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Objective:To evaluate whether dialysis modality will affect cognitive function in dialysis population.Methods:This was a cross-sectional study. Chronic dialysis patients in our center was screened from July 2013 to July 2014. All of the subjects received brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examination and comprehensive cognitive function evaluation.Results:A total of 189 chronic dialysis patients were enrolled in this study, 122 cases on hemodialysis (HD) and 67 cases on peritoneal dialysis (PD). There was no significant difference in age between HD and PD groups [(56.4±13.2) years vs (56.4±16.1) years, t=0.004, P=0.997]. The dialysis vintage and serum albumin of HD patients was higher than those of PD patients[58.0(16.8, 107.5) months vs 31.0(7.0, 67.0) months, Z=-3.490, P<0.001; (39.6±3.9) g/L vs (35.3±3.8) g/L, t=7.328, P<0.001, respectively]. The prevalence of cerebral small vessel diseases (CSVDs) was comparable between HD and PD groups (all P>0.05). Compared with HD patients, PD patients presented a 11.90-fold risk of immediate memory impairment (95% CI 1.40-101.08, P=0.023) and a 6.18-fold risk of long-delayed memory impairment (95% CI 2.12-18.05, P=0.001). After adjusting for age, educational lever, dialysis vintage, serum creatinine, and CSVDs, the influence of dialysis modality on memory still worked. PD patients presented a 43% risk of executive function impairment of HD patients ( OR=0.43, 95% CI 0.17-1.04, P=0.061). Conclusions:HD patients manifested better memory than PD patients, while PD probably performed better in executive function than HD patients. There was no significant difference in language function between the two groups. The difference in cognitive function may not be related to CSVDs.
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Objective To establish a high-throughput in-vitro screening cell model for anti-atherosclerosis leading compounds.Methods Hypoxia response element (HRE) was cloned into a luciferase reporter vector, pGL3-Enhancer, to construct pGL3-HIF-1α-HRE.The THP-1human monocyte cell line was infected with the pGL3-HIF-1α-HRE and a stable cell line, THP-1-HIF-1α-HRE, was screened.Results Real-time PCR assay showed that HIF-1αexpression and luciferase activity in THP-1-HIF-1α-HRE cells was effectively upregulated by hypoxia.The increase of HIF-1αexpression and luciferase activity induced by hypoxia was significantly inhibited by lovastatin or curcumin.Conclusion THP1-HIF-1α-HRE, an in-vitro cell model for high-throughput screening lead compounds for anti-atherosclerosis (AS) was successfully established.
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Objective To evaluate the efficacy of Scrophularia ningpoensis granules combined with fosinopril in treatment of congestive heart failure.Methods 60 congestive heart failure patients were randomly divided into 2 groups, 30 patients in the treatment group and 30 patients in the control group.Besides the conventional therapy, the control group was treated with fosinopril and the treatment group received Scrophularia ningpoensis granules plus fosinopril for 90 days.Left ventricular end diastolic diameter (LVEDD), left ventricular end systolic diameter (LVESD), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and serum B-type brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) were measured before and after treatment.Results The total effective rate in the treatment group and the control group were 90%, but significantly effective number in the treatment group was higher than the control group.The levels of BNP, LVEDD and LVESD in both groups were decreased, while LVEF was increased after the treatment.The difference was statistically significant (P<0.01).The degree of improvement of heart function in the treatment group was better than that in the control group (P<0.05).Conclusion The combination therapy of Scrophularia ningpoensis granules and fosinopril is efficacious in treating CHF.
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Objective Membranous nephropathy ( MN) is rarely complicated by crescents.This study was to observe the clinicopathologic characteristics of MN with crescents. Methods This retrospective study included 53 cases of biopsy-proven idiopathic MN with crescents in the absence of immunologic and clinical etiologic factors and another 100 MN patients without histological crescents as controls.The clinicopathologic features, treatment response, and out-comes were analyzed and compared between the two groups of pa-tients. Results Significantly higher percentages of hypertension and decreased eGFR were observed in the MN +crescents group than in the control (47.2%vs 19.0%, P<0.05;28.3%vs 40.%, P<0.05).Circulating autoantibodies against the M-type phospholipase A2 receptor (PLA2R) were found in 66.7%(30/45) of the patients.The glomeruli exhibited a median of 4.6%(1.8%-35.3%) involvement of crescents.Compared with the controls, the MN +crescents group showed remarkably higher rates of segmental glomer-ulosclerosis lesions (16.0%vs 49.1%, P<0.05), capillary loops necrosis (0.0%vs 11.3%, P<0.05), interstitial fibrosis/tubu-lar atrophy (IFTA) (54.0%vs 86.8%, P<0.05) and afferent arterial lesions (65.0%vs 92.5%, P<0.05).No significant differ-ences were found in the outcomes of the two groups of patients. Conclusion MN with crescents is rare, and secondary MN and cres-centic glomerulonephritis should be considered.Crescentic MN usually presents with hypertension and renal dysfunction clinically and high rates of severe segmental and global glomerulosclerosis, capillary loops necrosis, and IFTA histologically.The condition has a fa-vorable short-term prognosis.