The role of water and mineral–collagen interfacial bonding on microdamage progression in bone

Microdamage would be accumulated in bone due to high‐intensity training or even normal daily activity, which may consequently cause fragility fracture or stress fracture. On the other hand, microdamage formation serves as a toughening mechanism in bone. However, the mechanisms that control microdamage initiation and accumulation in bone are still poorly understood. Our previous finite element model indicated that different interfacial properties between mineral and collagen in bone may lead to distinct patterns of microdamage accumulation. Therefore, the current study was designed to examine such prediction and to investigate the role of water and mineral–collagen interactions on microdamage accumulation in bone. To address these issues, 48 mice femurs were divided randomly into four groups. These groups were dehydrated or treated with perfluorotripropylamine (PFTA) or NaF solution to change water distribution and mineral–collagen interfacial bonding in bone. After three‐point bending fatigue tests, the types of microdamage (i.e., linear microcracks or diffuse damage) formed in bone were compared between different groups. The results suggested that (1) bone tissues with strong mineral–collagen interfacial bonding facilitate the formation of linear microcraks, and (2) water has little contribution to the growth of microcracks. © 2013 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 32:217–223, 2014.     

Systematic Prioritization and Integrative Analysis of Copy Number Variations in Schizophrenia Reveal Key Schizophrenia Susceptibility Genes

Schizophrenia is a common mental disorder with high heritability and strong genetic heterogeneity. Common disease-common variants hypothesis predicts that schizophrenia is attributable in part to common genetic variants. However, recent studies have clearly demonstrated that copy number variations (CNVs) also play pivotal roles in schizophrenia susceptibility and explain a proportion of missing heritability. Though numerous CNVs have been identified, many of the regions affected by CNVs show poor overlapping among different studies, and it is not known whether the genes disrupted by CNVs contribute to the risk of schizophrenia. By using cumulative scoring, we systematically prioritized the genes affected by CNVs in schizophrenia. We identified 8 top genes that are frequently disrupted by CNVs, including NRXN1, CHRNA7, BCL9, CYFIP1, GJA8, NDE1, SNAP29, and GJA5. Integration of genes affected by CNVs with known schizophrenia susceptibility genes (from previous genetic linkage and association studies) reveals that many genes disrupted by CNVs are also associated with schizophrenia. Further protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis indicates that protein products of genes affected by CNVs frequently interact with known schizophrenia-associated proteins. Finally, systematic integration of CNVs prioritization data with genetic association and PPI data identifies key schizophrenia candidate genes. Our results provide a global overview of genes impacted by CNVs in schizophrenia and reveal a densely interconnected molecular network of de novo CNVs in schizophrenia. Though the prioritized top genes represent promising schizophrenia risk genes, further work with different prioritization methods and independent samples is needed to confirm these findings. Nevertheless, the identified key candidate genes may have important roles in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia, and further functional characterization of these genes may provide pivotal targets for future therapeutics and diagnostics.Key words: schizophrenia, copy number variation, prioritization, integrative analysis, NRXN1, CHRNA7     

The Effects of Choline on Hepatic Lipid Metabolism,Mitochondrial Function and Antioxidative Status in Human Hepatic C3A Cells Exposed to Excessive Energy Substrates

Choline plays a lipotropic role in lipid metabolism as an essential nutrient. In this study, we investigated the effects of choline (5, 35 and 70 μM) on DNA methylation modifications, mRNA expression of the critical genes and their enzyme activities involved in hepatic lipid metabolism, mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψm) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) in C3A cells exposed to excessive energy substrates (lactate, 10 mM; octanoate, 2 mM and pyruvate, 1 mM; lactate, octanoate and pyruvate-supplemented medium (LOP)). Thirty five micromole or 70 μM choline alone, instead of a low dose (5 μM), reduced hepatocellular triglyceride (TG) accumulation, protected Δψm from decrement and increased GSH-Px activity in C3A cells. The increment of TG accumulation, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and Δψm disruption were observed under LOP treatment in C3A cells after 72 h of culture, which were counteracted by concomitant treatment of choline (35 μM or 70 μM) partially via reversing the methylation status of the peroxisomal proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARα) gene promoter, upregulating PPARα, carnitine palmitoyl transferase-I (CPT-I) and downregulating fatty acid synthase (FAS) gene expression, as well as decreasing FAS activity and increasing CPT-I and GSH-Px activities. These findings provided a novel insight into the lipotropic role of choline as a vital methyl-donor in the intervention of chronic metabolic diseases.     

Comparing Effectiveness of High-Fidelity Human Patient Simulation vs Case-Based Learning in Pharmacy Education

Objective. To determine whether human patient simulation (HPS) is superior to case-based learning (CBL) in teaching diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) and thyroid storm (TS) to pharmacy students.Design. In this cross-over, open-label, single center, randomized control trial, final-year undergraduate pharmacy students enrolled in an applied therapeutics course were randomized to HPS or CBL groups. Pretest, posttest, knowledge retention tests, and satisfaction survey were administered to students.Assessment. One hundred seventy-four students participated in this study. The effect sizes attributable to HPS were larger than CBL in both cases. HPS groups performed significantly better in posttest and knowledge retention test compared to CBL groups pertaining to TS case (p<0.05). Students expressed high levels of satisfaction with HPS sessions.Conclusion. HPS was superior to CBL in teaching DKA and TS to final-year undergraduate pharmacy students.     

