Objective: To investigate the effect of adiponectin levels with its related mechanism in diabetic myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury and ischemia post-conditioning in experimental rats. Methods: A total of 80 male SD rats were randomly divided into 6 groups: Normal sham (NS) group,n=8, Normal ischemia-reperfusion injury (NIRI) group,n=16, Normal ischemia post-conditioning (NIPO) group,n=16 and Diabetic mellitus sham (DMS) group,n=8, Diabetic mellitus ischemia-reperfusion injury (DMIRI) group,n=16, Diabetic mellitus ischemic post-conditioning (DMIPO) group,n=16. DM rats model was established by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin; IR model was established by occlusion of left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery for 30 min followed by reperfusion for 120min; IPO model was established by 3 cycles of ischemia for 10s and reperfusion for10s; the rats in Sham group received silk line wrapping of LAD without occlusion. The myocardial infarction (MI) area was measured by TTC staining, plasma adiponectin level was examined by ELISA, the protein expressions of p-Akt and total-Akt were detected by Western blot analysis. Results: Compared with NIRI group, NIPO group had decreased MI area,P<0.05, while DMIRI group and DMIPO group had increased MI area,P<0.01; compared with NS group, NIRI group and NIPO group showed up-regulated expression of adiponectin and p-Akt,P<0.05 and DMS group showed down-regulated p-Akt,P<0.05. Compared with NIPO group, three DM groups presented down-regulated adiponectin and p-Akt,P<0.05. Linear correlation analysis indicated that plasma adiponectin expression level was negatively related to MI area and positively related to myocardial tissue p-Akt expression with the correlation coefifcient at 0.63 and 0.65 respectively, P<0.01. Conclusion: Down-regulated plasma adiponectin expression may cause the inactivation of PI3K/Akt signal pathway and therefore aggravate DM ischemia-reperfusion injury which cannot be protected by ischemic post-conditioning in experimental rats.

Objective To summarize the efficacy and adverse reactions of incremental corticotrophin (ACTH) therapy in the treatment of infantile spasms (IS),and to provide new clinical treatment options.Methods The clinical data of 40 children with IS who were hospitalized in the Department of Neurology,Shanghai Children's Medical Center,Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine,treated with ACTH from January 2016 to January 2018 were collected and retrospectively analyzed.All the children were treated with intravenous infusion of ACTH with an initial dose 12.5 U/d for 3 days.If the spasms did not disappear,dosage of ACTH increased to 25.0 U/d for another 3 days.If the spasms could not yet be fully controlled,the dosage increased to 40.0 U/d,and the total course of treatment did not exceed 2 weeks.If the spasms disappeared at each dose stage or the course of treatment reached to 2 weeks,ACTH would be changed to Prednisone 2 mg/(kg · d) orally,which gradually decreased in 2 months.All children underwent electroencephalogram examination before and after treatment.Results Forty patients with IS were treated with ACTH increasing therapy.The disappearance rate of spasms was 40.0％ (16/40 cases) totally,with 7.5％ (3/40 cases) at the dosage phase of 12.5 U/d,16.2％ (6/37 cases) at the dosage stage of 25.0 U/d,and 22.6％ (7/31 cases) at the dosage of 40.0 U/d.The disappearance rate of hypsarrhythmia on electroencephalogram was 60.0％ (24/40 cases) generally,and 5.0％ (2/40 cases),10.8％ (4/37 cases),58.1％ (18/31 cases),respectively at above different dosage phases,while 37.5％ (15/40 cases) of the children had mild adverse reactions,mostly respiratory infections.Conclusions The short-term efficacy of the ACTH incremental therapy in the treatment of IS is positive,and the incidence of adverse reactions is low.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the genetic basis for 7 patients with Alström syndrome. METHODS: DNA was extracted from peripheral blood samples of the patients and their parents. Whole exome sequencing was carried out for the patients. Suspected variant was verified by Sanger sequencing and bioinformatic analysis. RESULTS: Genetic testing revealed 12 variants of the ALMS1 gene among the 7 patients, including 7 nonsense and 5 frameshift variants, which included c.5418delC (p.Tyr1807Thrfs*23), c.10549C>T (p.Gln3517*), c.9145dupC (p.Thr3049Asnfs*12), c.10819C>T (p.Arg3607*), c.5701_5704delGAGA (p.Glu1901Argfs*18), c.9154_9155delCT (p.Cys3053Serfs*9), c.9460delG (p.Val3154*), c.9379C>T (p.Gln3127*), c.12115C>T (p.Gln4039*), c.1468dupA (p.Thr490Asnfs*15), c.10825C>T (p.Arg3609*) and c.3902C>A (p.Ser1301*). Among these, c.9154_ 9155delCT, c.9460delG, c.9379C>T, and c.1468dupA were unreported previously. Based on the standards and guidelines of American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics, the c.9379C>T and c.12115C>T variants of the ALMS1 gene were predicted to be likely pathogenic (PVS1+PM2), whilst the other 10 variants were predicted to be pathogenic (PVS1+ PM2+ PP3+PP4). CONCLUSION ALMS1 variants probably underlay the Alström syndrome in the 7 patients, and genetic testing can provide a basis for the clinical diagnosis of this syndrome. The discovery of four novel variants has expanded the mutational spectrum of Alström syndrome.
