<b><i>Background:</i></b> Serum uric acid (SUA) has been revealed to be positively associated with the body composition parameters in hemodialysis patients, but few studies have investigated that in patients on peritoneal dialysis (PD). The aim of this study was to identify the relationship between SUA and appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASM) and the effect of their interaction on mortality in PD patients. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> This was a single-center retrospective cohort study. Patients who underwent multifrequency bioelectrical impedance analysis between January 1, 2013, and December 31, 2016, and had data on SUA values were enrolled. All patients were followed up until December 31, 2019. <b><i>Results:</i></b> In total, 802 prevalent PD patients (57.9% male), with mean age of 46.2 ± 14.2 years were enrolled. The average SUA and ASM were 6.8 ± 1.3 mg/dL and 21.2 ± 4.9 kg. According to multiple linear regression models, SUA was positively associated with relative ASM in middle-aged and older PD patients (standardized coefficients [β] 0.117; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.027, 0.200; <i>p</i> = 0.010). Further sex-stratified analysis showed that the association existed only in males (β 0.161; 95% CI 0.017, 0.227; <i>p</i> = 0.023). Moreover, the presence of hyperuricemia was found to predict lower risk of all-cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR] 0.514, 95% CI 0.272, 0.970; <i>p</i> = 0.040) only in patients with lower relative ASM. And, the adjusted HR of every 1 mg/dL elevated SUA level was 0.770 (95% CI 0.609, 0.972; <i>p</i> = 0.028) for all-cause mortality in the lower relative ASM subgroup. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> There exists a positive association between the SUA and ASM, and the ASM significantly affected the association between SUA and all-cause PD mortality.

Background: The European Society of Cardiology guidelines recommend the implementation of nurse-led heart failure programs to achieve optimal management of patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). In this analysis, we aimed to systematically show the impact of nurse-led interventions (NLI) on re-admission and mortality in patients with CHF (reduced ejection fraction). Methods: Publications reporting the impact of NLI on readmission and mortality in patients with CHF were carefully searched from electronic databases. Rehospitalization and mortality were the endpoints. For this analysis, the latest version of the RevMan software was used. Risk ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were used to represent data following analysis. Results: A total number of 3282 participants with CHF were included in this analysis. A total of 1571 patients were assigned to the nurse-led intervention group whereas 1711 patients were assigned to the usual care group. The patients had a mean age ranging from 50.8 to 80.3 years. Male patients varied from 27.3% to 73.8%. Comorbidities including hypertension (24.6%–80.0%) and diabetes mellitus (16.7%–59.7%) were also reported. Patients had a mean left ventricular ejection fraction varying from 29.0% to 61.0%. Results of this current analysis showed that rehospitalization (RR: 0.81, 95% CI: 0.74–0.88; P = .00001) and mortality (RR: 0.69, 95% CI: 0.56–0.86; P = .0009) were significantly lower among CHF patients who were assigned to the nurse-led intervention. Whether during a shorter (3–6 months) or a longer (1–2 years) follow up time period, rehospitalization for shorter [(RR: 0.73, 95% CI: 0.65–0.82; P = .00001) vs for longer (RR: 0.81, 95% CI: 0.72–0.91; P = .0003) respectively] and mortality for shorter [(RR: 0.55, 95% CI: 0.38–0.80; P = .002) vs longer follow up time period (RR: 0.76, 95% CI: 0.58–0.99; P = .04) respectively] were significantly lower and in favor of the nurse-led interventional compared to the normal care group. Conclusions: This systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials showed that NLI had significant impacts in reducing the risk of rehospitalization and mortality in these patients with CHF (reduced ejection fraction). Hence, we believe that nurse-led clinics and other interventional programs would be beneficial to patients with heart failure and this practice should, in the future be implemented to the health care system.

