Diabetic nephropathy belongs to diabetic microvascular aseptic inflammation， which is the main cause of end-stage renal disease and can cause damage to the structure of glomeruli and tubulointerstitium. Pyroptosis is a potent pro-inflammatory model of programmed cell death mediated by gasdermin （GSDM） protein family， which is characterized by nuclear shrinkage， chromatin DNA fragmentation， plasma membrane rupture， cell swelling and deformation. Related studies have found that pyroptosis is closely related to the occurrence and development of diabetic nephropathy. Inhibition of pyroptosis to a certain extent can reduce diabetic renal injury， so the pathway of pyroptosis involved in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy is the current research focus. The characteristics of multi-components， multi-targets and multi-pathways of traditional Chinese medicine have significant advantages in the treatment of diabetic nephropathy. Some components of traditional Chinese medicine， single traditional Chinese medicine and compound prescription of traditional Chinese medicine can improve diabetic renal injury by inhibiting pyroptosis pathway and related targets. Based on the molecular mechanism of pyroptosis， this paper clarifies the mechanism of pyroptosis in diabetic nephropathy by expounding the relationship between pyroptosis and its pathway targets and diabetic nephropathy. This paper summarizes the research status of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of diabetic nephropathy by interfering with related pyroptosis pathways in recent years， so as to provide perspectives and ideas for the prevention， early diagnosis， drug development and molecular treatment of diabetic nephropathy in the future.

To report 7 Chinese children with characteristic hyperpigmented macules on the forehead and temples. Among the 7 cases, there were 2 males and 5 females, with the age at onset ranging from 9 to 24 months (12.43 ± 5.32 months), and the disease duration being 1 - 4 months (2.57 ± 1.27 months). Skin examination revealed that the children presented with varying numbers of irregular brown macules and patches scattered on their foreheads and temples, without obvious desquamation. Dermoscopic examination revealed multiple yellowish-brown patches with irregular borders, and linear vessels were observable in some skin lesions. A diagnosis of acquired facial hyperpigmented macules was made in these children. The children received no treatment. After 2 years of follow-up, hyperpigmented macules completely subsided in 2 cases and regressed to varying degrees in 4 cases, while 1 case exhibited no changes in the skin lesions. Considering the literature and the cases discussed in this article, it is hypothesized that acquired facial hyperpigmented macules in young children may represent an independent condition.

Objective To investigate the effect and mechanism of HHQ 16, a derivative of astragaloside Ⅳ, on hepatocyte lipid accumulation. Methods Free fatty acids were used to stimulate lipid hepatocyte accumulation. Triglyceride and Oil Red O staining were detected to reflect hepatocyte lipid accumulation. The expression of α1-acidglycoprotein （ORM） and its regulators were detected by real-time quantitative PCR and immunoblotting. The expression of ORM1 was interfered with siRNA to determine whether it mediated the action of HHQ16.The expression of ORM1 was interfered by siRNA to determine whether it mediated the action of HHQ16. Results HHQ16 significantly ameliorated FFA-induced hepatocyte lipid deposition. HHQ16 elevated ORM expression, and the protective effect of HHQ16 on hepatocyte lipid accumulation was reversed by ORM interference. Conclusion HHQ16 could ameliorate hepatocyte lipid accumulation by elevating ORM.

