OBJECTIVES: To explore the value of serum cystatin C (CysC) levels in evaluating renal prognosis in IgA nephropathy (IgAN) patients. METHODS: We retrospectively collected the clinical data of IgAN patients diagnosed by renal biopsy at Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital from January, 2014 to December, 2018. Based on baseline serum CysC levels, the patients were divided into high serum CysC (>1.03 mg/L) group and normal serum CysC (≤1.03 mg/L) group. The composite endpoint for poor renal prognosis was defined as ≥50% decline in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and/or progression to end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Lasso regression, multivariate Cox regression and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis were used to identify the risk factors and compare renal survival rates between the two groups. Smooth curves fitting and threshold effect analysis were used to explore the relationship between serum CysC levels and the outcomes. A nomogram model was constructed and its predictive performance was evaluated using concordance index, calibration curve, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and the area under curve (AUC). RESULTS: A total of 356 IgAN patients were enrolled, who were followed up for 4.65±0.93 years. The composite endpoint occurred in 74 patients. High serum CysC was identified as an independent risk factor for poor renal prognosis in IgAN (HR=2.142, 95% CI 1.222 to 3.755), and the patients with high serum CysC levels had a lower renal survival rate (Log-rank χ²=47.970, P<0.001). In patients with serum CysC below 2.12 mg/L, a higher CysC level was associated with an increased risk of poor renal prognosis (β=3.487, 95% CI: 2.561-4.413, P<0.001), while above this level, the increase of the risk was not significant (β=0.676, 95% CI: -0.642-1.995, P=0.315). The nomogram model based on serum CysC and 3 other independent risk factors demonstrated good internal validity with a concordance index of 0.873 (95% CI: 0.839-0.907) and an AUC of 0.909 (95% CI: 0.873-0.945). CONCLUSIONS Serum CysC levels are associated with renal prognosis in IgAN patients, and high serum CysC an independent risk factor for poor renal prognosis.
Humans ; Glomerulonephritis, IGA/diagnosis* ; Cystatin C/blood* ; Prognosis ; Risk Factors ; Retrospective Studies ; Glomerular Filtration Rate ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Male ; Female ; Adult ; Nomograms ; Middle Aged

Objective:Acute kidney injury(AKI) is a common complication after cardiac surgery, and associated with increased risk of development of chronic kidney disease and mortality in the long term. Neutrophil percentage-to-albumin ratio(NPAR) is a new inflammatory marker that has been used to predict the poor prognosis of patients with cardiovascular disease or shock. However, the relationship between NPAR and AKI in patients with cardiac surgery has not been established. The aim was to evaluate the relationship between NPAR and AKI after cardiac surgery.Methods:Data of all adult patients underwent cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2018 were extracted from electronic medical record system of the Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital and retrospectively analyzed. The outcome of interest was AKI diagnosed by using the criteria of Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes. Logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between NPAR and postoperative AKI while adjust for potential confounders. In addition, restricted cubic spline(RCS) was utilized to provide a flexible description of the association of the preoperative NPAR and AKI. Results:Totally, 24 178 patients were analyzed. The incidence of AKI was 30.1%. Compared with patients without AKI, those with AKI were older and had higher rates of males, left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF) less than or equal to 0.60, estimated glomerular filtration rate less than 90 ml·min -1·1.73 m -2, hypertension, diabetes, emergency surgery, preoperative critical illness, and reoperation. The baseline serum creatinine, serum uric acid, cardiopulmonary bypass time and postoperative mechanical ventilation time were higher or longer in AKI patients than those in none AKI patients. Then, patients were divided into four groups based on NPAR quartiles. After adjusting for confounding factors using logisitc regression, compared with patients with NPAR in group 3(1.551.97), respectively. The RCS showed a U-shaped nonlinear relationship( P for nonlinear less than 0.001) between NPAR and AKI after adjusting for potential confounding factors. RCS indicated the NPAR of 1.77 was the lowest risk for AKI. When NPAR less than 1.77, per 1-standard deviation(SD) increase in NPAR, the risk of AKI decreased by 23.2%( OR=0.768, 95% CI: 0.687, 0.859). Conversely, when NPAR above 1.77, per one SD increase in NPAR, the risk of AKI increased by 25.9%( OR=1.259, 95% CI: 1.166, 1.36). Conclusion:A U-shaped relationship between NPAR and AKI after cardiac surgery was shown. The appropriate value for NPAR might be 1.77. The risk of AKI might be increased, when less or above this value. NPAR might be used as an effective and economical tool to identify AKI risk among individuals with cardiac surgery, as well as to formulate individualized prevention and intervention strategy.

