Objective To investigate the protective effect and underlying mechanism of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes (hucMSC-Exo) on renal ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI). Methods hucMSC-Exos were isolated and characterized. A mouse renal IRI model was established and the animals were divided into Sham, IRI, IRI+hucMSC-Exo, IRI+hucMSC-Exo+JY-2 and Sham+JY-2 groups. Serum creatinine (Scr) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) were measured. Hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining was used to evaluate renal histopathology. Enzyme-linked immune absorbent assay was performed to determine serum interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-18 levels. Western blotting was used to detect the expression of activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3), Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), nuclear factor (NF)-κB, NOD-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3), cysteineyl aspartate specific proteinase (Caspase)-1 p20 and Gasdermin D(GSDMD). Real-time fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction was employed to measure ATF3, TLR4 and NF-κB messenger RNA (mRNA). Immunohistochemistry was conducted to examine NLRP3, Caspase-1 p20 and GSDMD. An in vitro hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) model was established in HK-2 cells and divided into Control, H/R, H/R+hucMSC-Exo, H/R+hucMSC-Exo+JY-2 and Control+JY-2 groups. Western blotting was used to detect the expression of ATF3, TLR4 and NF-κB. Real-time fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to measure NLRP3, GSDMD and Caspase-1 mRNA. Results HucMSC-Exos were successfully isolated and identified. Compared with the Sham group, the IRI group exhibited elevated Scr and BUN, higher tubular injury scores, increased protein expression levels of ATF3, TLR4, NF-κB p65, NLRP3, Caspase-1 p20 and GSDMD, and raised mRNA expression levels of ATF3, TLR4, NF-κB. Compared with the IRI group, the IRI+hucMSC-Exo group showed decreased Scr and BUN, lower tubular injury scores, up-regulated ATF3 protein and mRNA, down-regulated TLR4, NF-κB p65, NLRP3, Caspase-1 p20 and GSDMD protein, and declined TLR4 and NF-κB mRNA. Compared with the IRI+hucMSC-Exo group, the IRI+hucMSC-Exo+JY-2 group exhibited increased Scr and BUN levels, elevated renal tubular injury scores, decreased ATF3 protein expression levels, elevated protein expression levels of TLR4, NF-κB p65, NLRP3, Caspase-1 p20, and GSDMD, decreased ATF3 mRNA expression levels, and elevated mRNA expression levels of TLR4 and NF-κB. (all P < 0.05). Compared with the Control group, the expression levels of ATF3, TLR4 and NF-κB p65 proteins were increased in the H/R group, and the expression levels of NLRP3, Caspase-1 and GSDMD mRNA were increased. Compared with the H/R group, the expression level of ATF3 protein was increased, the expression levels of TLR4 and NF-κB p65 proteins were decreased, and the expression levels of NLRP3, Caspase-1 and GSDMD mRNA were decreased in the H/R+hucMSC-Exo group. Compared with the H/R+hucMSC-Exo group, the expression level of ATF3 protein was decreased, the expression levels of TLR4 and NF-κB p65 proteins were increased, and the expression levels of NLRP3, Caspase-1 and GSDMD mRNA were increased in the H/R+hucMSC-Exo+JY-2 group (all P < 0.05). Conclusions HucMSC-Exos alleviate renal IRI by up-regulating ATF3, thereby negatively regulating the TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway and subsequently inhibiting pyroptosis.

