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:To investigate the clinical, imaging and neuropathological characteristics of neuronal intranuclear inclusion disease (NIID) with symptoms of the central nervous system, and to improve the diagnosis and treatments of NIID.Methods:The clinical data of 7 patients with NIID diagnosed by brain biopsy in Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China from February 2009 to December 2024 were collected. The characteristics of clinical manifestations, imaging, and histology on brain biopsy were retrospectively analyzed.Results:Among the 7 patients, 5 were male and 2 were female. Their ages ranged from 44 to 70 years, median 56 (52, 65) years. Patients were classified into three types of tumor, stroke and encephalitis according to the onset symptoms, imaging manifestations and pathological changes. The chief complaint of the 5 patients was headache, while 4 patients had paroxysmal convulsions, 3 had speech disorders, 2 had abnormal mental behaviors, 2 had memory decline, and 1 had fever accompanied by consciousness disorders. Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging of the head showed the "ribbon sign" at the junction of the cortex and medulla in 2 cases. Most of the patients had white matter lesions, gyrus swelling and cerebral atrophy. Occasionally gyrus-like enhancement was observed. Brain biopsy reveals the histological changes that matched those on images and initial symptoms. There were proliferation of oligodendrocytes and astrocytes in the white matter, leukoaraiosis and edema, cortical disintegration and lamellar necrosis, as well as infiltration of lymphocytes and microglia, etc. However, the characteristic changes were eosinophilic hyaline inclusions in the nuclei of neurons and astrocytes. Immunohistochemical staining of p62 and ubiquitin showed homogeneous staining in round or ring-shaped nuclei.Conclusions:The clinical manifestations of NIID are highly variable, and a correct diagnosis of NIID requires careful integration of clinical, imaging and histopathologic data. For patients with a high suspicion of NIID, immunohistochemical staining of p62 and ubiquitin is diagnostically valuable.

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: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 clinical, imaging and neuropathological characteristics of neuronal intranuclear inclusion disease (NIID) with symptoms of the central nervous system, and to improve the diagnosis and treatments of NIID.Methods:The clinical data of 7 patients with NIID diagnosed by brain biopsy in Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China from February 2009 to December 2024 were collected. The characteristics of clinical manifestations, imaging, and histology on brain biopsy were retrospectively analyzed.Results:Among the 7 patients, 5 were male and 2 were female. Their ages ranged from 44 to 70 years, median 56 (52, 65) years. Patients were classified into three types of tumor, stroke and encephalitis according to the onset symptoms, imaging manifestations and pathological changes. The chief complaint of the 5 patients was headache, while 4 patients had paroxysmal convulsions, 3 had speech disorders, 2 had abnormal mental behaviors, 2 had memory decline, and 1 had fever accompanied by consciousness disorders. Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging of the head showed the "ribbon sign" at the junction of the cortex and medulla in 2 cases. Most of the patients had white matter lesions, gyrus swelling and cerebral atrophy. Occasionally gyrus-like enhancement was observed. Brain biopsy reveals the histological changes that matched those on images and initial symptoms. There were proliferation of oligodendrocytes and astrocytes in the white matter, leukoaraiosis and edema, cortical disintegration and lamellar necrosis, as well as infiltration of lymphocytes and microglia, etc. However, the characteristic changes were eosinophilic hyaline inclusions in the nuclei of neurons and astrocytes. Immunohistochemical staining of p62 and ubiquitin showed homogeneous staining in round or ring-shaped nuclei.Conclusions:The clinical manifestations of NIID are highly variable, and a correct diagnosis of NIID requires careful integration of clinical, imaging and histopathologic data. For patients with a high suspicion of NIID, immunohistochemical staining of p62 and ubiquitin is diagnostically valuable.

Objective:To investigate the diagnostic performance of MRI Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System version 2018 in high-risk hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with intrahepatic parenchymal substantial lesions ≤3.0 cm.Methods:A retrospective analysis was conducted in hospitals between September 2014 to April 2020. 131 pathologically confirmed non-HCC cases with lesions ≤3.0 cm in diameter were randomly matched with 131 cases with lesions ≤3.0 cm in diameter and divided into benign (56 cases), other hepatic malignant tumor (OM, 75 cases), and HCC group (131 cases) in a 1:1 ratio. MRI features of the lesions were analyzed and classified according to LI-RADS v2018 criteria (tie-break rule was applied to lesions with both HCC and LR-M features). Taking the pathological results as the gold standard, the sensitivity and specificity of the LI-RADS v2018 classification criteria and the more stringent LR-5 criteria (with three main signs of HCC at the same time) were calculated for HCC, OM or benign lesions diagnosis. Mann -Whitney U test was used to compare the classification results. Results:The number of cases classified as LR-M, LR-1, LR-2, LR-3, LR-4, and LR-5 in HCC group after applying the tie-break rule were 14, 0, 0, 12, 28, and 77, respectively. There were 40, 0, 0, 4, 17, 14 and 8, 5, 1, 26, 13, 3 cases in benign and OM group, respectively. There were 41 (41/77), 4 (4/14) and 1 (1/3) lesion case in the HCC, OM and benign group, respectively, that met the more stringent LR-5 criteria. The sensitivity of LR-4 combined with LR-5 (LR-4/5) criteria, LR-5 criteria and more stringent LR-5 criteria for HCC diagnosis were 80.2% (105/131), 58.8% (77/131) and 31.3% (41/131), respectively, and the specificity were 64.1% (84/131), 87.0% (114/131) and 96.2% (126/131), respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of LR-M were 53.3% (40/75) and 88.2% (165/187), respectively. The sensitivity and specificity using LR-1 combined with LR-2 (LR-1/2) criteria for the diagnosis of benign liver lesions were 10.7% (6/56) and 100% (206/206), respectively.Conclusions:LR-1/2, LR-5, and LR-M criteria have high diagnostic specificity for intrahepatic lesions with a diameter of ≤3.0 cm. Lesions classified as LR-3 are more likely to be benign. The specificity of LR-4/5 criteria is low, while the more stringent LR-5 criteria has a high specificity for HCC diagnosis.

