[Features of clinical phenotype and genotype in Alport syndrome: a monocentric study].

Objective: To analyze the clinical features and gene mutation of Chinese children with Alport syndrome(AS).

Method: From May 2011 to May 2014, clinical and pathological information gathered from 25 patients was retrospectively analyzed. COL4A5, COL4A4 and COL4A3 genes were analyzed using next-generation sequencing in these patients, and gene mutations of related family members were identified by Sanger method.

[Effects of response gene to complement 32 as a new biomarker in children with acute kidney injury].

Objective: To investigate the new biomarkers of acute kidney injury, as well as to confirm the values of response gene to complement 32 (RGC-32) for early diagnosis of acute kidney injury by comparing the values of serum creatinine (Scr) and cystatin C (CysC) in children who had undergone cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB).

Method: Sixty-seven patients who had accepted CPB were recruited from the cardiac surgery intensive care unit, Children's Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University from March to June 2013 and assigned to acute kidney injury group (group AKI) or non-acute kidney injury group (group non-AKI), on the basis of the definition by the pediatric RIFLE (pRIFLE) criteria. Also 30 healthy control children were recruited.

Urinary metabolite markers of precocious puberty.

The incidence of precocious puberty (PP, the appearance of signs of pubertal development at an abnormally early age), is rapidly rising, concurrent with changes of diet, lifestyles, and social environment. The current diagnostic methods are based on a hormone (gonadotropin-releasing hormone) stimulation test, which is costly, time-consuming, and uncomfortable for patients. The lack of molecular biomarkers to support simple laboratory tests, such as a blood or urine test, has been a long standing bottleneck in the clinical diagnosis and evaluation of PP.