild phenotypes or are asymptomatic.This study aims to share the diagnostic experience of an intermediate MSUD case who was missed by metabolic profiling but identified by genetic analysis.CASE SUMMARY This study reports the diagnostic process of a boy with intermediate MSUD.The proband presented with psychomotor retardation and cerebral lesions on magnetic resonance imaging scans at 8 mo of age.Preliminary clinical and metabolic profiling did not support a specific disease.However,whole exome sequencing and subsequent Sanger sequencing at 1 year and 7 mo of age identified bi-allelic pathogenic variants of the BCKDHB gene,confirming the proband as having MSUD with non-classic mild phenotypes.His clinical and laboratory data were retrospectively analyzed.According to his disease course,he was classified into an intermediate form of MSUD.His management was then changed to BCAAs restriction and metabolic monitoring conforming to MSUD.In addition,genetic counseling and prenatal diagnosis were provided to his parents.CONCLUSION Our work provides diagnostic experience of an intermediate MSUD case,suggesting that a genetic analysis is important for ambiguous cases,and alerts clinicians to avoid missing patients with non-classic mild phenotypes of MSUD.展开更多
BACKGROUND A noninvasive biomarker with high diagnostic performance is urgently needed for the early diagnosis of colorectal cancer(CRC).AIM To evaluate the diagnostic value of matrix metalloproteinases(MMPs)2,7 and 9...BACKGROUND A noninvasive biomarker with high diagnostic performance is urgently needed for the early diagnosis of colorectal cancer(CRC).AIM To evaluate the diagnostic value of matrix metalloproteinases(MMPs)2,7 and 9 in urine for CRC.METHODS Of 59 healthy controls,47 patients with colon polyps and 82 patients with CRC were included in this study.Carcinoembryonic antigen(CEA)in serum and MMP2,MMP7,and MMP9 in urine were detected.The combined diagnostic model of the indicators was established by binary logistic regression.The receiver operating characteristic curve(ROC)of the subjects was used to evaluate the independent and combined diagnostic value of the indicators.RESULTS The MMP2,MMP7,MMP9,and CEA levels in the CRC group differed significantly from levels in the healthy controls(P<0.05).The levels of MMP7,MMP9,and CEA also differed significantly between the CRC group and the colon polyps group(P<0.05).The area under the curve(AUC)distinguishing between the healthy control and the CRC patients using the joint model with CEA,MMP2,MMP7 and MMP9 was 0.977,and the sensitivity and specificity were 95.10%and 91.50%,respectively.For early-stage CRC,the AUC was 0.975,and the sensitivity and specificity were 94.30%and 98.30%,respectively.For advanced stage CRC,the AUC was 0.979,and the sensitivity and specificity were 95.70%and 91.50%,respectively.Using CEA,MMP7 and MMP9 to jointly established a model distinguishing the colorectal polyp group from the CRC group,the AUC was 0.849,and the sensitivity and specificity were 84.10%and 70.20%,respectively.For early-stage CRC,the AUC was 0.818,and the sensitivity and specificity were 76.30%and 72.30%,respectively.For advanced stage CRC,the AUC was 0.875,and the sensitivity and specificity were 81.80%and 72.30%,respectively.CONCLUSION MMP2,MMP7 and MMP 9 may exhibit diagnostic value for the early detection of CRC and may serve as auxiliary diagnostic markers for CRC.展开更多
Background: Urinary Tract Infection (UTI), a prevalent bacterial infection in adults, heavily relies on cytobacteriological examination of urine (CBEU) for diagnosis. However, in resource-limited countries, accessibil...Background: Urinary Tract Infection (UTI), a prevalent bacterial infection in adults, heavily relies on cytobacteriological examination of urine (CBEU) for diagnosis. However, in resource-limited countries, accessibility to CBEU remains hindered by cost and availability. This study aims to assess the utility of the Urinary Dipstick Test (UDT) in diagnosing UTIs among hospitalized patients in the context of limited resources. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from February to May 2019, encompassing hospitalized patients who underwent CBEU at the bacteriology unit of Sour? Sanou University Hospital. UDT and CBEU were concurrently performed, and UDT’s analytical and diagnostic performance was evaluated against CBEU, considered the gold standard. Results: A total of 274 CBEU requests were registered, involving 274 patients (159 males) with a mean age of 45.8 ± 21.3 years (ranging from 1 to 90 years). UTI was confirmed in 90 patients, yielding a frequency of 32.85%. The UTI bacteriological profile was dominated by Enterobacteriaceae (75.23%), primarily Escherichia coli (60.55%). Nitrite and Leukocytes were positive in 54 (19.8%) and 157 (53.6%) of the samples tested. Among patients with confirmed UTI, Nitrite, and Leukocytes were positive in 30 (33%) and 71 (79%) patients respectively. UDT demonstrated variable performance based on nitrite and leukocyte combination: Sensitivity (57%-82%), Specificity (7%-98%), Positive Predictive Value (PPV) (43%-57%), Negative Predictive Value (NPV) (43%-67%). UDT performed slightly better in women (NPV = 88%) and inpatients without urinary catheters (NPV = 75% and PPV = 80%). Conclusion: This study underscores UDT’s potential utility in excluding UTIs among women, younger patients, and inpatients without urinary catheters, albeit with limited confidence. The UDT emerges as a complementary tool for UTI screening, particularly in resource-limited settings.展开更多
