Combined Surgical-Orthodontic Treatment of Patients With Severe Parry-Romberg Syndrome.

ABSTRACT: Parry-Romberg syndrome (PRS) refers to a relatively rare dysfunction disease that is characterized by chronic progressive maxillofacial atrophy, especially one side of facial skin, subcutaneous tissue, muscle, and bone. According to the atrophy degree of skin, subcutaneous tissue, and skeleton in the area innervated by the trigeminal nerve, PRS can be classified into mild, moderate, and severe. In general, cases with different severity have specific treatment regimens. For mild and moderate cases, soft tissue augmentation techniques are the optimal strategy for aesthetic reconstruction. In this study, the authors report a 19-year-old female with severe PRS. Considering the severity of the case, a combined surgical and orthodontic treatment was performed, which was involved in alveolar bone augmentation, preoperative and postoperative orthodontic treatment in combination with orthognathic surgery, medpor filling of zygomatic and maxillary complex, free fat grafting, as well as angulus oris and lip trimming. Comprehensive treatment is recommended for severe cases with extensive atrophy of soft tissue and craniofacial bone, obvious deviation of the chin and occlusal plane.

In vivo two-photon microscopy reveals the contribution of Sox9+ cell to kidney regeneration in a mouse model with extracellular vesicle treatment.

Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been shown to stimulate regeneration in the treatment of kidney injury. Renal regeneration is also thought to be stimulated by the activation of Sox9+ cells. However, whether and how the activation mechanisms underlying EV treatment and Sox9+ cell-dependent regeneration intersect is unclear. We reasoned that a high-resolution imaging platform in living animals could help to untangle this system. To test this idea, we first applied EVs derived from human placenta-derived MSCs (hP-MSCs) to a Sox9-CreERT2; R26mTmG transgenic mouse model of acute kidney injury (AKI). Then, we developed an abdominal imaging window in the mouse and tracked the Sox9+ cells in the inducible Sox9-Cre transgenic mice via in vivo lineage tracing with two-photon intravital microscopy. Our results demonstrated that EVs can travel to the injured kidneys post intravenous injection as visualized by Gaussia luciferase imaging and markedly increase the activation of Sox9+ cells. Moreover, the two-photon living imaging of lineage-labeled Sox9+ cells showed that the EVs promoted the expansion of Sox9+ cells in kidneys post AKI. Histological staining results confirmed that the descendants of Sox9+ cells contributed to nephric tubule regeneration which significantly ameliorated the renal function after AKI. In summary, intravital lineage tracing with two-photon microscopy through an embedded abdominal imaging window provides a practical strategy to investigate the beneficial functions and to clarify the mechanisms of regenerative therapies in AKI.

Analysis of the non-reciprocating legged gait for a hexapod robot based on the ePaddle-EGM.

A novel eccentric paddle mechanism based on the epicyclic gear mechanism (ePaddle-EGM) has been proposed to enhance the mobility of amphibious robot for multi-terrain tasks with diverse locomotion gaits. This paper presents a brief description for this mechanism. Based on the feature of ePaddle-EGM, a unique non-reciprocating legged gait planning method is proposed. This method could minimize the negative effect of backlash between gear mesh in the epicyclic gear mechanism. Furthermore, the stable tripod gait for the ePaddle-EGM-based hexapod robot is designed. One of the most important characteristics of this tripod gait is that it is capable of realizing discontinuous locomotion of the body through continuous and unidirectional rotation of joints. In this way, the velocity shock is eliminated and the locomotion accuracy is guaranteed. A series of simulations were conducted to validate the advantages of the robot's movement.

Effect of micro-nano-hybrid structured hydroxyapatite bioceramics on osteogenic and cementogenic differentiation of human periodontal ligament stem cell via Wnt signaling pathway.

