Predictive nomogram for 28-day mortality risk in mitral valve disorder patients in the intensive care unit: A comprehensive assessment from the MIMIC-III database.

BACKGROUND: Mitral valve disorder (MVD) stands as the most prevalent valvular heart disease. Presently, a comprehensive clinical index to predict mortality in MVD remains elusive. The aim of our study is to construct and assess a nomogram for predicting the 28-day mortality risk of MVD patients. METHODS: Patients diagnosed with MVD were identified via ICD-9 code from the MIMIC-III database. Independent risk factors were identified utilizing the LASSO method and multivariate logistic regression to construct a nomogram model aimed at predicting the 28-day mortality risk. The nomogram's performance was assessed through various metrics including the area under the curve (AUC), calibration curves, Hosmer-Lemeshow test, integrated discriminant improvement (IDI), net reclassification improvement (NRI), and decision curve analysis (DCA). RESULTS: The study encompassed a total of 2771 patients diagnosed with MVD. Logistic regression analysis identified several independent risk factors: age, anion gap, creatinine, glucose, blood urea nitrogen level (BUN), urine output, systolic blood pressure (SBP), respiratory rate, saturation of peripheral oxygen (SpO2), Glasgow Coma Scale score (GCS), and metastatic cancer. These factors were found to independently influence the 28-day mortality risk among patients with MVD. The calibration curve demonstrated adequate calibration of the nomogram. Furthermore, the nomogram exhibited favorable discrimination in both the training and validation cohorts. The calculations of IDI, NRI, and DCA analyses demonstrate that the nomogram model provides a greater net benefit compared to the Simplified Acute Physiology Score II (SAPSII), Acute Physiology Score III (APSIII), and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) scoring systems. CONCLUSION: This study successfully identified independent risk factors for 28-day mortality in patients with MVD. Additionally, a nomogram model was developed to predict mortality, offering potential assistance in enhancing the prognosis for MVD patients. It's helpful in persuading patients to receive early interventional catheterization treatment, for example, transcatheter mitral valve replacement (TMVR), transcatheter mitral valve implantation (TMVI).

A young woman with atypical McCune-Albright syndrome and the difficult road to recovery: a case report.

Background: Fiber dysplasia is a complex condition that presents with various clinical manifestations, such as deformity, dysfunction, pathological fractures, and endocrine disorders. McCune-Albright syndrome (MAS) is a rare subtype of fiber dysplasia. This article reports a case of atypical McCune-Albright syndrome in a patient with a femoral neck fracture. Case presentation: A patient with atypical McCune-Albright syndrome sustained a right femoral neck fracture and underwent multiple treatments, including total hip replacement, intravenous infusion of zoledronic acid, oral calcium supplementation, right supracondylar osteotomy, orthopedic surgery, plate and screw internal fixation for a left femoral shaft fracture, and removal of the right femoral plate. The patient also developed a submaxillary infection complicated by mandibular osteonecrosis. Conclusion: Patients with MAS may experience rare complications as a result of their unique condition, regardless of whether they receive drug or surgical treatment. Therefore, personalized drug regimens and feasible surgical options are necessary.

An Adversarial Dual-Branch Network for Nonhomogeneous Dehazing in Tunnel Construction.

The tunnel construction area poses significant challenges for the use of vision technology due to the presence of nonhomogeneous haze fields and low-contrast targets. However, existing dehazing algorithms display weak generalization, leading to dehazing failures, incomplete dehazing, or color distortion in this scenario. Therefore, an adversarial dual-branch convolutional neural network (ADN) is proposed in this paper to deal with the above challenges. The ADN utilizes two branches of the knowledge transfer sub-network and the multi-scale dense residual sub-network to process the hazy image and then aggregate the channels. This input is then passed through a discriminator to judge true and false, motivating the network to improve performance. Additionally, a tunnel haze field simulation dataset (Tunnel-HAZE) is established based on the characteristics of nonhomogeneous dust distribution and artificial light sources in the tunnel. Comparative experiments with existing advanced dehazing algorithms indicate an improvement in both PSNR (Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio) and SSIM (Structural Similarity) by 4.07 dB and 0.032 dB, respectively. Furthermore, a binocular measurement experiment conducted in a simulated tunnel environment demonstrated a reduction in the relative error of measurement results by 50.5% when compared to the haze image. The results demonstrate the effectiveness and application potential of the proposed method in tunnel construction.

