Objective Few prospective data are currently available on acute gastrointestinal hemorrhage (AGIH) as a complication in acute kidney injury (AKI).The aim of the present study was to find out clinical characteristics,incidence,etiology,risk factors,and outcome of AGIH in patients with AKI.Methods We performed a prospective study on an inceptione cohprt of 512 patients admitted for AKI in our hospital.Data on clinical risk factors for bleeding,frequency of occurrence of AGIH,in-hospital mortality were collected,and independent predictors of AGIH were identified.Results A total of 53 patients had AGIH as a complication of AKI,and 45 were upper AGIH.Fifteen patients had clinically severe bleeding.Independent baseline predictors of AGIH were severity of illness,cardiac failure,mechanical ventilation,low platelet count,chronic hepatic disease,liever cirrhosis,severe AKI.Inhospital mortality was 52.8％ in patients with AGIH,and 22.2％ in the other patients.AGIH was significantly associated with an increase in hospital mortality.Conclusions AGIH are frequent complications of AKI.In this clinical condition,AGIH is more often due to upper gastrointestinal bleeding and is associated with a significantly increased risk of death.Both renal and extrarenal risk factors are related to the occurrence of AGIH.

Objective To explore the proliferation-promoting effect of bovine mammary gland epithelial cells (BMECs) co-cultured with umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSCs) in serum-free culture mediuum.Methods Bovine UC-MSCs and BMECs were selected for co-culturing in direct or indirect contact.In the direct contact culture groups, UC-MSCs and BMECs were co-cultured at concentration ratios of 2∶1, 1∶1, 1∶2, 1∶3, 1∶4, 1∶5, and 1:10, respectively.In the indirect contact culture group, the supernatant of UC-MSCs was used as the conditioned medium to re-suspend BMECs.In the control groups, UC-MSCs and BMECs were cultured alone.The cell growth status in each group was observed at 0, 4, 8, 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72 h after culture, and cell proliferation was detected by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay.Results At 48 h, the optical density of the conditioned medium-BMECs group was significantly higher compared with the control groups (P<0.05).Meanwhile, the optical density in the direct contact group at a concentration ratio of 1∶2 reached the peak, which was extremely significantly higher compared with the control groups (P<0.01) and significantly higher compared with the other direct contact culture groups and the conditioned medium-BMECs group (P<0.05).Conclusions Co-culture of UC-MSCs and BMECs in serum-free culture medium is capable to promote the proliferation of BMECs, and the co-culture by cell-to-cell contact has a better effect.The optimal concentration ratio of UC-MSCs to BMECs is 1∶2, and the optimal culture time is 48 h.

Objective To investigate the glomerular microvascular injury and repair in patients with IgA nephropathy (IgAN) as well as its relationship with intermedin (IMD).Methods Eighty cases of renal tissue taken from patients first diagnosed as IgAN in Shanxi Provincial People's Hospital Affiliated to Shanxi Medical University and 15 cases of normal renal tissue were detected by the expression of glomerular IMD,CD31,and VE-cadherin through immunohistochemical method.ELISA method was used to detect VEGF and IMD of plasm from 31 normal subjects and 36 cases chosen from the IgAN patients.Their changes and internal relationship were analyzed according to Lee's and chronic kidney disease (CKD) classification.Results (1) Compared with the control group the expressions of CD31,IMD,and VE-cadherin in IgAN patients were statistically significant (P ＜0.01).Compared with the control group the levels of IMD and VEGF in plasma of IgAN patients in early stage of CKD group and late stage of CKD group were statistically significant (P ＜ 0.01).(2)Correlation analysis:the expression of glomerular CD31 and Lee's classification were negatively correlated (r=-0.232,P ＜ 0.05);glomerular IMD was negatively correlated with Lee's classification (r=-0.241,P＜0.05),while positively correlated with glomerular VE-cadherin (r=0.417,P＜ 0.01).VEGF in plasma of IgAN patients was positive correlated with CKD classification,BUN (r=0.458,0.409,P＜0.05),and negatively correlated with serum ALB (r=-0.532,P＜0.01).Conclusion Microvascular injury exists in patients with IgAN.The expression of VE-cadherin and IMD are positively correlated,suggesting that IMD may be involved in the progression of vascular protection and angiogenesis in IgAN.The contents of IMD and VEGF in plasma of IgAN patients increase,indicating that they may play a role in the progression of IgAN.

