ABSTRACT
Elabelas/Toddlers belong to a group of endogenous active peptides recently discovered from zebrafish. The sequences of these peptides have 25% homology to Apelin. These peptides regulate physiological functions of organisms through putative protein receptors related to the angiotensin receptor AT1 (APJ). Functional roles of Elabela include early embryonic development, angiogenesis, fluid homeostasis, and feeding or dietary behavior control. Elabela also participates in the development of many diseases, such as heart failure, preeclampsia, acute kidney injury, hypertension, and diabetes. Increasingly, studies have shown that Elabela/APJ signaling can promote normal development of early embryos, including differentiation of mesoderm and endoderm, and formation of cardiac morphology and function. At the same time, the signaling can also promote angiogenesis or migration and proliferation of tumor cells. Here we describe the molecular structure, biological characteristics, functions and application prospects of Elabela/APJ signaling.
ABSTRACT
Objective To evaluate the effect of carbapenem exposure on isolation rate of multidrug resistant organisms(MDROs) and prognosis of elderly patients with severe pneumonia.Methods Elderly patients with severe pneumonia and admitted to the intensive care unit in a hospital between February 2014 and February 2016 were investigated retrospectively.According to whether there was carbapenem exposure,patients were divided into group A(carbapenem exposure group) and group B(carbapenem non exposure group).Patients in group A were subdivided into two subgroups according to exposure time of carbapenems,group A1 received carbapenems for＞7 days,group A2 received carbapenems for ≤7 days.The isolation rates of MDROs,mechanical ventilation days,length of stay in ICU,and 28 day mortality among groups were compared and analyzed.Results A total of 86 patients were enrolled in the investigation,57 were males and 29 were females;the average age was (80.12 + 10.45) years (range:65-92 years).There were 40 cases in group A,46 in group B;24 cases in group A1,and 16 in group A2.The isolation rates of MDROs in group A and group B were 65.00％ and 36.96％ respectively,difference was sta tistically significant(P＜0.05);Comparison between two groups of patients revealed that mechanical ventilation days,length of stay in ICU,and 28 day mortality in group A were all higher than group B,difference was statistically significant(all P＜0.05);the isolation rates of MDROs in group A1 was higher than group A2 (75.00％ vs 43.75％,P＜0.05)；mechanical ventilation days of group A1 was higher than group A2 ([7.69 ± 2.22]d vs [6.34±-1.56]d,P＜0.05);28-day mortality and length of stay in ICU between group A1 and A2 were not significantly different(both P＞0.05).Conclusion Carbapenem exposure can increase the occurrence of MDRO infection,especially the non-fermentative bacterial colonization or infection,and prolong the mechanical ventilation days and length of stay in ICU,thus affect the prognosis of patients.