Tetrahedrally coordinated rigid crystal structure enables partial self-reduction of mixed-valence europium for optical thermometric application.

Mixed-valence europium-activated phosphors are receiving attention in many fields, such as lighting, anti-counterfeiting, optical recording, encryption, and temperature sensing. However, it remains difficult to construct mixed-valence europium-activated compounds due to the reductive and oxidative synthesis conditions required to obtain Eu2+ and Eu3+ ions, respectively. Herein, mixed-valence Eu2+/Eu3+ was realized in the CaBPO5 built by rigidly connected BO4 and PO4 tetrahedrons by partial Eu3+ → Eu2+ self-reduction in the air atmosphere. Commendably, the CaBPO5:Eu2+/Eu3+ phosphor exhibits excellent ratiometric temperature sensing performance with the maximum absolute and relative sensitivity being as high as 0.184 K-1 and 3.444% K-1 with good signal discriminability, due to the high and low, respectively, temperature-dependence of Eu2+ and Eu3+ emissions. The rapid dropping intensity of Eu2+ in CaBPO5 with increasing temperature was due to the small energy gap (∼0.48 eV) between the Eu2+-5d state and the conduction band. Our work not only provides a novel thermometer candidate but also enlightens researchers to a method of effectively designing new mixed-valence metal-ion activated luminescent thermometers via selective tetrahedrally coordinated rigid crystal structure.

Ultrastrong nanotwinned titanium alloys through additive manufacturing.

Titanium alloys, widely used in the aerospace, automotive and energy sectors, require complex casting and thermomechanical processing to achieve the high strengths required for load-bearing applications. Here we reveal that additive manufacturing can exploit thermal cycling and rapid solidification to create ultrastrong and thermally stable titanium alloys, which may be directly implemented in service. As demonstrated in a commercial titanium alloy, after simple post-heat treatment, adequate elongation and tensile strengths over 1,600 MPa are achieved. The excellent properties are attributed to the unusual formation of dense, stable and internally twinned nanoprecipitates, which are rarely observed in traditionally processed titanium alloys. These nanotwinned precipitates are shown to originate from a high density of dislocations with a dominant screw character and formed from the additive manufacturing process. The work here paves the way to fabricate structural materials with unique microstructures and excellent properties for broad applications.

C-reactive protein (CRP)/albumin-to-globulin ratio (AGR) is a valuable test for diagnosing periprosthetic joint infection: a single-center retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: The diagnosis of periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) is challenging for clinicians, and the commonly used methods are too complicated and expensive for many clinical practices. The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), the platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), the platelet-to-mean-platelet-volume ratio (PVR), globulin (GLB), the albumin-to-globulin ratio (AGR), and the C-reactive protein (CRP)/AGR ratio are simple biomarkers for infection and can be easily determined from routine blood tests. Due to their low cost and ready availability in clinical practice, many clinicians have considered the diagnostic value of these biomarkers for PJI. The aim of our study is to determine the value of NLR, PLR, PVR, GLB, AGR, and CRP/AGR for the diagnosis of PJI. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred sixty-four patients who received revision surgery after total knee or total hip replacements were enrolled, 47 in a PJI group and 117 in an aseptic failure group. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to evaluate the performance of NLR, PLR, PVR, GLB, AGR, and CRP/AGR for the diagnosis of PJI, and their performance levels were then compared with those of CRP and the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). RESULTS: The levels of all tested biomarkers were significantly higher in patients with PJI (all P < 0.05). ROC analysis showed that CRP/AGR performed best in diagnosing PJI, with an area under curve (AUC) value of 0.902, and the AUCs of NLR (0.740), PLR (0.721), PVR (0.668), GLB (0.719), and AGR (0.767) were all lower than those for CRP (0.896) and ESR (0.829). CONCLUSION: CRP/AGR was a valuable test for diagnosing PJI, but other novel biomarkers had only limited diagnostic value. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level III.