BACKGROUND: Renal osteodystrophy (ROD) is a skeletal pathology associated with chronic kidney disease-mineral and bone disorder (CKD-MBD) that is characterized by aberrant bone mineralization and remodeling. ROD increases the risk of fracture and mortality in CKD patients. The underlying mechanisms of ROD remain elusive, partially due to the absence of an appropriate animal model. To address this gap, we established a stable mouse model of ROD using an optimized adenine-enriched diet and conducted exploratory analyses through ribonucleic acid sequencing (RNA-seq). METHODS: Eight-week-old male C57BL/6J mice were randomly allocated into three groups: control group ( n = 5), adenine and high-phosphate (HP) diet group ( n = 20), and the optimized adenine-containing diet group ( n = 20) for 12 weeks. We assessed the skeletal characteristics of model mice through blood biochemistry, microcomputed tomography (micro-CT), and bone histomorphometry. RNA-seq was utilized to profile gene expression changes of ROD. We elucidated the functions of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) using gene ontology (GO) analysis, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis, and gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA). DEGs were validated via quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). RESULTS: By the fifth week, adenine followed by an HP diet induced rapid weight loss and high mortality rates in the mouse group, precluding further model development. Mice with optimized adenine diet-induced ROD displayed significant abnormalities in serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen levels, accompanied by pronounced hyperparathyroidism and hyperphosphatemia. The femur bone mineral density (BMD) of the model mice was lower than that of control mice, with substantial bone loss and cortical porosity. ROD mice exhibited substantial bone turnover with an increase in osteoblast and osteoclast markers. Transcriptomic profiling revealed 1907 genes with upregulated expression and 723 genes with downregulated expression in the femurs of ROD mice relative to those of control mice. Pathway analyses indicated significant enrichment of upregulated genes in the sphingolipid metabolism pathway. The significant upregulation of alkaline ceramidase 1 ( Acer1 ), alkaline ceramidase 2 ( Acer2 ), prosaposin-like 1 ( Psapl1 ), adenosine A1 receptor ( Adora1 ), and sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 5 ( S1pr5 ) were successfully validated in mouse femurs by qRT-PCR. CONCLUSIONS Optimized adenine diet mouse model may be a valuable proxy for studying ROD. RNA-seq analysis revealed that the sphingolipid metabolism pathway is likely a key player in ROD pathogenesis, thereby providing new avenues for therapeutic intervention.
Animals ; Mice ; Chronic Kidney Disease-Mineral and Bone Disorder/genetics* ; Male ; Disease Models, Animal ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Sphingolipids/metabolism* ; Transcriptome/genetics* ; Signal Transduction/genetics* ; X-Ray Microtomography ; Adenine

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.apsb.2022.05.019.].

This paper summarized the clinical experience of Professor LIU Shenlin in diagnosing and treating gastric cancer with the thinking of "prescription according to tendency". In this paper， the thinking of diagnosis and treatment for gastric cancer and medication skills were summarized into four dimensions： power， energy， chronology and situation. The diagnosis emphasizes the tendency of qi power， considering that the onset of gastric cancer primarily stems from the disorder of qi movement in zang-fu organs， and emphasizing the importance of regulating the liver and spleen qi to intercept the tendency of disease. It points out that dampness-phlegm-stasis-toxin is a crucial link leading to the metabolic imbalance of body energy， and Professor LIU adepts at using methods such as breaking up blood and expelling stasis， and clearing heat and resolving toxins to block the pathological chain reaction caused by energy imbalance and to restore the homeostasis of the organism. In the treatment process， according to the characteristics of gastric cancer staging and chronological evolution， we will explore the changes of the exuberance and weakness of healthy qi and pathogenic qi in the context of the chronologic tendency， and adjust the dosage of attacking and tonic medicines in different stages of the disease in order to balance and restore the body. The "situation" is in line with the state of consumptive disease in advanced gastric cancer， Professor LIU skillfully uses large doses of Huangqi （Astragalus mongholicus） with flexible combination of medicinals to replenish deficiencies， invigorate qi， and regulate blood vessels.

