Search

The repair of the nervous system after hypoxic-ischemic brain damage (HIBD) in neonates lacks specific therapeutic approaches, posing a challenge and hot topic in the medical field. Autophagy, as a cellular self-repair mechanism, plays a role through different signaling pathways at different stages, yet its specific roles and mechanisms in different stages of HIBD remain unclear. This article reviews the recent research advancements on autophagy in different neonatal HIBD stages: heightened autophagic activity manifests during the acute hypoxic-ischemic phase, with its neuroprotective or deleterious impact subject to ongoing debate; during the subacute and chronic phases, autophagy exert dual effects on neuronal death and repair; in sequelae period, autophagy-related studies are still insufficient, but the expression levels of autophagy-related genes (ATG) in children with cerebral palsy suggest both positive and negative aspects of autophagy post-HIBD. Collectively, optimal autophagic flux facilitates the elimination of detrimental substrates and toxic proteins, thereby engendering neuroprotection. Further studies on the roles and mechanisms of autophagy in HIBD therapy holds promise for devising efficacious preventative and therapeutic strategies rooted in autophagy, and to improve the survival rate and quality of life of the children.

Background and Aims: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), mainly categorized into Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), is a chronic relapsing gastrointestinal disorder that significantly impairs patients' quality of life. IBD patients often experience comorbidities such as anxiety and depression, and the underlying mechanisms and treatment strategies remain areas of investigation., Methods: We conducted a Mendelian randomization(MR) analysis utilizing brain image derived phenotypes (IDP) from the UK Biobank database to investigate the causal relationships between IBD and alterations in brain structural morphology and connectivity of neural tracts. This study aimed to identify biological evidence linking IBD to psychiatric disorders such as anxiety and depression., Results: Specifically, the volume of grey matter in the Left Frontal Orbital Cortex exhibited a negative association with the onset of Crohn's disease (odds ratio (OR) [95% confidence interval (CI)]: 0.315[0.180~0.551], adjusted P=0.001), while the volume of the superior frontal cortex in the right hemisphere showed a positive correlation with the development of Ulcerative colitis (OR [95% CI]: 2.285[1.793~2.911], adjusted P<0.001), and the volume of lateral occipital cortex in the left hemisphere demonstrated a positive relationship with Crohn's disease onset (OR [95% CI]: 1.709[1.671~1.747], adjusted P<0.001). In the context of reverse causality, the onset of UC or CD has led to alterations in imaging derived phenotypes associated with five disorders (anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, pain) and three functions (memory, emotion, language)., Conclusion: Our study has demonstrated a causal relationship between IBD and IDPs. IDPs may serve as potential biomarkers for the progression of IBD and as predictive intermediaries for the development of neurological diseases in IBD patients., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Li, Zhao, Tang, Liu, Wang, Wang, Han, Xu, Chang and Li.)

Deafness gene variants play a key role in inner ear malformations. However, the relationship between congenital middle ear malformations and common deafness genes (GJB2, SLC26A4, and mtDNA) in profound sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) child patients remains poorly investigated. Here we showed that there was no statistical significance in the total mutation frequency of the three common deafness genes in the middle ear malformation group (21.2%, 41/193) in comparison with the normal middle ear and inner ear group (21.0%, 116/553) (χ 2 = 0.0061, p = 0.940). Moreover, the mutation ratio of GJB2 and SLC26A4 in the middle ear malformation group (18.7%, 36/193; 2.6%, 5/193) was not significantly different from that in the normal middle ear and inner ear group (17.7%, 98/553; 2.4%, 13/553) (χ 2 = 0.084, p = 0.772; χ 2 = 0.0000, p = 1.000). The mutation ratio of GJB2 235delC and GJB2 79G>A in the middle ear malformation group (8.8%, 17/193; 8.8%, 17/193) was almost the same to that in the normal middle ear and inner ear group (8.6%, 48/553; 6.7%, 37/553) (χ 2 = 0.0030, p = 0.957; χ 2 = 0.9556, p = 0.328). The high jugular bulb subgroup analysis also showed the same results. Our findings suggested that GJB2, SLC26A4, and mtDNA mutations might not be related to the middle ear malformations in profound SNHL child patients. Anat Rec, 303:594-599, 2020. © 2019 American Association for Anatomy., (© 2019 American Association for Anatomy.)

Objective: The intent of this study was to evaluate the clinical outcome and risk factors affecting mortality of the continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients in a single peritoneal dialysis (PD) center over a period of 10 years., Patients and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed patients on PD from June 2001 to June 2011. The clinical and biochemical data were collected from the medical records. Clinical variables included gender, age at the start of PD, smoking status, body mass index (BMI), cause of end-stage renal disease (ESRD), presence of diabetes mellitus and blood pressure. Biochemical variables included hemoglobin, urine volume, residual renal function (RRF), serum albumin, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine, total cholesterol, triglyceride, comorbidities, and outcomes. Survival curves were made by the Kaplan-Meier method. Univariate and multivariate analyses to identify mortality risk factors were performed using the Cox proportional hazard regression model., Results: A total of 421 patients were enrolled, 269 of whom were male (63.9%). The mean age at the start of PD was 57.9 ± 14.8 years. Chronic glomerulonephritis was the most common cause of ESRD (39.4%). Estimation of patient survival by Kaplan-Meier was 92.5%, 80.2%, 74.4%, and 55.7% at 1, 3, 5, and 10 years, respectively. Patient survival was associated with age (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.641 [1.027 - 2.622], p = 0.038), cardiovascular disease (HR: 1.731 [1.08 - 2.774], p = 0.023), hypertriglyceridemia (HR: 1.782 [1.11 - 2.858], p = 0.017) in the Cox proportional hazards model analysis. Estimation of technique survival by Kaplan-Meier was 86.7%, 68.8%, 55.7%, and 37.4% at 1, 3, 5, and 10 years, respectively. In the Cox proportional hazards model analysis, age (HR: 1.672 [1.176 - 2.377], p = 0.004) and hypertriglyceridemia (HR: 1.511 [1.050 - 2.174], p = 0.026) predicted technique failure., Conclusion: The PD patients in our center exhibited comparable or even superior patient survival and technical survival rates, compared with reports from other centers in China and other countries., (Copyright © 2015 International Society for Peritoneal Dialysis.)