Different angular kyphosis locations have different relative positions of aorta to spine in patients with Pott's deformity.

BACKGROUND: The position of the aorta relative to the spine in kyphosis secondary to Pott's deformity is little understood. The purpose of this study was to investigate the anatomic relationship between the aorta and the spine in patients with Pott's deformity and to compare it with the normal people. METHODS: Seventy-six patients with Pott's deformity (Group TB) and seventy-two age- and sex-matched patients with a normal spine (group NC) were enrolled in this study. The relative position of aorta to the spine was evaluated from T4 to L4 on the computed tomographic angiography scans for controls and at the apex level for TB patient, and was classified into 4 kinds of degrees. RESULTS: The left pedicle-aorta angle in group TB was significantly larger than that in group NC at the T6-L3 levels. Group TB exhibited significantly smaller left pedicle-aorta distance, pedicular line-aorta distance and vertebra/rib-aorta distance than those in group NC at the T5-T10 levels, but bigger at the L1-3 levels. Patients with grade 3 and 4 aorta had more segments involved compared with those with grade 1 aorta. Patients with grade 2, 3, and 4 aorta showed larger kyphotic angles than those with grade 1. CONCLUSIONS: Patients whose morbid segments involved only thoracic vertebrae presented with an "Ω" shaped aorta in sagittal plane, and 4 different kinds of degrees of aorta relative to the vertebra/rib in axial plane. Patients whose morbid segments covered lumbar vertebrae presented with an "M" shaped aorta in sagittal plane, and the aorta shifted further from apex vertebra but was located in close proximity to the vertebral body at levels above and below the osteotomy levels in axial plane.

Purification and characterization of Se-enriched Grifola frondosa glycoprotein, and evaluating its amelioration effect on As3+ -induced immune toxicity.

BACKGROUND: Selenium (Se)-enriched glycoproteins have been a research highlight for the role of both Se and glycoproteins in immunoregulation. Arsenic (As) is a toxicant that is potentially toxic to the immune function and consequently to human health. Several reports suggested that Se could reduce the toxicity of heavy metals. Moreover, more and more nutrients in food had been applied to relieve As-induced toxicity. Hence glycoproteins were isolated and purified from Se-enriched Grifola frondosa, and their preliminary characteristics as well as amelioration effect and mechanism on As3+ -induced immune toxicity were evaluated. RESULTS: Four factions, namely Se-GPr11 (electrophoresis analysis exhibited one band: 14.32 kDa), Se-GPr22 (two bands: 20.57 and 31.12 kDa), Se-GPr33 (three bands: 15.08, 20.57 and 32.78 kDa) and Se-GPr44 (three bands: 16.73, 32.78 and 42.46 kDa), were obtained from Se-enriched G. frondosa via DEAE-52 and Sephacryl S-400 column. In addition, Se-GPr11 and Se-GPr44 are ideal proteins that contain high amounts of almost all essential amino acids. Thereafter, the RAW264.7 macrophage model was adopted to estimate the effect of Se-GPr11 and Se-GPr44 on As3+ -induced immune toxicity. The results showed that the pre-intervention method was the best consequent and the potential mechanisms were, first, by improving the oxidative stress state (enhancing the activity of superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase, decreasing the levels of reactive oxygen species and malondialdehyde); secondly, through nuclear factor-κB and mitogen-activated protein kinase-mediated upregulation cytokines (interleukin-2 and interferon-γ) secretion induced by As3+ . CONCLUSION: The results suggested Se-enriched G. frondosa may be a feasible supplement to improve health level of the As3+ pollution population. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.

The value and accuracy of intracoronary electrocardiogram in the diagnosis of myocardial ischemia in coronary heart disease.