Objective:To investigate the early clinical outcomes of anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) in the treatment of two-segment cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) using a cervical soft endoscopic minimally invasive system.Methods:A retrospective follow-up study was conducted on the medical records of 23 patients with two-segment cervical myelopathy who underwent ACDF using a soft endoscopic cervical spine minimally invasive system at the Third Affiliated Hospital of Southern Medical University between October 2022 and December 2023. The cohort included 15 males and 8 females, aged 37-79 years (58.52±11.77 years). The affected cervical segments included: C 3, 4 and C 4, 5 in 2 cases; C 3, 4 and C 5, 6 in 3 cases; C 4, 5 and C 5, 6 in 10 cases; C 5, 6 and C 6, 7 in 7 cases; and C 4, 5 and C 6, 7 in 1 case. Clinical outcomes were evaluated based on the Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) scores and visual analog scale (VAS) for neck and shoulder pain, assessed preoperatively and at 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months postoperatively. Additional data recorded included incision length, intraoperative blood loss, operative time, postoperative complications, and the presence of prevertebral soft tissue edema. The improvement rate of JOA scores at the final follow-up was also calculated. Results:All patients successfully underwent surgery and completed follow-up, with follow-up durations ranging from 3 to 6 months (4.01±0.98 months). The mean operative time was 80.09±22.66 min (range: 53-127 min), and the mean incision length was 3.25±0.32 cm (range: 3-4 cm). Estimated blood loss ranged from 10 to 100 ml, with a mean of 34.78±24.1 ml. Postoperative drainage ranged from 0 to 80 ml (mean: 23.13±26.1 ml), and postoperative hospitalization durations ranged from 4 to 12 days (6.83±2.59 days). JOA scores improved significantly from a preoperative median of 9.00(8.00, 10.00) to 12.00(11.00, 14.00) at 1 week, 13.00(12.00, 14.00) at 1 month, and 15.00(15.00, 16.00) at 3 months postoperatively (χ 2=220.492, P<0.001). VAS scores for neck and shoulder pain also improved significantly from a preoperative median of 5.00(4.00, 6.00) to 3.00(2.00, 3.00) at 1 week, 2.00(2.00, 3.00) at 1 month, and 2.00(1.00, 2.00) at 3 months postoperatively (χ 2=170.869, P<0.001). No postoperative complications such as dysphagia, hoarseness, nerve injury, cerebrospinal fluid leakage, or intraspinal hematoma were observed. Imaging revealed no significant prevertebral soft tissue edema. At the final follow-up, the improvement rate of JOA scores resulted in 14 cases rated as excellent and 9 as good. Conclusions:ACDF using a cervical soft endoscopic minimally invasive system demonstrates satisfactory clinical outcomes for the treatment of two-segment CSM. This technique reduces the incidence of common complications associated with both open and traditional endoscopic surgeries.

Gastric ulcer(GU)is one of the common,frequently-occurring and intractable diseases of the digestive system.Spleen-stomach deficiency cold type is the most common and hard-to-cure syndrome pattern of GU,and is both a focus and a challenge in medical research.Therefore,constructing a scientific,reasonable,and clinically practical animal model of GU with spleen-stomach deficiency cold type and formulating objective and effective evaluation criteria are of great significance for in-depth research on the pathogenesis and treatment of GU.In this paper,the methods for constructing GU animal models of spleen-stomach deficiency cold type are comprehensively introduced by systematically reviewing the relevant literature.Firstly,the construction methods of pathological models of GU in Western medicine are introduced,including pyloric ligation method,water immersion-restraint stress method,ethanol-induced method,acetic acid-induced method,etc.This paper expounds the establishment methods for spleen-stomach deficiency cold syndrome type model in traditional Chinese medicine(TCM),including diet disorder method,bitter cold diarrhea method,excessive fatigue method,Qi consumption and Qi impairment method,and overeating sour-flavor method.This paper focuses on the construction methods for disease-syndrome combination GU models of spleen-stomach deficiency cold type,including two-factor modeling method and three-factor modeling method.Meanwhile,the evaluation indices of GU animal models of spleen-stomach deficiency cold type were summarized from various aspects,including animal physical signs(appearance symptoms,animal behavior,and metabolic indices),as well as tissue morphology and molecular biology-related indicators(gastric function,oxidative stress,inflammatory factors,other cytokines,four coagulation parameters,intestinal flora detection),for constructing a comprehensive evaluation system.From the perspective of prescription-based verification,this paper further analyzes the drug composition and pharmacological effects to infer the syndrome type of the treated animal model,so as to verify whether the target animal model is successfully constructed.This review aims to provide a valuable reference for establishing a syndrome-specific GU animal model that closely aligns with clinical reality and embodies the principles of Chinese medicine.This will further advance research on TCM-pattern GU syndromes and deepen the exploration of herbal medicine-based treatments for GU,ultimately promoting the clinical integration and advancement of Chinese medicine in GU therapy.

