Diabetic nephropathy(DN)is one of the most important complications of diabetes.Its pathogenesis is com-plex and has not been fully elucidated.Epithelial-mesenchymal transition(EMT)plays an important role in the development of DN.Relevant data show that glycogen synthesis kinase-3β(GSK-3β)participates in the process of EMT through multiple sig-naling pathways and affects the occurrence and progression of DN.This article reviews the research progress of GSK-3β in-volved in EMT in DN.

Humans ; Vaccines, Inactivated ; COVID-19/prevention & control* ; Vaccination ; Viral Vaccines ; Immunity ; Antibodies, Viral

Objective:To evaluate the correlation between anti-C1q antibody and disease activity and cellular immune function in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).Methods:The clinical data and test indexes of 134 patients with SLE and 90 healthy people who were admitted to Henan Provincial People′s Hospital from June 2017 to February 2018 were collected. The level of anti-C1q antibody was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and lymphocyte subsets were measured by flow cytometry. According to the score of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI)-2K, SLE patients were divided into active and inactive groups, and SLE patients were divided into LN group and non-LN group according to the presence or absence of kidney involvement. The levels of anti-C1q antibodies and lymphocyte subsets were compared among the three groups, and correlations between anti-C1q antibodies and disease activity and lymphocytes were analyzed. The predictive value of anti-C1q antibodies and anti double stranded DNA (dsDNA) antibodies for SLE disease activity was evaluated.Results:The anti-C1q antibody level, percentage of T cells and Ts cells in SLE group were higher than those in control group, while the percentage of Th cells, percentage of NK cells, T cell count, Th cell count, B cell count and NK cell count in SLE group were lower than those in control group (all P<0.05); The anti-C1q antibody level in the active group was higher than that in the inactive group, and the counts of T cells, Ts cells, Th cells, B cells and NK cells were lower than those in the inactive group (all P<0.05); The anti-C1q antibody level in LN group was higher than that in non-LN group, and the T cell count, Ts cell count, Th cell count, B cell count, NK cell count were lower than that in non-LN group, with statistically significant difference (all P<0.05). Correlation analysis showed that age, hemoglobin (HB), C3, C4, T cell count, Th cell count, B cell count and NK cell count were negatively correlated with anti-C1q antibody, while SLEDAI-2K, C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and anti-dsDNA antibody were positively correlated with anti-C1q antibody (all P<0.05). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that the area under the curve (AUC) of anti-C1q antibody alone in predicting SLE disease activity was 0.702, with a sensitivity of 0.547 and a specificity of 0.827. The combination of anti-C1q and anti ds-DNA antibodies resulted in an AUC of 0.761, a sensitivity of 0.756, and a specificity of 0.691. The combined detection value of the two antibodies predicting SLE disease activity was better than the single detection. Conclusions:Anti-C1q antibody is closely related to disease activity and cellular immune dysfunction, and has certain predictive value in SLE disease activity.

Objective:To evaluate the diagnostic performance and clinical significance of SLE-DAS in the disease activity of SLE patients in China.Methods:The clinical data of 134 patients with SLE were collected. The disease activity was evaluated by SLE-DAS, SLEDAI-2000, BILAG-2004 and PGA scoring tools. Pearson test and Spearman test were used to analyze the correlation. The receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC curve) was used to evaluate SLE-DAS, and Kappa consistency test was adapted to assess the consistency of the two scoring methods.Results:One hundred and thirty-four patients with SLE, including 7 males and 127 females, aged 13-77 years, with an average of (35±13) years were included. Among them, renal involvement was 38.1%, skin mucosal involvement was 11.2%, musculoskeletal involvement was 8.2%, blood system involvement was 13.4%, heart and lung involvement was 2.2%, neuropsychiatric involvement was 1.5%, and multisystem involvement was 3.0%. SLE-DAS was positively correlated with CRP, ESR, anti-dsDNA antibody, urinary protein (24 h) level, SLEDAI-2000, BILAG-2004 and PGA ( r=0.25, 0.34, 0.47, 0.77, 0.93, 0.94, 0.95, P<0.01); SLE-DAS was negatively correlated with PLT, Hb, C3 and C4 ( r=-0.29, -0.43, -0.41, -0.32, P<0.01). When SLEDAI-2000>5 was used as a cut point for analyzing SLE-DAS, the results showed that the area under the curve (AUC) 95% CI of SLE-DAS was 0.961 (0.927,0.995), the Yoden index was 0.845. When the cut-off value was set up to 4.65( P<0.001), the sensitivity was 98.11%, the specificity was 86.42%, and the accuracy was 91.04%. Kappa consistency test showed that kappa value was 0.819( P<0.001). Conclusions:SLE-DAS can be used to evaluate the disease activity of SLE patients and can be used as the evidence to guide treatment plan in clinical practice.