It is well known that avian predators can use prey excretions such as urine and feces to track their prey, and the urine and feces of small mammalian herbivores can reflect ultraviolet (UV) light and emit fluorescent ...It is well known that avian predators can use prey excretions such as urine and feces to track their prey, and the urine and feces of small mammalian herbivores can reflect ultraviolet (UV) light and emit fluorescent light. There are still some debates as to whether UV visibility of small mammalian herbivores’ urine is used as a hunting cue by avian raptors. Some studies in Europe have demonstrated that diurnal raptors are capable of utilizing these cues to target key prey species. However, researchers in Australia have argued that raptors do not use the UV visibility of urine while hunting. To our knowledge, there are no reports from Asia concerning the ultraviolet spectral characteristics of small mammal herbivores’ urine. This study examined the UV spectral properties of urine from 6 small mammal herbivores species by comparing the UV reflectance and fluorescence spectra of urine from small mammalian herbivores living in plateau meadows, plateau shrubs, open marshland, farmland, and semi-desert grassland in China. In addition, we compared the UV spectral properties of urine from ground-dwelling species of rodents and subterranean species to determine whether ultraviolet visibility of small mammal herbivores’ urine could be used as a visual signal by Asian vole-eating raptors. The results showed that: 1) the SC<sub>370</sub> values of urine from four small mammal herbivores species were ordered as plateau pika (plateau meadow) > root voles (plateau bush) > reed voles (swampland) > Brandt’s vole (desert grassland);and 2) UV fluorescence peak intensity and the wavelengths of urine from ground-dwelling species (such as the root vole, plateau pika, or Brandt’s vole) were significantly higher than those of subterranean-dwelling species (mandarin vole and plateau zokor). These results indicate that UV visibility of small mammal herbivores’ urine may act as a visual cue for raptors.展开更多
Cell therapy,i.e.,the use of cells to repair an affected tissue or organ,is at the forefront of regenerative and personalized medicine.Among the multiple cell types that have been used for this purpose[including adult...Cell therapy,i.e.,the use of cells to repair an affected tissue or organ,is at the forefront of regenerative and personalized medicine.Among the multiple cell types that have been used for this purpose[including adult stem cells such as mesenchymal stem cells or pluripotent stem cells],urine-derived stem cells(USCs)have aroused interest in the past years.USCs display classical features of mesenchymal stem cells such as differentiation capacity and immunomodulation.Importantly,they have the main advantage of being isolable from one sample of voided urine with a cheap and unpainful procedure,which is broadly applicable,whereas most adult stem cell types require invasive procedure.Moreover,USCs can be differentiated into renal cell types.This is of high interest for renal cell therapy-based regenerative approaches.This review will firstly describe the isolation and characterization of USCs.We will specifically present USC phenotype,which is not an object of consensus in the literature,as well as detail their differentiation capacity.In the second part of this review,we will present and discuss the main applications of USCs.These include use as a substrate to generate human induced pluripotent stem cells,but we will deeply focus on the use of USCs for cell therapy approaches with a detailed analysis depending on the targeted organ or system.Importantly,we will also focus on the applications that rely on the use of USC-derived products such as microvesicles including exosomes,which is a strategy being increasingly employed.In the last section,we will discuss the remaining barriers and challenges in the field of USC-based regenerative medicine.展开更多
The measurement of urine catecholamine and metanephrine concentrations is important for biochemical screening and diagnosis of pheochromocytoma.The goal of this work was to develop a simple liquid chromatography-tande...The measurement of urine catecholamine and metanephrine concentrations is important for biochemical screening and diagnosis of pheochromocytoma.The goal of this work was to develop a simple liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry(LC-MS/MS)method for determining catecholamines and metanephrines in urine to replace an existing liquid chromatographic method using electrochemical detection.Urine samples were prepared using Oasis weak-cation-exchange cartridges.The eluate was analyzed on an Agilent ZORBAX Eclipse Plus Phenyl-Hexyl column in 3 min.Adrenaline,noradrenaline,dopamine,metanephrine,normetanephrine,and their deuterated internal standards were monitored in positive electrospray ionization mode by multiple reaction monitoring(MRM).No evidence of ion suppression was observed.The assay was linear up to 5μmol/L for adrenaline,5μmol/L for noradrenaline,6.1μmol/L for dopamine,5.6μmol/L for metanephrine,and 34.6μmol/L for normetanephrine,with lower limits of quantification of 5,5,12,6 and 7nmol/L,respectively.The intra-day and inter-day precisions for all analytes ranged from 0.59%to 4.64%and1.98%to 4.80%,respectively.External quality assurance samples were assayed and showed excellent agreement with the target values.This simple method provides an improved assay for determining urine catecholamines and metanephrines.展开更多
AIM:To assess the value of a new test for the diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori(H.pylori) infection,Rapirun H.pylori Antibody Stick(Rapirun Stick),in a Vietnamese population.METHODS:Eligible patients without previo...AIM:To assess the value of a new test for the diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori(H.pylori) infection,Rapirun H.pylori Antibody Stick(Rapirun Stick),in a Vietnamese population.METHODS:Eligible patients without previous history of H.pylori eradication were recruited.Rapid urease test(RUT) and histologic examination were used to diagnose the H.pylori infection.Patients were considered H.pylori positive when the RUT results were positive and/or the bacteria were detected histologically.Rapirun Stick tests were performed using urine samples,and the results were compared with the other 2 methods.RESULTS:We enrolled 200 patients with a mean age of 36(range,18-76) years.There were 116 females and 84 males.Of the 200 patients,111(55.5%) were diagnosed as being H.pylori positive.The sensitivity,specificity,and accuracy of the Stick test were 84.7%,89.9%,and 87.0%,respectively.There were 17(8.5%) falsenegative patients and 9(4.5%) false-positive patients.CONCLUSION:The Rapirun Stick test has high sensitivity,specificity,and accuracy for the diagnosis of H.pylori infection in the Vietnamese population.The test can be clinically applied in Vietnamese populations.展开更多
