Objective To explore the clinical significance of serum concentrations of Cystatin C (CysC) in children with kidney disease in different disease courses. Methods The serum concentrations of CysC, creatinine(Cr) and endogenous creatinine clearance rate(Ccr) were determined in 182 children with kidney disease. They were divided into five study groups:normal renal function group (73 cases), compensatory renal disfunction group (44 cases), non-compensatory renal disfunction group (35 cases), renal failure group(22 cases) and end stage of renal failure group(8 cases). Meanwhile 70 healthy children were involved in control group. Relationships among CysC, Cr and Ccr were calculated and the diagnostic efficiency was assessed by comparing the areas under the ROC curves. Results The serum concentrations of CysC increased in different courses of renal function impairment in children and were significantly related to the severity of impairment. CysC was positively correlated to Cr and negatively correlated to Ccr. The areas under the ROC curves of Cr and CysC were 0.764 and 0.725. Conclusions The serum concentrations of CysC can accurately identify different impairment grades of renal function and the function of glomerular filtration. As an indicator of early reduction of renal function, its sensitivities and specificities are superior to Cr and Ccr. CysC can be a sensitive endogenous marker for glomerular filtration rate determination. With simple, convenient and applicable assays methods, CysC is essential for early diagnosis of children kidney diseases.

Objective To investigate the clinical significance of plasma lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (LP-PLA2) determination in patients with ischemic cerebral stroke(ICS).Methods 124 patients with ICS (ICS group)admitted to Dongfeng Huaguo Hospital in Shiyan City from Jan.2011 to June.2014 and 50 patients with hemorrhagic stroke (hemor-rhagic group)were as the research objects,and 50 healthy controls at the same time were as the control group,compared the plasma Lp-PLA2 levels between the three groups,and compared carotid artery atherosclerotic plaque and plasma Lp-PLA2 levels in patients with different severity of ICS.Results The levels of plasma Lp-PLA2 of the patients of the ICS group,the hemorrhage group and the control group were 58.4±9.6 g/L,30.5±9.2 g/L and 18.7±8.3 g/L,respectively.There were significant differences between the groups (F = 16.741,P = 0.000).The level of plasma Lp-PLA2 of the patients of the plaque group was higher than that of the non-plaque group (66.3 ±9.7 g/L vs 54.1±10.3 g/L,t=5.775,P =0.000),and the unstable plaque group was higher than that of the stable plate group (72.4±9.5 g/L vs 62.8±10.1 g/L,t=4.797,P =0.000).The plasma Lp-PLA2 level of patients with light,medium,heavy ICS were 48.4± 9.2 g/L,60.9 ± 9.6 g/L and 74.5±10.3 g/L,respectively,and the difference was statistically significant between the three groups (F = 13.629,P =0.000).The plasma levels of Lp-PLA2 were positively correlated with NIHSS scores in patients with ICS (r=0.716,P <0.05).Lp-PLA2 in diagnosis of ICS area under the ROC curve was 0.904,the optimal critical value was 45.2 μg/L,the sen-sitivity and specificity were 81.5% and 80.2%.Conclusion The determination of plasma LP-PLA2 has a good effect in di-agnosis of ICS,the plasma level of ICS can be responsed the severity of the patients and the stability of atherosclerotic plaque.

Objective:To assess the effects of the scanning parameters of cone beam computed tomography(CBCT)on image quality,positioning error and additional radiation dose for patients with cervical cancer after tube voltage was reduced,so as to explore scanning conditions that was suitable to patients with cervical cancer.Methods:Seventy-two patients with cervical cancer who received radiotherapy in Deyang People's Hospital from January 2020 to August 2022 were selected.According to different scanning parameters,they were divided into low-dose group A(120 kV,154.4 mAs),low-dose group B(120 kV,228.8 mAs)and conventional group[adopted business-supplied scan sequences(120 kV,675.8 mAs)].The CBCT scan image was obtained by decreasing the tube voltage and tube current,and reducing scanning angle.The registration results of positioning error of low-dose group A,B and conventional group on three directions included left and right(x-axis),head and foot(y-axis)and abdominal and back(z-axis)were respectively obtained,and the results were analyzed by variance analysis.The Catphan503 phantom of X-ray volumetric imaging(XVI)was used to measure the image quality of the corresponding 3 groups,and the further comparison was conducted.Results:There were no significant differences between the three groups in the scanning parameters on x,y and z axis directions for positioning error of patients with cervical cancer(P＞0.05).The scanning times of low-dose group A and B were approximately 1 minute,and the scanning time of conventional group was approximately 2 minutes.The noises of low-dose group A and B,and conventional group were respectively 36.51％,26.09％and 18.37％,and the radiation dose that was generated by CBCT image scanning in group A was correspondingly reduced.Conclusion:The reductions of scanning speed and collimator size of CBCT scanning parameters do not affect the positioning error and image quality,and it can decrease the scanning time and additional radiation dose of patients in undergoing radiotherapy.

