Organophosphate ester in surface water of the Pearl River and South China Sea, China: Spatial variations and ecological risks.

This study focused on investigating the concentrations, compositional profiles, partitioning behaviors and spatial variations of organophosphate esters (OPEs) in the Pearl River (PR), South China Sea (SCS) region, to evaluate their environmental risks. ∑OPEs concentrations in the surface water of the PR ranged from 117.5 to 854.8 ng/L in the dissolved phase and from 0.5 to 13.3 ng/L in the suspended particulate matter. In the surface seawaters of the northern and western parts of the SCS, ∑OPEs concentrations were 1.3-17.6 ng/L (mean: 6.7 ± 5.2) and 2.3-24.4 ng/L (mean: 7.6 ± 5.5), respectively. The percentage of chlorinated OPEs in surface water samples from the PR to the SCS was 79 ± 15%. Tripentyl phosphate (TPeP) (average: 28.3%) and triphenylphosphate (TPhP) (average: 9.6%) exhibited significant particulate fraction. A significant negative correlation (p < 0.05) between salt concentration and OPE congeners in seawater suggested that river runoff predominantly introduced OPEs into the coastal waters of the SCS. The findings also showed higher levels of OPEs in the PR and estuary than in offshore waters. The OPE loading from the PR into the SCS was estimated to be ∼119 t y-1. The presence of TCEP (RQmax = 2.1), TnBP (RQmax = 0.48) and TPhP (RQmax = 0.3) in PR water samples pose a high risk to aquatic organisms, whereas OPEs (RQ < 0.1) in SCS water samples do not pose a threat to aquatic organisms. This research emphasizes the environmental fate and impact of OPEs on surface waters of the PR and SCS.

Ru Regulated Electronic Structure of Pdx Cuy Nanosheets for Efficient Hydrogen Evolution Reaction in Wide pH Range.

The development of highly effective catalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in a wide pH range is crucial for the sustainable utilization of green energy utilization, while the slow kinetic reaction rate severely hinders the progress of HER. Herein, the reaction kinetic issue is solved by adjusting the electronic structure of the Ru/Pdx Cuy catalysts. The champion catalyst displays a remarkable performance for HER with the ultralow overpotential (27, 28, and 97 mV) in 1.0 m KOH, 0.5 m H2 SO4 , and 1.0 m PBS at 10 mA cm-2 and high the mass activity (3036 A g-1 ), respectively, superior to those of commercial Pt/C benchmarks and most of reported electrocatalysts, mainly due to its low reaction activation energy. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate that Ru doping contributes an electron-deficient 3d band, which promotes water adsorption. Additionally, this also leads to an upward shift of the d-band center of Pd and a downward shift of the d-band center of Cu, further optimizing the adsorption/dissociation of H2 O and H* . Results from this work may provide an insight into the design and synthesis of high-performance pH-universal HER electrocatalysts.

Association Between Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Bidirectional Mendelian Randomization Study.

Background: We aim to investigate the possible causal association between Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) using Mendelian randomization (MR) methods. Methods: A bidirectional MR analysis was conducted to evaluate the causal association between HT and RA. We obtained summary statistics data from two extensive genome-wide association studies (GWAS) comprising 15,654 cases of HT and 14,361 cases of RA. The primary effect estimate utilized in this study was the inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method. To ensure the reliability and stability of the results, we employed several additional methods for testing, including MR-Egger, weighted median, simple mode, weighted mode, and MR-PRESSO. Results: Our study revealed compelling evidence of bidirectional causality between HT and RA. When HT was considered as an exposure factor and RA was considered as an outcome factor, this study revealed a positive correlation between HT and RA (IVW: odds ratio [OR] = 2.4546, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1473-5.2512; p = 0.0207). Conversely, when we examined RA as the exposure factor and HT as the outcome factor, we still found a positive correlation between them (IVW: OR = 1.2113, 95% CI, 1.1248-1.3044; p = 3.9478 × 10-7). Conclusions: According to our research findings, there exists a bidirectional positive causal relationship between HT and RA among European populations. This implies that individuals with HT have an elevated risk of developing RA, and conversely, individuals with RA have an increased risk of developing HT.