BACKGROUND Several studies have demonstrated a correlation between esophageal cancer(EC)and perturbed urinary metabolomic profiles,but none has described the correlation between urine metabolite profiles and those of ...BACKGROUND Several studies have demonstrated a correlation between esophageal cancer(EC)and perturbed urinary metabolomic profiles,but none has described the correlation between urine metabolite profiles and those of the tumor and adjacent esophageal mucosa in the same patient.AIM To investigate how urinary metabolic phenotypes were linked to the changes in the biochemical landscape of esophageal tumors.METHODS Nuclear magnetic resonance-based metabolomics were applied to esophageal tumor tissues and adjacent normal mucosal tissues alongside patient-matched urine samples.RESULTS Analysis revealed that specific metabolite changes overlapped across both metrics,including glucose,glutamate,citrate,glycine,creatinine and taurine,indicating that the networks for metabolic pathway perturbations in EC,potentially involved in but not limited to disruption of fatty acid metabolism,glucose and glycolytic metabolism,tricarboxylic acid cycle and glutaminolysis.Additionally,changes in most urinary biomarkers correlated with changes in biomarker candidates in EC tissues,implying enhanced energy production for rapid cell proliferation.CONCLUSION Overall,these associations provide evidence for distinct metabolic signatures and pathway disturbances between the tumor tissues and urine of EC patients,and changes in urinary metabolic signature could reflect reprogramming of the aforementioned metabolic pathways in EC tissues.Further investigation is needed to validate these initial findings using larger samples and to establish the underlying mechanism of EC progression.展开更多
This work presents a simple, rapid and reliable supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) method for a sensitive measurement of orotic acid in human urine. The samples were diluted with deionized water and analyzed dir...This work presents a simple, rapid and reliable supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) method for a sensitive measurement of orotic acid in human urine. The samples were diluted with deionized water and analyzed directly without any pretreatment.展开更多
Background: Alfalfa hay and corn stover are different type of forages which can significantly impact a cow's lactation performance, but the underlying metabolic mechanism has been poorly studied. We used biomarker...Background: Alfalfa hay and corn stover are different type of forages which can significantly impact a cow's lactation performance, but the underlying metabolic mechanism has been poorly studied. We used biomarker and pathway analyses to characterize related biomarkers and pathways based on urine metabolomics data from different forage treatments. Urine was col ected from 16 multiparous Holstein dairy cows fed alfalfa hay(AH, high-quality forage, n = 8) and corn stover(CS, low-quality forage, n = 8) respectively. Gas chromatography–time of flight/mass spectrometry(GC-TOF/MS) was performed to identify metabolites in urine and the metaboanalyst online platform was used to do biomarker and pathway analysis.Results: Hippuric acid(HUA) and N-methyl-glutamic(NML-Glu) indicated the most significant difference between the two diets, when statistical y validated by biomarker analysis. HUA was also validated by standard compound quantitative method and showed significant higher concentration in CS group than AH group(2.8282 vs. 0.0005 mg/mL; P < 0.01).The significant negative correlation between milk yield and HUA(R^2= 0.459; P < 0.01) and significant positive correlation between milk yield and NML-Glu(R^2= 0.652; P < 0.01) were characterized. The pathway analysis revealed that these different metabolites were involved in 17 pathways including 7 influential pathways(pathway impact value > 0): Tyr metabolism, starch and sucrose metabolism, amino sugar and nucleotide sugar metabolism, galactose metabolism,Phe, Tyr and Try biosynthesis, purine metabolism, and glycerolipid metabolism. Based on the metabolome view map,the Phe, Tyr and Try biosynthesis pathway exhibited the highest impact value(0.50), and the Holm-Bonferroni multiple testing-based analysis revealed the most significant difference in the Tyr metabolism pathway(Holm P = 0.048).Conclusions: The identified HUA and NML-Glu may serve as potential biomarkers for discriminating CS and AH diets and could be used as candidates for milk yield related mechanistic investigations. Integrated network pathways associated with related metabolites provide a helpful perspective for discovering the effectiveness of forage quality in lactation performance and provides novel insights into developing strategies for better utilization of CS and other low-quality forage in China.展开更多
Nutrient recovery from source-separated human urine has attracted interest as it is rich in nitrogen and phosphorus that can be utilized as fertilizer.However,urine also contains pharmaceuticals,steroid hormones,etc.a...Nutrient recovery from source-separated human urine has attracted interest as it is rich in nitrogen and phosphorus that can be utilized as fertilizer.However,urine also contains pharmaceuticals,steroid hormones,etc.and their removal is crucial as they have detrimental effects on the environment and human health.The current study focuses on investigating the degradation of pharmaceuticals using a double-chamber microbial fuel cell(MFC).Urine was spiked with four pharmaceuticals(trimethoprim,lamivudine,levofloxacin,and estrone)at a concentration of 2 mg/mL.The MFC was operated for 7 months in batch mode with this spiked urine as feed.The degradation efficiency of the MFC was studied,for which a selective liquid chromatography-tandem mass-spectrometric method was developed for the quantitation of compounds used in the spiking experiments and was validated with a lower limit of quantification of 0.39 ng/mL.The maximum removal rate achieved was 96%±2%.The degradation mechanism involved processes like sorption and anoxic biodegradation.The voltage curve obtained showed that the presence of pharmaceuticals had an initial negative impact on power generation along with increased organic content;however,after the reactor acclimatization,increased power output was achieved with maximum organics removal at 30 h of retention time.This work opens a new perspective for the anoxic biodegradation of pharmaceuticals and can be useful in future bioremediation studies.展开更多
