[MRI evaluation of condylar bone regeneration after temporomandibular joint disc reduction and suture and analysis of factors affecting bone regeneration].

Objective: To evaluate the MRI manifestations of condylar bone regeneration after disc reduction and suture for anterior disc displacement without reduction (ADDWoR) patients and to analyze the relevant factors affecting bone regeneration. Methods: A total of 61 patients of 75 joints with ADDWoR who attended the Department of Maxillofacial Surgery of the Affiliated Hospital of Stomatology of Nanjing Medical University from April 2020 to December 2021 were enrolled in the study. The characteristics of MRI condylar bone regeneration were analyzed before and after surgery (follow-up for 6 months or more), and logistic regression analysis was performed on the influencing factors of bone regeneration. Results: The new bone formation of the condyle was found in 28 patients, with age of (20.2±4.9) years. However, there were 33 patients that had no condylar bone regeneration, with age of (41.9±17.5) years. A total of 35 joints in this study were found new bone formation. There were 16 joints (45.7%) had new bone formation on the posterior slope of the condyle, 10 joints (28.6%) around the condyle, 6 joints (17.1%) on the anterior slope of the condyle, and only 3 joints (8.6%) on the top of the condyle. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that age, preoperative disc length and degree of condylar bone resorption correlated with postoperative condylar bone regeneration(P<0.05). Patients younger than 30 years with non-shortened preoperative disc length and less condylar bone resorption have a higher probability of new bone formation. Conclusions: The condyle has bone regeneration capacity after correcting the abnormal relationship between disc and condyle, and young age, non-shortened preoperative disc length and less condylar bone resorption are conducive to postoperative condylar bone regeneration.

MiR-140a contributes to the pro-atherosclerotic phenotype of macrophages by downregulating interleukin-10.

OBJECTIVE: The dysfunction of immune cells plays important roles in promoting the progression of atherosclerosis (AS). This study aims to investigate the role of miR-140a in modulating the function of AS-associated macrophages. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The expression of miR-140a in human monocytes was evaluated by quantitative PCR. For in vitro studies, macrophages were transfected with miR140a mimic or miR140a inhibitor, and then, stimulated with oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL). The production of cytokines was evaluated by quantitative PCR and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Flow cytometry was used to determine the phosphorylation of Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 3 (STAT3). RESULTS: MiR-140a expression was upregulated in monocytes from AS patients. MiR140a overexpression enhanced the pro-inflammatory ability of ox-LDL-stimulated human macrophages. In addition, miR140a was found to target interleukin-10 (IL-10) in macrophages, thus reducing IL-10-mediated anti-inflammatory responses. CONCLUSIONS: MiR-140a serves as a pro-atherosclerotic microRNA by modulating the phenotypic switch of AS-associated macrophages.

[Application of three-dimensional ultrasound for diagnosis of congenital preauricular fistula].

Objective: To explore the application of real-time three-dimensional ultrasound in locating the course, the brand and the blind end of internal opening of congenital preauricular fistula. Methods: Congenital preauricular fistula patients from Changhai Hospital were studied. All the cases were evaluated using two-dimensional and three-dimensional ultrasound before surgeries. The surgery findings were utilized as the gold standard. The imaging features of 3D ultrasound were described to determine the accuracy of the blind end location, the course of the main fistula tract and the branch tracts. The diagnosis was compared with the surgery findings. Results: In 89 cases, among which there were 21 branch fistulae. There were 68 bend fistulae without branch. The diagnostic accuracy of both two-dimensional ultrasound and three-dimensional ultrasound was 100%. The accuracy in locating the blind end of internal opening, the course of the branch tracts with 3D ultrasound was 92.1%(82/89), 85.7%(18/21) , compared to 80.9%(72/89), 57.1%(12/21) with 2D ultrasound. It was obvious that 3D ultrasound had more advantages. These differences were statistically significant (χ(2)=4.8, P<0.05; χ(2)=4.2, P<0.05). Conclusions: Compared with 2D ultrasound, 3D ultrasound can accurately locate the blind end of internal opening, the course, and the branch of preauricular fistula, clearly display the morphology and the spatial structure of preauricular fistulaand its surroundings. It has high clinical application value in preoperative imaging examination.

[Effects of iASSIST navigation system and personal specific instrument assisted total knee arthroplasty in the treatment of osteoarthritis].

