a smoking cessation program was associated with improvements in glycemic control and cardiometabolic risk factors in patients with type 2 diabetes. The observed improvements were associated with participation in the program but not with the decrease in smoking amount. The present study is to investigate the effect of vitamin D/Vitamin D Receptor (VDR) signaling on podocyte autophagy in diabetic nephropathy. Kidney tissue sections from patients with diabetic nephropathy and nontumor kidney were checked under electronic microscope and VDR immunohistochemistry. click here Diabetic rat models were induced by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ) (60 mg/kg). Calcitriol treatment was achieved by gavage at dose of 0.1μg/kg/d. Blood, urine and kidney tissue specimens were used for serum, urine biochemistry, histopathology and molecular biology testing. Podocyte cell line MPC-5 was cultured under hyperglycaemic conditions in the absence or presence of 100 nmol/L calcitriol to investigate podocyte injury and autophagy. VDR and autophagosomes in podocytes were significantly decreased in renal biopsy from patients with diabetic nephropathy, compared to healthy kidney tissue. Rats with STZ treatment developed typical diabetic kidney disease with low VDR expression. Calcitriol, tcitriol/VDR signaling attenuated diabetic nephropathy and podocytes injury by restoring podocytes autophagy. This finding may have potential implication for exploring protective mechanisms of calcitriol/VDR in diabetic nephropathy. Few studies have focused on the predictive ability of visceral obesity-related indices for metabolic syndrome (MetS), especially in different ethnic groups. This study aimed to evaluate the applicability of visceral obesity-related indices for MetS screening among three major ethnic groups living in remote rural areas of Xinjiang. Based on multistage stratified cluster random sampling method, 3,192 Uyghurs, 3,054 Kazakhs, and 3,658 Hans were recruited from Xinjiang, China. The Joint Interim Statement (JIS) criteria were used to define MetS. The receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC), area under the ROC curve (AUC), and predictive value of each visceral obesity-related index were used to evaluate the predictive ability of MetS. After adjusting for potential confounding factors, the lipid accumulation product (LAP), Chinese visceral adiposity index (CVAI), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), and atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) were significantly correlated with MetS for each ethnic group, and the odds tary indicator for assessing MetS in various ethnic groups. At present, it is difficult to clinically diagnose early chronic kidney disease (CKD). As a novel biomarker of malignancies in the female reproductive tract, the human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) has been reported to be significantly expressed in CKD patients. We sought to assess whether HE4 can be used as a potential biomarker of early-stage CKD. The association between serum HE4 levels and CKD was analyzed in a retrospective study. A cohort of 506 patients with diabetic nephropathy who were hospitalized at Weihai Central Hospital, China, from January 2016 to November 2019 were included. Serum HE4 levels were increased with increasing stage of CKD and significantly elevated in patients with CKD3-5 than CKD1-2 ( <0.001). In multivariate linear regression analyses, HE4 levels were strongly correlated with the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) in CKD patients (Model 2, <0.001). HE4 (area under the curve; AUC=0.934) had better diagnostic value than serum creatinine (SCr; AUC=0.770) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN; AUC=0.647) for patients with early-stage CKD (CKD1-2). Additionally, HE4 levels increased with increasing glomerular lesion (GL) and renal interstitial fibrosis (IF)/tubular atrophy (TA) scores in 51 CKD patients ( <0.001). Serum HE4 levels can be positively associated with the severity of CKD and are a very valuable clinical biomarker for predicting early-stage CKD.Serum HE4 levels can be positively associated with the severity of CKD and are a very valuable clinical biomarker for predicting early-stage CKD. Cost-benefit is an important consideration for ( eradication in Japan, where 1.5 million patients were reported to receive first-line eradication annually. This study aimed to identify the optimal cost-saving triple therapy regimen for eradication in Japan. This retrospective observational study used data from a large-scale, nationwide health insurance claims database (2015‒2018). Using success rates of first-line eradication, mean total costs of first-line and second-line eradications per patient were compared between regimens including a potassium-competitive acid blocker (P-CAB) or a proton pump inhibitor (PPI), and between two clarithromycin (CAM) doses (400 and 800 mg/day). Subgroup analyses by smoking habit or body mass index (BMI) were performed. Among propensity score (age, gender, CAM dose, disease name)-matched patients (P-CAB regimen, n=22,002; PPI regimen, n=22,002), total costs were lower with the P-CAB than the PPI regimen (Japanese yen [JPY] 12,952 vs 13,146) owing to significantly higher first-line eradication rates with the P-CAB regimen (93.6% vs 79.7%; <0.001). For both regimens, even among current smokers or patients with BMI ≥25 kg/m , eradication rates did not differ by CAM dose, and total costs were approximately JPY1000 lower with CAM 400 mg/day than with CAM 800 mg/day. High success rate of first-line eradication contributes to saving in total eradication costs by reducing costs of subsequent therapy, irrespective of patients' smoking status or BMI class. The combination of more potent acid-inhibitory medicine and low-dose CAM may be the optimal regimen in terms of efficacy and cost-benefit in Japan.High success rate of first-line eradication contributes to saving in total eradication costs by reducing costs of subsequent therapy, irrespective of patients' smoking status or BMI class. The combination of more potent acid-inhibitory medicine and low-dose CAM may be the optimal regimen in terms of efficacy and cost-benefit in Japan.