ABSTRACT
Objective@#This study aimed to evaluate the zygomaticotemporal suture (ZTS) maturation, analyze the age distribution patterns of ZTS maturation stages, and investigate the relationship between ZTS and cervical vertebral maturation (CVM). @*Methods@#A total of 261 patients who underwent cone-beam computed tomography (112 males, mean age, 13.1 ± 3.3 years; 149 females, mean age, 13.7 ± 3.1 years) were examined to evaluate the ZTS stages. The ZTS stages were defined based on a modified method from previous studies on zygomaticomaxillary sutures. Differences between groups and correlations between indicators were analyzed using the Spearman correlation test, intraclass coefficient of correlation (ICC), one-way analysis of variance and rank sum test.Statistical significance was set at p 10 were found for several cervical stages (CSs), including CS1 and CS2 for the diagnosis of stage B, CS1 to CS3 for the diagnosis of stages B and C, and CS6 for the diagnosis of stages D and E. @*Conclusions@#The ZTS maturation stage may be more relevant to the CVM stage than to the chronological age. The CVM stages can be good indicators for clinical decisions regarding maxillary protraction, except for CS4 and CS5.
ABSTRACT
Objective@#To evaluate the accuracy and feasibility of coronary artery calcium score ( CACS) on virtual non-contrast scan ( VNC) images obtained from coronary artery CT angiography ( CCTA) scan with dual －layer spectral detector CT (SDCT) ．@*Methods @#The data of 197 patients who underwent CCTA scan in hospital were analyzed retrospectively，and 88 patients with CACS ＞0 were further analyzed． Linear regression analysis of CACS and coronary artery calcium volume ( CACV) of true non-contrast (TNC) images and VNC images ( CACS-TNC， CACS-VNC，CACV-TNC，CACV-VNC) was performed to obtain linear regression equation and correction coefficients λ 1AVG and λ2AVG ．CACS-VNC and CACV-VNC were corrected by the corresponding regression equation and recorded as CCACS-VNC and CCACV-VNC，respectively．Spearman correlation coefficient was used for correlation analysis and Bland-Altman plot was used for consistency test．Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the difference between the two groups. @*Results @#For the total coronary artery，there was a strong correlation between CACS- TNC and CACS-VNC (rs = 0. 952，P ＜0. 001 ，λ 1AVG = 2. 19 ) ，CACV-TNC and CACV-VNC ( rs = 0. 954，P < 0. 001，λ2AVG = 1. 93) ．The results of Mann-Whitney U test showed that there was no significant difference between CACS-TNC and CCACS-VNC or between CACV-TNC and CCACV-VNC，and the Bland-Altman plot showed good consistency between CACS-TNC and CCACS-VNC ，CACV-TNC and CCACV-VNC．@*Conclusion@#VNC images based on SDCT can accurately measure CACS and be used for cardiovascular risk classification，which is expected to replace TNC scan and reduce the radiation dose of patients.
ABSTRACT
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a prevalent joint disease with no effective treatment strategies. Aberrant mechanical stimuli was demonstrated to be an essential factor for OA pathogenesis. Although multiple studies have detected potential regulatory mechanisms underlying OA and have concentrated on developing novel treatment strategies, the epigenetic control of OA remains unclear. Histone demethylase JMJD3 has been reported to mediate multiple physiological and pathological processes, including cell differentiation, proliferation, autophagy, and apoptosis. However, the regulation of JMJD3 in aberrant force-related OA and its mediatory effect on disease progression are still unknown. In this work, we confirmed the upregulation of JMJD3 in aberrant force-induced cartilage injury in vitro and in vivo. Functionally, inhibition of JMJD3 by its inhibitor, GSK-J4, or downregulation of JMJD3 by adenovirus infection of sh-JMJD3 could alleviate the aberrant force-induced chondrocyte injury. Mechanistic investigation illustrated that aberrant force induces JMJD3 expression and then demethylates H3K27me3 at the NR4A1 promoter to promote its expression. Further experiments indicated that NR4A1 can regulate chondrocyte apoptosis, cartilage degeneration, extracellular matrix degradation, and inflammatory responses. In vivo, anterior cruciate ligament transection (ACLT) was performed to construct an OA model, and the therapeutic effect of GSK-J4 was validated. More importantly, we adopted a peptide-siRNA nanoplatform to deliver si-JMJD3 into articular cartilage, and the severity of joint degeneration was remarkably mitigated. Taken together, our findings demonstrated that JMJD3 is flow-responsive and epigenetically regulates OA progression. Our work provides evidences for JMJD3 inhibition as an innovative epigenetic therapy approach for joint diseases by utilizing p5RHH-siRNA nanocomplexes.