Objective To investigate the injury caused by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) on human renal tubular epithelial cell (HKC) and its effect on calcium oxalate (CaOxa) crystal crystallization time before and after the injury. Methods The injury degree of HKC by H2O2 was measured by detecting the cell survival rate and the concentration change of malonaldehyde (MDA). CaOxa crystallization was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Results Control cells induced only a small amount of calcium oxalate dihydrate (COD) crystals, while the injured cells not only induced calcium oxalate monohydrate (COM) crystals, but also increased the number and aggregation of CaOxa crystals. After incubating with CaOxa supersaturated solution, the control group HKC cells could be injured as well. Conclusions H2O2 can cause oxidative damage on HKC. The injured HKC promotes the nucleation and aggregation of COM crystals. In the body environment, the long-term presence of crystals in urinary tract is a risk factor for stone formation.

As a widely recognized public health problem as well as prevalent and challenging to modern society, chronic insomnia is involved in wide brain areas (such as prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, amygdala, hippocampus, and thalamus) and emotion-cognition neuro-circuit. It is closely related to the conditioned hyperarousal and the increased information process and/or the impaired inhibitory ability to withdraw from awaking state. Thus, some specific abnormal mode may exist in the emotion-cognition circuit, which is associated with abnormal cognition load, such as repeated retrieval/intrusion of aversive memories during night. Studies through the combination of multiple techniques including psychology, electrophysiology and neuroimaging methods are needed to further enhance the understanding of chronic insomnia.
Brain ; physiopathology ; Electrophysiology ; Gyrus Cinguli ; Hippocampus ; Humans ; Neuroimaging ; Prefrontal Cortex ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders ; pathology ; Thalamus

Until recently, the role of lysosomal cysteine protease cathepsins in intracellular protein degradation was believed to be mainly restricted to scavenging. However, recent studies have revealed nontraditional roles for cysteine protease cathepsins in the extracellular space during the development and progression of cardiovascular disease. Although the precise mechanisms are unknown, data from animal studies suggest that members of the cathepsin family, like other extracellular proteases, contribute to extracellular matrix protein remodeling and interstitial matrix degradation, as well as to cell signaling and cell apoptosis in heart disease. Inflammatory cytokines and hormones regulate the expression and secretion of cathepsins in cultured cardiovascular cells and macrophages. Serum levels of cathepsins L, S, and K and their endogenous inhibitor cystatin C may be useful predictive biomarkers in patients with coronary artery disease and cardiac disease. Furthermore, in vivo pharmacological intervention with a synthetic cathepsin inhibitor and cardiovascular drugs (including statins and angiotensin II type 1 receptor antagonists) has the potential for pharmacologic targeting of cathepsins in cardiovascular disease. This review focuses on cathepsin biology (structure, synthesis, processing, activation, secretion, activity regulation, and function) and the involvement of cysteinyl cathepsins in the pathogenesis of several heart and vessel diseases, especially with respect to their potential application as diagnostic and prognostic markers and drug targets to prevent inappropriate proteolysis in cardiovascular disease.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; Biomarkers ; Biology ; Cardiovascular Agents ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Cathepsins ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Cystatin C ; Cysteine Proteases ; Cytokines ; Extracellular Matrix ; Extracellular Matrix Proteins ; Extracellular Space ; Glycosaminoglycans ; Heart ; Heart Diseases ; Humans ; Macrophages ; Peptide Hydrolases ; Proteolysis ; Receptor, Angiotensin, Type 1

Conditioned fear and its abnormal extinction are involved in the psychopathology of anxiety disorders, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Cognitive enhancing agents have been demonstrated to alter fear extinction in many animal research literatures. The present review has examined the pharmacological role of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), glutamatergic, cholinergic, adrenergic, dopaminergic, and cannabinoid as well as compounds able to alter the epigenetic and neurotrophic mechanism in fear extinction, highlighting great hope for the future treatment of anxiety disorders with new agents based on the fear extinction.
Animals ; Anxiety Disorders ; drug therapy ; psychology ; Cannabinoids ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Conditioning, Psychological ; drug effects ; Extinction, Psychological ; drug effects ; Fear ; drug effects ; psychology ; Humans ; Nootropic Agents ; pharmacology ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic ; drug therapy ; psychology ; gamma-Aminobutyric Acid ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use