AIM:To investigate the risk factor of primary open angle glaucoma(POAG),which is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide.An abnormally high level of endogenous formaldehyde(FA) has recently been found co...AIM:To investigate the risk factor of primary open angle glaucoma(POAG),which is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide.An abnormally high level of endogenous formaldehyde(FA) has recently been found correlated with cell death and neurodegenerative disease,raising the possibility of a putative correlation of abnormal endogenous FA with POAG.· METHODS:Thirty-four elderly patients with POAG and sixteen healthy controls were enrolled.Glaucomatous visual defects were present at both the functional(visual field) and structural[retinal nerve fiber layer(RNFL)thickness]levels.Morning urine samples were obtained and were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography(HPLC) to detect the endogenous FA level in a double blind manner.· RESULTS:Patients with POAG(P <0.05) had significantly higher urine FA levels.The urine FA level of patients with severe visual field defects[mean deviation(MD)≥12 dB]was significantly(P<0.001) greater than that of patients with mild to moderate defects(MD<12 dB).By optical coherence tomography(OCT),the superior and inferior RNFL thickness of POAG group was significantly(P<0.001) thinner than in controls.Furthermore,the superior and inferior thinning of the RNFL was correlated with the elevation of urine FA concentration.CONCLUSION:Endogenous FA level is positively correlated with the neuronal defects of POAG.展开更多
Colloidal gold immunochromatographic assay(CGIA)is commonly used for the on-site detection ofβ-agonists that are sometimes used illegally as feed additives in swine diets.However,few studies have evaluated the causes...Colloidal gold immunochromatographic assay(CGIA)is commonly used for the on-site detection ofβ-agonists that are sometimes used illegally as feed additives in swine diets.However,few studies have evaluated the causes of false-positive results that sometimes occur when applying CGIA in agricultural settings.In this study,we investigated if this false-positive phenomenon is related to the addition of certain traditional Chinese medicines(TCMs)to swine feed.We established and verified an extraction method for TCMs,and then applied CGIA to detectβ-agonists in the extracts of 105 TCMs and in the urine of swine dosed with TCMs,respectively.Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was used to validate the results of the urine samples tested positive forβ-agonists using CGIA.The results were also verified using TCMs and colloidal gold test strips produced by different manufacturers.The extracts of Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium Viride,Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium,Magnoliae Officinalis Cortex,Chaenomelis Fructus,and Rhodiolae Crenulatae Radix Et Rhizoma were tested positive forβ-agonists.Meanwhile,the addition of Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium Viride and Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium to swine feed resulted in false-positive results forβ-agonists in swine urine.The results provide a new way to explain false-positive CGIA results and provide valuable information for livestock feeding programs.展开更多
The study was conducted to isolate and determine the antibiotic resistance in Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumonia from urine samples over a 2-year period (August 2013-September 2015) at the La Paz Medical Center...The study was conducted to isolate and determine the antibiotic resistance in Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumonia from urine samples over a 2-year period (August 2013-September 2015) at the La Paz Medical Center, Malabo. A retrospective analysis of 785 urine culture samples over a 2-year period August 2013-September 2015 was carried out according to the routine protocol of urinalysis. Bacterial etiological agents were isolated from 155 (19.7%) samples with highest prevalence of Escherichia coli (55.5%) followed by Klebsiella pneumonia (23.2%), Proteus mirabilis (4.5%), Pseudomonas species (3.2%), Enterobacter species (2.6%), Enterococcus faecalis (2.6%) and others species (8.4%). The E. coli and K. pneumonia represent 78.7% of all isolated bacterial strains. The E. coli and K. pneumoniae isolates possess highly resistant to ampicillin, Trimethoprim/Sulfamethoxazole, Doxycycline, Amoxicicline/Clavulanic acid. Whereas K. pneumonia demonstrated also to be highly resistant to Gentamycin, Cefuroxime and Ceftriaxon, low level of resistance to Piperacilin/Tazobactam, Amikacin and the lowest to Imipenem. The alarming level of MDR strains to the first choice antibiotics treatment was observed.展开更多
A fast and sensitive method for determination of 8 diuretics (acetazolamide, bendroflumethiazide, bumetanide, chlorthalidone, furosemide, hydrochlorothiazide, metolazone, triamterene) and masking agent (probenecid) in...A fast and sensitive method for determination of 8 diuretics (acetazolamide, bendroflumethiazide, bumetanide, chlorthalidone, furosemide, hydrochlorothiazide, metolazone, triamterene) and masking agent (probenecid) in human urine using gas-chromatography with mass spectrometric detection is described. The extraction of the substances as function of the nature of organic solvent, mixing time and pH of aqueous phase was studied. The tandem mass spectrometry was used to increase selectivity of diuretics determination due to elimination of background interferences. Fragmentation reactions were studied for each compound and their collision energies were optimized to obtain the best selectivity. The results of method’s validation demonstrate its suitability in routine analysis for confirmation purposes.展开更多
基金This work was partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.61906168,U20A20171)Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.LY23F020023,LY21F020027)Construction of Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory for Intelligent Visual Monitoring of Hydropower Projects(Grant Nos.2022SDSJ01).
