Objective: To investigate the potential risk factors of infectious complications following ureteroscopy (URS). Materials and Methods: Studies reporting risk factors of infectious complications following URS were searched via PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases up to August 30, 2019. OR or mean difference (MD) with 95% CI was calculated to assess the potential risk factors. Results: A total of 14 studies containing 9,532 patients were included. Positive preoperative urine culture was the most significant risk factor (OR 2.95, 95% CI 1.96–4.43, p < 0.01), followed by female gender (OR 1.95, 95% CI 1.48–2.57, p < 0.01), diabetes mellitus (OR 1.55, 95% CI 1.13–2.13, p < 0.01), pre- and postoperative stent (OR 1.53, 95% CI 1.11–2.11, p = 0.01, OR 1.44, 95% CI 1.01–2.03, p = 0.04, relatively), and extended operative time (MD –11.54, 95% CI –16.10 to 6.98, p < 0.01). Age (MD –2.59, 95% CI –5.36 to 0.18, p = 0.07), cumulative stone diameter (MD –1.54; 95% CI –4.63 to 1.55, p = 0.33), and renal insufficiency (OR 1.22, 95% CI 0.80–1.88, p = 0.36) were not the potential risk factors. Conclusion: The prevalence of infectious complications following URS was correlated with female gender, diabetes mellitus, preoperative urine culture, pre- and postoperative stent insertion, and extended operative time. Publication bias and high heterogeneity were observed in some risk factors. Further studies are warranted for a valid conclusion.

Objective: To parallelly compare the applicability of the radius, exophytic/endophytic, nearness, anterior/posterior, location nephrometry score (R.E.N.A.L.), the Preoperative Aspects and Dimensions Used for an Anatomical (PADUA), and the centrality index (C‐index) scoring systems in predicting clinical outcomes after partial nephrectomy (PN).Methods: We searched EMBASE, PubMed, Ovid, and Web of Science to perform a meta‐analysis examining the correlation coefficients between three nephrometry scores (NSs) and warm ischemia time (WIT), estimated blood loss (EBL), operation time (OT), length of stay (LOS), and absolute change in eGFR (ACE) up to 25 January 2021.Results: In total, 13 studies including 1496 patients met the criteria for further analysis. Overall, all scoring systems had statistically significant correlations with the WIT, EBL, OT, ACE and LOS and ACE, except for the correlation between PADUA and LOS (r = 0.16 [−0.00, 0.31], p > 0.05). The C‐index had the strongest correlation with WIT (r = −0.35 [−0.43, −0.26], p < 0.05) and ACE (r = −0.29 [−0.48, −0.10], p < 0.05). Weak correlations were observed between OT as well as EBL and each scoring system. Publication bias was observed in PADUA score predicting ACE (p = 0.04) and high heterogeneity was found in some of our results.Conclusion: Until now, this is the first meta‐analysis that parallelly compares these three scoring systems in predicting outcomes after PN. We found that all NSs showed a statistically significant correlation with WIT, EBL, OT, and ACE. Moreover, the C‐index scoring system is the best predictor of WIT and ACE. Due to the existence of publication bias and high heterogeneity, more well‐designed and large‐scale studies are warranted for validation.