Objective: To investigate and compare the changes and associated factors of knowledge, attitude and practice of college students in Shanghai between the early 2020 and the end of 2021 stages of the COVID 19 epidemic and analyze the influencing factors, so as to provide reference for epidemic prevention and health education of college students. Methods: A retrospective cross sectional survey was conducted among 913 college students in 12 colleges and universities in Shanghai in 2021 from November to December with a self designed questionnaire by multi stage stratified cluster sampling, so as to investigate the changes of college students health literacy related to COVID 19 and the changes of knowledge, attitude and practice between the early 2020 and the end of 2021 stages of the COVID 19 epidemic. Results: In the early stage of the epidemic, the average score of understanding of epidemic prevention and control policies was(2.93±0.94), information judgment was(3.10±0.89), satisfaction degree was(4.11± 1.09 ), cooperation degree was(4.31±0.96), communication intention was (3.91±1.15). By the end of 2021, the understanding of prevention and control policies was (2.95±0.98); Information judgment was (3.77±0.94), satisfaction degree was (4.22±1.10), cooperation degree was (4.36±0.99), communication intention was (3.97±1.20), there were significant changes at different stages ( P <0.01). The results of binary Logistic regression showed that majors of social sciences (OR=0.62), majors of natural sciences ( OR =0.62), self rated good health ( OR =0.62) and self rated relatively good health ( OR =0.28) were negatively correlated with college students cognition and attitude changes to the COVID 19 epidemic ( P <0.05), while the choice of "relatively consistent"( OR =3.31) in "change in health behavior according to reasonable health information" was positively correlated with knowledge and attitude changes ( P <0.05). Shanghai college students health literacy about epidemic prevention was generally high. 79.4% of them had a "relatively high" score (>80), and 82.6% of the students rated themselves "very well" and "relatively well" knew epidemic prevention. Conclusion Relatively high level of health literacy on epidemic prevention is observed among college students in Shanghai. There had been significant changes in their knowledge, attitude, and practice of the epidemic since the early stage. It is necessary to carry out more accurate and effective health education and dissemination according to different characteristics, so as to build the prevention and control barrier of epidemic among college students.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the expressions of Engrailed-2 (EN2) and β-catenin in bladder urothelial carcinoma and explore their significance.

METHODSSixty bladder urothelial carcinoma samples of different grades and stages and 10 normal bladder mucosal tissues were examined for expressions of EN2 and β-catenin proteins and mRNA using immunochemistry, Western blotting and RT-PCR. RESULTS Compared to normal bladder mucosa, bladder urothelial carcinoma tissues showed significantly increased expressions of EN2 and β-catenin proteins (P<0.05), and the high-grade carcinoma tissues exhibited significantly stronger expressions than the low-grade ones (P<0.05); the expressions of the proteins increased also significantly with advanced pathological stages of bladder urothelial carcinoma (P<0.05). The expressions of EN2 and β-catenin mRNAs showed a consistent pattern of changes with their protein expressions.

CONCLUSIONThe expressions of EN2 and β-catenin are significantly increased in bladder urothelial carcinoma. EN2 may contribute to the development and progression of bladder urothelial carcinoma by activating Wnt/β-catenin signal pathway.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Carcinoma ; metabolism ; pathology ; Female ; Homeodomain Proteins ; metabolism ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nerve Tissue Proteins ; metabolism ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; beta Catenin ; metabolism

Objective To analyze the relevant factors affecting prognosis of pulmonary infection after renal transplantation.Methods The clinical data of 40 patients who suffered from pulmonary infection after renal transplantation at the First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University from January 2000 to December 2010 were analyzed retrospectively.By Cox risk model,single and multi-analysis were performed on 20 possible factors,including age,gender,time of infection,type of infection,white blood cell count,neutrophil ratio, hemoglobin,blood glucose,serum creatinine (Scr),pulmonary infection complicated with acute respiratory distress syndrome or acute pulmonary injury,rejection,blood transfusion,infusion of albumin,infusion of immune globulin,use of ventilator,way of offering oxygen,immunosuppressive regimen,dosage change of immunosuppressant,anti-infection therapeutic regimen and length of stay.Results and Conclusions Triple immunosuppressive therapy without mycophenolate mofetil (MMF ) and increase of neutrophil ratio were independent risk factors for pulmonary infection after renal transplantation.Triple immunosuppressive therapy with MMF combined with early anti-infection therapeutic regimen may improve patient and graft survival of patients with pulmonary infection after renal transplantation.

Objective: To explore the association between hypothyroidism and sleep breathing disorders in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). Methods: A total of 784 patients with CHD were consecutively enrolled at the Emergency & Critical Care Center of Beijing Anzhen Hospital from June 2015 to May 2017. According to thyroid function test results, patients were divided into hypothyroidism group (79 cases) and non-hypothyroidism group (705 cases). All patients had undergone sleep monitoring. The sleep apnea status was compared between the two groups. Multivariate logistic regression and linear regression models were used to analyze the association between hypothyroidism and sleep breathing disorders in patients with CHD. Results: The proportion of females, mean body weight and body mass index in the hypothyroidism group were higher than those in the non-hypothyroidism group [26.6% vs.16.2%, (78.6±11.6) kg vs. (75.7±12.0) kg, (27.7±3.2) kg/m² vs. (26.6±3.5) kg/m², all P<0.05]. Patients in hypothyroidism group had a decreased average oxygen saturation (SaO₂) compared with patients in non-hypothyroidism group [ (93.2±2.9) % vs. (93.9±2.0) %, P=0.030]. In addition, events of hypoventilation in hypothyroidism group were significantly higher than those in non-hypothyroidism group[92.5 (45.8, 758.3) times vs. 68.0 (33.0, 125.0) times, P=0.013]. There were no significant differences in apnea hypopnea index, diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea and other sleep breathing parameters between the two groups (P>0.05). A multiple linear regression analysis found that in patients with CHD, the correlation between hypothyroidism and average sleep SaO₂ was significant (β=-0.508, 95%CI -0.989--0.026, P=0.039). Conclusions: CHD patients with hypothyroidism had a lower sleep average SaO₂, and a higher sleep hypopnea events. There is a correlation between hypothyroidism and sleep hypoxia in patients with CHD. Clinical trial registration clinicalTrials.gov, NCT03362385.

