Ubiquitin conjugating enzyme E2 M promotes apoptosis in osteoarthritis chondrocytes via Wnt/ß-catenin signaling.

In this study, the role of ubiquitin conjugating enzyme E2 M (UBE2M) and molecular mechanisms associated with osteoarthritis (OA) were explored. Cartilage tissues and corresponding healthy tissues from OA patients were isolated. Our data suggested that the expression level of UBE2M in OA patients was significantly higher compared to that in healthy individuals (P < 0.01). The apoptosis of human OA chondrocytes was inhibited when silencing UBE2M and increased when overexpressing UBE2M. XAV939, as a tankyrase 1 inhibitor, could block the signaling pathway of Wnt/ß-catenin, which significantly reversed the change introduced by UBE2M. The expression level of cytoplasmic ß-catenin in siUBE2M cells dramatically increased, and the expression levels of nuclear ß-catenin, cleaved caspase-3 (C-caspase-3), and MMP13 remarkably downregulated. Moreover, the ubiquitination of Axin was enhanced by the overexpression of UBE2M. The expression level of Axin significantly decreased in OA chondrocytes with UBE2M overexpression and increased after MG132 treatment. Moreover, UBE2M enhanced the apoptosis of OA chondrocytes by activating the Axin-dependent Wnt/ß-catenin pathway. In this process, UBE2M downregulated Axin in an ubiquitination-dependent degradation pathway and subsequently activated Wnt/ß-catenin signaling.

[External application of No.II prescription on preoperative detumescence for the treatment of calcaneal fracture through tarsal sinus approach].

OBJECTIVE: To explore clinical effect of external application of No.II prescription on preoperative detumescence for the treatment of calcaneal fracture through tarsal sinus approach. METHODS: From November 2016 to June 2018, 67 patients with calcaneal fracture were divided into control group(32 patients with ice compress) and research group(35 patients with external application of No.II prescription) according to different methods of preoperative detumescence. There were 21 males and 14 females in research group, aged from 36 to 52 years old with an average of (44.07±7.31) years old; the time from injury to clinic ranged from 2 to 6 h with an average of(4.32±1.68) h; 9 patients on the left side and 26 patients on the right side; 20 patients were type II, 15 patients were type III according to Sanders classification; treated with external application of No.II prescription. There were 32 patients in control group, including 22 males and 10 females aged from 40 to 52 years old with an average of (46.79±5.47) years old; the time from injury to clinic ranged from 2 to 5 h with an average of (3.89±1.03) h; 14 patients on the left side and 18 patients on the right side; 19 patients were type II and 13 patients were type III according to Sanders classification; treated by ice compress from admission to the first time of occurrence of skin fold. After disappearance of swelling, patients were treated with open reduction and internal fixation through tarsal sinus approach. Cross-section diameter of foot and ankle between admission and the first time of occurrence of skin fold were recorded and calculated the difference value. VAS score on the 2nd, 4th and 7th day after admission, preoperative prepare time, operative time, period of hospitalization and fracture healing time between two groups were compared. RESULTS: Difference value of cross-section diameter of foot and ankle in research group were (1.72±0.29) cm and (1.69±0.18) cm respectively, while in control group were (1.08±0.21) cm and (0.91±0.37) cm, the level of swelling in research group was better than that of in control group. VAS score on the 2nd, 4th and 7th day after admission in research group were 8.91±0.33, 6.47±1.09, 4.52±0.91 respectively; while in control group were 6.21±0.19, 3.67±1.18, 2.12±1.17 respectively; VAS score in research group was lower than control group. Preoperative prepare time, period of hospitalization and fracture healing time in research group were shorter than control group, while there was no statistical difference in operative time between two groups. CONCLUSIONS: During the perioperative period, rational application of No.IIfor the treatment of calcaneal fracture through tarsal sinus approach could effectively relieve wound swelling, shorten preoperative preparation and fracture healing time, alleviate pain, improve patient satisfaction, and achieve remarkable clinical results.

High-performance asymmetric optical transmission based on coupled complementary subwavelength gratings.

Asymmetric transmission (AT) devices are fundamental elements for optical computing and information processing. We here propose an AT device consisting of a pair of coupled complementary subwavelength gratings. Different from previous works, asymmetric dielectric environment is employed for unidirectional excitation of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) and thus asymmetric optical transmission, and near-field coupling effect inherent in the coupled complementary structure is exploited to enhance forward transmission and AT behavior, and determine operation bandwidth as well. The influence of asymmetric dielectric environment, effect of vertical and lateral couplings, interactions of electric- and magnetic-dipole moments and the realization of Kerker conditions, are investigated in depth to unearth the AT mechanism and performance. High-performance AT with large forward transmittance of 0.96 and broad bandwidth of 174 nm is achieved at wavelength 1250 nm. Our work helps people to gain a better understanding of near-filed coupling effect in coupled complementary structures, expand their application fields, and it also offers an alternate way to high-performance AT devices.

Investigating noncovalent interactions of rutin-serum albumin by capillary electrophoresis-frontal analysis.

The application of capillary electrophoresis-frontal analysis (CE-FA) to study noncovalent interaction between rutin and serum albumin (bovine serum albumin, BSA and human serum albumin, HSA) in phosphate buffer solution (67 mM, pH 7.4) at 37 degrees C is presented. Using fixed HSA or BSA concentration and increasing rutin concentration, the number of primary binding sites per HSA or BSA molecules, and the affinity constants were obtained. Both affinity constants are in a comparable range suggesting the similarity of affinity properties of HSA and BSA towards rutin. The proposed CE-FA method is simple, rapid and cost-effective which may be useful in further high-throughput protein binding studies of multi-components in traditional herbal medicines for pharmacological effect evaluations.