Objective:To compare and analyze the efficacy and safety of intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT) combined with conventional therapy (surgery combined with radiochemotherapy) and conventional therapy alone for pancreatic cancer.Methods:Literature review was conducted from PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Embase, Chongqing VIP, CNKI, Wanfang Data and China Biomedical Literature Service System (SinoMed). The literatures that met the inclusion criteria were screened and the data were extracted. Meta-analysis was carried out by RevMan 5.4 software.Results:A total of 11 studies consisting of 813 patients were included. According to the combined results, compared with conventional therapy, IORT combined with conventional therapy could improve the overall survival rate of pancreatic cancer ( HR=0.66, 95% CI=0.54-0.81, Z=4.03, P<0.001), and did not increase the treatment-related side effects ( OR=1.00, 95% CI=0.69-1.46, Z=0.01, P=0.99), but failed to bring benefit to the local control rate ( HR=0.56, 95% CI=0.31-1.01, Z=1.93, P=0.05). Conclusions:The overall survival rate in the IORT combined with conventional therapy group is significantly better than that in the conventional therapy group. No significant difference is found in the treatment-related adverse reactions between two groups. IORT combined with conventional therapy is worthy of clinical application.

Objective:To evaluate the mid-term complication rates of the Hui-Jing one-stage procedure (lingual mucosa combined with longitudinal preputial island flap onlay urethroplasty + tubularized incised plate glansplasty)versus the classic Bracka staged surgery for children with severe hypospadias.Methods:A retrospective analysis was conducted on clinical data of 75 children with proximal hypospadias who were treated at the Seventh Medical Center of PLA General Hospital from March 2017 to June 2022. Of these patients, 31 cases (15 cases penoscrotal type and 16 cases perineal type) were underwent the Bracka two-stage surgery with a median age of 38 months (24.0, 44.5) and 44 cases underwent the Hui-Jing one-stage procedure (23 cases penoscrotal type and 21 perineal type) with a median age of 40.5 months (20.75, 90.5). The length of urethral plate defect after correction of penile curvature was (4.30±0.84)cm in the Bracka group and (4.56±0.79)cm in the Hui-Jing group, which also showed no significant difference.There was no statistically significant difference of the median age and the position of preoperative urethral opening between the two groups( P=0.47, P=0.74). The first stage of Bracka repair consists of orthoplasty and urethral bed substitution with free preputial graft. After 6 months, the urethral plate created from free graft was tabularized to form neourethra; Hui-Jing procedure group used the free lingual mucosal as urethral plate substitution, then we conducted longitudinal preputial island flap Onlay and Snodgrass phalloplasty. The incidence of postoperative urethral fistula, urethral stricture and urethral diverticulum was compared between the two groups of cases and the difference in efficacy between the two procedures was assessed. Results:Among the 75 patients included in the study, there was no statistically significant difference in age or location of urethral meatus between the Bracka and Hui-Jing groups. In Bracka group, 9 cases of urethral stricture (29.0%), 6 case of urethral fistula (19.4%), and 2 cases of urethral diverticulum (6.5%) occurred after surgery, while 12 cases of urethral fistula (27.3%) and 3 case of urethral fistula (6.8%) occurred in the Hui-Jing group. No urethral stricture occurred in Hui-Jing group. There was no statistically significant difference in overall incidence of complications between the two groups [17/31(54.8%) vs.15/44(34.1%), P=0.12]. The incidence of urethral fistula and urethral diverticulum show no significant differences between two groups(19.4% vs 27.3, P=0.61, 6.5% vs. 6.8%, P=0.13). The number of operation in Bracka group was (2.68±1.03) and the hospitalization cost was (12 984.63±3 808.15) Yuan, while the number of operation in Hui-Jing group was (1.36±0.53) and the hospitalization cost was (8 490.54±3 136.84) Yuan. Conclusions:The Hui-Jing one-stage procedure can be used for the surgical treatment of children with severe hypospadias. There is no urethral stricture happened in Hui-Jing group, while the general complication incidence and incidence of urethral fistula and diverticulum show no differences.