Thyroid carcinoma (TC) is the most common endocrine malignancy, and papillary TC (PTC) is the most frequent subtype of TC, accounting for 85–90% of all the cases. Aberrant histone acetylation contributes to carcinogenesis by inducing the dysregulation of certain cancer-related genes. However, the histone acetylation landscape in PTC remains elusive. Here, we interrogated the epigenomes of PTC and benign thyroid nodule (BTN) tissues by applying H3K27ac chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by deep sequencing (ChIP-seq) along with RNA-sequencing. By comparing the epigenomic features between PTC and BTN, we detected changes in H3K27ac levels at active regulatory regions, identified PTC-specific super-enhancer-associated genes involving immune-response and cancer-related pathways, and uncovered several genes that associated with disease-free survival of PTC. In summary, our data provided a genome-wide landscape of histone modification in PTC and demonstrated the role of enhancers in transcriptional regulations associated with prognosis of PTC.

Background The present study was to investigate the changes in outcomes of incident patients who started peritoneal dialysis (PD) between 2006 – 2010 and 2011 – 2015 in Southern China. Methods In this single-center cohort study, incident PD patients from January 1, 2006, to December 31, 2015, were enrolled. Collected data included baseline demographic, clinical, biochemical characteristics, and outcomes. Patients who initiated PD during 2006 – 2010 and 2011 – 2015 were followed up until December 31, 2011, and December 31, 2016, respectively. Peritonitis rate, patient survival, and technique survival were compared between the 2 incident cohorts. Results A total of 2,021 incident PD patients were enrolled, with a mean age of 47.2 ± 15.2 years, 40.6% female. Compared with the 2006 – 2010 cohort ( n = 1,073), patients initiating PD during 2011 – 2015 ( n = 948) were younger (46.2 ± 14.8 vs 48.1 ± 15.5 years, p = 0.006), had similar baseline estimate glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) (5.81 ± 2.41 vs 5.81 ± 2.89 mL/ min/1.73 m2, p = 0.109) and comparable percentage of diabetes mellitus (24.9% vs 25.7%, p = 0.682). The overall peritonitis rate in the 2011 – 2015 cohort was lower than in the 2006 – 2010 cohort (0.158 vs 0.161 episodes per year, p = 0.001). At the end of 1, 3, and 5 years, the 2006 – 2010 and 2011 – 2015 cohorts had patient survival rates of 94%, 82%, 64%, and 97%, 87%, 74%, respectively ( p < 0.001). After multivariable adjustment, patients starting PD in 2011 – 2015 were associated with lower risk of all-cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR] 0.77, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.60 – 0.98). In gender and age-stratified models, male patients had a significantly lower risk of all-cause mortality (HR 0.58, 95% CI 0.41 – 0.83), and patients with age < 65 years showed a significantly lower risk of cardiovascular (CV) mortality (HR 0.63, 95% CI 0.40 – 0.99) in 2011 – 2015 compared with 2006 – 2010. The death-censored technique survival rates were not significantly different between the 2 cohorts ( p = 0.234). Conclusion Peritonitis rates and patient survival on PD continue to improve. Patients initiating PD between 2011 and 2015 were associated with better outcomes.

We obtained a white-peel eggplant (L6-5) by EMS mutation in our previous study, whose total anthocyanin content was significantly decreased as compared with that of wild-type (WT). To analyse the anthocyanin biosynthesis mechanism in eggplants, we analysed the eggplant peel by RNA-seq in this study. The transcript results revealed upregulation of 465 genes and downregulation of 525 genes in L6-5 as compared with the WT eggplant. A total of 11 anthocyanin biosynthesis structure genes were significantly downregulated in L6-5 as compared with that in WT. Meanwhile, on the basis of the RT-PCR results of four natural eggplant cultivars, the expression pattern of 11 anthocyanin biosynthesis structure genes was consistent with the anthocyanin content. Thus, we speculated the anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway in eggplant peel. The transcript and RT-PCR results suggested positive regulation of MYB1, MYB108 and TTG8 and negative regulation of bHLH36 in anthocyanin biosynthesis. This study enhanced our cumulative knowledge about anthocyanin biosynthesis in eggplant peels.