Immunoscenescence plays a key role in the initiation and development of tumors. Furthermore, immunoscenescence also impacts drug delivery and cancer therapeutic efficacy. To reduce the impact of immunosenescence on anti-tumor therapy, this experimental plan aimed to use neutrophils with tumor tropism properties to deliver sialic acid (SA)-modified liposomes into the tumor, kill tumor cells via SA-mediated photochemotherapy, enhance infiltration of neutrophils into the tumor, induce immunogenic death of tumor cells with chemotherapy, enhance infiltration of CD8⁺ T cells into the tumor-draining lymph nodes and tumors of immunosenescent mice, and achieve SA-mediated photochemotherapy. We found that CD8⁺ T cell and neutrophil levels in 16-month-old mice were significantly lower than those in 2- and 8-month-old mice; 16-month-old mice exhibited immunosenescence. The anti-tumor efficacy of SA-mediated non-photochemotherapy declined in 16-month-old mice, and tumors recurred after scabbing. SA-mediated photochemotherapy enhanced tumor infiltration by CD8⁺ T cells and neutrophils, induced crusting and regression of tumors in 8-month-old mice, inhibited metastasis and recurrence of tumors and eliminated the immunosenescence-induced decline in antitumor therapeutic efficacy in 16-month-old mice via the light-heat-chemical-immunity conversion.

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a complication in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The Chinese Children's Cancer Group-ALL-2015 protocol was carried out in China, and epidemiology, clinical characteristics, and risk factors associated with VTE were analyzed. We collected data on VTE in a multi-institutional clinical study of 7640 patients with ALL diagnosed in 20 hospitals from January 2015 to December 2019. First, VTE occurred in 159 (2.08%) patients, including 90 (56.6%) during induction therapy and 108 (67.92%) in the upper extremities. T-ALL had a 1.74-fold increased risk of VTE (95% CI 1.08-2.8, P = 0.022). Septicemia, as an adverse event of ALL treatment, can significantly promote the occurrence of VTE (P < 0.001). Catheter-related thrombosis (CRT) accounted for 75.47% (n = 120); and, symptomatic VTE, 58.49% (n = 93), which was more common in patients aged 12-18 years (P = 0.023), non-CRT patients (P < 0.001), or patients with cerebral thrombosis (P < 0.001). Of the patients with VTE treated with anticoagulation therapy (n = 147), 4.08% (n = 6) had bleeding. The VTE recurrence rate was 5.03% (n = 8). Patients with VTE treated by non-ultrasound-guided venous cannulation (P = 0.02), with residual thrombus (P = 0.006), or with short anticoagulation period (P = 0.026) had high recurrence rates. Thus, preventing repeated venous puncture and appropriately prolonged anticoagulation time can reduce the risk of VTE recurrence.
Humans ; Child ; Venous Thromboembolism/etiology* ; East Asian People ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma/epidemiology* ; Risk Factors ; Thrombosis/chemically induced* ; China/epidemiology* ; Anticoagulants/adverse effects* ; Recurrence

Objective:This paper is to propose a calibration model based on sine function which enables more choices to determine the functional relationship between the absorbance and the concentration of the tested substance.Methods:This paper uses Taylor series expansion and Levenberg-Marquardt to obtain the optimal parameters for the Sine model and then summarizes the characters of the Sine model. On the basis of these characters, this paper compares and evaluates the experimental data processed by the Sine model from four aspects: correctness, precision, linearity and correlation.Results:The generated sine function calibration model achieved deviations within ±3% of the national standard substance, precision ( CV%) less than 2%, and a linear correlation coefficient greater than 0.990 within the measurement range of 32-710 mg/L. The correlation coefficients between the sine model and other well-performing linear calibration models for 104 clinical samples were all greater than 0.990. Conclusions:The performance evaluation of the prealbumin assay kit using the sine function calibration model meets industry standards and shows good correlation with the results of clinical sample measurements. This indicates that the sine function calibration model can serve as a new calibration model for in vitro diagnostic research and clinical applications.