Objective:To investigate the Kub stage classification of clinical renal tuberculosis and provide a reference for disease evaluation and management.Methods:A retrospective analysis was conducted on clinical data from 180 patients diagnosed with renal tuberculosis who were admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Dali University between January 2011 and December 2022. The 180 cases included 82 males and 98 females. The average age was (44.56±9.62) years. The tuberculosis lesions of 101 cases were on left kidney, while that of 79 cases were on right kidney. Localized/multiple lesions were observed in 118 cases, whereas extensive destruction was found in 62 cases. Moreover, the ureters were involved in 165 cases, and bladder invasion occurred in 139 cases. For patients undergoing renal preservation treatment, a comprehensive approach was employed, including ureteral stricture stenting and regular replacement of double-J stent, percutaneous nephrostomy, excision of tuberculosis lesions or partial nephrectomy, ureter reconstruction, and sigmoidocystoplasty. In cases requiring nephrectomy, either laparoscopic or open surgical approaches are utilized. Based on the results of patient imaging and endoscopy, staging and classification were performed based on the extent of tuberculosis lesions involving the kidneys (K), ureters (u), and bladder (b). The state for each above organ was divided into four stages: K stage (K 1-4), u stage (u 0-u 3), and b stage (b 0-b 3), which were then combined with the actual disease condition for further categorization. The classifications included local intrarenal type(K 1-2u 0b 0), local renal-ureteral involvement type(K 1-2u 1-2b 0-2), multiple renal-ureteral invasion type(K 3u 1-3b 0-2) and extensive destruction type(K 4u 1-3b 1-3). Further analysis was conducted on kidney preservation and subsequent disease progression among patients with different subtypes. Results:Among the 180 patients, 15 cases of local intrarenal type underwent kidney-preserving treatment. Out of these cases, 6 patients (4 patients in stage K 1u 0b 0 and 2 patients in stage K 2bu 0b 0) achieved clinical cure after receiving a pure durative anti-tuberculosis for two years. Additionally, 4 patients in stage K 2au 0b 0 attained clinical cure following anti-tuberculosis drugs combined with partial nephrectomy after two years of follow-up. Furthermore, 5 patients in stage K 2bu 0b 0 underwent ureteroscopy and D-J stent placement for regular stent replacement. The stents were subsequently removed after two years, and the patients remained clinically stable. Among the 47 cases with localized renal-ureteral involvement type, all initially underwent kidney-preserving treatment. Of these, 5 patients in stage K 1u 1b 0-2 achieved clinical remission, while disease progression necessitated nephrectomy for 3 patients in stage K 2au 1-2b 0-2 and 7 patients in stage K 2bu 1-2b 0-2. The remaining patients maintained stable conditions. Among the 56 cases of multiple renal-ureteral invasion type, stable conditions were observed in 9 out of 24 patients with stage K 3u 1-2b 0-2, while disease progression necessitated nephrectomy in 15 cases. Nephrectomy was performed for all 32 patients with stage K 3u 3b 0-2. In instances of extensive destruction type, nephrectomy was conducted for all 62 cases. The progression rates of the local renal-ureteral involvement type and the multiple renal-ureteral invasion type were 21.28% (10/47) and 48.39% (15/31), and the difference was statistically significant ( P<0.05). The kidney preservation rates of the local renal-ureteral involvement type and multiple renal-ureteral invasion type were 78.72% (37/47) and 16.07% (9/56), and the difference was statistically significant ( P<0.001). Conclusions:The Kub stage classification can provide reference to management and monitoring for renal tuberculosis. The patients in the local intrarenal type and local renal-ureteral involvement type are often treated with anti-tuberculosis plus ureteral stent implantation or partial nephrectomy or ureteral reconstruction. The patients in the multiple renal-ureteral invasion type and extensive destruction type are mostly managed by nephrectomy.

PEGylation is considered one of the most successful techniques to improve the characteristics of protein drugs including to increase the circulating half-life of proteins in blood and to decrease their immunogenicity and antigenicity. One known PEG modification method is to attach PEG to the free amino group, typically at lysine residues or at the N-terminal amino acid with no selectivity, resulting in a heterogeneous product mixture. This lack of selectivity can present problems when a therapeutic PEGylated protein is being developed, because predictability of activity and manufacturing reproducibility are needed for regulatory approval. Enzymatic PEGylation of proteins is one route to overcome this limitation. Transglutaminases (TGase) are enzyme candidates for site-specific PEGylation. We use human interferon alpha 2a (IFN α2a) as a test case, and predict that the potential modification residues are Gln101 by computational approach as it contains 12 potential PEGylation sites. IFN α2a was PEGylated by Y shaped PEG40k-NH2 mediated by microbial transglutaminase. Our results show that the microbial transglutaminase mediated PEGylation of IFN α2a was site-specific only at the site of Gln101 in IFN α2a, yielding the single mono-conjugate PEG-Gln101-IFN α2a with a mass of 59 374.66 Da. Circular dichroism studies showed that PEG-Gln101-IFN α2a preserved the same secondary structures as native IFN α2a. As expected, the bioactivity and pharmacokinetic profile in rats of PEG-Gln101-IFN α2a revealed a significant improvement to unmodified IFN α2a, and better than PEGASYS.
Animals ; Antiviral Agents ; Humans ; Interferon alpha-2 ; metabolism ; Interferon-alpha ; biosynthesis ; pharmacokinetics ; Polyethylene Glycols ; pharmacokinetics ; Protein Structure, Secondary ; Rats ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; pharmacokinetics ; pharmacology ; Reproducibility of Results ; Transglutaminases ; metabolism