Objective:To study the relations of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, vaginal micro-environmental disorder with cervical lesion.Methods:A total of 1 019 women including 623 with normal cervical (NC), 303 with low-grade cervical lesion (CIN Ⅰ) and 93 with high-grade cervical lesion (CIN Ⅱ/Ⅲ) were enrolled in this study from the communities in Shanxi province, China. Case-control method was adopted, with NC as the control group and CIN as the case group. Related information was collected including demographic characteristics and relevant factors related to cervical lesions. HPV genotypes were detected by flow-through hybridization technology. Vaginal pH was detected by the pH test paper. Vaginal H 2O 2 was detected by the combined detection kit of aerobic vaginitis and bacterial vaginosis. Vaginal cleanliness was detected by smear method. Results:Data from the unconditional logistic regression analysis showed that HPV infection (CINⅠ: a OR=1.39, 95 %CI: 1.01-1.90; CINⅡ/Ⅲ: a OR=11.74, 95 %CI: 6.96-19.80), H 2O 2 (CINⅠ: a OR=2.09, 95 %CI: 1.47-2.98; CINⅡ/Ⅲ: a OR=4.12, 95 %CI: 2.01-8.43), cleanliness (CIN Ⅱ/Ⅲ: a OR=2.62, 95 %CI: 1.65-4.14), and composite indicators (CINⅠ: a OR=1.67, 95 %CI: 1.24-2.25; CINⅡ/Ⅲ: a OR=4.24, 95 %CI: 2.30-7.81) all had increased the risk of cervical lesion and the trend on the severity ( P<0.001) of cervical lesions. Additionally, we observed a synergic effect between HPV infection and vaginal micro-environmental composite indicator in CINⅡ/Ⅲ. With or without HPV infection, the ORs value of CINⅠ caused by vaginal micro-environment disorder remained close. Conclusions:Results from our study revealed that vaginal micro-environmental composite indicator could increase the risk for cervical lesion, in particular with the high-grade ones which all posed stronger risks when combined with HPV infection. However, the role of vaginal micro-environment disorder in the occurrence of CIN Ⅰ should not be ignored.

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.

Objective To evaluate the value of proteinuria in predicting acute kidney injury (AKI) after cardiac surgery in elderly patients.Methods To retrospectively analyze the perioperative clinical data of elderly patients (age 60 or older)undergone cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass at Guangdong General Hospital from January 2005 to December 2010.Target patients were divided into two groups according to AKI defined by the KDIGO criteria.Data for those two groups were examined by single-factor analysis,and then logistic regression analysis was used to further determine independent factors of AKI after cardiac surgery.Results Among 848 elderly patients,AKI occurred in 524(61.8％) participants,including 39.2％(n=332)at AKI stage 1,16.6％ (n =141) at AK I stage 2,and 6.0 ％ (n=51) at AKI stage 3.A total of 15.9 ％ of patients(n=135) had preoperative proteinuria,including 12.4 ％ (n =106) with mild proteinuria,and 3.5 ％ (n =30) with heavy proteinuria.Logistic regression analysis showed that proteinuria was correlated with postoperative AKI.With the increase of proteinuria,the risk of AKI also increased,and the OR values of mild and severe proteinuria were 1.758 (1.020-3.029) and 4.758 (1.326-17.077),respectively.Conclusions Preoperative proteinuria may predict the occurrence of AKI after cardiac surgery in elderly patients.There is a gradual increase in the risk of AKI as proteinuria becomes more severe.Early institution of therapeutic interventions may be used in elderly patients with preoperative proteinuria undergoing cardiac surgery to attenuate the risk of AKI.

Alzheimer disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia in the aging people.The early diagnosis is very important to slow down the progression and improve the prognosis of AD.At present,most researches focus on the subjective cognitive decline (SCD),which is considered as the preclinical stage of AD.The use of biological markers to predict whether the progress of SCD to AD is necessary.The progresses of imaging studies on SCD were reviewed in this article.