Clinical significance of miR-142-3p in oral lichen planus and its regulatory role in keratinocyte proliferation.

OBJECTIVE: Accumulating microRNAs (miRNAs) have been identified as aberrantly expressed in patients with oral lichen planus (OLP). This study aimed to investigate the role and underlying mechanism of miR-142-3p in OLP. STUDY DESIGN: Fifty-six patients with OLP and 44 control participants without OLP were recruited, and real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction was used for the measurement of miR-142-3p. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) was counted to assess the diagnostic value. Cell Counting Kit­8 was used to assess cell proliferation. The luciferase reporter assay was performed to confirm the target gene. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, an elevated expression of miR-142-3p was detected in the serum, saliva, and tissues samples from patients with OLP. ROC curve analysis suggested that miR-142-3p could distinguish patients with OLP from those in the control group, and the expression of miR-142-3p was closely associated with the disease severity. Downregulation of miR-142-3p inhibited keratinocyte proliferation. Glucocorticoid receptor α (GRα) was a target gene of miR-142-3p. CONCLUSIONS: MiR-142-3p might be a candidate diagnostic biomarker for OLP. Downregulation of miR-142-3p inhibits keratinocyte proliferation, and GRα might be involved in its regulatory role.

MiR-221-3p as a Potential Biomarker for Patients with Psoriasis and Its Role in Inflammatory Responses in Keratinocytes.

INTRODUCTION: This study investigated serum miR-221-3p levels in psoriatic patients and the characterization of serum miR-221-3p in keratinocyte inflammatory responses was further assessed. METHODS: qRT-PCR was used to detect the expression level of miR-221-3p in the serum of 46 patients with psoriasis and 42 healthy controls. The receiver operating characteristic curve evaluated the diagnostic ability of miR-221-3p in psoriasis. The effect of miR-221-3p on HaCaT cell proliferation was detected by using a cell counting Kit-8 and Transwell. ELISA was used to detect serum and keratinocyte pro-inflammatory factors. RESULTS: miR-221-3p was significantly increased in the serum of patients with psoriasis. The area under the curve was 0.861, the sensitivity was 80.4%, and the specificity was 85.7%. Serum miR-221-3p was positively correlated with the expression levels of tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin (IL)-17A, and IL-22. Cell experiments showed that reducing the expression of miR-221-3p could significantly inhibit cell proliferation. Additionally, miR-221-3p downregulation also inhibited the release of some inflammatory factors in the HaCaT cells. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: MiR-221-3p is a latent biomarker of psoriasis patients. Lower expression of miR-221-3p inhibits the cell proliferation and inflammatory responses of HaCaT cells, which offers a possible target for the therapeutic interventions of psoriasis.

Fibrinogen performs better than D-dimer for the diagnosis of periprosthetic joint infection: a meta-analysis of diagnostic trials.

