Urinary Post-Translationally Modified Fetuin-A (uPTM-FetA) in Chronic Kidney Disease Patients with and without Diabetic Kidney Disease.

Background and Objectives: A novel post-translational modification (PTM) fragment derived from the cleavage of Fetuin-A (PTM-FetA) has recently emerged as a sensitive biomarker for kidney damage in diabetic patients, but evidence in other chronic renal diseases is lacking. In this pilot study, we aimed at evaluating the clinical significance of urinary PTM-FetA (uPTM-FetA) in a mixed cohort of patients with non-advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) secondary to diabetic kidney disease (DKD) or other causes. Materials and Methods: We enrolled 47 adult patients with CKD (mean CKD-Epi 40.10 ± 16.5 mL/min/1.73 m2) due to DKD (n = 34) or other etiology (n = 13). uPTM-FetA was measured in the urine using a commercially available ELISA kit. Fifteen healthy individuals served as controls. Results: Collectively, all CKD patients displayed remarkably higher levels of uPTM-FetA than controls (0.84 [0.10-1.15] vs. 29.68 [2.50-55.16] ng/mL p = 0.0005), but values were lower in non-DKD than in DKD patients (1.66 [0.09-4.19] vs. 13.9 [0.01-45.02] ng/mL; p = 0.01). uPTM-FetA showed a great diagnostic capacity at ROC analyses to identify the presence of CKD (AUC 0.776; p < 0.001) and, within CKD patients, to discriminate the diabetic and non-diabetic etiology (AUC 0.673; p = 0.02). At multivariate correlation analyses, proteinuria (ß = 0.442; p = 0.02) and BMI (ß = -0.334; p = 0.04) were the sole independent predictors of uPTM-FetA in this study population. Conclusions: uPTM-FetA could be a novel sensitive biomarker at the crossroad of chronic renal damage and metabolic dysfunction. Additionally, this biomarker could also represent a non-invasive, complementary tool for discriminating among different CKD etiologies (DKD vs. non-DKD) in difficult cases or when renal biopsy is not available.

Changing patterns of prenatal depression and anxiety status in different trimesters and modified form of Zung scales for pregnant women.

BACKGROUND: We described the changing patterns of depression and anxiety status in different trimesters among Chinese pregnant women, and identified the modified form of SDS/SAS for pregnant women and assessed its reliability and validity. METHODS: Changing patterns of depression/ anxiety status in different trimesters were described. The modified form of SDS/SAS was identified for pregnant women. Cohen's Kappa to measure agreement with SDS/SAS, and the ROC analysis was performed to assess its validity. RESULTS: The SDS score in 1st trimester was higher than 2nd and 3rd trimester; there was no significant difference between SDS score in 2nd and 3rd trimester. Modified form of SDS evaluated the depression; the areas under the curve (AUC) in testing group were up to 0.988, 0.989 and 0.992 for 1st, 2nd and 3rd trimester, respectively. Modified form of SAS evaluated the anxiety, the AUC in testing group were up to 0.987, 0.985, 0.987 for 1st, 2nd and 3rd trimester, respectively. CONCLUSION: Pregnant women had higher severity of depression and anxiety status in 1st trimester than that in 2nd and 3rd trimester. The modified form of SDS/SAS may be more brief and suitable to assess the depression and anxiety status in pregnant women.KEY POINTSPregnant women had a higher severity of depression and anxiety status in the 1st trimester than that in the 2nd and 3rd trimester.The present study suggests that prenatal depression and anxiety status are prevalent in Chinese pregnant women.Prevention or treatments focus on high-score items of SDS and SAS would be beneficial for rectifying prenatal depression and anxiety.