文摘In clinical practice,the microscopic examination of urine sediment is considered an important in vitro examination with many broad applications.Measuring the amount of each type of urine sediment allows for screening,diagnosis and evaluation of kidney and urinary tract disease,providing insight into the specific type and severity.However,manual urine sediment examination is labor-intensive,time-consuming,and subjective.Traditional machine learning based object detection methods require hand-crafted features for localization and classification,which have poor generalization capabilities and are difficult to quickly and accurately detect the number of urine sediments.Deep learning based object detection methods have the potential to address the challenges mentioned above,but these methods require access to large urine sediment image datasets.Unfortunately,only a limited number of publicly available urine sediment datasets are currently available.To alleviate the lack of urine sediment datasets in medical image analysis,we propose a new dataset named UriSed2K,which contains 2465 high-quality images annotated with expert guidance.Two main challenges are associated with our dataset:a large number of small objects and the occlusion between these small objects.Our manuscript focuses on applying deep learning object detection methods to the urine sediment dataset and addressing the challenges presented by this dataset.Specifically,our goal is to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the detection algorithm and,in doing so,provide medical professionals with an automatic detector that saves time and effort.We propose an improved lightweight one-stage object detection algorithm called Discriminatory-YOLO.The proposed algorithm comprises a local context attention module and a global background suppression module,which aid the detector in distinguishing urine sediment features in the image.The local context attention module captures context information beyond the object region,while the global background suppression module emphasizes objects in uninformative backgrounds.We comprehensively evaluate our method on the UriSed2K dataset,which includes seven categories of urine sediments,such as erythrocytes(red blood cells),leukocytes(white blood cells),epithelial cells,crystals,mycetes,broken erythrocytes,and broken leukocytes,achieving the best average precision(AP)of 95.3%while taking only 10 ms per image.The source code and dataset are available at https://github.com/binghuiwu98/discriminatoryyolov5.
基金Supported by the Guangzhou Science Technology and Innovation Commission,No.202102020133。
文摘BACKGROUND Maple syrup urine disease(MSUD)is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder caused by defects in the catabolism of the branched-chain amino acids(BCAAs).However,the clinical and metabolic screening is limited in identifying all MSUD patients,especially those patients with mild phenotypes or are asymptomatic.This study aims to share the diagnostic experience of an intermediate MSUD case who was missed by metabolic profiling but identified by genetic analysis.CASE SUMMARY This study reports the diagnostic process of a boy with intermediate MSUD.The proband presented with psychomotor retardation and cerebral lesions on magnetic resonance imaging scans at 8 mo of age.Preliminary clinical and metabolic profiling did not support a specific disease.However,whole exome sequencing and subsequent Sanger sequencing at 1 year and 7 mo of age identified bi-allelic pathogenic variants of the BCKDHB gene,confirming the proband as having MSUD with non-classic mild phenotypes.His clinical and laboratory data were retrospectively analyzed.According to his disease course,he was classified into an intermediate form of MSUD.His management was then changed to BCAAs restriction and metabolic monitoring conforming to MSUD.In addition,genetic counseling and prenatal diagnosis were provided to his parents.CONCLUSION Our work provides diagnostic experience of an intermediate MSUD case,suggesting that a genetic analysis is important for ambiguous cases,and alerts clinicians to avoid missing patients with non-classic mild phenotypes of MSUD.
基金Supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China,No.2020YFC2004604 and 2020YFC2002700.
文摘BACKGROUND A noninvasive biomarker with high diagnostic performance is urgently needed for the early diagnosis of colorectal cancer(CRC).AIM To evaluate the diagnostic value of matrix metalloproteinases(MMPs)2,7 and 9 in urine for CRC.METHODS Of 59 healthy controls,47 patients with colon polyps and 82 patients with CRC were included in this study.Carcinoembryonic antigen(CEA)in serum and MMP2,MMP7,and MMP9 in urine were detected.The combined diagnostic model of the indicators was established by binary logistic regression.The receiver operating characteristic curve(ROC)of the subjects was used to evaluate the independent and combined diagnostic value of the indicators.RESULTS The MMP2,MMP7,MMP9,and CEA levels in the CRC group differed significantly from levels in the healthy controls(P<0.05).The levels of MMP7,MMP9,and CEA also differed significantly between the CRC group and the colon polyps group(P<0.05).The area under the curve(AUC)distinguishing between the healthy control and the CRC patients using the joint model with CEA,MMP2,MMP7 and MMP9 was 0.977,and the sensitivity and specificity were 95.10%and 91.50%,respectively.For early-stage CRC,the AUC was 0.975,and the sensitivity and specificity were 94.30%and 98.30%,respectively.For advanced stage CRC,the AUC was 0.979,and the sensitivity and specificity were 95.70%and 91.50%,respectively.Using CEA,MMP7 and MMP9 to jointly established a model distinguishing the colorectal polyp group from the CRC group,the AUC was 0.849,and the sensitivity and specificity were 84.10%and 70.20%,respectively.For early-stage CRC,the AUC was 0.818,and the sensitivity and specificity were 76.30%and 72.30%,respectively.For advanced stage CRC,the AUC was 0.875,and the sensitivity and specificity were 81.80%and 72.30%,respectively.CONCLUSION MMP2,MMP7 and MMP 9 may exhibit diagnostic value for the early detection of CRC and may serve as auxiliary diagnostic markers for CRC.