PURPOSE: D-dimer and fibrinogen, both belonging to coagulation parameters, are controversial for the diagnosis of periprosthetic joint infection (PJI). This meta-analysis was conducted to compare their diagnostic accuracies for PJI by synthesizing currently available evidence. METHODS: Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Embase up to March 1, 2020, and other relevant articles were searched. Five hundred and eighty-one articles were identified after initial research, and 11 studies were included finally. No threshold effects were found between studies. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative likelihood ratio were reported to evaluate the diagnostic performance with heterogeneity analysis. Z test statistics was used to analyze the difference of diagnostic performance between D-dimer and fibrinogen. RESULTS: The pooled sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative likelihood ratio of D-dimer for PJI were 0.79 (95% [CI], 0.72-0.85), 0.77 (0.67-0.84), 3.38 (2.21-5.18), and 0.27 (0.18-0.41), respectively. As for fibrinogen, the pooled sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative likelihood ratio for PJI were 0.75 (0.68-0.80), 0.85 (0.82-0.88), 5.12 (4.22-6.22), and 0.30 (0.23-0.37), respectively. Great heterogeneity was found in studies for D-dimer, and univariate meta-regression analysis revealed that number of involved joints, disease spectrum, comorbidities influencing D-dimer, and sample sources were the source of heterogeneity. Z test found that the pooled specificity of fibrinogen was significantly higher than D-dimer (0.85 ± 0.01 versus 0.77 ± 0.04, p = 0.03). The pooled positive likelihood ratio of fibrinogen was significantly higher than D-dimer (5.12 ± 0.51 versus 3.38 ± 0.74, p = 0.03). CONCLUSION: Based on currently available evidence, the meta-analysis suggests that fibrinogen performs better than D-dimer as a rule-in diagnostic tool for its higher specificity. However, more prospective trials with larger size are still needed to provide further confirmation. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This meta-analysis was prospectively registered on PROSPERO (International prospective register of systematic reviews), and the registering number was CRD42020177176 .

Dexmedetomidine as an adjunct to local anesthetics in nerve block relieved pain more effectively after TKA: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

BACKGROUND: Dexmedetomidine has shown potential in pain control in patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA). However, the combination of nerve block and dexmedetomidine may be a preferred alternative for postoperative analgesia after TKA. The aim of this study was to perform a meta-analysis on existing randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to determine the efficacy and safety of dexmedetomidine as an adjunct to local anesthetics in nerve block after TKA. METHODS: A literature survey was conducted in the databases of PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of science, and ScienceDirect for the RCTs completed before February 1st, 2020 that met pre-specified inclusion criteria. The primary outcomes included the pain scores, duration of analgesia, opioid consumption within 24 h postoperatively, and the level of patient satisfaction. The secondary outcomes included the motor strength, degree of sedation, postoperative nausea and vomiting, and other related complications. The methodological quality was assessed by the Cochrane risk of bias tool. RESULTS: The initial literature search yielded 143 studies, out of which seven studies met the inclusion criteria. The pooled data indicated that dexmedetomidine combined with local anesthetics in nerve block in TKA decreased the postoperative pain scores at rest as well as at motion (SMD = - 1.01 [95% CI - 1.29 to - 0.72], p < 0.01; SMD = - 1.01 [- 1.25 to - 0.77], p < 0.01) respectively, decreased the total opioid consumption within 24 h (SMD = - 0.63 [- 0.86 to - 0.40], p < 0.01), prolonged the duration of analgesia (SMD = 0.90 [0.64 to 1.17], p < 0.01), improved motor strength (SMD = 0.23 [0.01 to 0.45], p = 0.04), improved the degree of sedation (SMD = 0.94 [0.70 to 1.18], p < 0.01), and increased the level of patient satisfaction (SMD = 0.88 [0.60 to 1.17], p < 0.01) without increasing nausea and vomiting (RD = - 0.05 [- 0.11 to 0.01], p = 0.14), as well as other complications (RD = - 0.01 [- 0.08 to 0.07], p = 0.89), compared with local anesthetics alone. CONCLUSIONS: It is effective and safe for dexmedetomidine as an adjunct to local anesthetics in nerve block in TKA to relieve postoperative pain, decrease total opioid consumption, prolong analgesic duration, and increase patient satisfaction without increasing related complications. Based on the quality of evidence, this meta-analysis recommends that dexmedetomidine can be used in a regular treatment regimen and as an adjunct addition to local anesthetics in nerve block for patients undergoing TKA. REGISTRATION: This meta-analysis was prospectively registered on PROSPERO (International prospective register of systematic reviews) and the registering number was CRD42020169171.

CNN with Pose Segmentation for Suspicious Object Detection in MMW Security Images.