Objective:To investigate the early clinical outcomes of anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) in the treatment of two-segment cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) using a cervical soft endoscopic minimally invasive system.Methods:A retrospective follow-up study was conducted on the medical records of 23 patients with two-segment cervical myelopathy who underwent ACDF using a soft endoscopic cervical spine minimally invasive system at the Third Affiliated Hospital of Southern Medical University between October 2022 and December 2023. The cohort included 15 males and 8 females, aged 37-79 years (58.52±11.77 years). The affected cervical segments included: C 3, 4 and C 4, 5 in 2 cases; C 3, 4 and C 5, 6 in 3 cases; C 4, 5 and C 5, 6 in 10 cases; C 5, 6 and C 6, 7 in 7 cases; and C 4, 5 and C 6, 7 in 1 case. Clinical outcomes were evaluated based on the Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) scores and visual analog scale (VAS) for neck and shoulder pain, assessed preoperatively and at 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months postoperatively. Additional data recorded included incision length, intraoperative blood loss, operative time, postoperative complications, and the presence of prevertebral soft tissue edema. The improvement rate of JOA scores at the final follow-up was also calculated. Results:All patients successfully underwent surgery and completed follow-up, with follow-up durations ranging from 3 to 6 months (4.01±0.98 months). The mean operative time was 80.09±22.66 min (range: 53-127 min), and the mean incision length was 3.25±0.32 cm (range: 3-4 cm). Estimated blood loss ranged from 10 to 100 ml, with a mean of 34.78±24.1 ml. Postoperative drainage ranged from 0 to 80 ml (mean: 23.13±26.1 ml), and postoperative hospitalization durations ranged from 4 to 12 days (6.83±2.59 days). JOA scores improved significantly from a preoperative median of 9.00(8.00, 10.00) to 12.00(11.00, 14.00) at 1 week, 13.00(12.00, 14.00) at 1 month, and 15.00(15.00, 16.00) at 3 months postoperatively (χ 2=220.492, P<0.001). VAS scores for neck and shoulder pain also improved significantly from a preoperative median of 5.00(4.00, 6.00) to 3.00(2.00, 3.00) at 1 week, 2.00(2.00, 3.00) at 1 month, and 2.00(1.00, 2.00) at 3 months postoperatively (χ 2=170.869, P<0.001). No postoperative complications such as dysphagia, hoarseness, nerve injury, cerebrospinal fluid leakage, or intraspinal hematoma were observed. Imaging revealed no significant prevertebral soft tissue edema. At the final follow-up, the improvement rate of JOA scores resulted in 14 cases rated as excellent and 9 as good. Conclusions:ACDF using a cervical soft endoscopic minimally invasive system demonstrates satisfactory clinical outcomes for the treatment of two-segment CSM. This technique reduces the incidence of common complications associated with both open and traditional endoscopic surgeries.