文摘Background: Urinary Tract Infection (UTI), a prevalent bacterial infection in adults, heavily relies on cytobacteriological examination of urine (CBEU) for diagnosis. However, in resource-limited countries, accessibility to CBEU remains hindered by cost and availability. This study aims to assess the utility of the Urinary Dipstick Test (UDT) in diagnosing UTIs among hospitalized patients in the context of limited resources. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from February to May 2019, encompassing hospitalized patients who underwent CBEU at the bacteriology unit of Sour? Sanou University Hospital. UDT and CBEU were concurrently performed, and UDT’s analytical and diagnostic performance was evaluated against CBEU, considered the gold standard. Results: A total of 274 CBEU requests were registered, involving 274 patients (159 males) with a mean age of 45.8 ± 21.3 years (ranging from 1 to 90 years). UTI was confirmed in 90 patients, yielding a frequency of 32.85%. The UTI bacteriological profile was dominated by Enterobacteriaceae (75.23%), primarily Escherichia coli (60.55%). Nitrite and Leukocytes were positive in 54 (19.8%) and 157 (53.6%) of the samples tested. Among patients with confirmed UTI, Nitrite, and Leukocytes were positive in 30 (33%) and 71 (79%) patients respectively. UDT demonstrated variable performance based on nitrite and leukocyte combination: Sensitivity (57%-82%), Specificity (7%-98%), Positive Predictive Value (PPV) (43%-57%), Negative Predictive Value (NPV) (43%-67%). UDT performed slightly better in women (NPV = 88%) and inpatients without urinary catheters (NPV = 75% and PPV = 80%). Conclusion: This study underscores UDT’s potential utility in excluding UTIs among women, younger patients, and inpatients without urinary catheters, albeit with limited confidence. The UDT emerges as a complementary tool for UTI screening, particularly in resource-limited settings.
文摘It is well known that avian predators can use prey excretions such as urine and feces to track their prey, and the urine and feces of small mammalian herbivores can reflect ultraviolet (UV) light and emit fluorescent light. There are still some debates as to whether UV visibility of small mammalian herbivores’ urine is used as a hunting cue by avian raptors. Some studies in Europe have demonstrated that diurnal raptors are capable of utilizing these cues to target key prey species. However, researchers in Australia have argued that raptors do not use the UV visibility of urine while hunting. To our knowledge, there are no reports from Asia concerning the ultraviolet spectral characteristics of small mammal herbivores’ urine. This study examined the UV spectral properties of urine from 6 small mammal herbivores species by comparing the UV reflectance and fluorescence spectra of urine from small mammalian herbivores living in plateau meadows, plateau shrubs, open marshland, farmland, and semi-desert grassland in China. In addition, we compared the UV spectral properties of urine from ground-dwelling species of rodents and subterranean species to determine whether ultraviolet visibility of small mammal herbivores’ urine could be used as a visual signal by Asian vole-eating raptors. The results showed that: 1) the SC<sub>370</sub> values of urine from four small mammal herbivores species were ordered as plateau pika (plateau meadow) > root voles (plateau bush) > reed voles (swampland) > Brandt’s vole (desert grassland);and 2) UV fluorescence peak intensity and the wavelengths of urine from ground-dwelling species (such as the root vole, plateau pika, or Brandt’s vole) were significantly higher than those of subterranean-dwelling species (mandarin vole and plateau zokor). These results indicate that UV visibility of small mammal herbivores’ urine may act as a visual cue for raptors.
基金Institut National de la Santéet la Recherche MédicaleUniversitéde Poitiers+2 种基金CHU de PoitiersRégion Nouvelle AquitaineFondation de l’Avenir,No.AP-RM-18-006.
文摘Cell therapy,i.e.,the use of cells to repair an affected tissue or organ,is at the forefront of regenerative and personalized medicine.Among the multiple cell types that have been used for this purpose[including adult stem cells such as mesenchymal stem cells or pluripotent stem cells],urine-derived stem cells(USCs)have aroused interest in the past years.USCs display classical features of mesenchymal stem cells such as differentiation capacity and immunomodulation.Importantly,they have the main advantage of being isolable from one sample of voided urine with a cheap and unpainful procedure,which is broadly applicable,whereas most adult stem cell types require invasive procedure.Moreover,USCs can be differentiated into renal cell types.This is of high interest for renal cell therapy-based regenerative approaches.This review will firstly describe the isolation and characterization of USCs.We will specifically present USC phenotype,which is not an object of consensus in the literature,as well as detail their differentiation capacity.In the second part of this review,we will present and discuss the main applications of USCs.These include use as a substrate to generate human induced pluripotent stem cells,but we will deeply focus on the use of USCs for cell therapy approaches with a detailed analysis depending on the targeted organ or system.Importantly,we will also focus on the applications that rely on the use of USC-derived products such as microvesicles including exosomes,which is a strategy being increasingly employed.In the last section,we will discuss the remaining barriers and challenges in the field of USC-based regenerative medicine.
文摘The measurement of urine catecholamine and metanephrine concentrations is important for biochemical screening and diagnosis of pheochromocytoma.The goal of this work was to develop a simple liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry(LC-MS/MS)method for determining catecholamines and metanephrines in urine to replace an existing liquid chromatographic method using electrochemical detection.Urine samples were prepared using Oasis weak-cation-exchange cartridges.The eluate was analyzed on an Agilent ZORBAX Eclipse Plus Phenyl-Hexyl column in 3 min.Adrenaline,noradrenaline,dopamine,metanephrine,normetanephrine,and their deuterated internal standards were monitored in positive electrospray ionization mode by multiple reaction monitoring(MRM).No evidence of ion suppression was observed.The assay was linear up to 5μmol/L for adrenaline,5μmol/L for noradrenaline,6.1μmol/L for dopamine,5.6μmol/L for metanephrine,and 34.6μmol/L for normetanephrine,with lower limits of quantification of 5,5,12,6 and 7nmol/L,respectively.The intra-day and inter-day precisions for all analytes ranged from 0.59%to 4.64%and1.98%to 4.80%,respectively.External quality assurance samples were assayed and showed excellent agreement with the target values.This simple method provides an improved assay for determining urine catecholamines and metanephrines.