The GDNF-gel/HA-Mg conduit promotes the repair of peripheral nerve defects by regulating PPAR-γ/RhoA/ROCK signaling pathway.

Magnesium (Mg)-based conduits have gained more attention in repairing peripheral nerve defects. However, they are limited due to poor corrosion resistance and rapid degradation rate. To tackle this issue, glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF)- Gelatin methacryloyl (Gel)/hydroxylapatite (HA)-Mg nerve conduit was developed and implanted in sciatic nerve defect model in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. The sciatic functional index measurement showed that the GDNF-Gel/HA-Mg nerve conduit effectively promoted the recovery of sciatic nerve function. The pathological examination results showed that there were more regenerated nerve tissues in GDNF-Gel/HA-Mg group, with a higher number of regenerating axons, and the thickness of the myelin sheath was significantly larger than that of control group (NC group). Immunofluorescence results revealed that the GDNF-Gel/HA-Mg conduit significantly promoted the expression of genes associated with nerve repair. RNA-seq and molecular test results indicated that GDNF-Gel/HA-Mg might be involved in the repair of peripheral nerve defects by regulating PPAR-γ/RhoA/ROCK signaling pathway. Biological sciences; Neuroscience; Molecular neuroscience; Techniques in neuroscience.

Changes in Anxiety and Depression After THA in Patients with Ankylosing Spondylitis and the Affecting Factors.

Objective: Hip ankylosis is a prevalent condition in patients with Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) that can significantly impact their psychological well-being. This study aimed to investigate the impact of Total Hip Arthroplasty (THA) on anxiety and depression among AS patients. Methods: 62 AS patients undergoing primary THA were recruited and separated into two groups based on preoperative hip motion. The 40 patients with hip mobility of 0° were assigned to group A, and others were assigned to group NA. Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), Self-rating Depression scale (SDS), Harris hip scores (HHS) and 36-Item Short Form Survey (SF-36) were obtained one week before and there, six and twelve months after THA. Results: The study found that AS patients in group A had significantly higher levels of anxiety and depression (SAS score = 75.05±2.79, SDS index score = 0.74±0.02) compared to group B (SAS score = 54.58±3.35, SDS index score= 0.64±0.03, P=0.01). However, both groups showed significant improvements in anxiety and depression scores from there to twelve months after THA (P<0.001). Correlation analyses revealed that the improvement in group NA was associated with hip pain relief (p<0.001), while the improvement in group A was related to joint function, disease duration, age at THA and spine imaging lesions (p<0.001). Conclusion: Some degree of anxiety and depression was present in both groups of AS patients. Levels of depression and anxiety were higher in patients with combined hip ankylosis. And their improvement was associated with improved hip function and quality of life after THA. Hip pain relief played a significant role in patients without hip joint ankylosis. The impact of the degree of lesion on spinal imaging on psychological status needs to be considered in both groups.

Secure Inference on Homomorphically Encrypted Genotype Data with Encrypted Linear Models.

