Renin-angiotensin system inhibitors prescriptions in Chinese hospitalized chronic kidney disease patients

BACKGROUND Many guidelines have recommended renin-angiotensin system inhibitors(RASI)as the first-line treatment for patients with chronic kidney disease(CKD).We studied RASI prescription trends from 2010 to 2019,and analyzed the characteristics associated with RASI prescription in Chinese hospitalized CKD patients.AIM To study the prescription of renin angiotensin system inhibitors in hospitalized patients with CKD in China.METHODS It was retrospectively,cross-sectional reviewed RASI prescriptions in hospitalized CKD patients in China from 2010 to 2019.RASI prescribing trends were analyzed from 2010 to 2019,and bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify characteristics associated with RASI prescription.RESULTS A total of 35090 CKD patients were included,with 10043(28.6%)RASI prescriptions.Among these patients,18919(53.9%)met the criteria for RASI treatments based on the 2012 kidney disease:Improving global outcomes guidelines.Of these,7246(38.3%)patients received RASI prescriptions.RASI prescriptions showed an initial rapid increase from 2011 to 2012,reached its peak around 2015 and 2016,and then exhibited a subsequent slight decreasing trend.Both bivariate and multivariate analyses showed that several characteristics,including the male gender,age less than 60-year-old,nephrology department admission,lower CKD stage,history of hypertension or diabetes,proteinuria,glomerulonephritis as the CKD etiology,and non-acute kidney injury were associated with RASI prescriptions.CONCLUSION The frequency of RASI prescriptions showed an initial increase but a slight decreasing trend in more recent years.CKD patients with certain characteristics such as elderly age,advanced disease stage,surgery department admission,or acute kidney injury were less likely to receive RASI prescriptions.In the application of RASI in hospitalized CKD patients is insufficient.The actual clinical practice needs to be improved.The development of related research is helpful to guide the correct choice of clinical treatment strategy.

基因治疗在眼底血管性疾病中的应用和展望

眼底血管性疾病,如新生血管性年龄相关性黄斑变性(nAMD)和糖尿病视网膜病变(DR)是全球范围内患者视力损害的主要病因。随着全球人口老龄化进程和糖尿病发病率的不断提高,这两种眼底疾病的患病率也将持续攀升。当前对眼底血管性疾病的治疗以眼内注射抗血管内皮生长因子(anti-VEGF)药物为主,但存在频繁注射、费用高昂、患者依从性差等问题,因此需要探寻更加持久且有效的治疗策略。基因治疗在遗传性视网膜疾病(IRDs)中的成功应用为眼底血管性疾病的治疗提供了新思路。随着多项临床试验的开展,眼底血管性疾病的基因治疗有望实现临床转化,但仍存在一些问题,包括最佳治疗靶点选择、给药途径和潜在的安全性等。本文重点阐述基因补充和基因编辑技术介导的anti-VEGF治疗在nAMD和DR中的应用和展望。

Anti-VEGF reduces inflammatory features in macular edema secondary to retinal vein occlusion

AIM: To investigate the anti-inflammatory effect of intravitreal injection of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor(anti-VEGF) in patients with macular edema secondary to retinal vein occlusion(RVO-ME).METHODS: Twenty-eight eyes from twenty-eight treatment-na?ve patients(14 males and 14 females) with RVO-ME were included in this retrospective study.The retinal vein occlusion(RVO) was comprised of both central retinal vein occlusion(CRVO,n=14) and branch retinal vein occlusion(BRVO,n=14).Intravitreal injection of anti-VEGF reagents were administered monthly for three consecutive months,in which 18 patients were injected with ranibizumab and 10 patients were injected with conbercept.All eyes were imaged with optical coherence tomography angiography(OCTA) at baseline and 1wk after monthly intravitreal anti-VEGF injection.The visual acuity(VA),central macular thickness(CMT),the number of hyperreflective foci(HRF) recognized as an inflammatory sign in OCT images,and non-perfusion area(NPA),were compared before and after anti-VEGF treatments.RESULTS: The mean interval between baseline and follow-up was 29.4±0.79(range,27-48)d.Compared with the baseline,the VA improved(log MAR 1.5±0.1 vs 0.8±0.1,P<0.05) and CMT decreased(460±34.0 μm vs 268.8±12.0 μm,P<0.05),significantly,after antiVEGF treatment.The number of HRF was decreased significantly(76.5±4.8 vs 47.8±4.3,P<0.05) after antiVEGF treatment.CONCLUSION: Anti-VEGF therapy is effective in treating RVO-ME.The mechanisms for the decreased HRF and the reduction of NPA by anti-VEGF therapy merits further exploration.

