A Prediction Model for Acute Kidney Injury in Adult Patients With Minimal Change Disease.

Background: Early prediction of acute kidney injury (AKI) can allow for timely interventions, but there are still few methods that are easy and convenient to apply in predicting AKI, specially targeted at patients with minimal change disease (MCD). Motivated by this, we aimed to develop a predicting model for AKI in patients with MCD within the KDIGO criteria. Methods: Data on 401 hospitalized adult patients, whose biopsy was diagnosed as MCD from 12/31/2010 to 15/7/2021, were retrospectively collected. Among these data, patients underwent biopsy earlier formed the training set (n = 283), while the remaining patients formed the validation set (n = 118). Independent risk factors associated with AKI were analyzed. From this, the prediction model was developed and nomogram was plotted. Results: AKI was found in 55 of 283 patients (19%) and 15 of 118 patients (13%) in the training and validation cohorts, respectively. According to the results from lasso regression and logistic regression, it was found that four factors, including mean arterial pressure, serum albumin, uric acid, and lymphocyte counts, were independent of the onset of AKI. Incorporating these factors, the nomogram achieved a reasonably good concordance index of 0.84 (95%CI 0.77-0.90) and 0.75 (95%CI 0.62-0.87) in predicting AKI in the training and validation cohorts, respectively. Decision curve analysis suggested clinical benefit of the prediction models. Conclusions: Our predictive nomogram provides a feasible approach to identify high risk MCD patients who might develop AKI, which might facilitate the timely treatment.

Clinical features of acute kidney injury in patients with nephrotic syndrome and minimal change disease: a retrospective, cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Minimal change nephropathy (MCD) is a common pathological type of nephrotic syndrome and is often associated with acute kidney injury (AKI). This study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics and related factors of AKI in patients with MCD and nephrotic syndrome. METHODS: Patients from Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital who were diagnosed with pathological renal MCD with clinical manifestations of nephrotic syndrome were included from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2017. Patients diagnosed with membranous nephropathy (MN) by renal biopsy from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2017 are included as a control population. We retrospectively analyzed the clinical and pathological characteristics of patients as well as the percentages and clinical characteristics of AKI in different age groups. We assessed the correlation of pathological characteristics with serum creatinine using multivariate linear regression analysis. RESULTS: A total of 367 patients with MCD were included in the analysis, with a sex ratio of 1.46: 1 (male: female) and an age range of 6 to 77 years. Among all the patients, 109 developed AKI (29.7%), and of these patients, 85 were male (78.0%). In the 586 patients with MN, 27 (4.6%) patients developed AKI. The percentage of AKI in MCD patients was significantly higher than that in MN patients (χ2 = 41.063, P < 0.001). The percentage of AKI increased with age in the MCD patients. The percentage of AKI in patients aged 50 years or older was 52.9% (46/87), which was significantly higher than that [22.5% (63/280)] in patients under 50 years (χ2 = 6.347, P = 0.013). We observed statistically significant differences in age (43 [27, 59] years vs. 28 [20, 44] years, Z = 5.487, P < 0.001), male (78.0% vs. 51.4%, χ2 = 22.470, P < 0.001), serum albumin (19.9 ±â€Š6.1 g/L vs. 21.5 ±â€Š5.7 g/L, t = 2.376, P = 0.018), serum creatinine (129.5 [105.7, 171.1] µmol/L vs. 69.7 [57.7, 81.9] µmol/L, Z = 14.190, P < 0.001), serum urea (10.1 [6.2, 15.8] mmol/L vs. 4.7 [3.6, 6.4] mmol/L, Z = 10.545, P < 0.001), IgE (266.0 [86.7, 963.0] IU/ml vs. 142.0 [35.3, 516.5] IU/ml, Z = 2.742, P = 0.007), history of diabetes (6.4% vs. 1.2%, P = 0.009), and history of hypertension (23.9% vs. 5.1%, χ2 = 28.238, P < 0.001) between the AKI group and the non-AKI group. According to multivariate linear regression analysis, among the renal pathological features analyzed, renal tubular epithelial cell damage (ß = 178.010, 95% CI: 147.888-208.132, P < 0.001) and renal interstitial edema (ß = 28.833, 95% CI: 11.966-45.700, P = 0.001) correlated with serum creatinine values. CONCLUSIONS: The percentage of AKI in MCD patients is significantly higher than that in MN patients. Patients over 50 years old are more likely to develop AKI. Renal tubular epithelial cell injury and renal interstitial edema may be the main pathological lesions that are associated with elevated serum creatinine in patients with MCD.

