Kidney targeting and modulating macrophage polarization through AMPK signaling: Therapeutic mechanism of berberine in uric acid nephropathy.

Uric acid nephropathy (UAN), caused by a common metabolic disorder resulting from hyperuricemia (HUA), has an increasing incidence. Previous studies have shown that berberine (BBR) has clear urate-lowering and anti-inflammatory effects in UAN mice, but its mechanism needs to be further clarified. Therefore, Potassium Oxonate (PO) combined with hypoxanthine (HX) induced UAN mice model and MSU induced THP-1 cells polarization model were adopted to investigate the mechanism of BBR on UAN in terms of tissue distribution and molecular pharmacology. Study unveiled that BBR was first found to bind to red blood cells (RBCs), which were recognized and phagocytosed by monocytes, then recruited by the injured kidney. Subsequently, BBR was enriched and functional in damaged kidney. The results of in vivo experiments revealed that, BBR reduced UA, BUN, CRE levels as well as the release of TNF-α, IL-1ß, IL-18 and IL-6, and alleviated renal injury in UAN mice, as consistent with previous studies. Additionally, BBR decreased MCP-1 expression, while diminishing macrophage infiltration and decreasing M1 proportion as determined by RT-qPCR. In vitro experiments, demonstrated that MSU promoted inflammatory polarization of THP-1 cells, while BBR reduced synthesis of inflammatory factors and inhibited MSU-induced inflammatory polarization. These effects of BBR were dependent on AMPK activation along with indirect inhibition of NF-κB signaling pathway mediated. However, the anti-inflammatory and macrophage polarization regulation effects of BBR were completely reversed upon administration of Compound C, an AMPK inhibitor. Therefore, BBR ameliorated kidney injury via regulating macrophage polarization through AMPK, which has therapeutic potential for UAN patients.

Electrical switching properties of Ag2S/Cu3P under light and heat excitation.

In this paper, we prepared and investigated the electrical switching behaviors of Cu3P/Ag2S heterojunction in the absence/presence of light/heat excitation. The structure exhibited bipolar memristor characteristics. The resistive switching mechanism is due to the formation of Ag conductive filaments and phase transition in Cu3P. We found that the resistance ratio (ROFF/RON) increased by a factor of 1.4/1.8 after light/heat excitation. The underlying mechanism was due to the photoelectric effect/Seebeck effect. Our results are helpful for the understanding of the resistive switching performance of Cu3P/Ag2S junctions, providing valuable insights into the factors influencing resistive switching performance and a clue for the enhancement of the memristor performance.

Upregulation of sperm-associated antigen 5 expression in endometrial carcinoma was associated with poor prognosis and immune dysregulation, and promoted cell migration and invasion.

Sperm-associated antigen 5 (SPAG5) regulates cancer cell invasion and is involved in the progression of many cancers. However, the role of SPAG5 in endometrial carcinoma (EC) is still unknown. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of SPAG5 in EC and its potential molecular mechanism. The UALCAN tool and cBioPortal were used to analyze the expression and alterations of SPAG5 in EC, respectively. OncoLnc was used for survival analysis. We analyzed the effects of SPAG5 on immune cell infiltration and the expression levels of immune checkpoints. We also overexpressed and knocked down SPAG5 in EC cells to explore the effect of SPAG5 regulation on migration, invasion, apoptosis, and the cell cycle of EC cells. We found that SPAG5 was overexpressed and the SPAG5 gene was often mutated in EC. High SPAG5 expression was significantly associated with poor overall survival in patients with EC. SPAG5 also affected the level of immune cell infiltration in the TIME and the expression of immune checkpoints lymphocyte activating 3 (LAG3) and T cell immunoreceptor with Ig and ITIM domains (TIGIT) in patients with EC. It may also be involved in the immunotherapy response in these patients. In vitro experiments showed that SPAG5 promotes cancer cell migration and invasion. In conclusion, this study lays the foundation for further understanding the molecular mechanisms of EC involving SPAG5 and contributes to diagnosing and managing this disease.

Clinical evaluation of balloon occlusion of the lower abdominal aorta in patients with placenta previa and previous cesarean section: A retrospective study on 43 cases.

BACKGROUND: This study investigated the efficacy of balloon occlusion of the lower abdominal aorta in cesarean section surgery for the patients with placenta previa and previous cesarean section. METHODS: The patients who had placenta previa and underwent cesarean section (CS) were evaluated. The patients treated with CS to terminate the pregnancy were used as control group (23 cases); the patients treated with the preset abdominal aorta balloon before CS was taken as study group (20 cases). The investigated indicators included the intraoperative blood loss, blood loss within postoperative 24 h, the transfusion amount of red cell suspension (RCS), hospital stay, incidence rate of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), the asphyxia, premature delivery and the mortality of the newborns. RESULTS: The two groups are comparable. The intraoperative blood loss, blood loss within postoperative 24 h, the transfusion amount of RCS and the percentage of uterus resection in the study group were significantly lower (P < 0.05) than that in the control group. The percentage of uterine cavity filling with ribbon gauze in the study group was higher than the control group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The balloon occlusion of lower abdominal aorta seems effective in reducing postpartum hemorrhage and the blood transfusion and decreasing the risk of hysterectomy without harming the newborns.