Alstrom Syndrome/genetics* ; Cell Cycle Proteins/genetics* ; Humans ; Mutation ; Pedigree ; Whole Exome Sequencing

Objective:To investigate the efficacy of color Doppler ultrasound-guided percutaneous nephrostomy in the treatment of anastomotic leakage after laparoscopic pyeloplasty.Methods:A retrospective analysis was performed for the data of 15 children with peritoneal irritation after LP who were admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from January 2018 to January 2023, of which 10 cases were anastomotic leaks and 5 cases were with renal pelvic blood clots. There were 12 males and 3 females. Age (4.2±2.7) years. The lesions were located on the left side of 11 cases and on the right side of 4 cases. All 15 cases had varying degrees of nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and other symptoms. Physical examination: the children all showed painful faces and tense abdominal muscles. 15 patients had a preoperative pain score of 9.5 (8, 10). Ultrasound examination showed that the anterior and posterior diameters of renal pelvis separation were (34.93±4.86) mm, the anterior and posterior diameter/renal parenchymal thickness of renal pelvis separation was 15.66±1.02, renal dynamic nuclear imaging shows the renal function of the affected side was (29.69±1.71)%. Thirteen cases had the above symptoms before the abdominal drainage tube was removed, and the time of symptom onset was (3.3±1.1) days after surgery, of which 8 cases had a large increase in abdominal drainage, and color Doppler ultrasonography showed a large amount of fluid in the intra-abdominal intestinal space (about 500 ml). In 5 cases, the intraperitoneal drainage volume did not increase, and color Doppler ultrasonography showed strong echo in the renal pelvis, and blood clots were considered. All 13 patients were placed in the prone position under local anesthesia and underwent color Doppler ultrasound-guided percutaneous nephrostomy. The remaining 2 cases had abdominal drainage tube removed on the 3rd day after surgery, and peritoneal irritation signs appeared on the 4th and 6th days after surgery, respectively. Color Doppler ultrasonography showed that there was a large amount of fluid in the intra-abdominal intestinal space, and color Doppler ultrasound-guided peritoneal puncture and drainage + prone percutaneous nephrostomy was performed in the supine position under local anesthesia, and the biochemical analysis of the peritoneal puncture drainage fluid was confirmed to be anastomotic urine leakage. The drainage volume and urine output of 15 cases of peritoneal puncture drainage and pyelostomy were recorded, and the relief of nausea and vomiting symptoms and the score of postoperative pain after percutaneous nephrostomy were recorded. The changes of hydronephrosis and renal function before and after percutaneous nephrostomy were compared.Results:In this study, 15 patients underwent percutaneous nephrostomy with a duration of (16.8±1.9) min. The symptoms of nausea and vomiting disappeared after operation, and the pain scores were 3.2(2, 4) and 0.4(0, 2) at 2 h and 12 h after operation, respectively, which were statistically significant compared with those before operation ( P<0.01). In 13 children with simple percutaneous nephrostomy, the abdominal drainage tube was removed on (3.6±0.8) days and (8.6±1.0) days after percutaneous nephrostomy. In 2 children with peritoneal puncture and drainage plus percutaneous nephrostomy, the abdominal drainage tube was removed 3 days after the fistula operation, and the pyelostomy tube was removed 8 days after the fistula operation. The anterior and posterior diameters of renal pelvis separation were (10.87±4.05), (10.13±3.50) and (9.13±3.11) mm by color Doppler ultrasound at 3, 6 and 12 months after LP operation, respectively, and there were statistically significant differences compared with preoperative comparisons ( P<0.01).The diameter before and after renal pelvis separation was (7.60±2.86) mm, the diameter before and after renal pelvic separation/renal parenchymal thickness was 1.97±0.22, and the renal function was (39.23±2.66)% at 24 months after operation, which was statistically significant compared with that before operation ( P<0.01). Conclusions:Color Doppler ultrasound-guided percutaneous nephrostomy can effectively alleviate symptoms in the early stage, which could help to the healing of ureteral anastomosis, and has less trauma and short operation course.