Objective To observe the effect of intermedin(IMD) on microvascular injury of renal fibrosis in unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) rat model.Methods Seventy-two male Wistar rats were randomly divided into two groups:the sham-operation group (n=24) underwent the left ureteral dissection,the other 48 rats were made as unilateral ureteral obstruction models and subdivided into model group(UUO,n=24) and IMD group (n=24).At the 7,14,21,28 day after the operation,6 randomly-selected rats from each of the three groups respectively were blooded by abdominal arotic and their obstructive kidneys were taken out.The renal histopathological changes were observed through HE and Masson staining,the contents of BUN,Scr and cystatin C (CysC) of the obstructive kidneys were determined,the expressions of transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1),α-SMA,bone morphogenetic protein-7 (BMP-7),E-cadherin,thrombospondin 1 (TSP-1) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were detected by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry.Results Compared with the sham-operated group,the pathological changes of kidney in the model group showed that the degree of fibrosis was obvious,tubular interstitial damage aggravated,the levels of BUN,Scr,CysC in the model group increased (P ＜ 0.05),the mRNA expression and protein content of TGF-β1,oα-SMA,TSP-1 increased (P ＜ 0.05),while the levels of BMP-7,E-cadherin and VEGF decreased (P ＜0.05).Compared with the UUO group,renal tubular damage,interstitial fibrosis in the IMD group were lighter,the levels of BUN,Scr,CysC in the IMD group were lower (P ＜ 0.05),the mRNA expression and protein content of TGF-β1,α-SMA,TSP-1 were down-regulated (P ＜ 0.05),while the levels of BMP-7,E-cadherin and VEGF were up-regulated (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion IMD can ameliorate the renal interstitial fibrosis,and the mechanism may be related to the fact that VEGF mediated by IMD can reduce vascular injury.

Objective:To investigate the stability and feasibility of improved silent MRA technique based on hybrid-arterial spin labeling(ASL) for imaging intracranial arterial stenosis.Methods:From September 2019 to May 2020, totally 35 patients with suspected intracranial vascular stenosis in Department of Neurology of Northern Jiangsu People′s Hospital were enrolled in this study. Silent MRA and improved silent MRA based on hybrid-ASL technique were performed respectively. The acquisition noise (noise measurement and subjective score) of two kinds of MRA examination were evaluated respectively. Two neuroradiologists performed image quality scoring and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) measurement of intracranial arteries (including internal carotid artery, vertebrobasilar artery, anterior cerebral artery, middle cerebral artery, and posterior cerebral artery) in the two kinds of MRA images using a double-blind, completely randomized method. Independent sample t-test was used to compare the image quality and SNR of two kinds of MRA images in each segment. Two experts assessed the degree of stenosis at the site of confirmed intracranial artery stenosis. Kappa test was used to assess interobserver and intermodel agreement. Results:There was no significant difference in acquisition noise between improved silent MRA and silent MRA ( P>0.05). In all five segments measured, the image quality scores of internal carotid artery [(4.40±0.49)scores], anterior cerebral artery[(4.30±0.33)scores] and middle cerebral artery [(4.46±0.34)scores] in improved silent MRA were higher than those in silent MRA images [(4.02±0.43)scores, (4.02±0.31)scores, (4.02±0.31)scores; t=2.825, 2.877, 1.683, all P<0.05)]. The SNR of internal carotid artery (9.11±1.23) and middle cerebral artery (8.77±1.87) in improved silent MRA images was higher than that in silent MRA images (7.83±1.33, 8.06±2.67, respectively; t=11.154, 3.268, both P<0.05). A total of 24 patients (38 lesions) with intracranial vascular stenosis were diagnosed by CTA. Improved silent MRA (Kappa=0.89, 95%CI 0.82-0.95) and silent MRA (Kappa=0.85, 95%CI 0.77-0.92) were highly consistent among observers in evaluating the degree of cerebrovascular stenosis.The results of improved silent MRA were highly consistent with those of CTA (Kappa=0.92, 95%CI 0.87-0.98), and those of silent MRA were highly consistent with those of CTA (Kappa=0.85, 95%CI 0.77-0.92). Conclusions:The improved silent MRA is feasible to improve the imaging quality and signal uniformity through efficient marking based on keeping the low noise features. In the diagnosis of intracranial stenosis and occlusive disease, the stability of improved silent MRA imaging improves the diagnostic efficiency of stenosis to a certain extent.

The aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) is an all-aqueous system fabricated from two immiscible aqueous phases. It is spontaneously assembled through physical liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) and can create suitable templates like the multicompartment of the intracellular environment. Delicate structures containing multiple compartments make it possible to endow materials with advanced functions. Due to the properties of ATPSs, ATPS-based drug delivery systems exhibit excellent biocompatibility, extraordinary loading efficiency, and intelligently controlled content release, which are particularly advantageous for delivering drugs in vivo. Therefore, we will systematically review and evaluate ATPSs as an ideal drug delivery system. Based on the basic mechanisms and influencing factors in forming ATPSs, the transformation of ATPSs into valuable biomaterials is described. Afterward, we concentrate on the most recent cutting-edge research on ATPS-based delivery systems. Finally, the potential for further collaborations between ATPS-based drug-carrying biomaterials and disease diagnosis and treatment is also explored.