Moxibustion for prehypertension and stage I hypertension: a pilot randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Prehypertension and hypertension are associated with cardiovascular disease, ischemic heart disease, and stroke morbidity. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of moxibustion in patients with prehypertension or hypertension. METHODS: Forty-five subjects with prehypertension or stage I hypertension were randomized into three groups: moxibustion treatment group A (2 sessions/week for 4 weeks), moxibustion treatment group B (3 sessions/week for 4 weeks), and control group (nontreated group). The primary outcome measure was the change in blood pressure after 4 weeks of treatment. Safety was assessed at every visit. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in systolic blood pressure (SBP) or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) among three groups after 4 weeks of treatment (p = 0.4798 and p = 0.3252, respectively). In treatment group B, there was a significant decrease in SBP and DBP from baseline to 4 weeks of treatment (mean difference (MD) -9.55; p = 0.0225, MD -7.55; p = 0.0098, respectively). There were no significant differences among groups in secondary outcome measures after 4 weeks of treatment. Six adverse events (AEs) in the treatment group A and 12 AEs in the treatment group B occurred related to the moxibustion treatment. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the results of this study show that moxibustion (3 sessions/week for 4 weeks) might lower blood pressure in patients with prehypertension or stage I hypertension and treatment frequency might affect effectiveness of moxibustion in BP regulation. Further randomized controlled trials with a large sample size on prehypertension and hypertension should be conducted. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This study was registered with the 'Clinical Research Information Service (CRIS)', Republic of Korea (KCT0000469), and the protocol for this study was presented orally at the 15th International Council of Medical Acupuncture and Related Techniques (ICMART) in Athens, 25-27 May 2012.

Members of 3-O-Sulfotransferases (3-OST) Family: A Valuable Tool from Zebrafish to Humans for Understanding Herpes Simplex Virus Entry.

The journey of many viruses to infect cells begins when the virus first binds to cell surface heparan sulfate (HS). The initial step of cell attachment or binding during herpes simplex virus type-1 (HSV-1) entry is mediated by envelope glycoprotein B (gB) and C (gC). The binding is followed by fusion between virus envelope and cell membrane during which HSV-1 glycoprotein D (gD) interacts with a modified form of HS know as 3-O-sulfated heparan sulfate (3-OS HS). The rare modification of 3-O-sulfation on HS chain is governed by enzymes known as 3-O-sulfotransferase (3-OST). Currently, there are seven isoforms of human 3-OSTs that have been identified, and with the exception of 3-OST-1, all other 3-OST isoforms allow HSV-1 entry and spread. Recently, the product of the zebrafish (ZF)-encoded 3-OST-3 was also recognized as a gD receptor, which mediates HSV-1 entry and cell-cell fusion similar to human 3-OST-3. Interestingly, the ZF system expresses multiple isoforms of 3-OST which could be very useful for studying the involvement of HS and 3-OS HS in virus tropism and virus-induced inflammation. In addition, therapeutic targeting of 3-OST generated HS is likely to bring about novel interventions against HSV-1. In this review we have taken a closer look at the potential of both human and ZF encoded 3-OSTs as valuable tools in HSV entry and inflammation studies.

Development and Validation of a Modified form of the Stress Response Inventory for Workers / 신경정신의학

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to develop and validate a modified form of the Stress Response Inventory (SRI-MF) for workers. METHODS: In study I, the Stress Response Inventory was conducted in 3,420 person, who worked for public institutions and large corporations. They were selected from 10 areas throughout the country. After we performed experimental factor analysis in order to select the items by internal consistency and factor loadings, we developed the short form of SRI (SRI-MF). In Study II, SRI-MF was validated by showing convergent/divergent validity with other stress-measuring instruments in another samples. RESULTS: In study I, factor analysis yielded 5 factors, and two of them were excluded because of their low internal consistency. Consequently, total 22 items in the remaining 3 factors (somatization, depression, anger) were selected for the SRI-MF. Test-retest reliability of the SRI-MF was significantly high, ranging between .67-.71. Cronbach's alpha was also high. In study II, convergent validity was computed by correlating scores of other scales (GARS, SCL-90-R, PSQ) score. The correlations were all at significant levels. Discriminant validity was computed by comparing the total score and scores of 3 subscales in the patient and normal group. There were significant differences in the total and scores of 3 subscales between the two groups. CONCLUSION: The results of identifying factor structure in the SRI indicated 5 signifcnt factors. Among them, 3 factors can be employed for the modified form of SRI with a high internal consistency. Thus, we suggest that the SRI-MF should be a effective and valid scale to evaluate stress response in work places.