Background: Accurate models are crucial to estimate the phenotypes from high throughput genomic data. While the genetic and phenotypic data are sensitive, secure models are essential to protect the private information. Therefore, construct an accurate and secure model is significant in secure inference of phenotypes. Methods: We propose a secure inference protocol on homomorphically encrypted genotype data with encrypted linear models. Firstly, scale the genotype data by feature importance with Xgboost or Adaboost then train linear models to predict the phenotypes in plaintext. Secondly, encrypt the model parameters and test data with CKKS scheme for secure inference. Thirdly, predict the phenotypes under CKKS homomorphically encryption computation. Finally, decrypt the encrypted predictions by client to compute the 1-NRMSE/AUC for model evaluation. Results: 5 phenotypes of 3000 samples with 20390 variants are used to validate the performance of the secure inference protocol. The protocol achieves 0.9548, 0.9639, 0.9673 (1-NRMSE) for 3 continuous phenotypes and 0.9943, 0.99290 (AUC) for 2 category phenotypes in test data. Moreover, the protocol shows robust in 100 times of random sampling. Furthermore, the protocol achieves 0.9725 (the average accuracy) in an encrypted test set with 198 samples, and it only takes 4.32s for the overall inference. These help the protocol rank top one in the iDASH-2022 track2 challenge. Conclusion: We propose an accurate and secure protocol to predict the phenotype from genotype and it takes seconds to obtain hundreds of predictions for all phenotypes.

Total Hip Arthroplasty in Patients with Crowe III/IV Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip: Acetabular Morphology and Reconstruction Techniques.

The severe anatomic deformities render acetabular reconstruction as one of the greatest challenges in total hip arthroplasty (THA) for patients with Crowe III/IV developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH). Thorough understanding of acetabular morphology and bone defect is the basis of acetabular reconstruction techniques. Researchers have proposed either true acetabulum position reconstruction or high hip center (HHC) position reconstruction. The former can obtain the optimal hip biomechanics, including bulk femoral head autograft, acetabular medial wall displacement osteotomy, and acetabular component medialization, while the latter is relatively easy for hip reduction, as it can avoid neurovascular lesions and obtain more bone coverage; however, it cannot achieve good hip biomechanics. Both techniques have their own advantages and disadvantages. Although there is no consensus on which approach is better, most researchers suggest the true acetabulum position reconstruction. Based on the various acetabular deformities in DDH patients, evaluation of acetabular morphology, bone defect, and bone stock using the 3D image and acetabular component simulation techniques, as well as the soft tissue tension around the hip joint, individualized acetabular reconstruction plans can be formulated and appropriate techniques can be selected to acquire desired clinical outcomes.

Metformin Treatment Reduces the Incidence of Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Two-Sample Mendelian Randomized Study.

Several studies have shown that rheumatologic patients can benefit from metformin, but it remains unclear whether metformin treatment is causally associated with the risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). A two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study was conducted to investigate the causal relationship between metformin treatment and the incidence of rheumatoid arthritis. The genome-wide significant (p < 5 × 10-8) single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with metformin use were selected as instrumental variables (IVs). Summary statistics on RA were extracted from a large genome-wide association study (GWAS) meta-analysis. The inverse variance-weighted (IVW) method was used as the determinant of the causal effects of metformin treatment on RA. Cochran's Q was used to detect heterogeneity. Mendelian randomization pleiotropy residual sum and outlier (MR-PRESSO) test and MR-Egger regression were used to detect horizontal pleiotropy. A total of 34 SNPs significantly associated with metformin treatment were obtained. Thirty-two SNPs were selected as IVs after removing two SNPs for being palindromic with intermediate allele frequencies (rs11658063 and rs4930011). The IVW results showed a negative causal association between metformin treatment and RA (OR = 0.0232, 95% CI 1.6046 × 10-3 - 0.3368; p = 0.006). Meanwhile, no heterogeneity or pleiotropy was detected, indicating that the results were reliable. This study indicated a negative causality between metformin treatment and RA, indicating that the treatment of metformin can prevent the pathogenesis of RA.

