Apelin/APJ alleviates diabetic nephropathy by improving glomerular endothelial cells dysfunction via SIRT3‑KLF15.

Glomerular basement membrane (GBM) thickening, the earliest morphological change of diabetic nephropathy (DN), is related to glomerular endothelial cells (GECs) dysfunction which increase extracellular matrix (ECM) synthesizing. Apelin, the endogenous ligand for apelin/apelin receptor (APJ), is reported to alleviate endothelial cell dysfunction in DN. Therefore, it was hypothesized that apelin/APJ reduced GBM thickening by decreasing the synthesis of ECM in GECs.

Soluble RAGE attenuates myocardial I/R injury by suppressing interleukin-6.

Background: Inflammatory responses play a central role in myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Previous studies have demonstrated that the receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) is involved in the pro-inflammatory process of myocardial I/R injury by binding to diverse ligands. Thus, the inhibitory effects of soluble receptor for advanced glycation end-products (sRAGE), a decoy receptor for RAGE, on myocardial I/R injury may be associated with a reduced inflammatory state.

ANGPTL3 accelerates atherosclerotic progression via direct regulation of M1 macrophage activation in plaque.

Introduction: The N-terminal domain of angiopoietin-like protein 3 (ANGPTL3) inhibits lipoprotein lipase activity. Its C-terminal fibrinogen-like (FBN) domain is a ligand of macrophage integrin αvβ3.

Objectives: ANGPTL3 might home to plaque where it directly regulates macrophage function via integrin αvβ3 for atherosclerosis progression.

Immunogenicity profiling and distinct immune response in liver transplant recipients vaccinated with SARS-CoV-2 inactivated vaccines.

SARS-CoV-2 vaccination has been recommended for liver transplant (LT) recipients. However, our understanding of inactivated vaccine stimulation of the immune system in regulating humoral and cellular immunity among LT recipients is inadequate. Forty-six LT recipients who received two-dose inactivated vaccines according to the national vaccination schedule were enrolled.

Corrigendum to "Usnea Acid as Multidrug Resistance (MDR) Reversing Agent against Human Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia K562/ADR Cells via an ROS Dependent Apoptosis".

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1155/2019/8727935.].

Diabetic Bone Marrow Cell Injection Accelerated Acute Pancreatitis Progression.

Acute pancreatitis (AP) is one of the leading causes of hospital admission, 20% of which could progress to the severe type with extensive acinar cell necrosis. Clinical studies have reported that diabetes is an independent risk factor of the incidence of AP and is associated with higher severity than nondiabetic subjects. However, how diabetes participates in AP progression is not well defined.

A preliminary study on the characteristics of Th1/Th2 immune response in cerebrospinal fluid of AIDS patients with cryptococcal meningitis.

Background: Cryptococcal Meningitis (CM) is a common opportunistic infection in the late stage of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Despite the wide use of effective antiretroviral and antifungal therapy in AIDS patients, CM is still a major morbidity and mortality cause. Understanding the immune response in cryptococcal infection may help to improve the treatment strategies.

Longitudinal Profiling of Antibody Response in Patients With COVID-19 in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Beijing, China.

The novel coronavirus named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) caused a global pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which elicits a wide variety of symptoms, ranging from mild to severe, with the potential to lead to death. Although used as the standard method to screen patients for SARS-CoV-2 infection, real-time PCR has challenges in dealing with asymptomatic patients and those with an undetectable viral load. Serological tests are therefore considered potent diagnostic tools to complement real-time PCR-based diagnosis and are used for surveillance of seroprevalence in populations.

Apelin/APJ relieve diabetic cardiomyopathy by reducing microvascular dysfunction.

Microcirculatory injuries had been reported to be involved in diabetic cardiomyopathy, which was mainly related to endothelial cell dysfunction. Apelin, an adipokine that is upregulated in diabetes mellitus, was reported to improve endothelial cell dysfunction and attenuate cardiac insufficiency induced by ischemia and reperfusion. Therefore, it is hypothesized that apelin might be involved in alleviating endothelial cell dysfunction and followed cardiomyopathy in diabetes mellitus.

Lower Circulating Interferon-Gamma Is a Risk Factor for Lung Fibrosis in COVID-19 Patients.

Cytokine storm resulting from SARS-CoV-2 infection is one of the leading causes of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and lung fibrosis. We investigated the effect of inflammatory molecules to identify any marker that is related to lung fibrosis in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Seventy-six COVID-19 patients who were admitted to Youan Hospital between January 21 and March 20, 2020 and recovered were recruited for this study.

[Progress on the role of integrin in tumor immunity: Review].

Integrins are transmembrane glycoproteins expressed on the surface of various cells. They can conduct bidirectional signal transduction across cell membranes, exchange information between extracellular matrix proteins and intracellular molecules, and regulate cell adhesion and activation. During cancer development, integrins mediate crucial regulatory functions in anti-tumor response including tumor antigen uptake, activation of tumor-specific T cells, leukocyte trafficking into the tumor site and tumor cell killing.