QTL mapping based on the embryo and maternal genetic systems for non-essential amino acids in rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) meal.

BACKGROUND: Non-essential amino acids are a good source of nitrogen and also very important contributors to the metabolic process. Analysis of quantitative trait locus (QTL) simultaneously located on the amphidiploid embryo and maternal plant nuclear genomes for non-essential amino acid contents in rapeseed meal across different environments was conducive to further clarify the genetic mechanism of seed quality traits. RESULTS: Twenty-eight QTLs associated with arginine (five QTLs), histidine (four QTLs), glutamic acid (three QTLs), glycine (three QTLs), proline (three QTLs), alanine (four QTLs) and aspartic acid (six QTLs) contents were identified in present study. All of these QTLs had significant additive main effects from embryo and maternal plant nuclear genomes with eight of them showing significant embryo dominance main effects and 12 showing notable QTL × environment interaction effects. Among them, 12 QTLs were major QTLs which could explain 13.27-35.71% of the phenotypic variation. Specially, five QTL clusters associated with several QTLs related to multiple traits were distributed on chromosomes A1, A4, A5, A7 and C2. CONCLUSION: Non-essential amino acids in rapeseed meal could be simultaneously controlled by the genetic effects from the QTLs which were located on the chromosomes both in the embryo and maternal plant genetic systems.

Terminal repeat retrotransposon in miniature (TRIM) as DNA markers in Brassica relatives.

We have developed a display system using a unique sequence of terminal repeat retrotransposon in miniature (TRIM) elements, which were recently identified from gene-rich regions of Brassica rapa. The technique, named TRIM display, is based on modification of the AFLP technique using an adapter primer for the restriction fragments of BfaI and a primer derived from conserved terminal repeat sequences of TRIM elements, Br1 and Br2. TRIM display using genomic DNA produced 50-70 bands ranging from 100 to 700 bp in all the species of the family Brassicaceae. TRIM display using B. rapa cDNA produced about 20 bands. Sequences of 11 randomly selected bands, 7 from genomic DNA and 4 from cDNA, begin with about 104 bp of the terminal repeat sequences of TRIM elements Br1 or Br2 and end with unique sequences indicating that all bands are derived from unique insertion sites of TRIM elements. Furthermore, 7 of the 11 unique sequences showed significant similarity with expressed gene. Most of the TRIM display bands were polymorphic between genera and about 55% (132 of 239 bands) are polymorphic among 19 commercial F1 hybrid cultivars. Analysis of phylogenetic relationships shows clear-cut lineage among the 19 cultivars. Furthermore, a combination of 11 polymorphic bands derived from only one primer combination can clearly distinguish one cultivar from the others. TRIM display bands were reproducible and inheritable through successive generations that is revealed by genetic mapping of 6 out of 27 polymorphic TRIM markers on the genetic map of Brassica napus. Collective data provide evidence that TRIM display can provide useful DNA markers in Brassica relatives because these markers are distributed in gene-rich regions, and are sometimes involved in the restructuring of genes.

[Transcriptional regulation of plant genes and its significance in biology].

A change of gene expression pattern, especially at a transcriptional level, is one of the most important motivities for plant variation. In this study, the modes of gene transcriptional regulation in plant were systematically described from genetics and epigenetics aspects, respectively, as well as their significances to plant divergence and evolution. Based on the current knowledge, the prospects, applications and problems in this area were analyzed.

RFLP and AFLP analysis of inter- and intraspecific variation of Brassica rapa and B. napus shows that B. rapa is an important genetic resource for B. napus improvement.

