Objective:To analyze the podocalyxin (PCX) expression in the kidney and the number of urinary podocytes in different pathological grades of Henoch-Sch(o)nlein purpura nephritis (HSPN),and to determine whether the number of urinary podocytes reflects the renal damage in HSPN.Methods:Fifty-six children diagnosed with HSPN in our hospital were enrolled in the study and classified into 4 groups by renal pathology:grade Ⅱ (Ⅱa+Ⅱb) (n=10),grade Ⅲ (Ⅲa+Ⅲb) (n=21),grade Ⅳ (n=16),and grade Ⅴ (n=9).Four kidney autopsy specimens without histomorphologic lesions and 8 urine samples from healthy children served as controls.With immunofluorescence assay,the PCX expression in 4 normal renal tissues and in the renal tissues of the 56 HSPN children was detected and quantitatively analyzed.Positive rate and the number of urinary podocytes were detected in the 8 healthy children and 56 HSPN children.Results:In the renal tissues of the normal control group and grade Ⅱ (Ⅱa+Ⅱb) HSPN group,the PCX expression was complete.The percentage of the PCX positive area out of the total glomerular area in the renal tissues of 2 groups had no significant difference (P＞0.05).In the renal tissues of grade Ⅲ (Ⅲa+Ⅲb),Ⅳ,and Ⅴ HSPN groups,the PCX expression showed various degrees of loss,decreasing in turn from grade Ⅱ (Ⅱa+Ⅱb),Ⅲ (Ⅲa+Ⅲb),Ⅳ to Ⅴ,with significant differences between each group (P＜0.01).For HSPN with grade Ⅲ (Ⅲa+Ⅲb) or higher,positive PCX expression was found in the urine,suggesting the presence of enough podocytes in the urine.The percentage of fluorescence positive area out of the total glomerular area of PCX in the renal tissues was negatively correlated with the total number of urinary podocytes (r=-0.637,P＜0.01).Conclusion:Podocyte injury plays a certain role in the pathological progression of HSPN.The urinary detection ofpodocytes can reflect the degrees of pathological damage in HSPN.

AIM:The objective of this study is to examine the expression of profilin 1(PFN1)in mice with di-abetic nephropathy and determine its association with immune cell infiltration.METHODS:This study presents an analy-sis of PFN1 expression and immune cell infiltration in patients with diabetic nephropathy,utilizing transcriptome expres-sion data from kidney tissue microarray.Additionally,the findings were validated in a diabetic nephropathy mouse model.Sixteen C57BL/6 mice were randomly assigned into two groups,namely the normal group and the model group,in an equal manner.The model group underwent the establishment of the diabetic nephropathy model through intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin.Subsequently,the expression levels of CD11b,F4/80,CC chemokine receptor 4(CCR4),interleukin-1 receptor type I(IL-1R1),B-cell lymphoma-2(Bcl-2),Bcl-2-associated X protein(Bax)and caspase-3 in kidney tissue were assessed upon successful establishment of the diabetic nephropathy model.Furthermore,the overexpression of PFN1 was observed in a cellular model of diabetic nephropathy,and the protein expression levels of monocyte chemotactic pro-tein-1(MCP-1)and caspase-3 were assessed.RESULTS:The expression of PFN1 was found to be significantly in-creased in the GSE30122 dataset of transcriptome expression in kidney tissues affected by diabetic nephropathy(P＜0.01).This increase in PFN1 expression was found to be correlated with the presence of macrophages and T cells.Fur-thermore,the renal tissue of the diabetic nephropathy model group exhibited significant pathological changes.In this mod-el group,the expression levels of PFN1,CD11b,F4/80,CCR4,IL-1R1,Bax,Bcl-2,and caspase-3 were all significant-ly increased(P＜0.01).Overexpression of PFN1 could enhance the expression of MCP-1 and caspase-3 proteins.CON-CLUSION:Macrophages and Th17 cells were identified within the renal tissue of mice with diabetic nephropathy,con-comitant with an up-regulation in the expression of PFN1.This up-regulation was observed to facilitate the induction of apoptosis in the context of diabetic nephropathy.

BackgroundFunctional near-infrared spectroscopy （fNIRS） is a new generation of imaging tool that can be used to assist the diagnosis of psychiatric disorders. However， whether the patterns of prefrontal cortex activation observed by fNIRS are specific for different psychiatric disorders remains to be explored. ObjectiveTo investigate the characteristics of prefrontal cortex activation in patients with depression， anxiety disorder， bipolar disorder and schizophrenia in verbal fluency task （VFT） using fNIRS. MethodsFrom September to December 2021， 39 patients with schizophrenia， 205 patients with depressive disorder， 212 patients with anxiety disorder and 77 patients with bipolar disorder meeting the diagnostic criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders， fifth edition （DSM-5） were recruited in the outpatient and inpatient department of West China Hospital， Sichuan University. fNIRS was used to monitor the prefrontal cortex hemodynamic changes of patients under VFT， and the clinical symptoms of patients were assessed by Symptom Checklist 90 （SCL-90） and Hypomania Checklist-32 items（HCL-32）. Differences in mean oxyhemoglobin （HbO₂） concentration and the initial slope from 2 to 7 second during VFT were compared among patients with different diseases， and the correlation between mean HbO₂ concentration/initial slope and clinical symptoms was analyzed by partial correlation analysis. ResultsThe concentration of HbO₂ in channel 4 （Z=2.828， P=0.028） and channel 6 （Z=2.912， P=0.022） in patients with depression were significantly higher than those in patients with schizophrenia. Patients with anxiety had significantly higher changes in mean HbO₂ concentration in channel 4 （Z=3.154， P=0.010）， channel 5 （Z=3.021， P=0.015）， channel 6 （Z=2.980， P=0.017） and of all channels （Z=2.881， P=0.024） than those of schizophrenia patients. There was a statistically significant difference in the initial slope of channel 3 between patients with depressive disorder and those with bipolar disorder （Z=2.691， P=0.039）. Among patients with bipolar disorder， the anger-hostility scores of SCL-90 were negatively correlated with the mean HbO₂ concentration changes in channel 4 （r=-0.505， P=0.004）， channel 6 （r=-0.390， P=0.004）， channel 15 （r=-0.546， P=0.002）， channel 16 （r=-0.550， P=0.002） and the mean HbO₂ concentration changes of all channels （r=-0.491， P=0.006）. ConclusionPatients with schizophrenia had lower activation in frontopolar and orbitofrontal region than patients with depression and anxiety disorder， and the initial slope of the right frontopolar， inferior frontal and orbitofrontal region in patients with depression is higher than patients with bipolar disorder. In addition， patients with bipolar disorder had less activation in the frontopolar and orbitofrontal lobe， the insular cover of Broca's area and the upper outer frontal cortex， and were more irritable and hostile. ［Funded by 1·3·5 Project for Disciplines of Excellence-Clinical Research Incubation Project， West China Hospital， Sichuan University （number， ZYJC21083）］