ObjectiveTo investigate the impact of acute respiratory infections in children under 12 years old in Pudong New Area， Shanghai from 2019 to 2023. MethodsAcute respiratory infection samples of children under 12 years old from three sentinel hospitals in Pudong New Area， Shanghai from 2019 to 2023 were collected， and 42 respiratory infection pathogens， including influenza virus， adenovirus， parainfluenza virus， respiratory syncytial virus， human enterovirus/rhinovirus， human pulmonary virus， human bokavirus， coronavirus （229E， HKU1， NL63 and OC43）， and novel coronavirus， were detected with microfluidic chips. The situation of acute respiratory infections among outpatient and inpatient children in this area was analyzed for the before the implementation of non pharmacological intervention measures （2019.12‒2020.1）， during the period of non pharmacological intervention measures （2020.2‒2022.12）， and after non pharmacological intervention measures （2023.1‒2023.6）. ResultsFrom 2019 to 2023， a total of 1 770 samples were collected， and 445 pathogens were detected， with a detection rate of 25.14% （445/1 770）. The main pathogens detected during the study period were influenza virus： 8.70% （154/1 770）， respiratory syncytial virus： 4.41% （78/1 770）， human enterovirus/rhinovirus： 2.66% （47/1 770）， human adenovirus： 2.49% （44/1 770）， and parainfluenza virus： 2.20% （39/1 770）. Before the implementation of non pharmacological intervention measures， outpatients were primarily infected with influenza， parainfluenza virus， and respiratory syncytial virus， with detection rates of 8.09%， 4.49%， and 4.04%， respectively； inpatients were mainly infected with influenza， respiratory syncytial virus， and parainfluenza virus， with detection rates of 4.49%， 3.82%， and 3.15%， respectively. During the period of non pharmacological intervention measures， influenza， rhinovirus and respiratory syncytial virus were the main viruses detected in the samples of outpatient children， with detection rates of 4.04%， 3.60%， and 2.47%， respectively； inpatient samples mainly detected respiratory syncytial virus， rhinovirus， and influenza virus， with detection rates of 3.60%， 2.02%， and 1.80%， respectively. After non pharmacological intervention measures， influenza， rhinovirus and respiratory syncytial virus were the main pathogens detected in the outpatients， with detection rates of 9.89%， 2.92% and 2.02%， respectively； influenza， respiratory syncytial virus， and rhinovirus were the main pathogens detected in inpatient children， with detection rates of 6.29%， 1.57%， and 1.35%， respectively. ConclusionThe prevalence of pathogens related to acute respiratory infections in children is influenced by non pharmacological preventive measures.

Objective:To explore the robust relationship between insomnia and type 2 diabetes mellitus by two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis to overcome confounding factors and reverse causality in observational studies.Methods:We identified strong,independent single nucleotide polymorphisms(SNPs)of insomnia from the most up to date genome wide association studies(GWAS)within European ancestors and applied them as instrumental variable to GWAS of type 2 diabetes mellitus.After excluding SNPs that were significantly associated with smoking,physical activity,alcohol consumption,educational attainment,obesity,or type 2 diabetes mellitus,we assessed the impact of insomnia on type 2 diabetes mellitus using inverse variance weighting(IVW)method.Weighted median and MR-Egger regression analysis were also conducted to test the robustness of the association.We calculated the F statistic of the selected SNPs to test the applicability of instrumental variable and F statistic over than ten indicated that there was little possibility of bias of weak instrumental variables.We further examined the existence of pleiotropy by testing whether the intercept term in MR-Egger regression was significantly different from ze-ro.In addition,the leave-one-out method was used for sensitivity analysis to verify the stability and relia-bility of the results.Results:We selected 248 SNPs independently associated with insomnia at the genome-wide level(P＜5 ×10-8)as a preliminary candidate set of instrumental variables.After clum-ping based on the reference panel from 1000 Genome Project and removing the potential pleiotropic SNPs,a total of 167 SNPs associated with insomnia were included as final instrumental variables.The F statistic of this study was 39.74,which was in line with the relevance assumption of Mendelian randomi-zation.IVW method showed insomnia was associated with higher risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus that po-pulation with insomnia were 1.14 times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes mellitus than those without insomnia(95％CI:1.09-1.21,P＜0.001).The weighted median estimator(WME)method and MR-Egger regression showed similar causal effect of insomnia on type 2 diabetes mellitus.And MR-Egger re-gression also showed that the effect was less likely to be triggered by pleiotropy.Sensitivity analyses pro-duced directionally similar estimates.Conclusion:Insomnia is a risk factor of type 2 diabetes mellitus,which has positively effects on type 2 diabetes mellitus.Our study provides further rationale for indivi-duals at risk for diabetes to keep healthy lifestyle.

