A Stratification Approach Based on Salivary Gland Ultrasonography for Assessing Secretory Function in Sjögren Disease.

Objective: Our aim was to develop an ultrasonographic scoring model for staging hypofunction of salivary glands (SGs) in patients with Sjögren disease (SjD).

Methods: The assessment of SG secretory hypofunction was conducted by measuring whole salivary flows. B-mode ultrasonography was performed bilaterally on the parotid and submandibular glands to quantitatively evaluate the gland score and Outcome Measures in Rheumatology (OMERACT) score.

Mucin 1 aggravates synovitis and joint damage of rheumatoid arthritis by regulating inflammation and aggression of fibroblast-like synoviocytes.

Aims: To explore the synovial expression of mucin 1 (MUC1) and its role in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), as well as the possible downstream mechanisms.

Methods: Patients with qualified synovium samples were recruited from a RA cohort. Synovium from patients diagnosed as non-inflammatory orthopaedic arthropathies was obtained as control.

Forensic bone age estimation of adolescent pelvis X-rays based on two-stage convolutional neural network.

In the forensic estimation of bone age, the pelvis is important for identifying the bone age of teenagers. However, studies on this topic remain insufficient as a result of lower accuracy due to the overlapping of pelvic organs in X-ray images. Segmentation networks have been used to automate the location of key pelvic areas and minimize restrictions like doubling images of pelvic organs to increase the accuracy of estimation.

Low expression of estrogen receptor β in renal tubular epithelial cells may cause hyperuricemia in premenopausal patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

We investigated the impact of estrogen receptor (ER) expression in renal tubular epithelial cells on serum uric acid (UA) levels in premenopausal patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Thirty patients underwent renal biopsy: 18 with SLE (LN group) and 12 with IgA nephritis (IgAN group). ERs (ERα and ERβ) in renal tubular epithelial cells were measured using immunohistochemistry.

The SGK3-triggered ubiquitin-proteasome degradation of podocalyxin (PC) and ezrin in podocytes was associated with the stability of the PC/ezrin complex.

Podocyte damage is commonly accompanied by destabilization of the podocalyxin (PC)/ezrin complex. Serum- and glucocorticoid-inducible kinase 3 (SGK3) plays a role in the maintenance of podocyte function, but the details of this role are poorly understood. Herein we demonstrated that SGK3 and its downstream target protein neural precursor cell expressed developmentally downregulated protein 4 subtype 2 (Nedd4-2) triggered PC and ezrin interaction.

Lack of serum- and glucocorticoid-inducible kinase 3 leads to podocyte dysfunction.

Serum- and glucocorticoid-inducible kinase 3 (SGK3) is a downstream mediator of PI3K, which is essential for maintaining the functional integrity of podocytes. However, little is known about the role of SGK3 in podocyte function. Herein, we demonstrated that SGK3 contributes to the maintenance of podocyte integrity.

Quercetin binds to calcineurin at a similar region to cyclosporin A and tacrolimus.

Quercetin, the primary dietary flavonol, exerts a strong inhibitory effect on calcineurin (CN), a unique Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent serine/threonine protein phosphatase. Using fluorescence spectroscopy (FS) we showed quercetin strongly bound to calcineurin catalytic subunit (CNA) with a ratio of 1:1; we also showed that calcineurin regulatory subunit (CNB) weakened this binding. In addition, the secondary structure of CNA was much tighter in the presence of quercetin.

Interaction of glycyrol with calcineurin A studied by spectroscopic methods and docking.

We have shown previously that glycyrol has an inhibitory effect on the immune response in mice by reducing calcineurin activity (Li et al., 2010, Pharm Biol 48:1177–1184). Here, we investigated the interaction of glycyrol with calcineurin A (CNA, catalytic A subunit of calcineurin) by spectroscopic methods and docking.