The Burden of Rheumatoid Arthritis: Findings from the 2019 Global Burden of Diseases Study and Forecasts for 2030 by Bayesian Age-Period-Cohort Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a key health issue worldwide. Due to early identification and effective treatment strategies, the disease pattern of RA has also changed. However, the most comprehensive and up-to-date information about the burden of RA and its trends in subsequent years is lacking. OBJECTIVE: this study aimed to report the global burden of RA by sex, age, region, and forecast for 2030. METHOD: Publicly available data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 were used in this study. The trends in the prevalence, incidence, and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) of RA from 1990 to 2019 were reported. The global burden of RA in 2019 was reported by a sex, age, and sociodemographic index (SDI). Finally, the trends in the following years were predicted by Bayesian age-period-cohort (BAPC) models. RESULTS: Globally, the age-standardized prevalence rate increased from 207.46 (95% UI:189.99 to 226.95) in 1990 to 224.25 (95% UI: 204.94 to 245.99) in 2019, with an estimated annual percent change (EAPC) of 0.37% (95% CI: 0.32 to 0.42). Regarding the incidence, the age-standardized incidence rate (ASR) increased from 12.21 (95% UI: 11.13 to 13.38) to 13 (95% UI: 11.83 to 14.27) per 100,000 people from 1990 to 2019, with an EAPC of 0.3% (95% CI: 11.83 to 14.27). The age-standardized DALY rate also increased from 39.12 (95% UI: 30.13 to 48.56) per 100,000 people in 1990 to 39.57 (95% UI: 30.51 to 49.53) in 2019, with an EAPC of 0.12% (95% CI: 0.08% to 0.17%). There was no significant association between the SDI and ASR when the SDI was lower than 0.7, while there was a positive association between the SDI and ASR when the SDI was higher than 0.7 The BAPC analysis showed that the ASR was estimated to be up to 18.23 in females and approximately 8.34 per 100,000 people in males by 2030. CONCLUSION: RA is still a key public health issue worldwide. The global burden of RA has increased over the past decades and will continue to increase in the coming years, and much more attention should be given to early diagnosis and treatment to reduce the burden of RA.

Intramedullary core decompression combined with endoscopic intracapsular decompression and debridement for pre-collapse non-traumatic osteonecrosis of the femoral head.

BACKGROUND: The effect of core decompression on the treatment of pre-collapse non-traumatic osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) is still limited. This study aimed to explore the efficacy of core decompression combined with intra-articular decompression (debridement of the hip joint and incision of the hip capsule) under hip arthroscopic guidance in patients with pre-collapse ONFH. METHODS: The clinical data of 101 patients with pre-collapse ONFH were analysed retrospectively. Sixty patients (80 hips) received small-diameter multi-channel core decompression alone in first half review period (group B). Forty-one patients (59 hips) were treated with small-diameter multi-channel core decompression combined with intra-articular decompression under hip arthroscopy guidance in second half review period (group A). The surgical duration; intraoperative bleeding; intra-articular pressure(IAP) before and after surgery; length of hospital stay; hospitalisation expenses; visual analogue scale (VAS) score before, 1 week, 4 weeks, 3 months and 1 year after surgery; and Harris score of the hip joint before, 3 months and 1 year after surgery were recorded and compared between group A and group B. X-ray examination was performed every month to observe the collapse of the femoral head within 2 years after surgery, which was compared using the Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis. RESULTS: When the two groups were compared, the surgical duration was longer and hospitalisation expenses were higher in group A than in group B (P < 0.05). However, the VAS score and the Harris score of the hip joint after surgery improved significantly compared with those before surgery (P < 0.05), which were more apparent in group A than in group B (P < 0.05). X-ray examination revealed that 6 hips in group A and 22 in group B received femoral head collapse at the 2-year follow-up. The survival rate of the femoral head in group A was significantly higher than that in group B (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Small-diameter multi-channel core decompression combined with intra-articular decompression (debridement of the hip joint and incision of the hip capsule) under hip arthroscopic guidance for treating early ONFH can more effectively alleviate joint pain, improve joint function and delay ONFH progression.

SIX4 upregulates IDH1 and metabolic reprogramming to promote osteosarcoma progression.