BACKGROUND: Although intracoronary electrocardiography (IC-ECG) offers direct electrophysiological insights into myocardial ischemia caused by insufficient coronary blood supply, compared to common diagnostic methods like electrocardiography (ECG), it lacks widespread adoption and robust clinical research. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the value and accuracy of intracoronary electrocardiogram in myocardial ischemia diagnosis in coronary heart disease patients. METHODS: Three hundred patients treated at our hospital were included in the study. Patients were categorized into non-ischemic group A (Fraction Flow Reserve [FFR] > 0.8) and ischemic group B (FFR < 0.75) based on FFR examination results. Both groups underwent IC-ECG examination. The ischemic group received percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) treatment followed by another FFR examination, dividing them into non-ischemic subgroup B1 (FFR > 0.8) and ischemic subgroup B2 (FFR < 0.75). Both subgroups underwent IC-ECG examination. Receiver operating curves were constructed using FFR to assess the clinical utility of different IC-ECG parameters. RESULTS: Group A patients showed a significant decrease in ST-segment shift at J-point, ST-segment integral, T-peak, T-wave integral, and T-peak to end-time, while the Corrected Q-T interval (QTc-time) was significantly higher in the B group (p< 0.05). The parameters, including ST-segment shift at J-point, ST-segment integral, T-wave integral, T-peak, T-peak to end-time, and QTc-time, were found to have clinical significance in predicting the occurrence of myocardial ischemia (p< 0.05). CONCLUSION: Intracoronary electrocardiogram QT interval dispersion and Q-T peak (QTp) interval dispersion have a high diagnostic accuracy for myocardial ischemia in coronary heart disease.

Bioinformatics and system biology analysis revealed the crosstalk between COVID-19 and osteoarthritis.

BACKGROUND: The global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has significantly impacted public health. Moreover, there has been an association between the incidence and severity of osteoarthritis (OA) and the onset of COVID-19. However, the optimal diagnosis and treatment strategies for patients with both diseases remain uncertain. Bioinformatics is a novel approach that may help find the common pathology between COVID-19 and OA. METHODS: Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened by R package "limma." Functional enrichment analyses were performed to find key biological functions. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed by STRING database and then Cytoscape was used to select hub genes. External data sets and OA mouse model validated and identified the hub genes in both mRNA and protein levels. Related transcriptional factors (TF) and microRNAs (miRNAs) were predicted with miRTarBase and JASPR database. Candidate drugs were obtained from Drug Signatures database. The immune infiltration levels of COVID-19 and OA were evaluated by CIBERSORT and scRNA-seq. RESULTS: A total of 74 common DEGs were identified between COVID-19 and OA. Receiver operating characteristic curves validated the effective diagnostic values (area under curve > 0.7) of four hub genes (matrix metalloproteinases 9, ATF3, CCL4, and RELA) in both the training and validation data sets of COVID-19 and OA. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction and Western Blot showed significantly higher hub gene expression in OA mice than in healthy controls. A total of 84 miRNAs and 28 TFs were identified to regulate the process of hub gene expression. The top 10 potential drugs were screened including "Simvastatin," "Hydrocortisone," and "Troglitazone" which have been proven by Food and Drug Administration. Correlated with hub gene expression, Macrophage M0 was highly expressed while Natural killer cells and Mast cells were low in both COVID-19 and OA. CONCLUSION: Four hub genes, disease-related miRNAs, TFs, drugs, and immune infiltration help to understand the pathogenesis and perform further studies, providing a potential therapy target for COVID-19 and OA.

Large Lumbar Lordosis and Coronal Deformity Angular Ratio Are Risk Factors for Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis in Patients With Lumbar Spondylolysis.

BACKGROUND: The features of lumbar curves in patients with lumbar spondylolisthesis (LS) are unclear. The aim of this retrospective study was to present the clinical and radiologic characteristics of scoliosis due to LS and LS concurrent with main thoracolumbar/lumbar adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). METHODS: This study was conducted as a single-center retrospective comparative study on 56 pediatric spondylolisthesis patients with main thoracolumbar/lumbar curves. Cases were divided into 2 groups according to the course of scoliosis after spinal surgery of LS. Sagittal spinopelvic parameters and scoliotic characteristics were compared between the 2 groups. RESULTS: The prevalence of scoliosis was 15.3% in pediatric LS patients in our study population. Lumbar lordosis (LL), Cobb angle, apical rotation, and coronal deformity angular ratio (C-DAR) were higher in the LS concurrent with AIS group than in the LS with functional scoliosis group (P < 0.05), while curve span, apical vertebral translation, and central sacral vertical line to C7 plumb line were lower (P < 0.05). Logistic regression analyses and receiver operating characteristic curves showed that LL and C-DAR were significant risk factors of unresolved lumbar curves after spinal surgery for LS, with a cutoff value of 51.5°and 3.5, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Lumbar scoliosis may develop due to LS, or a concurrent condition to LS. LL and C-DAR are the features that differentiate AIS from functional scoliosis in patients with LS.

