A possible prediction of dystocia at the time of cesarean delivery: Gluteal muscle contracture, a single center experience from China.

The study assessed the pelvic dimensions by computed tomography (CT) performed for gluteal muscle contracture women, and evaluated the impact of malformations on several essential obstetric parameters.The CT pelvimetry was retrospectively performed in 25 gluteal muscle contracture women selected consecutively whether they had delivery history or not. Among the pelvic inlet plane, the mid plane and the outlet plane, 12 indicators including the transverse diameter of the pelvic inlet, the conjugate vera, the diagonal conjugate, the biischial diameter, the anteroposterior diameter of the middle pelvis, transverse outlet, the posterior sagittal diameter of outlet, the conjugate of the outlet, the anterior sagittal diameter of the outlet, the curvature and length of the sacrum, the angle of pubic arch were collected.Finally, the mean age of these women was 26.6 ±â€Š5.0 years. Most pelvises had anteroposterior elliptical appearance in inlet and size of the female pelvis. The most statistically different and most clinically significant indicator was the biischial diameter, gluteal muscle contracture women were 95.6 ±â€Š9.3 mm and the normal women from other study were 105.0 ±â€Š7.9 mm, the comparison showed a significant difference (P < .001).Generally, most gluteal muscle contracture women had features of anthropoid pelvis which were quite different from normal Chinese female. These results may serve as a basis for future studies to assess its utility and prognostic value for a safe vaginal delivery in gluteal muscle contracture women.

miR-146a promoted breast cancer proliferation and invasion by regulating NM23-H1.

The study aimed to investigate the regulatory effect of miR-146a in proliferation, invasion and migration of breast cancer and its possible mechanism via NM23-H1. The expression levels of miR-146a in breast cancer with different pathological classification were significantly increased, while the expression levels of NM23-H1 were significantly decreased, which were closely correlated. Double luciferase reporter gene was used to verify the target regulatory relationship between miR-146 and NM23-H1 on a human breast cancer cell line. miR-146a was closely related to the proliferation and metastasis of breast cancer. miR-146a also promoted the growth of breast cancer in vivo via targeting NM23-H1. In conclusion, miR-146 can promote the proliferation and invasion of breast cancer by targeting NM23-H1.

Are "normal hips" being labeled as femoroacetabular impingement due to EE angle?

Gluteal muscle contracture (GMC) is a clinical syndrome characterized by gait abnormality and limb dysfunction, as well as secondary deformities of pelvis and femur. Femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) typically could be diagnosed on the basis of computed tomography (CT) such as the equatorial-edge angle (EE angle), but it did not work well in GMC patients. In this study, we retrospected all image data and found small EE angles in GMCs, which meant retroverted acetabulum; however, none of them showed no symptoms and signs of FAI. Therefore, we had reasons to think that, some normal hips with unbalanced hip myodynamia as same as GMCs, may be incorrectly diagnosed as FAI through measuring EE angle only.In consequence, the paper was designed to assess the use of the EE angle in the assessment of FAI in the diagnosis, as described by Werner.Twenty-three patients (46 hips) were collected and calculated with the "equatorial-edge angle" (EE angle) by CT scans. All of them were excluded from FAI.Review of the hips showed a mean EE angle was 12.93°, with a minimum of -3.42° and a maximum of 24.08°. The mean value for males and females were 13.52° and 12.40°, respectively, without statistical significance, although the mean value of left hips and right sides reached 13.32° and 12.54° individually, not having statistical differences neither. There were not any symptoms or signs of FAI in all patients. Thus, the reduced EE angle could suggest the local excessive coverage of the femoral head by the anterior acetabular edge, but might not be a reasonably good predictor of FAI.GMC patient's acetabular deformity mainly manifests as increased retroversion, which may be the anatomical basis for FAI and lead to high risks of the acetabular impingement. However, all patients in this study showed no symptoms and signs of FAI, suggesting that the measurement of EE angle can only be applied to assessing those people with normal hip myodynamia, and the bone deformity and the muscular disorder should be both considered in the diagnosis of FAI.

Selective synthesis of monazite- and zircon-type LaVO(4) nanocrystals.

Pure monoclinic (m-) and tetragonal phased (t-) LaVO(4) nanocrystals could be obtained by a hydrothermal method in a controllable way with additives. It is found that chelating ligands, such as ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid [EDTA or H(4)L, where L(4-) = (CH(2)COO)(2)N(CH(2))(2)N(CH(2)COO)(2)(4-)], favor the formation of t-LaVO(4) and can induce the polymorph transformation from stable m-LaVO(4) to metastable t-LaVO(4). Further studies demonstrated the important roles of chelating ligands in this transformation process. Careful investigation over the phase transition from t- to m-LaVO(4) was also conducted with high-temperature X-ray diffraction (HTXRD) studies. The phase transition occurred at 850 degrees C, which is about 250 degrees C higher than for the bulk. The enhanced thermal stability of the nanosized metastable t-LaVO(4) may come from the small size effect. Our capability of obtaining and stabilizing t-LaVO(4) not only benefits the wider applications based on LaVO(4) due to the improved luminescent and catalytic performance but also provides a new idea in the studies of polymorph control and selective synthesis of inorganic materials.

Construction and differential screening of a cDNA library specific to osmotic stress of Haloxylon ammodendron seedlings.

A subtracted cDNA library specific to osmotic stress of Haloxylon ammodendron (Mey.) Bge seedlings was constructed by suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) and T/A cloning. SSH was performed between two groups of H. ammodendron seedlings, one was cultivated in Hoagland (H) solution as a driver and the other group was treated with osmotic stress of the Hoagland solution by the addition of 400 mM mannitol (M), as a tester. The library consisted of about 400 recombinant clones, with the average size being of 500 bp, ranging from 300 bp to 1500 bp. Using a PCR-select differential screening kit, 100 recombinant clones were randomly chosen from the subtracted cDNA library and hybridized with forward, reverse subtracted and unsubtracted probes for two rounds. As a result, 21 positive clones specific to osmotic stress were obtained and some of them were verified by Northern blot analysis. The sequencing analysis of 6 positive clones and the following homology comparison to GenBank [blastx] non-redundant databases characterized that two sequences obtained in this experiment may contribute to novel drought-related genes.