Metabolism reprogramming plays an important role in tumorigenesis and osteosarcoma metastasis. Sine oculis homeobox 4 (SIX4) is reported to be a key transcription factor that is involved in glycolysis reprogramming of cancer cells. However, the role of SIX4 in osteosarcoma progression remains unknown. The expression profile of SIX4 in OS was evaluated in surgery samples of osteosarcoma patients. Functional studies were performed in vitro and in vivo. We found that SIX4 is significantly overexpressed in osteosarcoma and related to the undesirable prognosis of osteosarcoma patients. SIX4 promotes progression of osteosarcoma via upregulating isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1), which provides novel prognostic biomarkers and promising therapeutic targets for osteosarcoma patients.

Synovial fluid neutrophil extracellular traps could improve the diagnosis of periprosthetic joint infection.

AIMS: This study aimed to explore the diagnostic value of synovial fluid neutrophil extracellular traps (SF-NETs) in periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) diagnosis, and compare it with that of microbial culture, serum ESR and CRP, synovial white blood cell (WBC) count, and polymorphonuclear neutrophil percentage (PMN%). METHODS: In a single health centre, patients with suspected PJI were enrolled from January 2013 to December 2021. The inclusion criteria were: 1) patients who were suspected to have PJI; 2) patients with complete medical records; and 3) patients from whom sufficient synovial fluid was obtained for microbial culture and NET test. Patients who received revision surgeries due to aseptic failure (AF) were selected as controls. Synovial fluid was collected for microbial culture and SF-WBC, SF-PNM%, and SF-NET detection. The receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) of synovial NET, WBC, PMN%, and area under the curve (AUC) were obtained; the diagnostic efficacies of these diagnostic indexes were calculated and compared. RESULTS: The levels of SF-NETs in the PJI group were significantly higher than those of the AF group. The AUC of SF-NET was 0.971 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.903 to 0.996), the sensitivity was 93.48% (95% CI 82.10% to 98.63%), the specificity was 96.43% (95% CI 81.65% to 99.91%), the accuracy was 94.60% (95% CI 86.73% to 98.50%), the positive predictive value was 97.73%, and the negative predictive value was 90%. Further analysis showed that SF-NET could improve the diagnosis of culture-negative PJI, patients with PJI who received antibiotic treatment preoperatively, and fungal PJI. CONCLUSION: SF-NET is a novel and ideal synovial fluid biomarker for PJI diagnosis, which could improve PJI diagnosis greatly.Cite this article: Bone Joint Res 2023;12(2):113-120.

Exosomes derived from M2 macrophages induce angiogenesis to promote wound healing.

There is an urgent clinical need for an appropriate method to shorten skin healing time. Among most factors related to wound healing, M2 macrophages will be recruited to the wound area and play a pivotal role in a time-limiting factor, angiogenesis. The exploration of exosomes derived from M2 in angiogenesis promotion is an attractive research field. In this project, we found that exosomes from M2 (M2-EXO) promoted the angiogenic ability of HUVECs in vitro. With a series of characteristic experiments, we demonstrated that M2-EXO inhibited PTEN expression in HUVECs by transferring miR-21, and further activated AKT/mTOR pathway. Then, using a full-thickness cutaneous wound mice model, we demonstrated that M2-EXO could be used as a promotor of angiogenesis and regeneration in vivo. Furthermore, M2-EXO-treated skin wounds exhibited regeneration of functional microstructures. These results demonstrate that M2-EXO can be used as a promising nanomedicine strategy for therapeutic exploration of skin healing with the potential to be translated into clinical practice.

Causal relationships between rheumatism and dyslipidemia: A two-sample Mendelian randomization study.

