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BackgroundCalcium channel blocker (CCB) or two renin angiotensin aldosterone system blockades (RAAS), angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs), are major potent and prevalently used as initial antihypertensive agents for mild to moderate hypertension, but no uniform agreement as to which antihypertensive drugs should be given for initial therapy, especially among chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients.DesignA systematic review and meta-analysis comparing CCBs and the two RAAS blockades for hypertensive patients with CKD stage 3 to 5D. The inclusion criteria for this systematic review was RCT that compared the effects of CCBs and the two RAAS blockades in patients with hypertension and CKD. The exclusion criteria were (1) renal transplantation, (2) CKD stage 1 or 2, (3) combined therapy (data cannot be extracted separately). Outcomes were blood pressure change, mortality, heart failure, stroke or cerebrovascular events, and renal outcomes.Results21 randomized controlled trials randomized 9,492 patients with hypertensive and CKD into CCBs and the two RAAS blockades treatments. The evidence showed no significant differences in blood presser change, mortality, heart failure, stroke or cerebrovascular events, and renal outcomes between CCBs group and the two RAAS blockades group. The publication bias of pooled mean blood presser change that was detected by Egger’s test was non-significant.ConclusionsCCBs has similar effects on long term blood pressure, mortality, heart failure, stroke or cerebrovascular events, and renal function to RAAS blockades in patients CKD stage 3 to 5D and hypertension.

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Well-ordered perpendicular cylinders of star-block copolymers (BCPs) composed of polystyrene and poly­(dimethyl­siloxane) blocks with high aspect ratio can be achieved by using a combination of architecture effect (entropy effect) and surface air plasma treatment (enthalpy effect). An interesting morphological evolution from disordered texture to hexagonally packed cylinders with perpendicular orientation has been observed, in which perpendicular cylinders are initiated at the top surface and bottom substrate of the thin film, followed by a self-alignment process, resulting in span-thru cylinders through the thin film. The self-alignment process is systematically examined by a combination of real space imaging using transmission electron microscopy, reciprocal space imaging using grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering, and three-dimensional tomography. The experimental results reveal a unique mechanism for the formation of highly ordered BCP thin films via surface-induced nucleation of perpendicularly oriented cylinders followed by lateral ordering of the cylinders. This discovery provides an insight into the mechanisms of confined self-assembly of BCP for the engineering of nanostructured thin films with controlled orientation and long-range order.