Millimeter-wave (MMW) imaging scanners can see through clothing to form a three-dimensional holographic image of the human body and suspicious objects, providing a harmless alternative for non-contacting searches in security check. Suspicious object detection in MMW images is challenging, since most of them are small, reflection-weak, shape, and reflection-diverse. Conventional detectors with artificial neural networks, like convolution neural network (CNN), usually take the problem of finding suspicious objects as an object recognition task, yielding difficulties in developing large-amount and complete sample sets of objects. In this paper, a new algorithm is developed using the human pose segmentation followed by the deep CNN detection. The algorithm is emphasized to learn the similarity with humans' body clutter applied to training corresponding CNNs after the image segmentation base of the pose estimation. Moreover, the suspicious object recognition in the MMW image is converted to a binary classification task. Instead of recognizing all sorts of suspicious objects, the CNN detector determines whether the body part images present the abnormal patterns containing suspicious objects. The proposed algorithm that is based on CNN with the pose segmentation has concise configuration, but optimal performance in the suspicious object detection. Extensive experiments confirm the effectiveness and superiority of the proposal.

Triggering of Apoptosis in Osteosarcoma 143B Cell Line by Carbon Quantum Dots via the Mitochondrial Apoptotic Signal Pathway.

OBJECTIVES: Carbon-based nanomaterials have gained attention in the field of biomedicine in recent years, especially for the treatment of complicated diseases such as cancer. Here, we report a novel carbon-based nanomaterial, named carbon quantum dots (CQDs), which has potential for cancer therapy. We performed a systematic study on the effects of CQDs on the osteosarcoma 143B cell line in vitro and in vivo. METHODS: Cell counting assay, the neutral red assay, lactic dehydrogenase assay, and fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) Annexin V/Propidium iodide (PI) were used to detect the cytotoxicity and apoptosis of CQDs on the 143B cell line. Intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) were detected by the oxidation-sensitive fluorescent probe 2',7'-dichlorofluorescein diacetate. The JC-10 assay was used to detect the mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) of 143B cells incubated with CQDs. The effects of CQDs on the 143B cell line were evaluated by Western blot and immunofluorescence analysis of apoptosis-related proteins Bax, Bcl-2, cytochrome-C, caspase-3, cleaved-caspase-3, PARP1, and cleaved-PARP1. Male tumor-bearing BALB/c nude mice were used to investigate the antitumor effects of CQDs, and the biosafety of CQDs in vivo was tested in male BALB/c mice by measuring weight changes, hematology tests, and histological analyses of major organs. RESULTS: CQDs exhibited a high cytotoxicity and induced apoptosis toward the 143B cell line. CQDs can also significantly increase the intracellular level of ROS and lower the mitochondrial membrane potential levels of 143B cells. CQDs increase apoptotic protein expression to induce apoptosis of 143B cells by triggering the mitochondrial apoptotic signaling pathway. The tumor volume in the CQD-treated mice was smaller than that in the control group, the tumor volume inhibition rate was 38.9%, and the inhibitory rate by tumor weight was 30.1%. All biosafety test indexes were within reference ranges, and neither necrosis nor inflammation was observed in major organs. CONCLUSIONS: CQDs induced cytotoxicity in the 143B cell line through the mitochondrial apoptotic signaling pathway. CQDs not only showed an antitumor effect but also high biocompatibility in vivo. As a new carbon-based nanomaterial, CQDs usage is a promising method for novel cancer treatments.