Background: Dyslipidemia is often observed in rheumatic diseases, such as ankylosing spondylitis (AS), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), yet it remains to be detected whether rheumatic diseases have a causal effect on dyslipidemia. Methods: Significant (P < 5 × 10-8) and independent (r2 < 0.1) single-nucleotide polymorphisms in genome-wide association studies were selected as instrumental variables to conduct Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. Inverse variance weighted, weighted median, and MR-Egger regression were adopted for the causal inference. Subsequently, sensitivity analysis was conducted to assess the stability and reliability of MR. Results: The MR results revealed positive causal relationships of AS with total cholesterol (TC) (ß = 0.089, 95% CI = 0.050 to 0.128, P = 6.07 × 10-6), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) (ß = 0.087, 95% CI = 0.047 to 0.127, P = 1.91 × 10-5), and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) (ß = 0.043, 95% CI = 0.001 to 0.074, P = 0.009). There was no causal effect of RA on TC (ß = 0.008, 95% CI = 4.86 × 10-4 to 0.017, P = 0.064), LDL (ß = 6.4 × 10-4, 95% CI = -0.008 to 0.007, P = 0.871), or HDL (ß = 0.005, 95% CI = -0.003 to 0.013, P = 0.200). Additionally, SLE had negative causal links for TC (ß = -0.025, 95% CI = -0.036 to -0.015, P = 4.42 × 10-6), LDL (ß = -0.015, 95% CI = -0.025 to -0.005, P = 0.003), and HDL (ß = -0.013, 95% CI = -0.021 to -0.004, P = 0.004). The results were stable and reliable. Conclusion: This study suggested positive causal effects of AS on TC, LDL, and HDL and negative causal effects of SLE on these cholesterol levels, which could provide much help for the pathogenesis and treatment of rheumatic disease patients with dyslipidemia.

Coronal and sagittal spinopelvic alignment in the patients with unilateral developmental dysplasia of the hip: a prospective study.

BACKGROUND: How the hip dysplasia affects the spinopelvic alignment in developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) patients is unclear, but it is an essential part for the management of this disease. This study aimed to investigate the coronal and sagittal spinopelvic alignment and the correlations between the spinopelvic parameters and the extent of hip dysplasia or the low back pain in unilateral DDH patients. METHODS: From September 2016 to March 2021, 22 unilateral patients were enrolled in the DDH group with an average age of 43.6 years and 20 recruited healthy volunteers were assigned to the control group with an average age of 41.4 years. The Cobb angle, seventh cervical vertebra plumbline-central sacral vertical line (C7PL-CSVL), third lumbar vertebra inclination angle (L3IA), pelvic incidence (PI), pelvic tilt (PT), sacral slope (SS), thoracic kyphosis (TK), thoracolumbar kyphosis (TLK) and lumbar lordosis (LL) were measured on the standing anteroposterior and lateral full-length standing spine radiographs. Additionally, the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and Japanese Orthopaedic Association Back Pain Evaluation Questionnaire (JOABPEQ) were used to assess the degree of low back pain. RESULTS: Cobb angle (8.68 ± 6.21° vs. 2.31 ± 0.12°), L3IA (4.80 ± 5.47° vs. 0.83 ± 0.51°), C7PL-CSVL (1.65 ± 1.57 cm vs. 0.48 ± 0.33 cm), PT (15.02 ± 9.55° vs. 9.99 ± 2.97°) and TLK (7.69 ± 6.66° vs. 3.54 ± 1.63°) were significantly larger in DDH patients, whereas LL (37.41 ± 17.17° vs. 48.79 ± 7.75°) was significantly smaller (P < 0.05). No correlation was found between significantly different spinopelvic parameters and the extent of dysplasia. Statistical analysis revealed correlations between ODI and Cobb angle (r = 0.59, P < 0.01), PT (r = 0.49, P = 0.02), TK (r = -0.46, P = 0.03) and TLK (r = 0.44, P = 0.04). Correlations between JOABPQE score and the Cobb angle (r = -0.44, P = 0.04), L3IA (r = -0.53, P = 0.01), PT (r = -0.44, P = 0.04), and TK (r = 0.46, P = 0.03) were also observed. CONCLUSIONS: Cobb angle, L3IA, C7PL-CSVL in coronal plane and PT, TLK in sagittal plane increased, while LL decreased in unilateral DDH patients. These significantly different spinopelvic parameters have no correlation with the extent of dysplasia. Changes in coronal and sagittal plane including Cobb angle, L3IA, PT, TK and TLK were associated with the low back pain in the patients with unilateral DDH.

