comparing-transperitoneal-retroperitoneal-access-percutaneous

Comparing Transperitoneal Retroperitoneal Access and Percutaneous Puncture for Lumbar Disc Degeneration Modeling in Rabbits

This study compares the efficacy of two methods for inducing intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD) in rabbits: percutaneous and trans-retroperitoneal ...

Huanggang Central Hospital

To evaluate the effects of ultrasound-guided high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) on adenomyosis.

Effective ablation therapy of adenomyosis with ultrasound-guided high-intensity focused ultrasound.

Statins are lipid-lowering therapeutics with favorable anti-inflammatory profiles and have been proposed as an adjunct therapy for COVID-19. However, statins may increase the risk of SARS-CoV-2 viral entry by inducing ACE2 expression. Here, we performed a retrospective study on 13,981 patients with COVID-19 in Hubei Province, China, among which 1,219 received statins. Based on a mixed-effect Cox model after propensity score-matching, we found that the risk for 28-day all-cause mortality was 5.2% and 9.4% in the matched statin and non-statin groups, respectively, with an adjusted hazard ratio of 0.58. The statin use-associated lower risk of mortality was also observed in the Cox time-varying model and marginal structural model analysis. These results give support for the completion of ongoing prospective studies and randomized controlled trials involving statin treatment for COVID-19, which are needed to further validate the utility of this class of drugs to combat the mortality of this pandemic.

In-Hospital Use of Statins Is Associated with a Reduced Risk of Mortality among Individuals with COVID-19.

The safety and efficacy of anti-diabetic drugs are critical for maximizing the beneficial impacts of well-controlled blood glucose on the prognosis of individuals with COVID-19 and pre-existing type 2 diabetes (T2D). Metformin is the most commonly prescribed first-line medication for T2D, but its impact on the outcomes of individuals with COVID-19 and T2D remains to be clarified. Our current retrospective study in a cohort of 1,213 hospitalized individuals with COVID-19 and pre-existing T2D indicated that metformin use was significantly associated with a higher incidence of acidosis, particularly in cases with severe COVID-19, but not with 28-day COVID-19-related mortality. Furthermore, metformin use was significantly associated with reduced heart failure and inflammation. Our findings provide clinical evidence in support of continuing metformin treatment in individuals with COVID-19 and pre-existing T2D, but acidosis and kidney function should be carefully monitored in individuals with severe COVID-19.

Metformin Is Associated with Higher Incidence of Acidosis, but Not Mortality, in Individuals with COVID-19 and Pre-existing Type 2 Diabetes.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a recently emerged respiratory infectious disease with kidney injury as a part of the clinical complications. However, the dynamic change of kidney function and its association with COVID-19 prognosis are largely unknown.

Kidney Function Indicators Predict Adverse Outcomes of COVID-19.

Corticosteroid therapy is now recommended as a treatment in patients with severe COVID-19. But one key question is how to objectively identify severely ill patients who may benefit from such therapy. Here, we assigned 12,862 COVID-19 cases from 21 hospitals in Hubei Province equally to a training and a validation cohort. We found that a neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) > 6.11 at admission discriminated a higher risk for mortality. Importantly, however, corticosteroid treatment in such individuals was associated with a lower risk of 60-day all-cause mortality. Conversely, in individuals with an NLR ≤ 6.11 or with type 2 diabetes, corticosteroid treatment was not associated with reduced mortality, but rather increased risks of hyperglycemia and infections. These results show that in the studied cohort corticosteroid treatment is associated with beneficial outcomes in a subset of COVID-19 patients who are non-diabetic and with severe symptoms as defined by NLR.

The Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio Determines Clinical Efficacy of Corticosteroid Therapy in Patients with COVID-19.

Overweight or obesity is one of the most prevalent health burdens in companion pets and predisposes subjects to multiple comorbidities and reduced longevity. Dietary management and sufficient exercise are effective options for weight loss but challenged by modern lifestyle and calorie control-triggered malnutrition. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a formulated obesity control diet characterized by protein- and fiber-rich diet and supplemented with astaxanthin. We systemically evaluated global influences of the designed weight-loss diet on metabolic homeostasis in an obese beagle model.

A protein- and fiber-rich diet with astaxanthin alleviates high-fat diet-induced obesity in beagles.