The inhibition of IL-2/IL-2R gives rise to CD8 T cell and lymphocyte decrease through JAK1-STAT5 in critical patients with COVID-19 pneumonia.

Although most patients with COVID-19 pneumonia have a good prognosis, some patients develop to severe or critical illness, and the mortality of critical cases is up to 61.5%. However, specific molecular information about immune response in critical patients with COVID-19 is poorly understood.

Downregulated Gene Expression Spectrum and Immune Responses Changed During the Disease Progression in Patients With COVID-19.

Background: The World Health Organization characterizes novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), as a pandemic. Here, we investigated the clinical, cytokine levels; T-cell proportion; and related gene expression occurring in patients with COVID-19 on admission and after initial treatment.

Methods: Eleven patients diagnosed with COVID-19 with similar initial treatment regimens were enrolled in the hospital.

Progress and prospects of biomarkers in primary liver cancer (Review).

Tumor biomarkers are important in the early screening, diagnosis, therapeutic evaluation, recurrence and prognosis prediction of tumors. Primary liver cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors; it has high incidence and mortality rates and seriously endangers human health. The main pathological types of primary liver cancer include hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) and combined HCC‑cholangiocarcinoma (cHCC‑CC).

Usnea Acid as Multidrug Resistance (MDR) Reversing Agent against Human Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia K562/ADR Cells via an ROS Dependent Apoptosis.

Purpose: Multidrug resistance (MDR) is a major obstacle in chemotherapy of leukemia treatments. In this paper, we investigated Usnea Acid (UA) as MDR reversal agent on hematologic K562/ADR cells via ROS dependent apoptosis.

Methods: CCK8 assay was used to measure cell viability rate of K562/ADR.

Apelin inhibited epithelial-mesenchymal transition of podocytes in diabetic mice through downregulating immunoproteasome subunits β5i.

The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of podocytes had been reported to be involved in the glomerular fibrosis in diabetic kidney diseases, which was regulated by TGFβ and NFκB pathways. And apelin, an adipokine which is upregulated in diabetic kidney diseases, was reported to be negatively correlated to TGFβ in polycystic kidney disease and attenuate EMT in renal tubular cells. Therefore, it is hypothesized that apelin might inhibit the EMT of podocytes through downregulating the expression and activation of TGFβ/Smad pathway in diabetic kidney diseases.

Utilization of waste nylon wire in stone matrix asphalt mixtures.

A lot of waste nylon wires are produced during the production of brush wire products such as toothbrush, hairbrush, paintbrush, and so on. How to recycle and reuse waste nylon wire is a new problem This research presents a study of the behavior of waste nylon wire on Stone Matrix Asphalt (SMA) mixtures using Marshall design method. The specimens were tested using several common laboratory test procedures: Marshall stability test, rutting test, three-point flexural test and moisture susceptibility test.

Apelin impairs myogenic response to induce diabetic nephropathy in mice.

The cause of the invalid reaction of smooth muscle cells to mechanical stimulation that results in a dysfunctional myogenic response that mediates the disruption of renal blood flow (RBF) in patients with diabetes is debatable. The present study revealed that increased apelin concentration in serum of diabetic mice neutralized the myogenic response mediated by apelin receptor (APJ) and resulted in increased RBF, which promoted the progression of diabetic nephropathy. The results showed that apelin concentration, RBF, and albuminuria:creatinine ratio were all increased in kkAy mice, and increased RBF correlated positively with serum apelin both in C57 and diabetic mice.

Differential effects of reticulophagy and mitophagy on nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Autophagy affects the pathological progression of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD); however, the precise role of autophagy in NAFLD remains unclear. In this study, we want to identify the role of autophagy including reticulophagy and mitophagy in NAFLD pathogenesis. When HepG2 cells were treated with 400 μM oleic acid (OA), increased reticulophagy was induced 8 h after treatment, which correlated with an anti-apoptotic response as shown by the activation of the PI3K/AKT pathway, an increase in BCL-2 expression, and the downregulation of OA-induced lipotoxicity.

The Δ133p53 Isoform Reduces Wtp53-induced Stimulation of DNA Pol γ Activity in the Presence and Absence of D4T.

Unlabelled: The mitochondrial toxicity of nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) is due to the inhibition of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) polymerase γ (pol γ). Previous studies have shown that wild type p53 (wtp53) can interact with pol γ and mtDNA to enhance mitochondrial DNA base excision repair (mtBER) activity and increase the accuracy of DNA synthesis. The N-terminal transactivation domain and central specific DNA-binding domain of p53 play critical roles in the stimulation of BER.

Copper chelation by trientine dihydrochloride inhibits liver RFA-induced inflammatory responses in vivo.

Objective: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer and the third most common cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is currently performed widely for managing HCC. RFA treatment causes damage around the ablation.