Fingerprinting of 29 accessions of oilseed rape, including seven accessions of Brassica napus, and 22 accessions of B. rapa (B. campestris) from Europe, North America, and China was analyzed using RFLP and AFLP markers. In total, 1,477 polymorphic RFLP bands and 183 polymorphic AFLP bands from 166 enzyme-probe combinations and two pairs of AFLP primers, respectively, were scored for the 29 accessions. On average, RFLP analysis showed that the Arabidopsis EST probe detected more polymorphic bands in Brassica than the random genomic probe performed. More polymorphic RFLP markers were detected with the digestion of EcoR I or BamH I than HindIII. According to the number of bands amplified from each accession, the copy numbers of each gene in the genomes of B. rapa and B. napus were estimated. The average copy numbers in B. rapa of China, B. rapa of Europe, and B. napus, were 3.2, 3.1, and 2.9, respectively. Genetic distance based on the AFLP data was well correlated with that based on the RFLP data (r = 0.72, P<0.001), but 0.39 smaller on average. Genetic diversity analysis showed that Chinese B. rapa was more polymorphic than Chinese B. napus and European materials. Some European B. napus accessions were clustered into European B. rapa, which were distinctly different from Chinese B. napus. The larger variations of Chinese accessions of B. rapa suggest that they are valuable in oilseed rape breeding. Novel strategies to use intersubgenomic heterosis between genome of B. rapa (A(r)A(r)) and genome of B. napus (A(n)A(n)C(n)C(n)) were elucidated.

QTL mapping of seed coat color for yellow seeded Brassica napus.

The development of yellow-seeded varieties of Brassica napus for improving the oilseed quality characteristics of lower fiber content and higher protein and oil content has been a major focus of breeding researches worldwide in recent years. With the black-seeded 'Youyan 2' as male and the yellow-seeded GH06 as female parents respectively, F2 population of 132 individuals were obtained. A linkage map was constructed with 164 markers including 125 AFLP, 37 SSR, 1 RAPD and 1 SCAR markers distributed over 19 linkage groups covering approximately 2 549.8 cM with an average spacing of 15.55 cM. Two loci located on the 5th and 19th group were detected for the trait of seed coat color based on the linkage group using multiple interval mapping method and explained 46% and 30.9% of the phenotypic variation, respectively.

[MapDraw: a microsoft excel macro for drawing genetic linkage maps based on given genetic linkage data].

MAPMAKER is one of the most widely used computer software package for constructing genetic linkage maps.However, the PC version, MAPMAKER 3.0 for PC, could not draw the genetic linkage maps that its Macintosh version, MAPMAKER 3.0 for Macintosh,was able to do. Especially in recent years, Macintosh computer is much less popular than PC. Most of the geneticists use PC to analyze their genetic linkage data. So a new computer software to draw the same genetic linkage maps on PC as the MAPMAKER for Macintosh to do on Macintosh has been crying for. Microsoft Excel,one component of Microsoft Office package, is one of the most popular software in laboratory data processing. Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is one of the most powerful functions of Microsoft Excel. Using this program language, we can take creative control of Excel, including genetic linkage map construction, automatic data processing and more. In this paper, a Microsoft Excel macro called MapDraw is constructed to draw genetic linkage maps on PC computer based on given genetic linkage data. Use this software,you can freely construct beautiful genetic linkage map in Excel and freely edit and copy it to Word or other application. This software is just an Excel format file. You can freely copy it from ftp://211.69.140.177 or ftp://brassica.hzau.edu.cn and the source code can be found in Excel's Visual Basic Editor.

[Integration of DNA clones related to important economic traits of Brassica napus onto Arabidopsis genetic map].

Arbidopsis thaliana and Brassica oilcrops are closely related species in Brassicae, Cruciferae, and show highly homologous genomes. After a serial important agronomic characteristics of Brassica napus being mapped with probes from EST clones of Arabidopsis and DNA clones of rapeseed, DNA segment sequencing was performed with 25 clones which were found to be closely linked to the CMS restore gene, the boron efficiency gene (BE1), the Sclerotinia resistant QTLs and the characteristic of interspecific biomass heterosis in rapeseed respectively. Highly homologous sequences were found in Arabidopsis genome by searching the relative databases. According to the position of homologous sequences on the chromosomes of Arabidopsis, the 25 clones were integrated into the genetic map of Arabidopsis. Two markers flanking BE1 in B. napus were integrated into a narrow region at the short arm of chromosome 1 of Arabidopsis. One of EST clones, pA24, from this region was used as a probe to map B. napus and consequently been integrated in a position between the two flanking markers of BE1. This event increased the confident for one to map the important characteristics of cultured Brassica species via reciprocal comparative mapping between Arabidopsis and target Brassica crops.