Objective: To investigate the impact of moderate/severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) on the prognosis of acute myocardial infarction. Methods: We prospectively selected patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) who were hospitalized at the Emergency Critical Care Center of Beijing Anzhen Hospital from June 2015 to May 2017. Patients who met the inclusion criteria were examined with portable sleep respiration monitoring. Patients were divided into moderate/severe OSA group (apnea-hypopnea index (AHI)≥15 beats/hour) and no/mild OSA group (AHI<15 beats/hour) according to sleep AHI. The incidence of major adverse cerebrovascular events (MACCE) after discharge was compared between the two groups, and the independent risk factors of MACCE were analyzed. Results: A total of 432 patients were enrolled in this study, including 211 moderate/severe OSA patients (48.8%). Compared with no/mild OSA group,patients with moderate/severe OSA had higher body mass index ((27.17±3.22) kg/m² vs. (25.55±3.44) kg/m², t=-5.033,P<0.001), higher proportion of history of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) (18.5%(39/211) vs. 8.6%(19/221), χ²=9.076,P=0.003), and higher proportion of 3-vessel disease (31.3%(66/211) vs. 24.9%(55/221), χ²=10.196,P=0.017). The median follow-up time was 1.0 (0.7, 1.7) years. The incidence of MACCE in the moderate/severe OSA and no/mild group was 19.9%(42/211) and 11.3%(25/221), respectively. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed a higher cumulative risk of MACCE in patients with moderate/severe OSA (log-rank test,χ²=5.467, P=0.019). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that moderate/severe OSA (HR=1.915, 95%CI 1.016-3.611, P=0.045) and diabetes mellitus (HR=1.819, 95%CI 1.022-3.238, P=0.042) were independent risk factors for MACCE at 1 year post discharge in patients with AMI. Conclusions: Nearly half of AMI patients are complicated with moderate/severe OSA in this patient cohort. Coronary artery disease is more severe in AMI patients complicating with moderate/severe OSA. Moderate/severe OSA is an independent risk factor for MACCE at 1 year after discharge in patients with AMI. Whether the prognosis of AMI can be improved by intervention of OSA remains to be investigated. Trial Registration Clinical Trial.gov, NCT03362385.

Objective To examine the prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS),and to evaluate the relationship of OSA with inflammatory biomarkers in ACS patients.Methods Patients with ACS treated at Beijing Anzhen Hopital from June 2015 to May 2017 were enrolled.Subjects were evaluated for OSA by sleep study,and were divided into a normal-mild OSA group (Apnea Hypopnea Index,AHI ＜ 15 times/h) and a moderate-severe OSA group (AHI ≥ 15 times/h).Laboratory examination and sleep study were monitored to analyze the effects of OSA on biomarkers by LSD-t test,Mann-whitney U test,or Chi-square test.Correlation analysis was performed to analyze the association of OSA with high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) by Spearman correlation anaylsis.Results A cohort of 836 patients with ACS were enrolled including 408 patients in the normal-mild OSA group and 428 patients in the moderate-severe OSA group.The levels of leukocyte(x 109L) [7.78 (6.33,9.86) vs 7.29 (6.01,9.16),P=0.006],neutrophils(× 109L) [5.05 (3.84,7.23)vs 4.80 (3.74,6.66),P=0.044],monocytes(x 109L) [0.42 (0.33,0.54) vs 0.39 (0.31,0.51),P=0.033],hsCRP(mg/L) [3.18 (1.10,11.52) vs 1.78 (0.65,6.46),P＜0.01],fibrinogen(g/L) [3.17 (2.87,3.74) vs 2.97 (2.59,3.50),P=0.002],and uric acid(μmol/L) [360 (302,422) vs 341(283,407),P=0.006] in the moderatesevere OSA group were significant higher than those in the normal-mild OSA group.AHI (correlation coefficient=0.171,R2=0.020,P＜0.01),ODI (correlation coefficient =0.201,R2=0.027,P＜0.01),and TSaO2 ＜ 90％ (correlation coefficient =0.105,R2=0.005,P＜0.01) were positively correlated with hs-CRP;minimal SaO2 (correlation coefficient=-0.100,R2=0.001,P=0.008) and mean SaO2 (correlation coefficient =-0.127,R2=0.006,P＜0.01) were negatively correlated with hs-CRP.Conclusions For patients with ACS,the level of inflammatory markers in the moderate-severe OSA group is significantly higher than that in the normal-mild OSA group.Hs-CRP is significantly associated with the severity of OSA.Diagnosis and monitoring of OSA should be considered in ACS management in the future.