The endoplasmic reticulum stress induced by tunicamycin affects the viability and autophagy activity of chondrocytes.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is attributed to a reduction in chondrocytes within joint cartilage, and research has shown that endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and autophagy play important roles in the survival of chondrocytes. However, the relationship between ER stress and autophagy in chondrocytes remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the changes in apoptotic and autophagic activity in chondrocytes under ER stress. Following treatment with tunicamycin, the rate of apoptosis among chondrocytes increased. Western blot analysis showed the levels of unfolded protein response (UPR) related proteins increased, followed by elevated expression of light chain 3B-II (LC3B-II) and Beclin-1. An ultrastructural investigation showed that a large number of pre-autophagosomal structures or autophagosomes formed under tunicamycin treatment. However, the autophagy activity was significantly inhibited in chondrocytes after suppression of GRP78 by siRNA. The apoptosis ratio of chondrocytes pre-treated with 3-methyladenine was much higher than that of normal chondrocytes after exposure to tunicamycin. Our study revealed that the tunicamycin-induced persistent UPR expression led to apoptosis of chondrocytes and activation of autophagy incorporation with GRP78. Blocking autophagy accelerated the apoptosis induced by ER stress, which confirmed the protective function of autophagy in the homeostasis of chondrocytes. These findings advance our understanding of chondrocyte apoptosis and provide potential molecular targets for preventing apoptotic death of chondrocytes.

Plasma Fibrinogen Performs Better Than Plasma d-Dimer and Fibrin Degradation Product in the Diagnosis of Periprosthetic Joint Infection and Determination of Reimplantation Timing.

BACKGROUND: The accurate and timely diagnosis of periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) is challenging, and no single biomarker can definitively confirm infection before revision arthroplasty. The coagulation cascade has been linked closely to infection. This study was performed to determine the value of plasma d-dimer, plasma fibrinogen, and plasma fibrin degradation product (FDP) for the diagnosis of PJI and timing of reimplantation. METHODS: We retrospectively enrolled 136 patients who underwent revision surgery from January 2008 to December 2019. They were assigned to 3 groups: aseptic failure (group A), PJI (group B), and reimplantation (group C). Receiver operating characteristic curves were constructed to estimate the value of plasma fibrinogen, plasma d-dimer, plasma FDP, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and serum C-reactive protein (CRP) for PJI diagnosis and reimplantation timing. RESULTS: All biomarker levels were significantly higher in group B than in group A (P < .05), and plasma fibrinogen, CRP, and ESR values were significantly higher in group B than in group C (all P < .05). The receiver operating characteristic curves showed that the areas under the curve of plasma fibrinogen, plasma d-dimer, plasma FDP, CRP, and ESR were 0.848, 0.914, 0.728, 0.737, and 0.868, respectively, and the threshold values for plasma fibrinogen, plasma d-dimer, and plasma FDP were 3.61 g/L, 0.41 mg/L, and 3.55 mg/L, respectively. CONCLUSION: Plasma fibrinogen exhibits good value for the diagnosis of PJI and can be an indicator of residual infection before reimplantation in 2-stage arthroplasty. Plasma d-dimer and FDP are of limited value for PJI diagnosis and cannot be used to determine the timing of reimplantation.

PHF23 negatively regulates the autophagy of chondrocytes in osteoarthritis.

AIM: Osteoarthritis (OA) is the main cause of disability and joint replacement surgery in the elderly. As a crucial cell survival mechanism, autophagy has been reported to decrease in OA. PHF23 is a new autophagy inhibitor which was first reported by us previously. This study aimed to explore the anti-autophagic mechanism of PHF23 to make it a possible therapeutic target of OA. MAIN METHOD: Lentiviral vectors specific to PHF23 were used on chondrocytes (C28/I2) to establish PHF23 overexpressed or knockdown stable cell strains. Interleukin (IL)-1ß (10 ng/mL) and chloroquine (CQ, 25 uM) were used as an inducer of OA and inhibitor of lysosome, respectively. Autophagy was evaluated by autophagosome formation using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and western blot analysis of P62 and LC3B on different groups of cells. Effects of PHF23 on OA were evaluated by collagen II immunofluorescent staining and western blot analysis of OA-associated proteins MMP13 and ADAMTS5. Effects of PHF23 on AMPK and mTOR/S6K pathways and mitophagy were determined by western blot analysis. KEY FINDINGS: Knockdown of PHF23 enhanced IL-1ß-induced autophagy, while overexpression of PHF23 exerted the opposite effect. Knockdown of PHF23 protected chondrocytes against IL-1ß-induced OA by decreasing the levels of OA-associated proteins and increasing expression of Collagen II. Knockdown of PHF23 also increased mitophagy level and altered the phosphorylation levels of AMPK, mTOR, and S6K. SIGNIFICANCE: PHF23 downregulates autophagy, mitophagy in IL-1ß-induced OA-like chondrocytes and alters the activities of AMPK and mTOR/S6K, which suggests that PHF23 may be a possible therapeutic target for OA.