Objective:To investigate the relationship between the level of Apelin-13 and coronary artery lesion (CAL) in patients with Kawasaki disease (KD), and assess the predictive value of Apelin-13 for CAL in acute phase of KD.Methods:A total of 240 children with KD treated in Chengdu Women and Children′s Central Hospital from September 2017 to October 2019 were recruited, and were divided into KD with CAL (KD-CAL) group and KD without CAL (KD-NCAL) group.Thirty children with acute upper respiratory infection and 30 healthy children were recruited into the febrile control group and the healthy control group, respectively.Blood routine and serum levels of albumin, C-reactive protein (CRP), N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and Apelin-13 were mea-sured in KD children prior to intravenous gamma globulin injection and after the diagnosis of children in the febrile control group and physical examination of children in the healthy control group.The clinical data of children in each group were compared, and the risk factors of KD complicated with CAL and the predictive value of Apelin-13 were determined by using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and multiple Logistic regression analysis. Results:Apelin-13 and hemoglobin in children with KD were significantly decreased compared with those in the healthy control group and fever control group (all P<0.001). However, white blood cell(WBC) count, platelet count, CRP and NT-proBNP in KD group were significantly increased compared with those in the healthy control group and fever control group (all P<0.001). Serum albumin in KD children was significantly lower than that in the healthy control group ( P=0.004), and there was no difference when compared with the fever control group ( P=0.485). Apelin-13 and hemoglobin were significantly decreased in KD-CAL group compared with KD-NCAL group ( t=10.102, P<0.001; t=2.034, P=0.043), while NT-proBNP and CRP were significantly increased ( t=5.982, 3.728, all P<0.001). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that Apelin-13 and NT-proBNP were independent predictors of CAL in KD.The ROC curve analysis showed that the cut-off value of Apelin-13 for predicting CAL was 2.99 μg/L, with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.869 (95% CI: 0.820-0.909), sensitivity of 77.78% and specificity of 88.67%.While NT-proBNP cutoff value of 822 ng/L yielded sensitivity of 57.78% and specificity of 84.62% for predicting CAL with an AUC of 0.718(95% CI: 0.656-0.774). Conclusions:Apelin-13 plays a protective role in KD complicated with CAL, and could be used to predict CAL in the acute phase of KD.

Objective:To analyze the influencing factors of quality of life in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) , especially the effect of disease acceptance on quality of life.Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted to select 244 IBD patients diagnosed in the First Affiliated Hospital of Air Force Medical University from January to October 2020 by convenience sampling. The general information questionnaire, Chinese version of illness acceptance scale (AIS-CHI) and inflammatory bowel disease quality of life (IBDQ) were used to collect the data of patients. Univariate analysis was used to compare the differences of quality of life in IBD patients with different characteristics. Factors with statistical significance in univariate analysis were included in multiple linear regression analysis to determine the independent influencing factors. Pearson correlation was used to analyze the correlation between quality of life and disease acceptance in IBD patients.Results:The quality of life score of IBD patients was (173.71 ± 33.52) points, which was at a low level. The disease acceptance score was (22.32 ± 7.34) points, which was at a moderate and low level. Univariate analysis showed that there were significant differences in quality of life score between the patients with different education levels, personalities, monthly incomes, acceptances of disease and disease activities (all P<0.05) . Multiple linear regression analysis showed that disease acceptance and disease activity were independent influencing factors of quality of life. Disease acceptance was positively correlated with the quality of life ( b = 2.625, t = 10.477, P<0.001) , and disease activity was negatively correlated with the quality of life ( b = -5.559, t = -2.645, P = 0.009) . Pearson correlation analysis showed that acceptance of disease was positively correlated with quality of life ( r = 0.293, P<0.001) , and acceptance of disease was positively correlated with many dimensions of quality of life including intestinal function, systemic symptoms, emotional function and social function (all P<0.05) . Conclusions:Disease activity and disease acceptance can independently affect the quality of life of patients with IBD. The higher the disease acceptance, the lower the disease activity, and the higher the quality of life of patients.