Background::Transplant renal artery stenosis (TRAS) is a vascular complication after kidney transplantation associated with poor outcomes. This study aimed to analyze the efficacy and safety of low-dose aspirin for preventing TRAS.Methods::After kidney transplantation, patients were enrolled from January 2018 to December 2020 in Henan Provincial People’s Hospital. A total of 351 enrolled recipients were randomized to an aspirin group with low-dose intake of aspirin in addition to standard treatment ( n = 178), or a control group with only standard treatment ( n = 173). The patients was initially diagnosed as TRAS (id-TRAS) by Doppler ultrasound, and confirmed cases were diagnosed by DSA (c-TRAS). Results::In the aspirin and control groups, 15.7% (28/178) and 22.0% (38/173) of the recipients developed id-TRAS, respectively, with no statistical difference. However, for c-TRAS, the difference of incidence and cumulative incidence was statistically significant. The incidence of c-TRAS was lower in the aspirin group compared with the control group (2.8% [5/178] vs. 11.6% [20/173], P = 0.001). Kaplan–Meier estimates and Cox regression model identified the cumulative incidence and hazard ratio (HR) of TRAS over time in two groups, showing that recipients treated with aspirin had a significantly lower risk of c-TRAS than those who were not treated (log-rank P = 0.001, HR = 0.23, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.09–0.62). The levels of platelet aggregation rate ( P < 0.001), cholesterol ( P = 0.028), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol ( P = 0.003) in the aspirin group were decreased compared with the control group in the third-month post-transplantation. For the incidence of adverse events, there was no statistical difference. Conclusion::Clinical application of low-dose aspirin after renal transplant could prevent the development of TRAS with no significant increase in adverse effects.Trial Registration::Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT04260828.

Objective:To investigate the relationship between monocyte/high-density lipoprotein ratio (MHR) and clinical parameters and the prognosis of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD).Methods:Clinical data were collected of CKD patients who were diagnosed and followed up regularly in Henan Provincial People's Hospital from January 1, 2017 to June 30, 2020. According to the median baseline MHR of the selected patients, they were divided into two groups: low-level MHR group (MHR≤0.347 8) and high-level MHR group (MHR>0.347 8). The patients were regularly followed up for 3-42 months, the renal adverse prognostic events were defined as serum creatinine doubled, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) reduced to at least 50% of the original, new entry into end-stage renal disease (ESRD), starting renal replacement therapy, death due to renal or cardiovascular events. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to compare the differences in survival rates between the two groups, and Cox regression analysis method was used to explore the influencing factors of renal adverse prognosis in CKD patients. Stratified analysis was used to find special factors that might affect the relationship between MHR and renal adverse prognosis in CKD patients.Results:A total of 405 patients were included in this study. Their age was (49.77±14.82) years old. Body mass index was (25.18±4.22) kg/m 2. Women accounted for 30.62%(124/405). The proportion of patients with smoking, drinking, hypertension and diabetes was 39.51%(160/405), 35.06%(142/405), 73.33%(297/405) and 38.27%(155/405), respectively. Compared with the low-level MHR group ( n=202), the high-level MHR group ( n=203) had more people in late CKD, males, and hypertension (all P<0.01), and body mass index, white blood cells, monocytes, serum creatinine, serum uric acid, serum urea nitrogen, retinol binding protein, cystatin C, blood phosphorus were higher (all P<0.05), while hemoglobin, high density lipoprotein and eGFR were lower (all P<0.05). Spearman rank correlation results show that MHR level was positively correlated with white blood cells, serum creatinine, serum uric acid, serum urea nitrogen, retinol-binding protein, cystatin C, serum phosphorus (all P<0.01), and negatively correlated with hemoglobin and eGFR (both P<0.01). The median follow-up time was 8(4, 16) months. To the end of the follow-up, 113 patients (27.90%) had renal adverse prognostic events. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis results showed that the renal cumulative survival rate of the high-level MHR group was lower than that of the low-level MHR group ( χ2=8.277, P=0.004). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that high MHR level was an independent influencing factor for poor renal prognosis in CKD patients ( HR=1.628, 95% CI 1.050-2.523, P=0.029). Stratified analysis showed that, without hypertension, MHR had a more significant effect on the prognosis of the kidneys ( HR=3.414, 95% CI 1.091-10.686, P for interaction=0.001). Conclusions:The level of MHR is related to the severity and poor renal prognosis of CKD, and the high MHR level is an independent predictor for poor renal prognosis in CKD patients.