Objective: To compare the efficacy and safety of transurethral laser surgery and transurethral resection of a bladder tumor (TURBT) for non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). Material and Methods: A research was carried out in Medline via PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, and Web of Science up to October 20, 2019, to identify articles related to transurethral laser surgery and TURBT for NMIBC. All analyses were done using RevMan5.3 and Stata14. Results: A total of 17 studies involving 2,439 participants were included. The analysis showed no significant difference in operation times (mean difference = –0.2; 95% CI –2.29 to 1.89; p = 0.85) or occurrences of urethral stricture (OR = 0.7; 95% CI 0.24–2.06; p = 0.52). Transurethral laser surgery was associated with a lower incidence of obturator nerve reflex (OR = 0.04; 95% CI 0.02–0.09; p < 0.00001) and bladder perforation (OR = 0.09; 95% CI 0.04–0.23; p < 0.00001), a higher rate of detrusor muscle acquisition (OR = 5.28; 95% CI 2.42–11.49; p < 0.0001), shorter catheterization (mean difference = –1.05; 95% CI –1.41 to –0.68; p < 0.00001) and hospitalization times (mean difference = –0.96; 95% CI –1.59 to –0.33; p = 0.003), and lower rates of bladder irrigation (OR = 0.21; 95% CI 0.13–0.35; p < 0.00001) and recurrence both at 12 months (OR = 0.66; 95% CI 0.48–0.9, p = 0.008) and at 24 months (OR = 0.6; 95% CI 0.41–0.86; p = 0.005). Conclusions: Transurethral laser surgery for NMIBC, as compared to TURBT, is associated with a lower incidence of complications, a lower recurrence rate, and faster postoperative recovery.

Objectives: The incidence of diabetes significantly increases after kidney transplant, and the associated gut microbiota are closely related to diabetes. However, the gut microbiota of recipients with diabetes after kidney transplant remain unexplored. Materials and Methods: Feces samples from recipients with diabetes 3 months after kidney transplant were collected and analyzed using high-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Results: Our study included 45 transplant recipients: 23 posttransplant diabetes mellitus recipients, 11 recipients without diabetes mellitus, and 11 recipients with preexisting diabetes mellitus. No significant differences in intestinal flora richness and a diversity were observed among the 3 groups. However, principal coordinate analysis based on UniFrac distance revealed significant differences in ss diversity. At the phyla level, the abundance of Proteobacteria in posttransplant diabetes mellitus recipients decreased (P =.028), whereas that of Bactericide (P =.004) increased. At the class level, the abundance of Gammaproteobacteria (P =.037) decreased, whereas that of Bacteroidia (P =.004) increased. At the order level, the abundance of Enterobacteriales (P =.039) decreased, whereas Bacteroidales (P =.004) increased. At the family level, the abundance of Enterobacteriaceae (P =.039) and Peptostreptococcaceae (P =.008) decreased, whereas Bacteroidaceae (P =.010) increased. At the genus level, the abundance of Lachnospiraceae incertae sedis (P =.008) decreased, whereas Bacteroides (P =.010) increased. Furthermore, KEGG analysis identified 33 pathways, among which the biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids was closely related to gut microbiota and posttransplant diabetes mellitus. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive analysis of the gut microbiota from posttransplant diabetes mellitus recipients. The microbial composition of stool samples of posttransplant diabetes mellitus recipients was significantly different from recipients without diabetes and with preexisting diabetes. The number of bacteria producing short-chain fatty acids decreased, whereas pathogenic bacteria increased.

Immature dendritic cells (iDCs) have been shown to be able to induce peripheral T-cell tolerance through distinct pathways. Here, we investigated the tolerogenic property of recipient iDCs whose maturation was arrested by a dominant negative mutant of inhibitor of nuclear factor kappa-B kinase 2 (dnIKK2) gene. We found that dnIKK2-iDCs presented a typical semi-mature morphology and expressed lower levels of CD80 and CD86, slightly higher MHC-II than untransfected iDCs. The expression of these molecules had no significant change even dnIKK2-iDCs were pulsed by donor antigen. In primary mixed leukocyte reaction (MLR), dnIKK2-iDCs exhibited impaired ability to stimulate allogeneic T-cells, but induced CD4⁺CD25⁻ T-cell formation. In co-culture MLR, these CD4⁺CD25⁻ T-cells suppressed T-cell alloreaction in an antigen-specific manner. Besides, CD4⁺CD25⁻ T-cells inhibited IL-2 and IFN-γ release, whereas promoted IL-10 and TGF-β secretion. These data suggested recipient dnIKK2-iDCs could maintain peripheral tolerance through down-regulating costimulatory molecule expressions and inducing CD4⁺CD25⁻ T-cell formation.