Negative pressure wound therapy reduces the incidence of postoperative wound dehiscence and surgical site infections after total knee arthroplasty in patients with obesity.

Obesity is a risk factor for total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Wound dehiscence and surgical site infections (SSIs) are the main complications of TKA in patients with obesity. They can profoundly affect patients because they often require readmission, additional surgical interventions, lengthy intravenous antibiotic administration, and delayed rehabilitation. Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) exposes the wound site to negative pressure, resulting in the improvement of blood supply, removal of excess fluid, and stimulation of cellular proliferation of granulation tissue. This study aims to assess the incidence of wound dehiscence and SSIs in patients with obesity undergoing TKA after the routine use of NPWT. This sduty enrolled adult patients with obesity who underwent TKA within 8 years. A total of 360 adult patients with obesity (NPWT: 150, non-NPWT: 210) underwent TKA, and the baseline characteristics were similar between the 2 groups. Compared with the non-NPWT group, the NPWT group had a 50% lower incidence of wound dehiscence (3.33% vs 9.52%; P < .05) and a significantly lower incidence of SSIs (11.33% vs 25.24%; P < .05), including prosthetic joint infection (4.0% vs 10.0%; P < .05) and superficial wound infection (7.33% vs 15.24%; P < .05). In addition, the NPWT group had a lower need to return to the operating room for new interventions for any reason (2.67% vs 9.05%; P = .0107) than the non-NPWT group. Conventional incision NPWT can significantly reduce the incidence of wound dehiscence and SSIs in patients with obesity after TKA.

The relationship between central obesity and bone mineral density: a Mendelian randomization study.

BACKGROUND: The relationship between obesity and osteoporosis is an important public health issue. The goal of this study was to investigate whether and to what extent central obesity traits affect bone mineral density (BMD). METHODS: We conducted a two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis. Genomewide significant single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with waist circumference, hip circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, waist circumference adjusted by body mass index (WCadjBMI), hip circumference adjusted by BMI (HCadjBMI) and waist-to-hip ratio adjusted by BMI (WHRadjBMI) were obtained from a large-scale database containing 224,459 samples. The BMD summary dataset was obtained from a UK Biobank database including 265,627 participants. RESULTS: The results provided strong evidence that the HCadjBMI trait was causally and negatively associated with BMD (ß: - 0.135, 95% CI - 0.216 to - 0.054; P = 0.001), while the WHR trait was causally and positively associated with BMD (ß: 0.194, 95% CI 0.062 to 0.325, P = 0.004). No significant effects were observed for other traits on BMD. CONCLUSIONS: This study indicates variations in the abilities of different central obesity traits to influence BMD. These results should be considered in further studies and public health measures on obesity and osteoporosis prevention strategies.

The Causal Relationship Between Rheumatoid Arthritis and Mechanical Complications of Prosthesis After Arthroplasty: A Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study.

The causal effects of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) on complications of arthroplasty are yet to be established. This study was the first to explore the causal effect of RA on mechanical complications of prosthesis through two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR). In the MR analysis, RA was selected as the exposure in this study while single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from a genome-wide association study (GWAS) were selected as the instrumental variables (IVs). Summary statistics data on mechanical complications of prosthesis was extracted from publicly available GWAS data, including 463,010 European descent individuals. MR analysis was performed using the standard inverse variance weighted method (IVW). Furthermore, other methods (MR Egger, weighted median, simple mode, and weighted mode) were also done to verify the results. Finally, the sensitivity analysis was executed. Results of the standard IVW showed that RA possibly increases the risk of mechanical complications of prosthesis [OR = 1.000255; 95% CI = (1.0001035, 1.000406); p = 9.69 × 10 -4 ]. This outcome was also verified by other methods including weighted median [OR = 1.000285; 95% CI = (1.0001032, 1.000466); p = 1.41 × 10-3], simple mode [OR = 1.000446; 95% CI = (1.0001116, 1.000781); p = 1.04 × 10-2], and weighted mode [OR = 1.000285; 95% CI = (1.0001032, 1.000466); p = 2.29 × 10-3]. No heterogeneity and directional pleiotropy was observed upon sensitivity analysis, indicating the stability and reliability of the result. In summary, the present study showed that RA potentially increases the risks of complications of prosthesis, which might provide guidance in arthroplasty on RA patients.