Objective: To compare the application of iASSIST assisted total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and three-dimentional(3D) printing personal specific instrument (PSI) assist TKA in the treatment of osteoarthritis (OA). Methods: Clinical data of 47 patients with OA admitted at Department of Orthopaedic Surgery in Nanjing Medical University Nanjing Hospital between April and September 2016 were retrospectively reviewed, including 20 males and 27 females, aging from 57 to 77 years with mean age of (63.8±8.2) years. They were randomly divided into iASSIST-TKA group (23 patients) and PSI-TKA group (24 patients). The data such as hip knee ankle (HKA) angle, frontal femoral component (FFC) angle, frontal tibial component (FTC) angle, lateral femoral component (LFC) angle, lateral tibial component (LTC) angle, time of operation, post-operative wound drainage, period of hospitalization, visual analog scale (VAS) and Knee Society Score (KSS) at 1 day, 7 days, 14 days, 1 month and 3 months were recorded and compared between the two groups. T test was used to compare measurement data, Fisher exact test and χ(2) test were applied to enumeration data in comparison among groups, and Kruskal-Wallis test was applied to ranked data. Results: The deviation values of HKA, FFC, LFC, FTC and LTC angles were all below 3°(-2° to 2°), and there were no significant difference between iASSIST-TKA group and PSI-TKA group (Z=-0.610 to 0.000, P=0.542 to 1.000). Compared to PSI-TKA group, the time of operation was long((80.7±8.8) minutes vs.(60.2±7.8) minutes), the amount of post-operative wound drainage was increased((210.7±32.1) ml vs.(185.5±30.2)ml) and the period of hospitalization decreased((5.4±2.4) d vs.(6.7±1.6) d) in iASSIST-TKA group, there were significant difference(t=-2.190 to 8.460, P=0.000 to 0.033). There were no significant difference in intra-operative blood drainage((18.4±5.4) ml vs.(17.3±6.2) ml) between the two groups(t=0.650, P=0.521). PSI-TKA group had a superior VAS score(4.8±0.6 vs. 5.5±0.9, 3.6±0.8 vs. 4.3±0.9), KSS clinical score(49.3±5.5 vs. 44.2±6.4, 54.9±4.0 vs. 50.8±4.2) and KSS function score(44.1±2.9 vs. 41.2±3.5, 49.6±3.8 vs. 46.6±3.2) in 1 day and 7 days post-operation(t=-3.420 to 3.150, P=0.001 to 0.007). There were no significant difference in VAS and KSS score in 14 days, 1 month and 3 months post-operation(t=-1.390 to 0.530, P=0.170 to 1.000) between the two groups. Conclusions: The iASSIST-TKA and PSI-TKA can help to make TKA procedure more accurately. iASSIST-TKA may take longer time of operation and have slower recovery, PSI-TKA may need more X-ray input and longer period of hospitalization. The long-term research of both techniques may be valuable for the further clinical usage.

Gene expression profiling of gastric cancer.

OBJECTIVES: Gastric cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Gene expression profile facilitates the identification of molecular mechanism of gastric cancer. Previous studies mainly focused on differentially expressed genes (DEGs) without considering MicroRNAs (miRNAs) and transcription factors (TFs). Here we aim to elaborate the mechanism of gastric cancer on transcription level with microarray data from the gene expression omnibus (GEO) database. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We firstly identified DEGs between gastric cancer and normal tissues. Then the DEGs were mapped in KEGG pathway and gene ontology database to conduct functional categories enrichment analysis. MiRNAs and TFs enriched with target DEGs were also identified. RESULTS: A total of 977 DEGs were selected, including 492 down regulated and 485 overexpressed genes in gastric cancer tissue. Functional analysis revealed cell cycle, metabolism and ECM related biological processes as the significant items. Eight miRNAs and 20 TFs enriched with target DEGs were detected, including one novel miRNA (miR-557) and four novel TFs (SPI1, NFIC, SPIB and THAP1), which have not been reported to be related to gastric cancer before. All of them might contribute to the pathogenesis since they are all related to other cancers and their target genes have been reported to play important roles in gastric tumorigenesis. CONCLUSIONS: Our results may facilitate further therapeutic studies of gastric cancer.

Metabolic activation of mitomycin C by NADPH-ferredoxin reductase in vitro.

