Use of the improved tug-of-war acupuncture for promoting cartilage repair by inducing macrophage polarization in knee osteoarthritis.

Introduction: Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a type of joint disease causing degenerative changes that are challenging to treat. The improved tug-of-war acupuncture (BHZF) can improve joint pain in KOA. However, the associated mechanism has not been validated. Methods: The KOA rabbit model was established. After the surgery, the improved BHZF was provided as an intervention, and the animals were euthanized after 2 weeks. Histopathological changes in the synovium and cartilage were observed on hematoxylin & eosin staining and Safranin O-Fast Green staining. Synovial fluid and serum samples were collected to assess the presence of cytokines using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The expression of M1 macrophage (CD86) and M2 macrophage (ARG1) markers in the cartilage and synovium was detected via immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence assays. Results: The improved BHZF could reduce KOA-related pain and inhibit joint swelling. Further, it significantly maintained the morphology of articular chondrocytes in KOA and reduced the decomposition of the cartilage matrix. Then, it significantly reduced the expression of CD86-positive cells (P < 0.05), and increased the expression of ARG1-positive cells in the cartilage and synovium (P < 0.05). Moreover, it significantly decreased the expression of inflammatory factors interleukin (IL)-1 beta and tumor necrosis factor-alpha in the serum and synovial fluid (P < 0.05), and significantly increased the expression levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines IL-4 and IL-10 (P < 0.05). Conclusions: The improved BHZF can relieve pain and improve cartilage damage by regulating macrophage polarization in KOA.

Sparse representation and dictionary learning model incorporating group sparsity and incoherence to extract abnormal brain regions associated with schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is a complex mental illness, the mechanism of which is currently unclear. Using sparse representation and dictionary learning (SDL) model to analyze functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) dataset of schizophrenia is currently a popular method for exploring the mechanism of the disease. The SDL method decomposed the fMRI data into a sparse coding matrix X and a dictionary matrix D. However, these traditional methods overlooked group structure information in X and the coherence between the atoms in D. To address this problem, we propose a new SDL model incorporating group sparsity and incoherence, namely GS2ISDL to detect abnormal brain regions. Specifically, GS2ISDL uses the group structure information that defined by AAL anatomical template from fMRI dataset as priori to achieve inter-group sparsity in X. At the same time, L 1 - norm is enforced on X to achieve intra-group sparsity. In addition, our algorithm also imposes incoherent constraint on the dictionary matrix D to reduce the coherence between the atoms in D, which can ensure the uniqueness of X and the discriminability of the atoms. To validate our proposed model GS2ISDL, we compared it with both IK-SVD and SDL algorithm for analyzing fMRI dataset collected by Mind Clinical Imaging Consortium (MCIC). The results show that the accuracy, sensitivity, recall and MCC values of GS2ISDL are 93.75%, 95.23%, 80.50% and 88.19%, respectively, which outperforms both IK-SVD and SDL. The ROIs extracted by GS2ISDL model (such as Precentral gyrus, Hippocampus and Caudate nucleus, etc.) are further verified by the literature review on schizophrenia studies, which have significant biological significance.

Evaluation of modified basalt fiber as biological carrier media for wastewater treatment with the extended DLVO theory model.

In this study, environment-friendly inorganic basalt fiber (BF) was used as bio-carrier for wastewater treatment. To enhance the bio-affinity, raw BF was modified by grafting the diethylamino functional groups to make the surface more hydrophilic and electro-positive. Contact angle and zeta potential of modified basalt fiber (MBF) were characterized. The capacity of MBF bio-carriers was evaluated by microorganism immobilization tests. To explain the mechanism of capacity enhancement by modification, the profiles of total interaction energy barrier between raw BF (or MBF) and bacteria (Escherichia coli, E. coli) were discussed based on the extended Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (DLVO) theory. The results showed the contact angle of fiber decreased from 89.71° to 63.08° after modification, and zeta potential increased from - 18.53 to +10.58 mV. The microorganism immobilization tests showed that the surface modification accelerated the initial bacterial adhesion on fiber. The total interaction energy barrier between MBF and E. coli disappeared as a result of electrostatic and hydrophilic attractive forces, and enhanced the irreversible adhesion. MBF bio-carrier medium provides a promising alternative to conventional bio-carrier materials for wastewater treatment. Graphical abstract.

[Orthogonal factor analysis on metabolic syndrome].

To elucidate the principal of orthogonal factor analysis, using an example of factor analysis of metabolic syndrome. The basic structures and the fundamental concepts of orthogonal factor analysis were introduced and data involving 1877 women aged of 35-65 years, selected from a cross-sectional study, which was conducted in 1998 - 2001 in Shanghai, were included in this study. Factor analysis was carried out using principle components analysis with Varimax orthogonal rotation of the components of the metabolic syndrome. The different components of the metabolic syndrome were not linked closely with the other components and loaded on the six different factors,which mainly reflected by the variables of obesity, blood pressure, plasma glucose, plasma insulin, triglycerides and HDL-cholesterol respectively. Six major factors of the metabolic syndrome were uncorrelated with each other and explained 86% of the variance in the original data. The factor score and total factor score for the individual could be obtained according to the component score coefficient matrix. Although the components of the metabolic syndrome were related statistically, the finding of six factors suggested that the components of the metabolic syndrome did not show high degrees of intercorrelation. As a linear method of data reduction, the mode reduced a large set of measured intercorrelation variables into a smaller set of uncorrelated factors, which explained the majority of the variance in the original variables. Factor analysis was well suited for revealing underlying patterns or structure among variables showing high degrees of intercorrelation.

