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Clinical studies have shown that hyperglycemia can induce early‐stage diabetic nephropathy (DN). Furthermore, oxidative stress, tubular epithelial‐mesenchymal transition and extracellular matrix accumulation promote the progression of DN to chronic kidney disease and tubulointerstitial fibrosis. It is necessary to initiate treatment at the early stages of DN or even during the early stages of diabetes. In this work, rats with streptozotocin (STZ)‐induced diabetes mellitus (DM) presented early DN symptoms within 45 days, and collagen accumulation in the glomerulus of the rats was primarily mediated through the RhoA/ROCK pathway instead of the TGF‐β signaling pathway. Resveratrol (15 mg/kg/day) and ramipril (10 mg/kg/day) co‐treatment of STZ‐induced DN rats showed that glomerulosclerosis in early‐stage DN was reversible (P < .05 compared with that in STZ‐induced DM rats). The results of this study support early intervention in diabetes or DN as a more efficient therapeutic strategy.

Background: Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease. Many studies demonstrated that hyperglycemia is not only increased inflammatory response, but also is a cause of atherosclerosis, implying that glucose metabolic status may be an important stratification factor when analyzing the relationship between inflammatory levels and subclinical carotid atherosclerosis. The aim of the present study is to assess the relationship between inflammatory levels and subclinical carotid atherosclerosis, stratified by different glucose metabolic status in a general population.Methods: An assessment was performed in 7975 participants living in Tianjin, China. In the present study, we examined subclinical carotid atherosclerosis, as defined by increased carotid intima-media thickness [IMT] and plaques. Measurements were performed using a carotid artery B-mode ultrasound system. The glucose metabolic status was defined by the criteria of the American Diabetes Association, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) as an inflammatory indicator, was measured by immunoturbidimetric assay. Multiple logistic models were used to assess a stratified relationship between hs-CRP levels and subclinical carotid atherosclerosis.Strata were defined according to glucose metabolic status.Results: The prevalence of increased IMT and plaques were 27.3% and 21.3%, respectively. The adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence interval) for IMT across hs-CRP quartiles were as follows:

OBJECTIVE To investigate whether L-isoleucine was effective in the treatment of hot flushes and whether L-isoleucine, L-valine, or the combination of both amino acids reduced fasting serum homocysteine. METHODS After a 1-week baseline period, 100 postmenopausal women experiencing at least five moderate-severe hot flushes per day were randomized with equal probability to one of four groups (phase 1/phase 2): placebo/L-valine, placebo/L-valine and L-isoleucine, L-isoleucine/L-valine, and L-isoleucine/L-valine and L-isoleucine. Phase 1 was 12 weeks long, and phase 2 was 10 weeks long. Patients took five capsules by mouth, twice a day throughout the study, with each capsule containing 500 mg of compound. Data were obtained from daily hot flush diaries, fasting blood work, and several questionnaires. The primary outcome variable was the percent change in hot flush composite score from baseline to week 12. RESULTS In phase 1 of the study, there were no significant differences between the L-isoleucine and placebo groups for any of the outcome measures. At week 12, there was a mean 13.9% decrease in hot flush composite score compared with baseline in the L-isoleucine group and a mean 25% decrease in the placebo group (P=.28). In phase 2 of the study, there was no significant change in fasting serum homocysteine levels associated with any of the amino acid therapies. CONCLUSION L-isoleucine therapy appears to be ineffective in the treatment of hot flushes in postmenopausal women. L-isoleucine and L-valine, either alone or in combination, appear to have no effect on fasting serum homocysteine levels.