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Background. Increasing evidences have reported gut microbiota dysbiosis in many diseases, including chronic kidney disease and pediatric idiopathic nephrotic syndrome (INS). There is lack evidence of intestinal microbiota dysbiosis in adults with INS, however. Here, we to address the association between the gut microbiome and INS. Methods. Stool samples of 35 adult INS patients and 35 healthy volunteers were collected. Total bacterial DNA was extracted, and the V4 regions of the bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA gene were sequenced. The fecal microbiome was analyzed using bioinformatics. The correlation analysis between altered taxa and clinical parameters was also included. Results. We found that microbial diversity in the gut was reduced in adult patients with INS. Acidobacteria, Negativicutes, Selenomonadales, Veillonellaceae, Clostridiaceae, Dialister, Rombousia, Ruminiclostridium, Lachnospira, Alloprevotella, Clostridium sensu stricto, Megamonas, and Phascolarctobacterium were significantly reduced, while Pasteurellales, Parabacteroides, Bilophila, Enterococcus, Eubacterium ventriosum, and Lachnoclostridium were markedly increased in patients with INS. In addition, Burkholderiales, Alcaligenaceae, and Barnesiella were negatively correlated with serum creatinine. Blood urea nitrogen levels were positively correlated with Christensenellaceae, Bacteroidales_S24.7, Ruminococcaceae, Ruminococcus, and Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136, but were negatively correlated with Flavonifractor_plautii and Erysipelatoclostridium_ramosum. Enterobacteriales, Enterobacteriaceae, Porphyromonadaceae, Escherichia/Shigella, Parabacteroides, and Escherichia_coli were positively correlated with albumin. Proteinuria was positively correlated with Verrucomicrobia, Coriobacteriia, Thermoleophilia, Ignavibacteria, Coriobacteriales, Nitrosomonadales, Coriobacteriaceae, and Blautia, but was negatively correlated with Betaproteobacteria, Burkholderiales, and Alcaligenaceae. Conclusion. Our findings show compositional alterations of intestinal microbiota in adult patients with INS and correlations between significantly altered taxa and clinical parameters, which points out the direction for the development of new diagnostics and therapeutic approaches targeted intestinal microbiota. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Neodymium (Nd) substituted bismuth titanate (Bi4−x Nd x Ti3O12, BNTO-x) nanoplates inlaid one another were prepared by sol–gel hydrothermal method, which was explored for protein immobilization and biosensor fabrication. Comparative experiments witnessed that Bi3+ ions in bismuth titanate (Bi4Ti3O12, BTO) were successfully substituted with Nd3+ ions, and the electrochemical properties of the Hb–Chi–BNTO biosensors closely depended on the Nd3+ ion content. With increasing the Nd3+ doping content, the electrochemical performance of the Hb–Chi–BNTO-x biosensors showed regularly variable. Moreover, compared with the Hb–Chi–BTO and other Hb–Chi–BNTO-x biosensors, the Hb–Chi–BNTO-0.85 biosensor had more excellent electrochemical and electrocatalytic properties such as stronger redox peak currents (approximately three-fold), smaller peak-to-peak separation (50mV), larger heterogeneous electron transfer rate (14.1±3.8s−1), higher surface concentration of electroactive redox protein (about 8.16×10−11 mol/cm2), and better reproducibility and stability. The Nd-depended electrochemical properties of the Hb–Chi–BNTO biosensors may open up a new idea for designing third-generation electrochemical biosensors, and the BNTO-0.85-based biosensor is also expected to find potential applications in many areas such as biomedical, food, and environmental detection. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

BACKGROUND: The new type Palindrome H-heparin-coated dialysis catheter is supposed to reduce the incidence of catheter-related infection and catheter dysfunction. However, the effect of this new type catheter on the systemic coagulation function is little reported. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of the new type heparin-coated dialysis catheter of Palindrome H on the systemic coagulation function in hemodialysis patients. METHODS: Patients who underwent maintenance hemodialysis and could not establish internal fistula at Blood Purification Center of the First People's Hospital of Foshan from January 2014 to June 2016 were enrolled. All participants were divided into Palindrome H heparin-coated and Permcath noncoated groups depending on the catheter type. The blood platelet count, prothrombin time, international normalized ratio, activated partial thromboplastin time, thrombin time and fibrinogen degradation products were detected and compared between two groups. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the First People's Hospital of Foshan, approval No. L[2014]5. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Sixty patients were involved in the study (28 patients used the Palindrome H-heparin-coated catheter and 32 patients used Permcath noncoated catheter). All patients were followed up for 30 months. The final measurement outcome was the average value at 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27 and 30 months after surgery. No significant difference was found in the blood platelet count, prothrombin time, international normalized ratio, activated partial thromboplastin time, thrombin time or fibrinogen degradation products between two groups (P > 0.05). No heparin induced thrombocytopenia was observed in all participants. Therefore, in clinical practice, the new type Palindrome H-heparin-coated dialysis catheters makes no effect on the systemic coagulation function compared with noncoated catheter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heart damage is widely present in patients with chronic kidney disease. Salt diet is the most important environmental factor affecting development of chronic renal failure and cardiovascular diseases. The proteins involved in chronic kidney disease -induced heart damage, especially their posttranslational modifications, remain largely unknown to date. Sprague-Dawley rats underwent 5/6 nephrectomy (chronic renal failure model) or sham operation were treated for 2 weeks with a normal-(0.4% NaCl), or high-salt (4% NaCl) diet. We employed TiO2 enrichment, iTRAQ labeling and liquid-chromatography tandem mass spectrometry strategy for phosphoproteomic profiling of left ventricular free walls in these animals. A total of 1724 unique phosphopeptides representing 2551 non-redundant phosphorylation sites corresponding to 763 phosphoproteins were identified. During normal salt feeding, 89 (54%) phosphopeptides upregulated and 76 (46%) phosphopeptides downregulated in chronic renal failure rats relative to sham rats. In chronic renal failure rats, high salt intake induced upregulation of 84 (49%) phosphopeptides and downregulation of 88 (51%) phosphopeptides. Database searches revealed that most of the identified phospholproteins were important signaling molecules such as protein kinases, receptors and phosphatases. These phospholproteins were involved in energy metabolism, cell communication, cell differentiation, cell death and other biological processes. The Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes analysis revealed functional links among 15 significantly regulated phosphoproteins in chronic renal failure rats compared to sham group, and 23 altered phosphoproteins induced by high salt intake. The altered phosphorylation levels of two proteins involved in heart damage, lamin A and phospholamban were validated. Expression of the downstream genes of these two proteins, desmin and SERCA2a, were also analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]