Purpose: Vaccinia virus is widely used as an oncolytic agent for human cancer therapy, and several versions of vaccinia virus have demonstrated robust antitumor effects in breast cancer. Most vaccinia viruses are modified by thymidine kinase (TK) deletion. The function of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21 in breast cancer remains controversial. We explored the impact of p21 gene knockdown (KD) on breast cancer cells and whether p21 KD interferes with the antitumor effect of TK-negative vaccinia virus. Methods: p21 KD MDA-MB-231 and p21 KD MCF-7 cells were prepared, and cell proliferation and migration rates were evaluated using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and scratch healing assays. The tumor growth of xenografts originating from p21KD MDA-MB-231 cells and control cells was compared in a mouse model. The colony formation and sphere-forming abilities of p21 KD breast cancer cells were also determined using low-melting agarose and serum-free culture. The tumorkilling effect of the vaccinia virus was determined in breast cancer cells and mouse models using an MTT assay and tumor cell xenografts. Results: p21 KD increased the growth and migration of MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells and promoted the cell growth of MDA-MB-231 cells in mice, while decreasing the colony formation and sphere formation abilities. Expression of TK was reduced in p21 KD MDAMB-231 cells. Oncolytic effects of both wild-type and TK-deleted vaccinia viruses were attenuated in p21KD MDA-MB-231 cells. The tumor-killing effect of TK-deleted vaccinia virus was also weakened in xenografted mice bearing p21 KD MDA-MB-231 cells. Conclusion Targeted inhibition of p21 accelerates the proliferation and migration of breast cancer cells and impairs the tumor-killing effect of vaccinia virus, suggesting that p21 levels in cancer cells interfere with vaccinia virus oncolytic therapy.

Purpose: Vaccinia virus is widely used as an oncolytic agent for human cancer therapy, and several versions of vaccinia virus have demonstrated robust antitumor effects in breast cancer. Most vaccinia viruses are modified by thymidine kinase (TK) deletion. The function of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21 in breast cancer remains controversial. We explored the impact of p21 gene knockdown (KD) on breast cancer cells and whether p21 KD interferes with the antitumor effect of TK-negative vaccinia virus. Methods: p21 KD MDA-MB-231 and p21 KD MCF-7 cells were prepared, and cell proliferation and migration rates were evaluated using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and scratch healing assays. The tumor growth of xenografts originating from p21KD MDA-MB-231 cells and control cells was compared in a mouse model. The colony formation and sphere-forming abilities of p21 KD breast cancer cells were also determined using low-melting agarose and serum-free culture. The tumorkilling effect of the vaccinia virus was determined in breast cancer cells and mouse models using an MTT assay and tumor cell xenografts. Results: p21 KD increased the growth and migration of MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells and promoted the cell growth of MDA-MB-231 cells in mice, while decreasing the colony formation and sphere formation abilities. Expression of TK was reduced in p21 KD MDAMB-231 cells. Oncolytic effects of both wild-type and TK-deleted vaccinia viruses were attenuated in p21KD MDA-MB-231 cells. The tumor-killing effect of TK-deleted vaccinia virus was also weakened in xenografted mice bearing p21 KD MDA-MB-231 cells. Conclusion Targeted inhibition of p21 accelerates the proliferation and migration of breast cancer cells and impairs the tumor-killing effect of vaccinia virus, suggesting that p21 levels in cancer cells interfere with vaccinia virus oncolytic therapy.

