Influence of ovarian hormones deprivation on gene expression in the lower urinary tract of rats

OBJECTIVE: Identify the influence of ovarian hormone deprivation in expression genes on the lower urinary tract of rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study deals with gene screening on lower urinary tract of rats. Fifty isogenic rats divided in two groups of twenty-five animals have their lower urinary tract surgically removed: group I, ovariectomized rats 30 days prior to surgery; group II, non-ovariectomized rats. Total RNA was isolated from bladder and urethra, and differential expression of genes was analyzed quantitative, qualitative and comparatively by array technology and RT-PCR. RESULTS: A total of 76 candidate genes were identified as differentially expressed between the groups, 26 being lower expressed in group II, and 50 in group I. Among them, differential expression validation was confirmed by RT-PCR for three lower expressed genes in group I: Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF), Beta-2 Microglobulin (B2M) and Cytochrome c Oxidase subunit I (COX I). CONCLUSION: Ovarian hormone deprivation influences the expression genes on lower urinary tract. We demonstrated that a 30-day period of castration down regulate the expression of VEGF, B2M and COX I in adult rats which are involved in activities of angiogenesis, immune responses and cellular metabolism respectively.Federal University of São Paulo Department of GynecologyUNIFESP, Department of GynecologySciEL

Survapp: A Shiny Application for Survival Data Analysis

There is a substantial demand for user-friendly graphical interfaces that empower professionals with limited programming knowledge to perform statistical analysis. Although R software is widely used for statistical analysis, it lacks an adequately intuitive graphical interface for individuals without statistical and programming skills. This paper aims to address this gap by introducing an application called Survapp, enabling users, regardless of their computational knowledge, to conduct survival analysis. The development leveraged R software, RStudio, and the Shiny package to create an interactive web app. Survapp incorporates diverse methodologies for analyzing survival data, including Kaplan-Meier, log-rank tests, Cox regression models, parametric accelerated failure time models, decision trees, random forests, and competitive risk analysis (a specific case of multi-state models). Survapp enables users to analyze survival data, offering example databases for various methodologies within the application. However, the primary objective is to allow users to import their own data and conduct their respective analyses in a user-friendly environment. A distinguishing aspect of Survapp is its interface, bridging the gap between complex statistical methods and users with limited statistical and programming expertise. Overall, Survapp proves to be a highly valuable tool for survival data analysis, catering to users needs and providing a user-friendly interface with a wide range of survival analysis methods. The Shiny app is available at the Shiny Apps repository: https://emanuel-vieira.shinyapps.io/survapp. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025

Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor in the lower urinary tract in rats after castration and estrogen administration

Objective: To evaluate quantitatively, by means of immune histochemistry, the expression of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the bladder, vesicourethral junction, and urethra in normal, castrated adult rats and under estrogen administration.Design: Sixty adult virgin rats (Rattus norvergicus albinus, Rodentia, Mammalia) from the CEDEME-UNIFESP Animal House were used. Rats were divided into three groups. Group I comprised noncastrated rats, group II comprised oophorectomized rats, and group III comprised castrated rats administered 17 beta-estradiol in the form of subcutaneous implants at the dose of 0.18 mg/implant for 30 days. After performing standard immunohistochemistry procedures, the intensity of the dark-brown color was used as the cytoplasmic protein expression of VEGF. Cells without this coloration or weakly stained were considered negative. Percentile of VEGF expression was obtained by counting 1,000 cells per slide and establishing the ratio between positive and total cells.Results: the VEGF expression was uniform and similar along the urinary tract in group I. After castration, protein expression was almost absent in the bladder and was low in the vesicourethral junction and urethra. With estrogen replacement, very little of the expression was recovered in the bladder, and the reaction became evident in the vesicourethral junction and urethral sections.Conclusions: the present study implies a potential relationship between VEGF and urinary tract physiology. the results suggest that there are quantitative differences in VEGF expression in these tissues depending on steroid hormone status.Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Gynecol, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Gynecol, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc