Cardiac valve calcification prevalence and association with neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio in newly diagnosed patients with non-dialysis chronic kidney disease stage 3-5.

OBJECTIVE: Cardiac valvular calcification (CVC) is the main cause of cardiovascular disease and all-cause death in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, the relationship between Neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and CVC in patients with CKD is not clear. In this study, we aimed to investigate the prevalence of CVC in newly diagnosed patients with non-dialysis CKD stage 3-5 and evaluate the correlation between NLR and CVC. METHODS: A total of 483 newly diagnosed patients with non-dialysis CKD stage 3-5 were included. According to the presence of CVC, these patients were retrospectively divided into two groups: CVC group and non-CVC group. RESULTS: CVC was found in 80 patients (16.56 %), 53 (10.97 %) of whom had only aortic valve calcification (AVC), 18 (3.73 %) had mitral valve calcification (MVC), and 9 (1.86 %) had both AVC and MVC. The level of NLR in the CVC group was significantly higher than that in the non-CVC group (p=0.002). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that NLR was an independent risk factor for CVC (95% CI 1.017~1.225, p=0.020). ROC curve analysis showed that the area under the curve of NLR for predicting CVC was 0.610 (95% CI 0.543-0.676, p=0.002). The best cut-off point of NLR was 3.340, with a sensitivity of 49.4 % and a specificity of 70.0 %. CONCLUSION: CVC is not uncommon in newly diagnosed patients with non-dialysis CKD stage 3-5, and NLR is an independent risk factor for CVC (Tab. 4, Fig. 1, Ref. 34).

Osteopontin-enriched formula feeding improves the T-cell-dependent humoral immune responses in infant rats.

Previous studies have shown that osteopontin (OPN) can enhance infant resistance to infection. However, the underlying mechanisms remain to be explored. Here, we studied the effects of OPN on the development and functions of immune cells in infant rats fed with OPN-enriched formula (OF) compared with regular formula (RF). After 21 days feeding, the proportion of infant rats' CD3+ T cells of lymph nodes in the OF group is significantly increased compared with the RF group. The proportion of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells of lymph nodes in the OF group is closer to the breast feeding (BF) group than to the RF group. Upon immunisation with the thymus-dependent antigen ovalbumin (OVA), the concentration of OVA-specific IgG in the OF group was significantly higher than that in the RF group. Altogether OPN-enriched infant formula feeding can promote the differentiation of CD3+ T cells and improve the T-cell-dependent humoral immune responses in infant rats.

Current Advances of Nanomedicines Delivering Arsenic Trioxide for Enhanced Tumor Therapy.

Arsenic trioxide (ATO) is one of the first-line chemotherapeutic drugs for acute promyelocytic leukemia. Its anti-cancer activities against various human neoplastic diseases have been extensively studied. However, the clinical use of ATO for solid tumors is limited, and these limitations are because of severe systemic toxicity, low bioavailability, and quick renal elimination before it reaches the target site. Although without much success, several efforts have been made to boost ATO bioavailability toward solid tumors without raising its dose. It has been found that nanomedicines have various advantages for drug delivery, including increased bioavailability, effectiveness, dose-response, targeting capabilities, and safety as compared to traditional drugs. Therefore, nanotechnology to deliver ATO to solid tumors is the main topic of this review, which outlines the previous and present medical applications of ATO. We also summarised ATO anti-cancer mechanisms, limitations, and outcomes of combinatorial treatment with chemo agents. As a result, we strongly recommend conducting pre-clinical and clinical studies of ATO, especially nano-system-based ones that might lead to a novel combination therapy for cancer treatment with high efficacy, bioavailability, and low toxicity for cancer patients.

Exploring the application and mechanism of sodium hyaluronate in cryopreservation of red blood cells.

The cryopreservation of red blood cells (RBCs) is essential for transfusion therapy and maintaining the inventory of RBCs units. The existing cryoprotectants (CPAs) have many defects, and the search for novel CPAs is becoming a research hotspot. Sodium hyaluronate (SH) is polymerized from sodium glucuronate and N-acetylglucosamine, which has good water binding capacity and biocompatibility. Herein, we reported for the first time that under the action of medium molecular weight sodium hyaluronate (MSH), the thawed RBCs recovery increased from 33.1 â€‹± â€‹5.8% to 63.2 â€‹± â€‹3.5%. In addition, RBCs functions and properties were maintained normally, and the residual MSH could be removed by direct washing. When MSH was used with a very low concentration (5% v/v) of glycerol (Gly), the thawed RBCs recovery could be increased to 92.3 â€‹± â€‹4.6%. In general, 40% v/v Gly was required to achieve similar efficiency. A mathematical model was used to compare the performance of MSH, PVA and trehalose in cryopreservation, and MSH showed the best efficiency. It was found that MSH could periodically regulate the content of intracellular water through the "reservoir effect" to reduce the damages during freezing and thawing. Moreover, MSH could inhibit ice recrystallization when combined with RBCs. The high viscosity and strong water binding capacity of MSH was also conducive to reducing the content of ice. This works points out a new direction for cryopreservation of RBCs and may promote transfusion therapy in clinic.