Objective:To identify the risk factors, and develop and validate a risk prediction model for abnormal bone mass in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients.Methods:It was a retrospective cross-sectional study. The clinical and laboratory data of ESRD patients who were hospitalized in the Department of Nephrology, Zhongda Hospital Affiliated to Southeast University from January 2022 to May 2023 were collected retrospectively. The patients were randomly divided into training and validation cohorts at a ratio of 7∶3. They were further divided into normal and abnormal bone mass groups according to the T value measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Then, backward stepwise regression and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) were respectively used to develop the risk prediction model for abnormal bone mass in ESRD patients. Akaike information criterion (AIC), bayesian information criterion (BIC), and accuracy were used to evaluate the performance of these two models, after which the preferable model was selected. Moreover, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, calibration curve, Hosmer-Lemeshow test, and decision curve analyses (DCA) were applied to evaluate the diagnostic performance of the preferable model. Finally, a dynamic nomogram for individual assessment was constructed based on the preferable model.Results:A total of 254 ESRD patients were enrolled, including 160 (63.0%) males, 161 (63.4%) hemodialysis patients, and 202 (79.5%) patients with abnormal bone mass. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of abnormal bone mass between training group ( n=178) and validation group ( n=76) (79.2% vs. 80.3%, χ2=0.036, P=0.849). The final variables and variable parameters included in the LASSO and stepwise regression models were the same, which were five variables: age, body mass index, hypertension, diabetes, and osteocalcin. Both models also had the same AIC, BIC, and accuracy in the training group, which were 113.45, 132.54, and 0.837, respectively. Therefore, the LASSO model and the stepwise regression model performed consistently in this study and could be considered as the same model, hereafter referred to as the Model. The Model's area under the ROC curve in the training and validation groups was 0.923 (95% CI 0.884-0.963) and 0.809 (95% CI 0.675-0.943), respectively. The optimal cutoff for the training group was 0.858, with a sensitivity of 0.801, a specificity of 0.973 and an accuracy of 0.837; when this cutoff value was taken, the validation group's sensitivity was 0.689, specificity was 0.800, and accuracy was 0.711. The Model demonstrated excellent performance in the calibration curve, Hosmer-Lemeshow test ( P>0.05), and DCA. Finally, based on the five predictors of the Model, a dynamic nomogram was created for clinicians to enter baseline clinical parameters for early identification of high-risk patients with abnormal bone mass. Conclusions:A dynamic nomogram for abnormal bone mass in ESRD patients is constructed with good predictive performance based on the prediction model, which can be used as a practical approach for the personalized early screening and auxiliary diagnosis of the potential risk factors and assist physicians in making a personalized diagnosis for patients.

Purpose: Vaccinia virus is widely used as an oncolytic agent for human cancer therapy, and several versions of vaccinia virus have demonstrated robust antitumor effects in breast cancer. Most vaccinia viruses are modified by thymidine kinase (TK) deletion. The function of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21 in breast cancer remains controversial. We explored the impact of p21 gene knockdown (KD) on breast cancer cells and whether p21 KD interferes with the antitumor effect of TK-negative vaccinia virus. Methods: p21 KD MDA-MB-231 and p21 KD MCF-7 cells were prepared, and cell proliferation and migration rates were evaluated using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and scratch healing assays. The tumor growth of xenografts originating from p21KD MDA-MB-231 cells and control cells was compared in a mouse model. The colony formation and sphere-forming abilities of p21 KD breast cancer cells were also determined using low-melting agarose and serum-free culture. The tumorkilling effect of the vaccinia virus was determined in breast cancer cells and mouse models using an MTT assay and tumor cell xenografts. Results: p21 KD increased the growth and migration of MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells and promoted the cell growth of MDA-MB-231 cells in mice, while decreasing the colony formation and sphere formation abilities. Expression of TK was reduced in p21 KD MDAMB-231 cells. Oncolytic effects of both wild-type and TK-deleted vaccinia viruses were attenuated in p21KD MDA-MB-231 cells. The tumor-killing effect of TK-deleted vaccinia virus was also weakened in xenografted mice bearing p21 KD MDA-MB-231 cells. Conclusion Targeted inhibition of p21 accelerates the proliferation and migration of breast cancer cells and impairs the tumor-killing effect of vaccinia virus, suggesting that p21 levels in cancer cells interfere with vaccinia virus oncolytic therapy.