Plant homeodomain finger protein 23 inhibits autophagy and promotes apoptosis of chondrocytes in osteoarthritis.

BACKGROUND: Plant homeodomain finger protein 23 (PHF23) is a novel autophagy inhibitor gene that has been few studied with respect to orthopedics. This study was to investigate the expression of PHF23 in articular cartilage and synovial tissue, and analyze the relationship between PHF23 and chondrocyte autophagy in osteoarthritis (OA). METHODS: Immunohistochemical staining and western blot were applied to show the expression of PHF23 in cartilage of different outbridge grades and synovial tissue of patient with OA and healthy control. The normal human chondrocyte pre-treated with rapamycin or 3-methyladenine, treated with interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß). IL-1ß induced expression level of PHF23 and autophagy-related proteins light chain 3B-I (LC3B-I), LC3B-II, and P62, were examined by Western blot. A PHF23 gene knock-down model was constructed with small interfering RNA. Western blot was performed to detect the efficiency of PHF23 and the impact of PHF23 knockout on IL-1ß-induced expression of autophagy-related and apoptotic-related proteins in chondrocyte. RESULTS: The expression of PHF23 was significantly increased in the high-grade cartilage and synovial tissue of patients with OA. The IL-1ß-induced expression of PHF23 was gradually enhanced with time. The level of LC3B-II, P62 changed with time. After knockdown of PHF23, the level of autophagy-related proteins increased and apoptotic-related proteins decreased in IL-1ß-induced OA-like chondrocytes. CONCLUSIONS: The expression of PHF23 increased in human OA cartilage and synovium, and was induced by IL-1ß through inflammatory stress. PHF23 can suppress autophagy of chondrocytes, and accelerate apoptosis.

Effect of chondrocyte mitochondrial dysfunction on cartilage degeneration: A possible pathway for osteoarthritis pathology at the subcellular level.

Previous studies identified that chondrocyte apoptosis serves an important role in osteoarthritis (OA). However, the mechanisms of cartilage degeneration induced by apoptosis remain unclear. The present study investigated the role of mitochondrial dysfunction in OA pathology. A total of 30 cartilage samples presenting an Outerbridge score ranging between 0 and III were collected during total knee arthroplasty. Half of the samples were embedded for observation by transmission electron microscopy. The remaining samples were digested, and chondrocytes were isolated from normal and OA tissues. Subsequently, the enzymatic activity of factors of the mitochondrial respiratory chain (MRC), and mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψm), were quantified. Furthermore, chondrocytes were treated with rotenone (Ro), a specific inhibitor of the MRC, and curcumin (Cur), a mitochondrial protective agent, with the aim of analyzing the relationship between mitochondrial dysfunction and chondrocyte apoptosis. The mitochondria of OA chondrocytes showed apoptosis­associated morphological alterations compared with normal cells. The Δψm and the activity of MRC enzymes were decreased in OA chondrocytes. Moreover, compared with normal chondrocytes, treatment with Ro was able to induce morphological changes reminiscent of the phenotype observed in OA chondrocytes. Additionally, Ro inhibited cellular proliferation, increased the apoptotic rate, and decreased the Δψm and the secretion of type II collagen. Furthermore, Cur could partly reverse the effects caused by treatment with Ro. The present data suggested that mitochondrial function was impaired in OA chondrocytes, resulting in an increased chondrocyte apoptosis and decreased type II collagen secretion. In addition, treatment with Cur protected the mitochondrial function and prevented cartilage degeneration. Collectively, the present results suggested that mitochondrial dysfunction may aggravate cartilage degeneration in the pathogenesis of OA.