彩色多普勒超声对乳腺癌腋窝淋巴结转移的预测价值

目的 探讨彩色多普勒超声对乳腺癌腋窝淋巴结转移的预测价值.方法 收集首都医科大学宣武医院2011年1月至2014年12月236例女性乳腺癌手术患者的临床资料,对患者腋窝淋巴结转移情况进行回顾性分析.记录肿块大小、纵横比、边缘特征（毛刺征）、彩色多普勒血流分级、类型、最高流速、阻力系数及腋窝淋巴结状况,应用χ2检验及Logistic回归分析进行统计分析.结果 在236例女性乳腺癌手术患者中腋窝淋巴结转移115例、未转移121例.Logistic回归分析显示：肿瘤原发灶最大径＞3cm[比值比（OR）=10.767,P=0.000]、乳晕区及多发病灶（OR=4.092,P=0.004）是腋窝淋巴结转移的独立危险因素.在超声变量中原发灶毛刺征（OR=2.122,P=0.006）、Ⅲ级血流（OR=4.030,P=0.007）、穿入血流类型（OR=3.051,D=0.008）和腋窝淋巴结数目（OR=2.687,P=0.001）与腋窝淋巴结转移相关.结论 乳腺癌腋窝淋巴结转移,与肿瘤大小、数目、位置高度相关.超声检查乳腺癌原发灶位置、毛刺征、血流分级、血流类型及腋窝淋巴结数目与腋窝淋巴结转移相关.     

Reducing radiation dose for multi-phase contrast-enhanced dual energy renal CT: pilot study evaluating prior iterative reconstruction

Abdominal Radiology - Prior iterative reconstruction (PIR) uses spatial information from one phase of enhancement to reduce image noise in other phases. We sought to determine if PIR could reduce...     

Clinical analysis of surgical treatment of portal hypertension

AIM: To review the experience in surgery for 508 patients with portal hypertension and to explore the selection of reasonable operation under different conditions. METHODS: The data of 508 patients with portal hypertension treated surgically in 1991-2001 in our centers were analyzed. Of the 508 patients, 256 were treated with portaazygous devascularization (PAD), 167 with portasystemic shunt (PSS), 62 with selective shunt (SS), 11 with combined portasystemic shunt and portaazygous devascularization (PSS+PAD), 9 with liver transplantation (LT), 3 with union operation for hepatic carcinoma and portal hypertension (HCC+PH). RESULTS: In the 167 patents treated with PSS, free portal pressure (FPP) was significantly higher in the patients with a longer diameter of the anastomotic stoma than in those with a shorter diameter before the operation (P<0.01). After the operation, FPP in the former patients markedly decreased compared to the latter ones (P<0.01). The incidence rate of hemorrhage in patients treated with PAD, PSS, SS, PSS+PAD, and HCC+PH was 21.09% (54/256), 13.77 (23/167), 11.29 (7/62), 36.36% (4/11), and 100% (3/3), respectively. The incidence rate of hepatic encephalopathy was 3.91% (10/256), 9.58% (16/167), 4.84% (3/62), 9.09% (1/11), and 100% (3/3), respectively while the operative mortality was 5.49% (15/256), 4.22% (7/167), 4.84% (3/62), 9.09% (1/11), and 66.67% (2/3) respectively. The operative mortality of liver transplantation was 22.22% (2/9). CONCLUSION: Five kinds of operation in surgical treatment of portal hypertension have their advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, the selection of operation should be based on the actual needs of the patients.     

脑卒中患者早期下肢深静脉血栓形成的研究

目的探讨脑卒中患者早期下肢深静脉血栓形成(DVT)的危险因素。方法对144例发病48 hrs内的脑卒中住院患者于入院后24 h内行D-二聚体(DD)、纤维蛋白原(FIB)、C-反应蛋白(CRP)水平测定,并于发病后3d和14d进行双下肢深静脉超声检测,确定下肢早期DVT的发生率;通过比较脑卒中后早发DVT组与非DVT组患者相关临床信息,筛选脑卒中后下肢DVT发生的危险因素。结果脑卒中后患者早期下肢DVT发生率为6.3%。Logistic回归分析显示中重度脑卒中、CPR及FIB升高是脑卒中患者早期DVT的独立危险因素。结论脑卒中患者是发生DVT的高危人群,对CRP、FIB升高的严重脑卒中患者进行DVT监测和预防是十分必要的。     

Simple,rapid, sensitive,selective and label-free lincomycin detection by using HAuCl4 and NaOH

A simple, rapid, sensitive, selective and label-free method is presented for the colorimetric determination of lincomycin (Lin) by using HAuCl₄ and NaOH. Upon the addition of Lin, the mixture of HAuCl₄ and NaOH shows a color change from colorless to blue (or dark blue). The limit of colorimetric detection is as low as 1 μM, observed both in Milli-Q water and real samples. The selectivity of Lin detection is excellent compared with 9 other common antibiotics. On the basis of the “three-color” principle of Thomas Young, we extracted the red, green and blue (RGB) alterations of the sensor in the absence and presence of different concentrations of Lin. The color changes are quantitatively illustrated by the total Euclidean distances (EDs = [ΔR² + ΔG² + ΔB²]^1/2). The good linear relationship between the EDs and Lin concentration is used for the quantitative assay of Lin. The developed method demonstrates great potential for the detection of Lin in environmental water and milk.

A simple, rapid, sensitive, selective and label-free method is presented for the colorimetric determination of lincomycin (Lin) by using HAuCl₄ and NaOH.