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Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is characterized by abnormal urine test or progressive kidney function decline. Patients with CKD are at a higher risk of COVID-19 infection with higher conversion and mortality rates after infection for their reduced kidney function, long-term use of immunosuppressive agents or combination of underlying diseases. Therefore, rational drug use is particularly important for CKD patients combined with COVID-19 infection. This article summarizes special considerations for the use of relevant medications in patients with CKD by integrating the current evidence of medications for the treatment of COVID-19 infection, including antiviral drugs, anti-inflammatory drugs, antithrombotic drugs, convalescent plasma and neutralizing monoclonal antibodies, as well as commonly used symptomatic drugs of respiratory system (such as antfebrile, antisputum and cough medicine and anti-allergic drugs), high lighting the modified medication regiments according to kidney function levels, in order to provide a reference for clinical professionals, assist in clinical decision-making and rational drug use, and ensure clinical efficacy and safety.

Peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients generally have low level of physical activity and poor physical functions. Maintaining good physical function has always been a health concern of PD patients. However, there has been no consensus on how to carry out physical activity/exercise intervention and to maintain good physical function in PD patients. Practice recommendations of Physical Activity and Exercise in Peritoneal Dialysis (hereinafter referred to as PAEPD) , the first global practice recommendations on physical activity and exercise in PD patients, were released by International Society for Peritoneal Dialysis (ISPD) and the Global Renal Exercise Network (GREX) in February 2022. In accordance with the physical activity and exercise in Chinese PD patients, after reviewing the PAEPD and other relevant international recommendations, we performed a clinical interpretation of PAEPD in detail, towards addressing the concerns of clinical healthcare workers and PD patients in China: timing of exercise and activity, and volume of intraabdominal fluid recommended during physical activity, core strengthening, potential symptoms and adverse events related to activity and exercise, and individualized activity and exercise. All this will provide clinical healthcare workers with guidance on the management of physical activity and exercise in PD patients.

Superconducting digital circuits are promising technologies that can overcome bottlenecks in both classical and quantum computation due to their ultra-high operation speed and extremely low power dissipation. Superconducting nanowire cryotrons (nTrons) are emerging as one type of superconductor switching devices, offering advantages complementary to conventional Josephson junctions. Achieving monolithic integration of a reasonable number of nTrons into a functional digital circuit is a crucial step to extend its application. In this study, we constructed a monolithic integrated nTron-based binary encoder, which includes input fanout circuits, on-chip biasing, combinational logic routing and multi-gate nTrons. This represents a monolithic nTron digital circuit comprising 137 nTron gates, 424 resistors, 274 inductors, and 164 vias developed using a two-superconducting-layer fabrication process. The performance of this monolithic nTron encoder surpasses that of our previously demonstrated circuit with discrete nTron components. The maximum bias margin is 28% for the fanout circuit and 60% for the multi-gate nTron when using a signal generator, while the minimum timing jitter is 40 ps. The total power dissipation mainly from biasing resistors is 19.6 μW, making it more power efficient than RSFQ encoders. The encoder is then packaged and connected with a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector array for demonstrating its function of addressing pixel locations. Compared to the conventional readout, the nTron encoder shows a minimum readout error rate lower than 10−4 and reduces the readout RF lines from 15 to 4. The design and fabrication technologies could enrich integrated nTron digital circuits beyond current limits and promote their applications in classical and quantum systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Chinese herbal formula, Tiaopi Xiezhuo decoction (TXD), is developed from a classical Chinese prescription Sanhuang Xiexin decoction. To investigate the regulatory effect of TXD on gut dysbiosis, as a treatment of constipation in patients with peritoneal dialysis (PD). The chemical content of TXD was assessed by high-performance liquid chromatography. A total of 29 PD patients were enrolled and treated with TXD orally (3 g crude drug/each/twice/day) for 3 months. Blood and faecal samples were collected at the beginning and end, to determine the changes in biochemical characteristics and gut microbial composition. The stool conditions were asked to be scored. Additional 30 healthy individuals were recruited as a control for the analysis of gut microbiota. Although having no significant effects on serum biochemical characteristics, 3-month TXD intervention improved constipation in PD patients: decreased 80% abdominal distention (p < 0.01), increased 2.6-fold sloppy stools (p < 0.05) and eliminated hard stool completely (p < 0.01). The analysis of gut microbiota showed that, compared to the healthy group, the microbial richness was reduced in PD patients. After a 3-month TXD treatment, this reduced richness was raised, and Paraprevotella clara, Lachnospiraceae bacterium 2-146FA, Phascolarctobaterium succinatutens, Lachnospiraceae bacterium 2-1-58FAA, Fusobacterium mortiferum, and Prevotella copri were accumulated in the intestinal flora. Furthermore, the bacterial species enriched by TXD correlated with the improvement of constipation. TXD treatment may improve constipation by modulating gut dysbiosis in PD patients. These findings provide data to support the further application of TXD in the adjuvant treatment of PD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease worldwide. The detailed epigenomic changes during fat accumulation in liver are not clear yet. Here, we performed ChIP‐Seq analysis in the liver tissues of high‐fat diet and regular chow diet mice and investigated the dynamic landscapes of H3K27ac and H3K9me3 marks on chromatin. We find that the activated typical enhancers marked with H3K27ac are enriched on lipid metabolic pathways in fat liver; however, super enhancers do not change much. The regions covered with H3K9me3 repressive mark seem to undergo great changes, and its peak number and intensity both decrease in fat liver. The enhancers located in lost H3K9me3 regions are enriched in lipid metabolism and inflammatory pathways; and motif analysis shows that they are potential targets for transcription factors involved in metabolic and inflammatory processes. Our study has revealed that H3K9me3 may play an important role during the pathogenesis of NAFLD through regulating the accessibility of enhancers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]