Research progress on exosomes in podocyte injury associated with diabetic kidney disease

Diabetic kidney disease (DKD), a common cause of end-stage renal disease, is a serious complication that develops with the progression of chronic diabetes. Its main clinical manifestations are persistent proteinuria and/or a progressive decline in the estimated glomerular filtration rate. Podocytes, terminally differentiated glomerular visceral epithelial cells, constitute the glomerular filtration barrier together with the basement membrane and endothelial cells, and the structural and functional barrier integrity is closely related to proteinuria. In recent years, an increasing number of studies have confirmed that podocyte injury is the central target of the occurrence and development of DKD, and research on exosomes in podocyte injury associated with DKD has also made great progress. The aim of this review is to comprehensively describe the potential diagnostic value of exosomes in podocyte injury associated with DKD, analyze the mechanism by which exosomes realize the communication between podocytes and other types of cells and discuss the possibility of exosomes as targeted therapy drug carriers to provide new targets for and insights into delaying the progression of and treating DKD

Longitudinal/Lateral Stability Analysis of Vehicle Motion in the Nonlinear Region

We focus on the study of motion stability of vehicle nonlinear dynamics. The dynamic model combining with Burckhardt tire model is firstly derived. By phase portrait method, the vehicle stability differences of three cases, front wheels steering/four-wheel steering case, front/rear/four-wheel braking case, and high/low road friction case, are characterized. With the Jacobian matrix, the stable equilibrium point is found and stable areas are calculated out. Similarly, the stability boundaries corresponding to different working conditions are also captured. With vehicle braking or accelerating in the steering process, the relationship between front/rear wheel slippage and the stable area is examined. Comparing with current literatures, the research method and its results present the novelty and provide a guideline for new vehicle controller design

Longitudinal/Lateral Stability Analysis of Vehicle Motion in the Nonlinear Region

We focus on the study of motion stability of vehicle nonlinear dynamics. The dynamic model combining with Burckhardt tire model is firstly derived. By phase portrait method, the vehicle stability differences of three cases, front wheels steering/four-wheel steering case, front/rear/four-wheel braking case, and high/low road friction case, are characterized. With the Jacobian matrix, the stable equilibrium point is found and stable areas are calculated out. Similarly, the stability boundaries corresponding to different working conditions are also captured. With vehicle braking or accelerating in the steering process, the relationship between front/rear wheel slippage and the stable area is examined. Comparing with current literatures, the research method and its results present the novelty and provide a guideline for new vehicle controller design

Effects of triptolide on pharmacokinetics of amlodipine in rats by using LC–MS/MS

Context: Triptolide and amlodipine are often simultaneously used for reducing urine protein excretion after renal transplantation in China clinics. Objective: This study investigated the effects of triptolide on the pharmacokinetics of amlodipine in male Sprague–Dawley rats. Materials and methods: The pharmacokinetics of amlodipine (1 mg/kg) with or without triptolide pre-treatment (2 mg/kg/day for seven days) were investigated using a sensitive and reliable LC–MS/MS method. Additionally, the inhibitory effects of triptolide on the metabolic stability of amlodipine were investigated using rat liver microsome incubation systems. Results: The results indicated that when the rats were pre-treated with triptolide, the Cmax of amlodipine increased from 13.78 ± 3.57 to 19.96 ± 4.56 ng/mL (p < 0.05), the Tmax increased from 4.04 ± 1.15 to 5.89 ± 1.64 h (p < 0.05), and the AUC0–t increased by approximately 104% (p < 0.05), which suggested that the pharmacokinetic behaviour of amlodipine was affected after oral co-administration of triptolide. Additionally, the metabolic half-life was prolonged from 22.5 ± 4.26 to 36.8 ± 6.37 min (p < 0.05) with the pre-treatment of triptolide. Conclusions: In conclusion, these results indicated that triptolide could affect the pharmacokinetics of amlodipine, possibly by inhibiting the metabolism of amlodipine in rat liver when they are co-administered

Effects of blade lean angle on a hydraulic retarder

The rotor and stator blade lean angle of a hydraulic retarder is one of its main geometrical design parameters. The objective of this study is to clarify the effects of blade lean angle on hydraulic retarder performance. In this article, we employ a computational fluid dynamic approach to numerically investigate the fluid flow of a hydraulic retarder for rotor blade lean angles of 35°, 40°, 43°, and 45° in the direction of rotation, where the stator employs an equivalent angle, and all other geometries are held constant. The numerical results of the braking torque were validated against available experimental results. Analyses of torque performance, flow field, and energy loss are conducted in this study. Additionally, the outer loop oil flow rate is used as another indicator of hydraulic retarder heat exchange performance. The results indicate that with increasing blade lean angle, both the braking torque and oil volume flow rate first increase and then decrease, reflecting an optimal value. The lean angle affects secondary vortex flows and separate flows. Relatively large lean angles may enhance the occurrence of separate flow, whereas relatively small lean angles may cause in the oil inlet region. An optimal blade lean angle achieves a smooth oriented inner flow and a maximum braking torque