[Serum lipid profile changes of the adults in Shanghai communities].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the adult lipid profile of Huayang community from 1998 to 2000 and Caoyang communities in 2001. METHODS: Representative serum samples of 5628 adults (aged 20 - 95 years) were obtained in Huayang and Caoyang communities during 1998.9 and 2001.11. Standard epidemiology questionnaire, physical check-ups and serum lipids data were analyzed. RESULTS: After standardization to Chinese census statistics of 2000, the age-and sex-standardized means of total cholesterol, HDL-C, LDL-C and triglycerides of the two communities (Huayang vs. Caoyang) were 5.01 mmol/L vs. 4.43 mmol/L, 1.28 mmol/L vs. 1.32 mmol/L, 3.37 mmol/L vs. 2.99 mmol/L, 1.97 mmol/L vs. 1.60 mmol/L respectively, and the age- and sex- standardized prevalence of dyslipidemia was 52.9% vs. 25.1%, and the prevalence for borderline dyslipidemia was 76.0% vs. 56.2%, respectively. The decreasing order of dyslipidemia prevalence of the two communities was: elevated TG, decreased HDL-C, elevated LDL-C and TC. The standardized proportions of optimal HDL-C level were only 15.7% and 16.1% in Huayang and Caoyang respectively which was much lower than these of TG, LDL and TC. CONCLUSIONS: The standardized prevalence of adult dyslipidemia and borderline dyslipidemia in the two communities were high. Dyslipidemia of the two communities was TG and decreased.

[A comparison of the application of two working definitions of metabolic syndrome in Chinese population].

OBJECTIVE: To compare the significance of the application of the working definition for metabolic syndrome (MS) proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1999 and the one proposed by the Third Report of the National Cholesterol Education Program Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults (ATP III) in 2001. METHODS: Data of 2048 subjects, aged 20-74, 896 males and 1152 females, with complete laboratory data, including plasma glucose, lipid profile, blood pressure, serum insulin, urine albumin and creatinine, were gathered from the data of baseline survey on obesity and its co-morbidities conducted in Huayang and Caoyang communities, Shanghai, from 1999 to 2001. MS was diagnosed according to these two definitions respectively. RESULTS: (1) The age-adjusted MS prevalence rates were 17.14% and 10.95% according to the WHO (1999) and ATP III (2001) respectively, the former being significantly higher than the latter. (2) A total of 445 subjects were diagnosed as having MS. The agreement in the diagnosis of MS using two definitions was about 45.17%. 42.02% of the subjects had MS only under the WHO (1999) definition, while 12.81% of the subjects had MS under the ATP III (2001) definition. (3) The prevalence rate of hyperglycemia and central obesity as defined by WHO (1999) definition were 1.74 and 4.38 times higher than those defined by ATP III (2001) definition (16.74% vs 9.57%, 33.04% vs 7.54% respectively). (4) In comparison with non-MS subjects, the body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, blood pressure, blood glucose, insulin resistant index (HOMA-IR), and albumin-to-creatinine ratio were all significantly increased in MS subjects. CONCLUSION: Both definitions for MS can reflect the clustering degree of risk factors of cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases. The WHO definition of MS can better reflect the characteristics of MS in Chinese than the definition proposed by ATP III, however it needs more measurements and costs more. A simple method with high detection ability remains to be worked out.

[Relationship between the prevalence of microalbuminuria and components of metabolic syndrome in Shanghai].

OBJECTIVE: To study the relationship between the prevalence of microalbuminuria and components of metabolic syndrome in Shanghai. METHODS: A total of 3532 Shanghai Chinese (men 1622, women 1910) aged over 20 years were included. Body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose, lipid profile and plasma insulin concentrations were measured in all subjects. Oral glucose tolerance test was performed in those subjects without knowing the diabetic history. Urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (ACR) was measured in an early morning spot urine sample. Microalbuminuria was diagnosed when ACR was between 30 and 300 mg/g. RESULTS: (1) The prevalence of microalbuminuria was increasing with aging (P < 0.001). When compared with subjects having normal ACR, the waist-hip ratio, systolic and diastolic pressure, serum triglyceride level, fasting plasma glucose and homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) were all significantly increased in those subjects with microalbuminuria. (2) Along with the increment of number of items on metabolic disorders, the prevalence of microalbuminuria was significantly increased (P for trend < 0.001). (3) Multiple logistic regression analyses revealed that hypertension and hyperglycemia were independent factors associated with microalbuminuria (OR = 2.15, P < 0.001 and OR = 1.64, P = 0.01 respectively). Those subjects with two or more items on metabolic disorders had higher odd ratio for the development of microalbuminuria (OR = 3.93 and 4.77, both P < 0.001) when compared with the subjects without metabolic disorder. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of microalbuminuria was independently associated with hypertension and hyperglycemia. The subjects with multiple metabolic abnormalities had higher risk for the development of microalbuminuria, especially in metabolic syndrome.