Efficacy of magnetic resonance imaging with an SPGR sequence for the early evaluation of knee cartilage degeneration and the relationship between cartilage and other tissues.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with a spoiled gradient-recalled (SPGR) sequence to evaluate early knee cartilage degeneration and the relationship between cartilage and other tissues using a modified Whole-Organ Magnetic Resonance Imaging Score (WORMS). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighty-four patients with knee joint pain were evaluated by X-ray and MRI with an SPGR sequence from June 2015 to December 2016. Joint degeneration was graded by two experienced radiologists using the Kellgren-Lawrence (K-L) grading scale. The modified WORMS was used to evaluate cartilage lesions, bone marrow abnormalities, bone cysts, osteophytes, joint effusion and synovitis. The difference between the WORMS of the SPGR and the T2 sequences evaluated by the Wilcoxon signed-rank test was determined, and the relationships between the WORMS features were evaluated by a Spearman correlation. RESULTS: The modified WORMS for the cartilage lesion evaluation was significantly higher with the SPGR sequence than with the T2 sequence (P < 0.05). The cartilage lesions showed a moderate correlation with osteophytes, synovitis and joint effusion (Rs > 0.40, P < 0.05) and weak correlations with bone marrow abnormalities and bone cysts (Rs < 0.4, P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The modified WORMS evaluation using MRI with the SPGR sequence was much better than the normal sequence for early knee osteoarthritis (OA). The cartilage lesions are associated with bone marrow abnormalities and the other features of OA.

Highly Thermally Conducting Polymer-Based Films with Magnetic Field-Assisted Vertically Aligned Hexagonal Boron Nitride for Flexible Electronic Encapsulation.

Here, a facile, low-cost, and high-efficiency method to construct a vertically aligned hexagonal boron nitride nanosheet (hBNN) thermal conduction channel structure is proposed to improve the thermal conductivity. First, exfoliated negatively charged BNNs and positively charged FeCo nanocubes self-assemble to form complex nanomaterials by strong electrostatic interactions. Then, the BNNs can orient with FeCo nanocubes in magnetic field, and the {001} facets of BNNs adsorb on the {100} facets of FeCo nanocubes. The large scale range and high-density FeCo/hBN-aligned structures are observed by scanning electron microscopy, which can act as thermal dissipation channels by conveying more phonons through a preponderant thermally conductive direction. The thermal conductivity of the composite films with 30 wt % FeCo and 50 wt % BN filler is 2.25 W m-1 K-1, 7 times higher than that of the films only containing 50 wt % randomly distributed hBN filler (0.325 W m-1 K-1) and 20 times higher than pure polydimethylsiloxane films (0.114 W m-1 K-1). The thermal management capability of the composite films is evaluated as a thermal conducting substrate of a light-emitting diode chip and the infrared thermal technology. Apart from the surprising thermal conductivity, FeCo-BNNs composite films also exhibit superb flexibility.

[Development of metal-organic framework composites in sample pretreatment].

In recent years, a new type of multi-functional porous material, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), is emerging. MOFs are formed by coordination of metal ions or metal clusters with oxygen or nitrogen and contain organic ligands porous skeleton structure. Compared with other traditional inorganic porous materials, MOFs have many advantages such as high specific surface area, large porosity, good thermal stability and diversified structure and function. They are widely used in the fields of gas storage, catalysis, adsorption and separation. In recent years, the applications of MOF composites in sample pretreatment have aroused great interest and widespread concern. Due to the assembly of MOFs and different functional materials, such as polymers, carbon-based materials and magnetic materials, the performance of MOF composites are better than the original MOFs. This review summarizes the applications of MOF composites in sample pretreatment technique in recent years, focuses on the applications of MOFs composites in solid phase microextraction (SPME), solid phase extraction (SPE) and magnetic solid phase extraction (MSPE).