Organophosphate esters in atmospheric particles and surface seawater in the western South China Sea.

Seven organophosphate esters (OPEs) in atmospheric particles and surface seawater were observed during a cruise in the western South China Sea (SCS) in 2014. The median concentrations of ∑OPEs were 688 pg/m3 and 5.55 ng/L for particle and seawater samples, respectively. Total OPEs were dominated by tris(1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TCPP) and tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP). The spatial distribution of OPEs indicates that the OPEs in particle phase were mainly influenced by the air masses originating from China, Indochina Peninsula and Malay Archipelago, showing the significant contribution of anthropogenic sources from these regions. Significant positive correlations between Tri-n-butylphosphate (TnBP) and organic carbon (P < 0.05) in particle phase over the western SCS suggests that it might be a potential tracer for the source regions of Indochina Peninsula and Malay Archipelago. The spatial distribution of OPEs in seawater was contributed by freshwater inputs associating with variations of human activities as well as salinity. Seawater pollution levels of OPEs in the eastern coast of Vietnam were increased compared to those measured in the northern SCS. The loadings of ∑OPEs transported to the vast area of western SCS vias atmospheric deposition and air-seawater gas exchange were estimated to be 59 tons/year and 105 tons/year, respectively. This work highlights the importance of transport processes and air-seawater interface behavior of OPEs in the oceanic area.

Causal Relationships of General and Abdominal Adiposity on Osteoarthritis: A Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study.

Background: Adiposity is closely related to osteoarthritis, but the causal effects of different types of adiposity on osteoarthritis are indistinct. This study conducted a Mendelian Randomization (MR) analysis for the causal effects of general adiposity and abdominal adiposity on knee osteoarthritis (KOA) and hip osteoarthritis (HOA). Methods: The general adiposity was assessed by body mass index (BMI), while the abdominal adiposity was evaluated with waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC), and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). The data used in this two-sample MR analysis originated from genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Significant (p < 5 × 10−8) and independent (r2 < 0.01) single-nucleotide polymorphisms were selected as instrumental variables for the MR analysis. Subsequently, this study used the inverse variance weighted, weighted median, and other methods for the causal inference, and the results were presented as odds ratios (OR). Moreover, sensitivity analyses were conducted to assess the stability and reliability of the results. Results: The MR results revealed positive causal effects of BMI on KOA (OR: 1.694; 95% CI: from 1.492 to 1.923; p = 3.96 × 10−16) and HOA (OR: 1.412; 95% CI: from 1.196 to 1.666; p = 4.58 × 10−5). Additionally, WC and HC both positively and causally related to KOA (WC: OR: 1.827; 95% CI: from 1.564 to 2.134; p = 2.68 × 10−14; HC: OR: 1.610; 95% CI: from 1.357 to 1.912; p = 5.03 × 10−8) and HOA (WC: OR: 1.491; 95% CI: from 1.254 to 1.772; p = 5.85 × 10−6; HC: OR: 1.439; 95% CI: from 1.205 to 1.719; p = 5.82 × 10−5). However, no causal relationship existed between WHR and obesity. These results were robust according to the sensitivity analyses. Conclusions: This study indicated that both general and abdominal obesity had positive causal effects on knee osteoarthritis and hip osteoarthritis.