Gastric ulcer(GU)is one of the common,frequently-occurring and intractable diseases of the digestive system.Spleen-stomach deficiency cold type is the most common and hard-to-cure syndrome pattern of GU,and is both a focus and a challenge in medical research.Therefore,constructing a scientific,reasonable,and clinically practical animal model of GU with spleen-stomach deficiency cold type and formulating objective and effective evaluation criteria are of great significance for in-depth research on the pathogenesis and treatment of GU.In this paper,the methods for constructing GU animal models of spleen-stomach deficiency cold type are comprehensively introduced by systematically reviewing the relevant literature.Firstly,the construction methods of pathological models of GU in Western medicine are introduced,including pyloric ligation method,water immersion-restraint stress method,ethanol-induced method,acetic acid-induced method,etc.This paper expounds the establishment methods for spleen-stomach deficiency cold syndrome type model in traditional Chinese medicine(TCM),including diet disorder method,bitter cold diarrhea method,excessive fatigue method,Qi consumption and Qi impairment method,and overeating sour-flavor method.This paper focuses on the construction methods for disease-syndrome combination GU models of spleen-stomach deficiency cold type,including two-factor modeling method and three-factor modeling method.Meanwhile,the evaluation indices of GU animal models of spleen-stomach deficiency cold type were summarized from various aspects,including animal physical signs(appearance symptoms,animal behavior,and metabolic indices),as well as tissue morphology and molecular biology-related indicators(gastric function,oxidative stress,inflammatory factors,other cytokines,four coagulation parameters,intestinal flora detection),for constructing a comprehensive evaluation system.From the perspective of prescription-based verification,this paper further analyzes the drug composition and pharmacological effects to infer the syndrome type of the treated animal model,so as to verify whether the target animal model is successfully constructed.This review aims to provide a valuable reference for establishing a syndrome-specific GU animal model that closely aligns with clinical reality and embodies the principles of Chinese medicine.This will further advance research on TCM-pattern GU syndromes and deepen the exploration of herbal medicine-based treatments for GU,ultimately promoting the clinical integration and advancement of Chinese medicine in GU therapy.

Objective:Acute kidney injury(AKI) is a common complication after cardiac surgery, and associated with increased risk of development of chronic kidney disease and mortality in the long term. Neutrophil percentage-to-albumin ratio(NPAR) is a new inflammatory marker that has been used to predict the poor prognosis of patients with cardiovascular disease or shock. However, the relationship between NPAR and AKI in patients with cardiac surgery has not been established. The aim was to evaluate the relationship between NPAR and AKI after cardiac surgery.Methods:Data of all adult patients underwent cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2018 were extracted from electronic medical record system of the Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital and retrospectively analyzed. The outcome of interest was AKI diagnosed by using the criteria of Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes. Logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between NPAR and postoperative AKI while adjust for potential confounders. In addition, restricted cubic spline(RCS) was utilized to provide a flexible description of the association of the preoperative NPAR and AKI. Results:Totally, 24 178 patients were analyzed. The incidence of AKI was 30.1%. Compared with patients without AKI, those with AKI were older and had higher rates of males, left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF) less than or equal to 0.60, estimated glomerular filtration rate less than 90 ml·min -1·1.73 m -2, hypertension, diabetes, emergency surgery, preoperative critical illness, and reoperation. The baseline serum creatinine, serum uric acid, cardiopulmonary bypass time and postoperative mechanical ventilation time were higher or longer in AKI patients than those in none AKI patients. Then, patients were divided into four groups based on NPAR quartiles. After adjusting for confounding factors using logisitc regression, compared with patients with NPAR in group 3(1.551.97), respectively. The RCS showed a U-shaped nonlinear relationship( P for nonlinear less than 0.001) between NPAR and AKI after adjusting for potential confounding factors. RCS indicated the NPAR of 1.77 was the lowest risk for AKI. When NPAR less than 1.77, per 1-standard deviation(SD) increase in NPAR, the risk of AKI decreased by 23.2%( OR=0.768, 95% CI: 0.687, 0.859). Conversely, when NPAR above 1.77, per one SD increase in NPAR, the risk of AKI increased by 25.9%( OR=1.259, 95% CI: 1.166, 1.36). Conclusion:A U-shaped relationship between NPAR and AKI after cardiac surgery was shown. The appropriate value for NPAR might be 1.77. The risk of AKI might be increased, when less or above this value. NPAR might be used as an effective and economical tool to identify AKI risk among individuals with cardiac surgery, as well as to formulate individualized prevention and intervention strategy.