The metabolomic profile of a biofluid can be affected by age, and thus provides detailed information about the metabolic alterations in biological processes and reflects the in trinsic rule regulating the growth and developmental processes.

Comparative plasma and urine metabolomics analysis of juvenile and adult canines.

Skin aging is a complex process involving intricate genetic and environmental factors. In this study, we performed a comprehensive analysis of the transcriptional regulatory landscape of skin aging in canines. Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis (WGCNA) was employed to identify aging-related gene modules. We subsequently validated the expression changes of these module genes in single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data of human aging skin. Notably, basal cell (BC), spinous cell (SC), mitotic cell (MC), and fibroblast (FB) were identified as the cell types with the most significant gene expression changes during aging. By integrating GENIE3 and RcisTarget, we constructed gene regulation networks (GRNs) for aging-related modules and identified core transcription factors (TFs) by intersecting significantly enriched TFs within the GRNs with hub TFs from WGCNA analysis, revealing key regulators of skin aging. Furthermore, we demonstrated the conserved role of CTCF and RAD21 in skin aging using an HO-stimulated cell aging model in HaCaT cells. Our findings provide new insights into the transcriptional regulatory landscape of skin aging and unveil potential targets for future intervention strategies against age-related skin disorders in both canines and humans.

Network-based analysis identifies key regulatory transcription factors involved in skin aging.

The purpose of our study was to study the composition and content of the feline plasma metabolome revealing the critical metabolites and metabolic pathways associated with age during growth and development.

Plasma metabolomics identifies metabolic alterations associated with the growth and development of cat.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) remains relatively benign, but high-risk to end-stage liver diseases become highly prevalent when it progresses into nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Our current understanding of the development of NAFL to NASH remains insufficient. In this study, we revealed MAP kinase (MAPK) activation as the most notable molecular signature associated with NASH progression across multiple species. Furthermore, we identified suppressor of IKKε () as a conserved and potent negative controller of MAPK activation. Hepatocyte-specific overexpression of  prevented NASH progression in diet- and toxin-induced mouse NASH models. Mechanistically, SIKE directly interacted with TGF-β-activated kinase 1 (TAK1) and TAK1-binding protein 2 (TAB2) to interrupt their binding and subsequent TAK1-MAPK signaling activation. We found that indobufen markedly up-regulated  expression and effectively improved NASH features in mice and macaques. These findings identify SIKE as a MAPK suppressor that prevents NASH progression and provide proof-of-concept evidence for targeting the SIKE-TAK1 axis as a potential NASH therapy.

Article	Year
Effective ablation therapy of adenomyosis with ultrasound-guided high-intensity focused ultrasound. International journal of gynaecology and obstetrics: the official organ of the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics\| PubMed ID: 24380611	2014
In-Hospital Use of Statins Is Associated with a Reduced Risk of Mortality among Individuals with COVID-19. Cell metabolism\| PubMed ID: 32592657	2020
Metformin Is Associated with Higher Incidence of Acidosis, but Not Mortality, in Individuals with COVID-19 and Pre-existing Type 2 Diabetes. Cell metabolism\| PubMed ID: 32861268	2020
Kidney Function Indicators Predict Adverse Outcomes of COVID-19. Med (New York, N.Y.)\| PubMed ID: 33043313	2021
The Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio Determines Clinical Efficacy of Corticosteroid Therapy in Patients with COVID-19. Cell metabolism\| PubMed ID: 33421384	2021
A protein- and fiber-rich diet with astaxanthin alleviates high-fat diet-induced obesity in beagles. Frontiers in nutrition\| PubMed ID: 36352906	2022
Comparative plasma and urine metabolomics analysis of juvenile and adult canines. Frontiers in veterinary science\| PubMed ID: 36699333	2022
Network-based analysis identifies key regulatory transcription factors involved in skin aging. Experimental gerontology\| PubMed ID: 37178875	2023
Plasma metabolomics identifies metabolic alterations associated with the growth and development of cat. Animal models and experimental medicine\| PubMed ID: 37271879	2023
Multispecies transcriptomics identifies SIKE as a MAPK repressor that prevents NASH progression. Science translational medicine\| PubMed ID: 38354227	2024

Zhang Xin

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