基金Supported by International Collaborative Research Grant of the Japanese Society of Gastrointestinal Cancer Screening
文摘AIM:To assess the value of a new test for the diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori(H.pylori) infection,Rapirun H.pylori Antibody Stick(Rapirun Stick),in a Vietnamese population.METHODS:Eligible patients without previous history of H.pylori eradication were recruited.Rapid urease test(RUT) and histologic examination were used to diagnose the H.pylori infection.Patients were considered H.pylori positive when the RUT results were positive and/or the bacteria were detected histologically.Rapirun Stick tests were performed using urine samples,and the results were compared with the other 2 methods.RESULTS:We enrolled 200 patients with a mean age of 36(range,18-76) years.There were 116 females and 84 males.Of the 200 patients,111(55.5%) were diagnosed as being H.pylori positive.The sensitivity,specificity,and accuracy of the Stick test were 84.7%,89.9%,and 87.0%,respectively.There were 17(8.5%) falsenegative patients and 9(4.5%) false-positive patients.CONCLUSION:The Rapirun Stick test has high sensitivity,specificity,and accuracy for the diagnosis of H.pylori infection in the Vietnamese population.The test can be clinically applied in Vietnamese populations.
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China,No.81471729 and No.81101102the Science and Technology and Planning Project of Guangdong Province,No.2016A020216025+2 种基金the Research Award Fund for Outstanding Young Teachers in Higher Education Institutions,Guangdong Province,No.YQ2015245the National Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province,No.S2011010004973the Department of Education of Guangdong Province,No.2017KTSCX071
文摘BACKGROUND Several studies have demonstrated a correlation between esophageal cancer(EC)and perturbed urinary metabolomic profiles,but none has described the correlation between urine metabolite profiles and those of the tumor and adjacent esophageal mucosa in the same patient.AIM To investigate how urinary metabolic phenotypes were linked to the changes in the biochemical landscape of esophageal tumors.METHODS Nuclear magnetic resonance-based metabolomics were applied to esophageal tumor tissues and adjacent normal mucosal tissues alongside patient-matched urine samples.RESULTS Analysis revealed that specific metabolite changes overlapped across both metrics,including glucose,glutamate,citrate,glycine,creatinine and taurine,indicating that the networks for metabolic pathway perturbations in EC,potentially involved in but not limited to disruption of fatty acid metabolism,glucose and glycolytic metabolism,tricarboxylic acid cycle and glutaminolysis.Additionally,changes in most urinary biomarkers correlated with changes in biomarker candidates in EC tissues,implying enhanced energy production for rapid cell proliferation.CONCLUSION Overall,these associations provide evidence for distinct metabolic signatures and pathway disturbances between the tumor tissues and urine of EC patients,and changes in urinary metabolic signature could reflect reprogramming of the aforementioned metabolic pathways in EC tissues.Further investigation is needed to validate these initial findings using larger samples and to establish the underlying mechanism of EC progression.
文摘This work presents a simple, rapid and reliable supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) method for a sensitive measurement of orotic acid in human urine. The samples were diluted with deionized water and analyzed directly without any pretreatment.
基金supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.31472121)from the China Agriculture Research System(No.CARS-37)The funding body has not participated in or interfered with the research
文摘Background: Alfalfa hay and corn stover are different type of forages which can significantly impact a cow's lactation performance, but the underlying metabolic mechanism has been poorly studied. We used biomarker and pathway analyses to characterize related biomarkers and pathways based on urine metabolomics data from different forage treatments. Urine was col ected from 16 multiparous Holstein dairy cows fed alfalfa hay(AH, high-quality forage, n = 8) and corn stover(CS, low-quality forage, n = 8) respectively. Gas chromatography–time of flight/mass spectrometry(GC-TOF/MS) was performed to identify metabolites in urine and the metaboanalyst online platform was used to do biomarker and pathway analysis.Results: Hippuric acid(HUA) and N-methyl-glutamic(NML-Glu) indicated the most significant difference between the two diets, when statistical y validated by biomarker analysis. HUA was also validated by standard compound quantitative method and showed significant higher concentration in CS group than AH group(2.8282 vs. 0.0005 mg/mL; P < 0.01).The significant negative correlation between milk yield and HUA(R^2= 0.459; P < 0.01) and significant positive correlation between milk yield and NML-Glu(R^2= 0.652; P < 0.01) were characterized. The pathway analysis revealed that these different metabolites were involved in 17 pathways including 7 influential pathways(pathway impact value > 0): Tyr metabolism, starch and sucrose metabolism, amino sugar and nucleotide sugar metabolism, galactose metabolism,Phe, Tyr and Try biosynthesis, purine metabolism, and glycerolipid metabolism. Based on the metabolome view map,the Phe, Tyr and Try biosynthesis pathway exhibited the highest impact value(0.50), and the Holm-Bonferroni multiple testing-based analysis revealed the most significant difference in the Tyr metabolism pathway(Holm P = 0.048).Conclusions: The identified HUA and NML-Glu may serve as potential biomarkers for discriminating CS and AH diets and could be used as candidates for milk yield related mechanistic investigations. Integrated network pathways associated with related metabolites provide a helpful perspective for discovering the effectiveness of forage quality in lactation performance and provides novel insights into developing strategies for better utilization of CS and other low-quality forage in China.
