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Background The optimal choice of treatment, with hemodialysis (HD) or peritoneal dialysis (PD), for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients, is still controversial. Only a few studies comparing HD and PD have been conducted in China, which has the largest number of dialysis patients in the world. Methods A retrospective cohort study was conducted on ESRD patients who began renal replacement treatment from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2017 in Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine. Propensity scoring match was applied to balance the baseline conditions and multivariate Cox regression analysis to compare the mortality between HD and PD patients, and evaluated the correlation between mortality and various baseline characteristics. Results A total of 436 HD patients and 501 PD patients were included in this study, and PD patients had better survival than HD patients, but the difference was not statistically significant. For younger ESRD patients (≤60-year-old), the overall survival of PD was better than that of HD, but HD was associated with a lower risk of death in older patients (> 70-year-old). This difference was still significant after adjustment for a variety of confounding factors. Female gender, age at dialysis initiation, cardiovascular disease, cholesterol, and HD were risk factors of all-cause mortality in the younger subgroup, while PD was risk factor in the older subgroup. Conclusion PD may be a better choice for younger ESRD patients, and HD for the older patients.

Purpose: Thought irisin is recognized as a pivotal modulator for bone formation, its role in regulating skeletal response to exercise training remains unknown. Therefore, we aimed to determine the change of irisin in response to 8-week exercise training and its role in regulating the effects of exercise on bone loss in ovariectomized (Ovx) mice.Methods: Forty 3-month old female C57BL/6 mic were randomly allocated into four groups: (1) Sham-operated (Sham); (2) ovariectomized; (3) Ovx plus 8-week downhill running exercise (Ex); (4) Ovx plus exercise and received twice weekly injection of cyclo RGDyk protein (a putative anti-irisin receptor agents) (ExRg).Results: Ex group showed enhanced cortical and trabecular volumetric bone mineral density (vBMD) (p < 0.05), improved bone microarchitecture, and increased intensity of alkaline phosphatase positive (ALP+) cells compared with Ovx group. However, cyclo RGDyk administration weakened the exercise-related improvement of vBMD, BV/TV, and ALP intensity in bone. Serum estradiol, irisin, and bone alkaline phosphatase were higher, whereas circulating tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase was lower in Ex group compared with Ovx group (p < 0.05). Exercise promoted mRNA expression of fibronectin type III domain-containing protein 5 (FNDC5), Akt and β-catenin, and enhanced protein levels of FNDC5, the ratio of phosphorylated Akt (p-Akt) to Akt, and β-catenin (p < 0.05). When irisin pathways were blocked with cyclo RGDyk, increment of Akt, p-Akt/Akt, and β-catenin in Ex mice were attenuated.Conclusion: It is suggested that irisin plays a potential role in regulating skeletal response to exercise partly through its interaction with Akt/β-catenin pathways.

Background Oral propranolol has become the first-line treatment for infantile hemangioma (IH). However, combined therapy with topical timolol and oral propranolol has been proposed as a more effective IH treatment strategy. We aimed to compare the safety and efficacy of topical timolol, oral propranolol, and their combination for treating IH in a meta-analysis. Methods Relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were obtained after searching the PubMed, Embase, Cochrane’s Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and WanFang databases. A random-effect model was used to pool the results. Results Eight RCTs with 759 patients with IH were included in this meta-analysis. Treatment with topical timolol alone showed a similar response rate compared to oral propranolol (risk ratio [RR] = 0.97, p = 0.63), but resulted in fewer adverse events (RR = 0.36, p = 0.002). Combined treatment with topical timolol and oral propranolol showed a favorable response rate compared to treatment with oral propranolol (RR = 1.14, p = 0.03) or topical timolol (RR = 1.36, p = 0.01) alone. Moreover, combined treatment showed similar risks of adverse events compared to oral propranolol (RR = 0.80, p = 0.24) or topical timolol (RR = 1.31, p = 0.25) alone. Conclusions Combined treatment with topical timolol and oral propranolol may be more effective than either single treatment strategy in patients with IH. Topical timolol alone conferred similar efficacy for IH compared to oral propranolol, but with less incidence of adverse events.

LSL expressions were downregulated in the luminal epithelium of adenomyotic endometria in the mid-secretory phase. The mRNA expressions of LSL genes also had differential expression patterns throughout the menstrual cycle, especially for PODXL. Our study showed that adenomyosis may cause abnormalities of LSL production in the mid-secretory phase, which may contribute to impaired endometrial receptivity and implantation failure.