Mammalian NADPH-ferredoxin reductase (EC 1.18.1.2) functions in the mitochondrial electron transport chain for cytochrome P-450-dependent steroid hydroxylation. Significant homology of three-dimensional structure exists in the surroundings of FAD between NADPH-ferredoxin reductase and NADH-cytochrome b5 reductase. The latter is involved in the bioreduction of mitomycin C (MC), a prototype antitumor agent. In this study, we assessed the capacity of NADPH-ferredoxin reductase to activate MC. Mitomycin C increased the NADPH oxidase activity of NADPH-ferredoxin reductase. In the absence of ferredoxin, the Km value of NADPH-ferredoxin reductase for MC was 73.5 +/- 2.3 microM. While in the presence of 500 nM ferredoxin, a Lineweaver-Burk plot exhibited a biphasic curve. NADPH-ferredoxin reductase-mediated reduction of MC resulted in the formation of an alkylated complex of 4-(p-nitrobenzyl) pyridine and an increase in plasmide DNA single-strand breaks under hypoxic conditions. With the addition of 500 nM ferredoxin, the amount of the alkylated complex of 4-(p-nitrobenzyl) pyridine and the plasmide DNA single-strand breaks increased by 40% and 37%, respectively. However, neither alkylated complex of 4-(p-nitrobenzyl) pyridine nor DNA strand breaks was observed in the presence of SOD and catalase under aerobic conditions. These findings demonstrate that NADPH-ferredoxin reductase is capable of catalyzing the bioactivation of mitomycin C under hypoxic conditions in vitro.

Analysis of NOS isoform changes in a post radical prostatectomy model of erectile dysfunction.

Optimal treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED) following radical prostatectomy remains a subject of much controversy and is a significant concern for prostate cancer patients requiring surgical intervention. Neural stimulation involving nitric oxide synthase (NOS) is a crucial aspect of the normal erection process. In this study NOS isoform interaction was evaluated to improve our understanding of molecular changes pertaining to erection post radical prostatectomy. Bilateral cavernous nerve (CN) resected and control adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were killed 7, 14 and 21 days after injury. RT-PCR, in situ hybridization, Western blot and immunohistochemical analysis were used to evaluate changes in NOS isoform expression and distribution. NOS-I protein was dramatically decreased after CN injury while NOS-III and NOS-II remained unchanged. A profound decrease in smooth muscle and endothelium was observed in the corpora. To our knowledge this is the first report of differential altered NOS isoform protein abundance under conditions which mimic radical prostatectomy. These results show the importance of maintaining at least partial innervation of the penis after surgical intervention and that endothelial and smooth muscle changes resulting from loss of innervation may account for the ED observed in prostatectomy patients.

Reductive activation of mitomycin C by neuronal nitric oxide synthase.

Mitomycin C (MC) requires bioreduction prior to the generation of alkylating moieties. NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase is predominant in metabolic activation of MC in hypoxic cancer cells. In this study, neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS), whose reductase domain is structurally similar to that of NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase, was assessed for its ability to activate MC. nNOS under anaerobic conditions catalyzed the reduction of MC, which was measured as the decrease in absorbance at 375 nm. Neither the heme blocker potassium cyanide (1 mM) nor the nNOS competitive inhibitor N(G)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME, 1 mM) affected the bioreduction of MC, whereas 0.1 mM diphenyleneiodonium chloride, which binds to the reductase domain of nNOS, inhibited MC reduction completely. The reduction of MC by nNOS was influenced by Ca(2+)/calmodulin. In the absence of Ca(2+)/calmodulin, the rate of MC reduction decreased by 28% at pH 6.6. The formation of an alkylated complex of 4-(p-nitrobenzyl)pyridine occurred in a manner analogous to that observed in MC metabolic experiments. The rate of MC reduction and the formation of the alkylated complex of 4-(p-nitrobenzyl)pyridine at pH 6.6 were increased by 43 and 54%, respectively, as compared with that at pH 7.6. nNOS-activated MC resulted in the consumption of oxygen in air. The rate of oxygen consumption decreased by 50% in the presence of 2000 U/mL of catalase. MC inhibited nNOS activity in a noncompetitive manner. These findings demonstrate that nNOS is capable of catalyzing the bioreduction of MC.

Design and thermometry of an intracavitary microwave applicator suitable for treatment of some vaginal and rectal cancers.

The construction of a modified coaxial cable as an intracavitary microwave applicator suitable for use in some vaginal and rectal cancers is presented. Thermometry was performed for microwave frequencies of 300, 400, 650, and 915 MHz. Temperature profiles in tissue phantoms were obtained with non-perturbing temperature probes and thermography, and the data were compared with those obtained in dogs. The temperature profiles were dependent on the frequency of the microwaves and the insertion depth of the applicator. In addition, an acrylic cylindrical spacer external to the applicator also altered the heating pattern. Therefore, with proper combinations of frequency, insertion depth and spacer, the applicator can be used for heating tumors in some clinical situations.