Epigenetic modifications and metabolic memory in diabetic retinopathy:beyond the surface

Epigenetics focuses on DNA methylation,histone modification,chromatin remodeling,noncoding RNAs,and other gene regulation mechanisms beyond the DNA sequence.In the past decade,epigenetic modifications have drawn more attention as they participate in the development and progression of diabetic retinopathy despite tight control of glucose levels.The underlying mechanisms of epigenetic modifications in diabetic retinopathy still urgently need to be elucidated.The diabetic condition facilitates epigenetic changes and influences target gene expression.In this review,we summarize the involvement of epigenetic modifications and metabolic memory in the development and progression of diabetic retinopathy and propose novel insights into the treatment of diabetic retinopathy.

Is Iba-1 protein expression a sensitive marker for microglia activation in experimental diabetic retinopathy?

AIM:To investigate the changes of Iba-1 and other potential markers for microglia activation in experimental diabetic retinopathy(DR).METHODS:Male Sprague-Dawley rats were rendered diabetes via intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin.The retinas were harvested at 1 to 24 wk after diabetes onset.Hypoxia-treated mouse microglial cell line(BV2 cells)was employed as the in vitro model to mimic diabetic condition.The expressions of Iba-1,CD11 b,ICAM-1 as well as the inflammatory factors were examined with real-time polymerase chain reaction,Western blot and immunofluorescence both in vivo and in vitro.RESULTS:Compared with age-matched normal control,the number of microglia(Iba-1 positive immunostaining)in diabetic rat retinas was increased from 1 to 24 wk of diabetes,which was most obvious at 12 wk of diabetes.Iba-1 protein expression detected by Western blot was increased slightly in diabetic rat retinas compared with that in age-matched normal control;however,there was statistically significant between two groups only at 2 wk after diabetes onset.The m RNA expression of Iba-1 was decreased significantly at 2 and 4 wk of diabetic rat retinas,and remained unchanged at 8 and 12 wk of diabetes.In BV2 cells,there was no significant change for the Iba-1 protein expression between normoxia and hypoxia groups;however,its m RNA level was decreased significantly under hypoxia.To further characterize microglial activation,F4/80,CD11 b and inflammatory factors were detected both in vivo and in vitro.Compared with normal control,the expressions of F4/80 and CD11 b as well as the inflammatory factors,such as ICAM-1,i NOS,COX2,IL-1βand IL-6,were increased significantly both in vivo and in vitro.CONCLUSION:Iba-1 protein expression might not be a sensitive marker to evaluate the activation of microglia in experimental DR.However,Iba-1 immunostaining,in combination with other markers like CD11 b and ICAM-1,could be well reflect the activation of microglia.Thus,it is of great importance to explore other potential marker to evaluate the activation of microglia.

A New Many-Body Expansion Scheme for Atomic Clusters:Application to Nitrogen Clusters

Although the many-body expansion(MBE)approach is widely applied to estimate the energy of large systems containing weak interactions,it is inapplicable to calculating the energies of covalent or metal clusters.In this work,we propose an interaction manybody expansion(IMBE)to calculate the energy of atomic clusters containing covalent bonds.In this approach,the energy of a system is expressed as the sum of the energy of atoms and the interaction energy between the atom and its surrounding atoms.The IMBE method is first applied to calculate the energies of nitrogen clusters,in which the interatomic interactions are truncated to four-body terms.The results show that the IMBE approach could significantly reduce the energy error for nitrogen clusters compared with the traditional MBE method.The weak size and structure dependence of the IMBE error with respect to DFT calculations indicates the IMBE method has good potential application in estimating energy of large covalent systems.

Template sacrificial controlled synthesis of hierarchical nanoporous carbon@NiCo_(2)S_(4)microspheres for high-performance hybrid supercapacitors

Binary transition metal sulfides are hotly investigated in advanced energy storage devices because of their ultra-high reversible capacity.Nevertheless,the unsatisfied rate capability and cycling stability still hinder their practical application.Herein,hierarchical nanoporous carbon@NiCo_(2)S_(4)(HNCMs@NCS)composites with coreshell flower-like structures were prepared by in situ growing of NiCo_(2)S_(4) nanosheets on HNCMs through a hydro thermal-as sis ted template sacrificial method.Benefiting from a synergistic effect between the NiCo_(2)S_(4)shell with high specific capacity and the HNCMs with unique porous structure,the synthesized flower-like HNCMs@NCS composites exhibit extraordinary electrochemical performances,including a high capacity of 346.9 mAh·g^(-1)at 1 A·g^(-1),superb rate property with86.4%initial capacity at 30 A·g^(-1)and predominant cycle stability with 81.2%capacity retention after 5000 cycles.Furthermore,the resulting HNCMs@NCS cathode was coupled with the chemical-activated HNCMs(AHNCMs)anode to construct a hybrid supercapacitor device.The asfabricated device exhibits superior energy density(49.9 Wh·kg^(-1)at 802 W·kg^(-1))and ultra-high power density(24 kW·kg^(-1)at 29.5 Wh·kg^(-1)).This fascinating result further demonstrates the tremendous prospect of the synthesized HNCMs@NCS composites as high-performance supercapacitor electrode materials.