Objective:To analyze the influencing factors of quality of life in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) , especially the effect of disease acceptance on quality of life.Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted to select 244 IBD patients diagnosed in the First Affiliated Hospital of Air Force Medical University from January to October 2020 by convenience sampling. The general information questionnaire, Chinese version of illness acceptance scale (AIS-CHI) and inflammatory bowel disease quality of life (IBDQ) were used to collect the data of patients. Univariate analysis was used to compare the differences of quality of life in IBD patients with different characteristics. Factors with statistical significance in univariate analysis were included in multiple linear regression analysis to determine the independent influencing factors. Pearson correlation was used to analyze the correlation between quality of life and disease acceptance in IBD patients.Results:The quality of life score of IBD patients was (173.71 ± 33.52) points, which was at a low level. The disease acceptance score was (22.32 ± 7.34) points, which was at a moderate and low level. Univariate analysis showed that there were significant differences in quality of life score between the patients with different education levels, personalities, monthly incomes, acceptances of disease and disease activities (all P<0.05) . Multiple linear regression analysis showed that disease acceptance and disease activity were independent influencing factors of quality of life. Disease acceptance was positively correlated with the quality of life ( b = 2.625, t = 10.477, P<0.001) , and disease activity was negatively correlated with the quality of life ( b = -5.559, t = -2.645, P = 0.009) . Pearson correlation analysis showed that acceptance of disease was positively correlated with quality of life ( r = 0.293, P<0.001) , and acceptance of disease was positively correlated with many dimensions of quality of life including intestinal function, systemic symptoms, emotional function and social function (all P<0.05) . Conclusions:Disease activity and disease acceptance can independently affect the quality of life of patients with IBD. The higher the disease acceptance, the lower the disease activity, and the higher the quality of life of patients.

Objective:To investigate the relationship of heart rate variability (HRV), heart rate deceleration capacity (DC) and intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG)-resistant Kawasaki disease (KD) in children with the acute stage of KD.Methods:A total of 679 patients with KD in Chengdu Women and Children′s Central Hospital from August 2015 to May 2019 were selected.In healthy control group, 150 children obtained physical examination at the same time.Prospective cohort study was applied to analyze the data.According to the effect of initial IVIG treatment within 14 days, patients were divided into IVIG-sensitive group and IVIG-resistant group.General clinic information, HRV, DC, blood routine, liver function, cardiac troponin I (cTnI), N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), high sensitivity C-reactive protein(hs-CRP) and erythrocytesedimentation rate (ESR) before initial IVIG treatment of the 2 groups were compared.Multivariate Logistic regression was applied to analyze the risk factors of IVIG-resistant KD. Results:Among 679 KD patients, 3 cases were lost, among the rest 676 cases, 586 cases were in IVIG-sensitive group, and 90 cases were in IVIG-resistant group.The HRV and DC indexes of IVIG-sensitive group and IVIG-resistant group were lower than those of the healthy control group, and the differences among the 3 groups were statistically significant (all P<0.05). Meanwhile, standard deviation of N-N intervals (SDNN) [(65.84±38.22) ms vs.(82.56±21.41) ms, P=0.004], and low frequency (LF)[ (192.59±114.10) ms 2vs. (258.18±162.75) ms 2, P=0.048] of IVIG-resistant group were lower than those of IVIG-sensitive group.White blood cell (WBC), platelets(PLT), hs-CRP, ESR, alanine aminotransferase(ALT), cTnI and NT proBNP in IVIG sensitive group and IVIG-resistant group were all higher than those in the healthy control group (all P<0.05). Further more, ESR[(90.32±37.91) mm/1 h vs. (65.81±25.34) mm/1 h, P=0.019], cTnI [(0.83±0.35) μg/L vs. (0.52±0.18) μg/L, P=0.037] and NT-proBNP [(854.64±293.02) ng/L vs. (584.95±177.11) ng/L, P=0.011] in IVIG-resistant group were higher than those of IVIG-sensitive group.Multivariate Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that SDNN ( OR=0.783, 95% CI: 0.0341-0.979, P=0.021), and NT-proBNP ( OR=1.195, 95% CI: 1.061-1.428, P=0.34) were independent risk factors for predicting IVIG-resistant KD. Conclusions:SDNN and NT-proBNP may be independent predictors of IVIG-resistant KD.