Metabolism toxicity and susceptibility of decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-209) exposure on BRL cells with insulin resistance.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a metabolic disease characterized by insulin resistance (IR) and has attracted worldwide attention due to its high prevalence. As a typical persistent organic pollutant, decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-209) has been detected in food and human samples, and the concentration trends increase year by year. In addition, it has been proved to have the potential to increase the risk of IR, but it is rarely reported whether it could aggravate IR in T2DM. Therefore, in this study, the IR-BRL (buffalo rat liver cells with IR) model was applied to study the metabolism toxicity and susceptibility of BDE-209. Results showed that BDE-209 could inhibit glucose absorption and increase the levels of serum total cholesterol (TC) and triglyceride (TG), ultimately leading to the disorder of glucolipid metabolism in IR-BRL cells. Besides, it also could cause cell damage by increasing the levels of aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and malondialdehyde (MDA) in cells. Moreover, its potential mechanisms were to: (1) affect the transport of glucose, synthesis of glycogen and fatty acid via IRS-1/GLUT4 and IRS-1/PI3K/AKT/GSK-3ß pathways; (2) impact the proliferation and differentiation by regulating the expression of Mek1/2, Erk1/2, and mTOR proteins and genes. Furthermore, susceptibility analysis showed that there was a significant synergism interaction between IR and BDE-209, which suggested that IR-BRL cells were more susceptible to the metabolism toxicity induced by BDE-209.

Study on the comprehensive utilization of solid residues of Flammulina velutipes and vinegar and their application as feed in Eisenia fetida earthworm culture.

To explore the comprehensive utilization of agricultural wastes, solid-state fermentation was applied to residues of Flammulina velutipes (F. velutipes) and vinegar for use in culturing earthworms. Fermentation technology and earthworm culture technology were optimized by response surface methodology in this study. The optimal fermentation product for earthworm culture was obtained under an inoculum amount of 7.5%, fermentation temperature of 25.6 °C, pH 7.7 and protein content of 18.23%. The optimum culture conditions were a culture density of 18.4 individuals/dm3, an initial pH of 7.2 and a fermentation temperature of 26.8 °C. The daily weight gain multiplier of earthworms was 0.0387 units, and it increased significantly compared with that of the unfermented and cow dung groups. The fermented product of F. velutipes and vinegar residues could be used to culture earthworms and improve the metabolism and antioxidant capacities of earthworms. This provides a new way to comprehensively utilize agricultural waste resources.

Short-term exposure of decabromodiphenyl ether in female adult Balb/c mice: Immune toxicity and self-recovery.

As a typical persistent organic pollutant, decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-209) is associated with various health risks, especially on immune system, which is sensitive to environmental pollutants. In addition, there is a problem of multi-index estimation and lack of comprehensive evaluation in immune toxicity study. In this study, the immunotoxicity of BDE-209 was systematically estimated from the aspects of immunopathology, humoral immunity, cellular immunity and non-specific immunity, etc., and integrated biomarker responses (IBR) combined with principal component analysis was applied to comprehensively evaluate the immunotoxicity of BDE-209 and its self-recovery after discontinuation. Results showed that BDE-209 exposure could cause immunotoxicity. This response seems to depend on (1) atrophying immune organs (thymus and spleen), hepatomegaly accompanied by increasing aspartate aminotransferase and oxidative stress;(2) changing humoral (immunoglobulins) and cellular (lymphocyte proliferation and cytokine secretion) immunity indices; (3) altering related expressions of genes, and further leading to imbalance of Th1/Th2 (Th, helper T cell). Integrated biomarker responses (IBR) companied with principal component analysis selected five biomarkers (mRNA expression of GATA-3, malondialdehyde level in thymus, count of white blood cell, serum IgG and lipopolysaccharide-induced splenic lymphocyte proliferation) to clarify the immunotoxicity induced by BDE-209. Furthermore, IBR combined with factorial analysis revealed that the effect of BDE-209 could be dose-dependently reduced after withdrawal of BDE-209. Overall results suggested that BDE-209 has immunotoxicity on adult Balb/c mice, whereas this immunotoxicity could be reduced by the self-regulation of organisms to some extent.