Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common clinical syndrome that is characterized by abnormal renal function and structure. The Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) Controversies Conference in 2019 reviewed the stages of AKI and the definitions of AKI-related terminologies, and discussed the advances in the last decade. Along with serum creatinine level and urine output, more accurate novel biomarkers for predicting AKI are being applied for the early detection of renal dysfunction. A literature search was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, Medline, and ClinicalTrials.gov using the terms AKI and biomarker, combined with diagnosis, management, or prognosis. Because of the large volume of data (160 articles) published between 2005 and 2022, representative literature was chosen. A number of studies have demonstrated that new biomarkers are more sensitive in detecting AKI in certain populations than serum creatinine and urine output according to the recommendations from the Acute Disease Quality Initiative Consensus Conference. To be specific, there is a persistently unresolved need for earlier detection of patients with AKI before AKI progresses to a need for renal replacement therapy. Biomarker-guided management may help to identify a high-risk group of patients in progression to severe AKI, and decide the initiation time to renal replacement therapy and optimal follow-up period. However, limitations such as biased data to certain studied populations and absence of cutoff values need to be solved for worldwide clinical use of biomarkers in the future. Here, we provide a comprehensive review of biomarker-based AKI diagnosis and management and highlight recent developments.

Purpose: Cognitive impairment is one of the main symptoms of Alzheimer disease and other dementias. Glycyrrhiza uralensis is a natural product that has a protective effect against cognitive impairment. In this study, we investigated whether glycyrrhizic acid, among the main bioactive components of Glycyrrhiza uralensis, has a neuroprotective effect on scopolamine-induced cognitive impairment.Methods: Twenty-week-old male Institute of Cancer Research mice were used in this study. The scopolamine-induced cognitive impairment mice model was used. Glycyrrhizic acid was orally administered to mice once daily for 21 days, while scopolamine (1 mg/kg) treatment was delivered 30 minutes before behavioral tests. Donepezil (2 mg/kg) was used as a positive drug control. To evaluate the effect of glycyrrhizic acid, the following assessments were performed on hippocampal tissue: Y-maze test, acetylcholinesterase activity, antioxidant enzymes’ activity (superoxide dismutase, catalase). Western blotting for phosphor-extracellular signal-regulated kinase, P38, and c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase was conducted.Results: We found that glycyrrhizic acid administration significantly improved scopolamine-induced cognitive impairment in the Y-maze test. The acetylcholinesterase activity, superoxide dismutase, and catalase activity in the glycyrrhizic acid-treated group showed a significant reversal of cognitive impairment compared with the scopolamine-treated group.Conclusions: Our results suggest that glycyrrhizic acid has a neuroprotective effect on cognitive function in scopolamine-induced cognitive impairment.

The association between polymorphisms of glutathione-related enzyme (GST) genes and the risk of schizophrenia has been investigated in many published studies. However, their results were inconclusive. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to explore the association between the GSTM1, GSTT1, and GSTP1 polymorphisms and the risk of schizophrenia. Twelve case-control studies were included in this meta-analysis. The odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were used to investigate the strength of the association. Our meta-analysis results revealed that GSTM1, GSTT1, and GSTP1 polymorphisms were not related to risk of schizophrenia (p > 0.05 in each model). Further analyses based on ethnicity, GSTM polymorphism showed weak association with schizophrenia in East Asian population (OR = 1.314, 95% CI = 1.025–1.684, p = 0.031). In conclusion, our meta-analysis indicated the GSTM1 polymorphism may be the only genetic risk factor for schizophrenia in East Asian population. However, more meta-analysis with a larger sample size were needed to provide more precise evidence.

The insulin-like growth factor (IGF) pathway is thought to play an important role in brain development. Altered levels of IGFs and their signaling regulators have been shown in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) patients. In this study, we investigated whether coding region single-nucleotide polymorphisms (cSNPs) of the insulin receptor substrates (IRS1 and IRS2), key mediators of the IGF pathway, were associated with ASD in Korean males. Two cSNPs (rs1801123 of IRS1, and rs4773092 of IRS2) were genotyped using direct sequencing in 180 male ASD patients and 147 male control subjects. A significant association between rs1801123 of IRS1 and ASD was shown in additive (p = 0.022, odds ratio (OR) = 0.66, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.46–0.95) and dominant models (p = 0.013, OR = 0.57, 95% CI = 0.37–0.89). Allele frequency analysis also showed an association between rs1801123 and ASD (p = 0.022, OR = 0.66, 95% CI = 0.46–0.94). These results suggest that IRS1 may contribute to the susceptibility of ASD in Korean males.