To standardize clinical treatment decisions and improve the comprehensive diagnosis and treatment of bipolar disorder in China, the Psychiatric Branch of the Chinese Medical Association initiated the Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Bipolar disorder in China (2025 edition). This protocol summary describes the background and purpose of the guideline, the formulation method, working group members, division of responsibilities, guideline registration, conflicts of interest, collection and selection of clinical issues, the evidence-based foundation of the guideline, writing and external review, as well as publishing, dissemination, and other aspects.

To standardize clinical treatment decisions and improve the comprehensive diagnosis and treatment of bipolar disorder in China, the Psychiatric Branch of the Chinese Medical Association initiated the Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Bipolar disorder in China (2025 edition). This protocol summary describes the background and purpose of the guideline, the formulation method, working group members, division of responsibilities, guideline registration, conflicts of interest, collection and selection of clinical issues, the evidence-based foundation of the guideline, writing and external review, as well as publishing, dissemination, and other aspects.

Objective: To investigate the risk factors of postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients aged between 40 and 50 years old undergoing cardiac valvular surgery and the impact on outcome. Methods: The clinical data of 286 patients aged between 40 and 50 years old undergoing cardiac valve surgery in Guangdong Provincial People′s Hospital from January 2012 to December 2016 were analyzed retrospectively. Preoperative coronary angiography was performed in all patients. All patients enrolled were divided into AKI group and non-AKI group according to the existence or not of postoperative AKI. Patients with AKI were further divided into AKI stage 1, stage 2, and stage 3 groups according to KDIGO guideline. Demographic characteristics, preoperative clinical data including serum creatinine, estimated glomerular filtration rate, hemoglobin, uric acid, urinary protein, presence or absence of chronic kidney disease, left ventricular ejection fraction, pulmonary artery pressure, New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional classification, preoperative co-morbidity (hypertension, diabetes, anemia, cerebrovascular disease, peripheral artery disease), preoperative medication(vasoactive drugs, diuretic, renin-angiotensin system inhibitor (RASI), surgical data (contrast dosage in coronary angiography, type of cardiac valve surgery) were recorded and analyzed in this retrospective study. The risk factors for postoperative AKI and its impact on clinical outcomes (mortality, hospitalization expenses and Intensive Care Unit stay duration) were evaluated. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the risk factors for postoperative AKI and the adjusted variables with P<0.2 were selected for the multivariate logistic regression analysis to define the independent determinants for AKI. Results: AKI was defined in 106 out of 286 enrolled patients, including 96 patients with AKI stage 1, 10 patients with AKI stage 2 and no patients with AKI stage 3. The proportion of coexisting cerebrovascular diseases was higher in AKI group than in non-AKI group (9(8.49%) and 5(2.78%), χ²=4.677, P=0.031), while there was no difference among other baseline data between the two groups. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that preoperative complications of cerebral vascular disease was an independent risk factor of postoperative AKI (OR=3.578, 95%CI 1.139-11.242, P=0.029). Five out of 106 AKI patients died during hospitalization while there was only 1 patient died among 180 patients without AKI. Patients with AKI after cardiac valve operation experienced higher mortality than patients without AKI (χ²=5.625, P=0.028). Further analysis showed that there was no difference in hospitalization mortality between patients with AKI stage 2 and stage (χ²=0.686, P=0.408) while the hospitalization mortality in patients with AKI stage 2 was higher than those without AKI (χ²=8.113, P=0.004). The hospitalization expenses in patients with AKI were 10.38(8.59,12.54) ×10⁴ RMB, significantly higher than that in patients without AKI (9.72(8.03,11.93) ×10⁴ RMB)(P=0.043). There was no difference in hospitalization expenses between patients with AKI stage 1 and without AKI (P=0.635). The hospitalization expenses in patients with AKI stage 2 was higher than those without AKI (P=0.023). Intensive Care Unit stay duration in patients with AKI was 3(1,4) days, significantly higher than those without AKI (P=0.044). There was no difference in Intensive Care Unit stay duration in patients with AKI stage 1 and without AKI (P=0.978), while Intensive Care Unit stay duration in patients with AKI stage 2 was significantly longer than those without AKI (P=0.006). Conclusions Preoperative complications of cerebral vascular disease is an independent risk factor of postoperative AKI. Non-senile patients with AKI after cardiac valvular surgery is associated with a higher proportion of mortality, hospitalization expenses and Intensive Care Unit stay duration as compared patients without postoperative AKI.