The surface structure of bioceramic scaffolds is crucial for its bioactivity and osteoinductive ability, and in recent years, human periodontal ligament stem cells have been certified to possess high osteogenic and cementogenic differential ability. In the present study, hydroxyapatite (HA) bioceramics with micro-nano-hybrid surface (mnHA [the hybrid of nanorods and microrods]) were fabricated via hydrothermal reaction of the α-tricalcium phosphate granules as precursors in aqueous solution, and the effects of mnHA on the attachment, proliferation, osteogenic and cementogenic differentiations of human periodontal ligament stem cells as well as the related mechanisms were systematically investigated. The results showed that mnHA bioceramics could promote cell adhesion, proliferation, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, and expression of osteogenic/cementogenic-related markers including runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2), ALP, osteocalcin (OCN), cementum attachment protein (CAP), and cementum protein (CEMP) as compared to the HA bioceramics with flat and dense surface. Moreover, mnHA bioceramics stimulated gene expression of low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 5 (LRP5) and ß-catenin, which are the key genes of canonical Wnt signaling. Moreover, the stimulatory effect on ALP activity and osteogenic and cementogenic gene expression, including that of ALP, OCN, CAP, CEMP, and Runx2 of mnHA bioceramics could be repressed by canonical Wnt signaling inhibitor dickkopf1 (Dkk1). The results suggested that the HA bioceramics with mnHA could act as promising grafts for periodontal tissue regeneration.

[Osteogenic gene expression of human periodontal ligament stem cells during osteogenic induction].

URPOSE: To isolate and identify the human periodontal ligament stem cells, evaluate osteogenetic capacity, and investigate the changes of osteogenic bone related gene expression in mineralized medium at different times. METHODS: PDLSCs were isolated by tissue culture and magnetic activated cell sorting. Immunofluorescence staining was used for identification. The general situation of osteogenesis was assessed with alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and alizarin red staining. Real-time PCR was used to detect the expression of genes in osteoinduction. SPSS12.0 software package was used for data analysis. RESULTS: Tissue culture with magnetic cell sorting could isolate high-purity human periodontal ligament stem cells. During the osteogenic process, the expression of FoxO1 and Runx2 firstly increased and then decreased, ALP and OCN gene levels continued to increase. CONCLUSIONS: Similar to osteogenesis, ALP, Runx2, FoxO1 and OCN are regularly expressed during osteogenic induction.

[Retrospective study on the dynamic development of Chinese medical syndrome types of gastric cancer].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of surgery and chemotherapy on the development of Chinese medical syndrome types on patients with gastric cancer (GC), thus providing the evidence for treating GC by Chinese medical syndrome differentiation and treatment by stages. METHODS: A retrospective study was carried out in 500 GC patients according to before and after surgery, the surgical ways, before and after chemotherapy to observe the dynamic development of Chinese medical syndrome types of GC. RESULTS: Pi deficiency syndrome dominated in GC patients of single syndrome or two syndromes before and after surgery. After surgery (after radical resection or palliative resection) Pi deficiency syndrome and blood deficiency syndrome significantly increased. There was statistical difference in syndrome type changes before and after chemotherapy (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Deficiency syndrome mainly dominated in GC patients. They should be treated by stages when Chinese medicine and pharmacy took part in its treatment.

Toward the formal verification of a unification system.

Unification grammars are widely used for encoding human knowledge. For unification systems, one major difficulty is the debugging of rules. In this paper, the authors suggest a novel method based on model checking to theoretically verify a complex grammar system for a unification-based parser. We propose the modeling method of the grammar and, more importantly, the abstraction method to compress the state space. We apply partial Kripke structures to model the rules. We prove that the state space can be reduced by several orders of magnitude while still keeping the behaviors of a noncompressed one. Practical verification issues are discussed, including the restrictions on specifications, the properties to check, etc. The proposed method will contribute to the effective debugging and application of unification grammars.

Toward the formal verification of a unification system.

Unification grammars are widely used for encoding human knowledge. For unification systems, one major difficulty is the debugging of rules. In this paper, the authors suggest a novel method based on model checking to theoretically verify a complex grammar system for a unification-based parser. We propose the modeling method of the grammar and, more importantly, the abstraction method to compress the state space. We apply partial Kripke structures to model the rules. We prove that the state space can be reduced by several orders of magnitude while still keeping the behaviors of a noncompressed one. Practical verification issues are discussed, including the restrictions on specifications, the properties to check, etc. The proposed method will contribute to the effective debugging and application of unification grammars.