文摘Nutrient recovery from source-separated human urine has attracted interest as it is rich in nitrogen and phosphorus that can be utilized as fertilizer.However,urine also contains pharmaceuticals,steroid hormones,etc.and their removal is crucial as they have detrimental effects on the environment and human health.The current study focuses on investigating the degradation of pharmaceuticals using a double-chamber microbial fuel cell(MFC).Urine was spiked with four pharmaceuticals(trimethoprim,lamivudine,levofloxacin,and estrone)at a concentration of 2 mg/mL.The MFC was operated for 7 months in batch mode with this spiked urine as feed.The degradation efficiency of the MFC was studied,for which a selective liquid chromatography-tandem mass-spectrometric method was developed for the quantitation of compounds used in the spiking experiments and was validated with a lower limit of quantification of 0.39 ng/mL.The maximum removal rate achieved was 96%±2%.The degradation mechanism involved processes like sorption and anoxic biodegradation.The voltage curve obtained showed that the presence of pharmaceuticals had an initial negative impact on power generation along with increased organic content;however,after the reactor acclimatization,increased power output was achieved with maximum organics removal at 30 h of retention time.This work opens a new perspective for the anoxic biodegradation of pharmaceuticals and can be useful in future bioremediation studies.
基金Supported by National Basic Research Program of China(973 Program,No.2012CB911004)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No. 81041008No.30772376)
文摘AIM:To investigate the risk factor of primary open angle glaucoma(POAG),which is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide.An abnormally high level of endogenous formaldehyde(FA) has recently been found correlated with cell death and neurodegenerative disease,raising the possibility of a putative correlation of abnormal endogenous FA with POAG.· METHODS:Thirty-four elderly patients with POAG and sixteen healthy controls were enrolled.Glaucomatous visual defects were present at both the functional(visual field) and structural[retinal nerve fiber layer(RNFL)thickness]levels.Morning urine samples were obtained and were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography(HPLC) to detect the endogenous FA level in a double blind manner.· RESULTS:Patients with POAG(P <0.05) had significantly higher urine FA levels.The urine FA level of patients with severe visual field defects[mean deviation(MD)≥12 dB]was significantly(P<0.001) greater than that of patients with mild to moderate defects(MD<12 dB).By optical coherence tomography(OCT),the superior and inferior RNFL thickness of POAG group was significantly(P<0.001) thinner than in controls.Furthermore,the superior and inferior thinning of the RNFL was correlated with the elevation of urine FA concentration.CONCLUSION:Endogenous FA level is positively correlated with the neuronal defects of POAG.
基金the Guangdong Public Welfare Research and Capacity Building Project,China(2015A020209130)。
文摘Colloidal gold immunochromatographic assay(CGIA)is commonly used for the on-site detection ofβ-agonists that are sometimes used illegally as feed additives in swine diets.However,few studies have evaluated the causes of false-positive results that sometimes occur when applying CGIA in agricultural settings.In this study,we investigated if this false-positive phenomenon is related to the addition of certain traditional Chinese medicines(TCMs)to swine feed.We established and verified an extraction method for TCMs,and then applied CGIA to detectβ-agonists in the extracts of 105 TCMs and in the urine of swine dosed with TCMs,respectively.Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was used to validate the results of the urine samples tested positive forβ-agonists using CGIA.The results were also verified using TCMs and colloidal gold test strips produced by different manufacturers.The extracts of Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium Viride,Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium,Magnoliae Officinalis Cortex,Chaenomelis Fructus,and Rhodiolae Crenulatae Radix Et Rhizoma were tested positive forβ-agonists.Meanwhile,the addition of Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium Viride and Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium to swine feed resulted in false-positive results forβ-agonists in swine urine.The results provide a new way to explain false-positive CGIA results and provide valuable information for livestock feeding programs.
文摘The study was conducted to isolate and determine the antibiotic resistance in Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumonia from urine samples over a 2-year period (August 2013-September 2015) at the La Paz Medical Center, Malabo. A retrospective analysis of 785 urine culture samples over a 2-year period August 2013-September 2015 was carried out according to the routine protocol of urinalysis. Bacterial etiological agents were isolated from 155 (19.7%) samples with highest prevalence of Escherichia coli (55.5%) followed by Klebsiella pneumonia (23.2%), Proteus mirabilis (4.5%), Pseudomonas species (3.2%), Enterobacter species (2.6%), Enterococcus faecalis (2.6%) and others species (8.4%). The E. coli and K. pneumonia represent 78.7% of all isolated bacterial strains. The E. coli and K. pneumoniae isolates possess highly resistant to ampicillin, Trimethoprim/Sulfamethoxazole, Doxycycline, Amoxicicline/Clavulanic acid. Whereas K. pneumonia demonstrated also to be highly resistant to Gentamycin, Cefuroxime and Ceftriaxon, low level of resistance to Piperacilin/Tazobactam, Amikacin and the lowest to Imipenem. The alarming level of MDR strains to the first choice antibiotics treatment was observed.
文摘A fast and sensitive method for determination of 8 diuretics (acetazolamide, bendroflumethiazide, bumetanide, chlorthalidone, furosemide, hydrochlorothiazide, metolazone, triamterene) and masking agent (probenecid) in human urine using gas-chromatography with mass spectrometric detection is described. The extraction of the substances as function of the nature of organic solvent, mixing time and pH of aqueous phase was studied. The tandem mass spectrometry was used to increase selectivity of diuretics determination due to elimination of background interferences. Fragmentation reactions were studied for each compound and their collision energies were optimized to obtain the best selectivity. The results of method’s validation demonstrate its suitability in routine analysis for confirmation purposes.
