Despite substantial progress being made in understanding the mechanisms contributing to the pathogenesis of renal fibrosis, there are only a few therapies available to treat or prevent renal fibrosis in clinical use today. Therefore, identifying the key cellular and molecular mediators involved in the pathogenesis of renal fibrosis will provide new therapeutic strategy for treating patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). β-Arrestin-1, a member of β-arrestin family, not only is a negative adaptor of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), but also acts as a scaffold protein and regulates a diverse array of cellular functions independent of GPCR activation. In this study, we identified for the first time that β-arrestin-1 was upregulated in the kidney from mice with unilateral ureteral obstruction nephropathy as well as in the paraffin-embedded sections of human kidneys from the patients with diabetic nephropathy, polycystic kidney, or uronephrosis, which normally causes renal fibrosis. Deficiency of β-arrestin-1 in mice significantly alleviated renal fibrosis by the regulation of inflammatory responses, kidney fibroblast activation, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in both in vivo and in vitro studies. Furthermore, we found that among the major isoforms of Wnts, Wnt1 was regulated by β-arrestin-1 and gene silencing of Wnt1 inhibited the activation of β-catenin and suppressed β-arrestin-1-mediated renal fibrosis. Collectively, our results indicate that β-arrestin-1 is one of the critical components of signal transduction pathways in the development of renal fibrosis. Modulation of these pathways may be an innovative therapeutic strategy for treating patients with renal fibrosis.

Radical cystectomy, as the most common surgical treatment for patients with invasive bladder cancer (IBC) complicated by peritoneal metastasis, is usually accompanied by a urinary diversion procedure. In this study, we evaluated the improved tubeless cutaneous ureterostomy technique by comparing the resulting clinical effects with either a traditional ureterostomy and an ileal conduit urinary diversion. Clinical data from 85 patients who underwent 1 of the 3 procedures between April 2012 and April 2015 were analyzed retrospectively. In total, 30 patients underwent improved tubeless cutaneous ureterostomy, 28 patients underwent a traditional cutaneous ureterostomy and 27 underwent an ileal conduit urinary diversion following radical cystectomy. The incidence of complications, including stoma infection, nipple atrophy, terminal necrosis, urine leakage, external orifice stenosis, uronephrosis and ureterectasia in the group of patients treated with the improved tubeless ureterostomy technique was significantly lower than that of the patients in the other 2 groups, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). In addition, the duration of the surgery, intra-operative bleeding, the duration of the hospitalization period and the time to extubation in the patients treated with the improved tubeless ureterostomy technique were significantly decreased (P<0.05) compared with the patients in the other 2 groups. Finally, the health-related quality of life of the patients treated with the improved tubeless ureterostomy technique was significantly higher (P<0.05) than that of the patients in the other 2 groups. The findings of our study demonstrated that the use of the improved tubeless cutaneous ureterostomy technique following radical cystectomy in patients with IBC complicated by peritoneal metastasis resulted in improved clinical effects. Thus, improved tubeless cutaneous ureterostomy may be a promising alternative for enhancing the quality of life of patients with IBC.

This article aims to explore the characteristics of computed tomography (CT) images of ovarian vein syndrome (OVS). The approval of the research ethics committee and the written informed consent of the patients were obtained. The CT images of 11 patients who had been diagnosed with OVS were retrospectively analyzed. All patients were examined with CT urogram, both plain CT scans and enhanced CT scans (including arterial phase, venous phase, and secretory phase). The datum was pulled into a computer workstation for post-processing. Ureteral obstruction at the position and ureteral dilation above it, where the ovarian vein crosses over the ureter, were found in all 11 patients. In addition, 4 patients presented with right upper ureteric calculi, 10 with right renal calculi (including 8 patients with multiple renal calculi that also had obvious uronephrosis), and 2 with a urinary calculus or cystolith. The diameter of the ovarian vein in them ranged from 5 mm to 13 mm. Varicose veins around the uterus were found in 2 patients, and the diameter of the left ovarian vein was larger than 7 mm in 1 patient.In conclusion, analysis of CT images is a vital method in diagnosing OVS.