Osteoporosis prediction in lumbar spine X-ray images using the multi-scale weighted fusion contextual transformer network.

Osteoporosis is a bone-related disease characterized by decreased bone density and mass, leading to brittle fractures. Osteoporosis assessment from radiographs using a deep learning algorithm has proven a low-cost alternative to the golden standard DXA. Due to the considerable noise and low contrast, automated diagnosis of osteoporosis in X-ray images still poses a significant challenge for traditional diagnostic methods.

Association of klotho gene polymorphism and the regulation of calcium-phosphate metabolism disorders in patients with end-stage renal disease.

Background: Klotho G-395-A gene polymorphism is associated with several diseases; however, its association with calcium-phosphate metabolism disorders in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) is unknown.

Methods: A total of 137 patients with ESRD and 80 healthy adults (control) were enrolled in the study. Patients with ESRD were divided into three subgroups: haemodialysis (A1, n = 52), peritoneal dialysis (A2, n = 30), and non-dialysis (A3, n = 55).

Pioglitazone ameliorates glomerular NLRP3 inflammasome activation in apolipoprotein E knockout mice with diabetes mellitus.

Objective: The NLRP3 inflammasome plays an important role in the pathogenesis of inflammation in diabetic nephropathy (DN). Pioglitazone (PIO) has been found to exert an anti-inflammatory effect in patients with diabetes mellitus, but it is still unclear whether PIO exhibits a similar effect in DN. We aimed to explore the effect and underlying mechanism of PIO on DN, as well as investigate if NLRP3 is a pharmacologic target of PIO.

HSP47 siRNA conjugated with cationized gelatin microspheres suppresses peritoneal fibrosis in mice.

Heat shock protein 47 (HSP47), a collagen-specific molecular chaperone, is essential for the biosynthesis and secretion of collagen and is expressed in the fibrotic peritoneum. In the present study, we evaluated the efficacy of HSP47 small interfering RNA (siRNA) to suppress the development of peritoneal fibrosis induced by chlorhexidine gluconate in mice. We initially confirmed that biodegradable cationized gelatin microspheres (CGMs) containing HSP47 siRNA could continuously release siRNA over 21 days as a result of microsphere degradation.

Suppression of renal tubulointerstitial fibrosis by small interfering RNA targeting heat shock protein 47.

Background/aim: Unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) is a well-established model for tubulointerstitial fibrosis. During the progression of tubulointerstitial fibrosis, upregulation of collagen synthesis and subsequent accumulation of collagen were observed in the tubulointerstitial area. Heat shock protein 47 (HSP47) is a collagen-specific molecular chaperone and plays an essential role in regulating collagen synthesis.

Enhanced expression of heat shock protein 47 in rat model of peritoneal fibrosis.

Objective: Peritoneal fibrosis is one of the serious complications of continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis therapy and is characterized by collagen accumulation. Heat shock protein 47 (HSP-47) is a collagen-specific molecular chaperon and is closely associated with collagen synthesis; however, the involvement of HSP-47 in the progression of peritoneal fibrosis is not fully understood.

Design: To examine the serial pathological alterations caused by peritoneal fibrosis, we made an experimental model of peritoneal fibrosis by daily intraperitoneal injection of chlorhexidine gluconate (CG) in rats for 28 days and examined the expression of HSP-47 together with that of types I and III collagen, alpha-smooth muscle actin (aSMA), and ED-1 (a marker for macrophages) using immunohistochemistry.