Objective:To establish a rat model of neurogenic bladder and analyze the changes in kidney morphology and function and the expression of proteins in AngiotensinⅡ(AngⅡ)/transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1)/Smads pathway.Methods:Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into experimental group (spinal nerve amputation, n=36) and control group (sham operation, n=12). At 6, 12, and 24 weeks, the bladder compliance was measured by cystometry, the kidney morphology was detected by B-ultrasound, blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum creatinine (Scr) in blood samples were examined, the kidney pathological changes were detected by Masson and HE staining, the distribution of AngⅡ/TGF-β1/Smads pathway proteins was analyzed by immunohistochemisty, and the protein expressions in kidney were detected by Western blotting. Results:Urodynamics showed that the basic bladder pressure in experimental group was higher than that in control group. B-ultrasound showed that compared with the control group, the diameter of the renal pelvis of the rats with nerve dissection gradually increased ( P<0.05), and the hydronephrosis was gradually obvious. Compared with the control group, the BUN and Scr in experimental group gradually increased (both P<0.01). Masson and HE staining showed that compared with the control group, the collagen expression and renal tubulointerstitial scores in experimental group were gradually increased (both P<0.01). Immunohistochemisty showed that compared with the control group, in experimental group the expression of angiotensinⅡ receptor type 1 (AT1), TGF-β receptor 1(TGF-βR1), phosphorylated Smad2 gradually increased (all P<0.01), the pathway inhibitor Smad6 gradually decreased ( P<0.01), and the distribution of each protein in kidney was consistent. Western blotting showed a corresponding expression trend with immunohistochemisty. Conclusions:In neurogenic bladder caused by bilateral spinal nerve amputation, due to bladder dysfunction, increased bladder pressure induces hydronephrosis, destruction of the nephron structure, activation of AngⅡ/TGF-β1/Smads pathway, and renal fibrosis. This method is effective and has clinical similarities, laying a foundation for exploring neurogenic bladder treatment.

Objective:To discuss the efficacy of robotic-assisted laparoscopic hemi-nephrectomy for the treatment of complete duplex kidney.Methods:We retrospectively reviewed the clinical data of the 20 patients who had robotic-assisted laparoscopic hemi-nephrectomy surgery from March 2017 to November 2019. Four of these patients were male, while the others were female.The average age of these patients was 28.6 months, ranged from 1-2 months.The duplex kidneys were on the upper pole, 9 on the left side, and l1 on the right side. All the patients had a history of gradual exacerbations of hydronephrosis before surgery. The most commonly seen symptoms were lumbar/abdominal pain(2 cases), dysuresia(1 case) and leakage of urine(1 case). Twelve patients had a history of repeated urinary tract infections. One patient expressed the cystic mass of the urethra protruded from the external orifice. Preoperative diagnosis was confirmed by magnetic resonance urinary water imaging (MRU), diuretic renal dynamic imaging(ECT), intravenous pyelography(IVP), and voiding cystoureterography(VCUG). Two cases were of ectopic urete, 4 of ureterocele and 4 of vesieoureteral reflux(VUR). All the patients underwent hemi-nephrectomy for the treatment of complete duplex kidney. Then we observed the intraoperative and postoperative complications and follow-ups.Results:A11 the cases performed by robotic-assisted laparoscopic surgery transperitoneally were completed successfully.There was no significant complication during the surgery with quick recovery after the surgery.The mean operative time was 109.5min(range 82-150 min). The mean estimated blood loss was about 9 ml (range 5-22 ml). Routinely placing a peripelvic catheter drainage was recommended. The mean hospital stay was 5.9 days(range 4-8 days). One patient was lost to follow-up.Mean follow-up was 13.6 months (range 3 -30 months). The results of the re-examination of ECT did not indicate loss or atrophy of lower renal function 3 months after operation. Primary symptoms improved.Conclusions:Robotic-assisted laparoscopic hemi-nephrectomy for hydronephrosis with duplex kidney could be minimal invasive and effective, and has achieved similar results with cosmetic scar .