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The relationship among inflammation, pain, and cognitive decline in osteoarthritis (OA) patients is complex and has not been sufficiently explored; therefore, we undertook this research to evaluate how OA-related inflammation and pain affect cognitive functions, as well as to examine the potential of urinary markers as indicators of these conditions. This study examined fifty OA patients through clinical and cognitive assessments, morphological analyses, urinary biomarkers, and bioinformatics. Morphologically, 24% of patients had moderate to high synovial inflammation, which was significantly correlated with depressive symptoms, pain intensity, and self-reported anxiety. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment indicated minimal decline in most patients but showed negative correlations with age and inflammation severity. Urinary TNF-α and TGF-β1 levels positively correlated with body mass index and pain and synovitis score and immune cell infiltration, respectively. In contrast, cartilage oligomeric matrix protein and C-telopeptides of type II collagen showed inverse correlations with pain duration and cognitive function, respectively. Distinct patient clusters with higher inflammation were identified and were associated with reported pain and depressive symptoms. Urinary TNF-α and TGF-β1 can serve as biomarkers reflecting inflammation and disease severity in OA. This study suggests that synovial inflammation may be linked to mental and cognitive health in some patient cohorts.

Background: The early and accurate diagnosis of preeclampsia is crucial to avoid serious complications for both the mother and baby. However, the current diagnostic methods are limited, and there is a need for new diagnostic biomarkers. Previous studies have shown that cathepsin D (CTD) participates in the pathophysiology of preeclampsia and is present in urine samples, making it a potential biomarker for the disease. This study aimed to compare urinary and serum levels of CTD in preeclamptic and normotensive women and analyze its potential role as a diagnostic biomarker in preeclampsia., Methods: The study included thirty-nine patients with preeclampsia and twelve normotensive pregnant women as controls. Biomarkers were determined using Multiplex Assay kit, and serum prolactin (Prl) and urinary TNF-α levels were also evaluated. Statistical analysis was conducted using the Mann-Whitney U test., Results: We found that urinary and serum CTD levels were significantly higher in the preeclampsia group than in the normotensive group, suggesting that CTD could be a diagnostic biomarker for preeclampsia. No significant differences were found in the levels of serum prolactin or urinary TNF-α between the two groups., Conclusions: The study provides evidence that non-invasive biological samples such as urine can be used to improve new therapeutic strategies for the early management of preeclampsia., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 International Society for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Aims: Interleukin-9 (IL-9) attenuates podocyte injury in experimental kidney disease, but its role in diabetic nephropathy is unknown. We sought to relate urinary IL-9 levels to the release of podocyte-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) in youth with type 1 diabetes. We related urinary IL-9 levels to clinical variables and studied interactions between urinary IL-9, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) on urinary albumin/creatinine ratio (ACR) a functional measure of podocyte injury., Methods: We performed an analysis of urine samples and clinical data from a cohort of youth with type 1 diabetes (n = 53). Cytokines were measured using a Luminex platform (Eve Technologies), and nanoscale flow cytometry was employed to quantify urinary podocyte-derived EVs. All urinary measures were normalized to urinary creatinine., Results: Mean age was 14.7 ± 1.6 years, and the mean time from diagnosis was 6.7 ± 2.9 years. Mean HbA1c was 70.3 ± 13.9 mmol/mol, mean ACR was 1.3 ± 1.9 mg/mmol, and mean eGFR was 140.3 ± 32.6 ml/min/1.73 m 2 . IL-9 was inversely related to podocyte EVs (r = - 0.56, p = 0.003). IL-9 was also inversely related to blood glucose, HbA1C and eGFR (r = - 0.44, p = 0.002; r = - 0.41, p = 0.003; r = - 0.49, p < 0.001, respectively) and positively correlated with systolic BP (r = 0.30, p = 0.04). There was a significant interaction between IL-9, EVs and ACR (p = 0.0143), and the relationship between IL-9 and ACR depended on VEGF (p = 0.0083), TNFα (p = 0.0231) and IL-6 levels (p = 0.0178)., Conclusions: IL-9 is associated with podocyte injury in early type 1 diabetes, and there are complex interactions between urinary IL-9, inflammatory cytokines and ACR., (© 2022. The Author(s).)