Obesity is associated with metabolic risk factors. Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, waist-hip ratio (WHR) and waist-height ratio (WHtR) are used to predict the risk of obesity related diseases. However, it has not been examined whether these four indicators can detect the clustering of metabolic risk factors in Chinese subjects.

Diabetic nephropathy is the main cause of chronic kidney disease, and represents the most common and serious complication of diabetes. The exact pathogenesis is complex and not elucidated. Several factors and mechanisms contribute to the development and outcome of diabetic nephropathy. An early diagnosis and intervention may slow down disease progression. A variety of biological markers associated with diabetic nephropathy were found in recent years, which was important for predicting the occurrence and development of the disease. Therefore, this article provides an overview of early biomarkers that are associated with diabetic nephropathy.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nano-sized particles released from cells into the extracellular environment, and are separated from eukaryotic cells, bacteria, and other organisms with cellular structures. EVs alter cell communication by delivering their contents and performing various functions depending on their cargo and release into certain environments or other cells. The cell walls of Gram-positive bacteria have a thick peptidoglycan layer and were previously thought to be unable to produce EVs. However, recent studies have demonstrated that Gram-positive bacterial EVs are crucial for health and disease. In this review, we have summarized the formation, composition, and characteristics of the contents, resistance to external stress, participation in immune regulation, and other functions of Gram-positive bacterial EVs, as well as their application in clinical diagnosis and treatment, to provide a new perspective to further our understanding of Gram-positive bacterial EVs.

In order to investigate the diagnostic performance characteristics of four phenotypic assays in detecting carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), we collected the CRE strains from infected patients. The results of carbapenemase gene detection, bla_KPC-2, bla_OXA-23, bla_NDM-1, bla_NDM-4, bla_NDM-5, bla_IMP-4, and bla_IMP-8, were used as a standard to evaluate the performances of combined disk test (CDT), modified carbapenem inactivation method(mCIM)/EDTA-modified carbapenem inactivation method(eCIM), NG-Test CARBA 5 (CARBA), and color developing immunoassay (CDI). The compliance of phenotype results based on CDT, mCIM/eCIM, CARBA, and CDI with genetic detection results was 94% (231/247), 95% (235/247), 98% (242/247), and 99% (246/247), respectively. CDT demonstrated a low specificity for carbapenemase detection, low negative predictive value (NPV), and low sensitivity for metallo-β-lactamase (79%, 55%, and 88%, respectively); it also failed to accurately detect IMP. The mCIM/eCIM assay had serious problems in detecting OXA-23-like carbapenemases. The sensitivity and specificity of CARBA and CDI were higher than those of the first two methods. However, CARBA did not cover the detection of OXA-23, while CDI cannot detect IMP-8, resulting in low NPVs (70% and 88%, respectively). In conclusion, CARBA and CDI assays are highly accurate except individual rare genes and allow direct genotype detections. CDT and mCIM/eCIM assays are moderately accurate and can only distinguish serine-β-lactamases from metallo-β-lactamases. Laboratories should choose the appropriate method that meets their needs based on its characteristic.

Urinary podocalyxin and nephrin are urine markers of podocyte dysfunction that may reflect the integrity of kidney's filtration barrier. Studies on their respective roles in glomerular diseases are still underway. However, the isolated and unsystematic manner in which they are being studied does not permit proper identification of their roles in each glomerular disease. As such, there is little or no appreciation of what research has already achieved and what remains to be achieved as the research direction is not clearly defined. We explored the recent studies and outlined the major findings regarding the value of both biomarkers in each of the three glomerular disease entities. Our review covered diabetic nephropathy, membranous nephropathy and IgA nephropathy.

This study presents a retrospective analysis using 1,240 clinical erythromycin-resistantStreptococcus pneumoniae(ERSP) isolates collected in northeastern China between January 2000 and December 2019. The serotype distribution, corresponding vaccine coverage, as well as resistance phenotypes, genes, and mechanisms to macrolide and tetracycline of these isolates were systematically described, analyzed, and discussed.