Correlation between the Signal Intensity Alteration of Infrapatellar Fat Pad and Knee Osteoarthritis: A Retrospective, Cross-Sectional Study.

Infrapatellar fat pad (IPFP) inflammation is a common pathological manifestation in knee osteoarthritis (OA). However, the significance of IPFP signal intensity alteration for clinical diagnosis and treatment of knee OA needs further research. We assessed IPFP signal intensity alteration (0-3), IPFP maximum cross-sectional area (CSA) and IPFP depth, meniscus injury, bone marrow edema, and cartilage injury from magnetic-resonance imaging (MRI) in 41 non-KOA patients (K-L grade 0 and grade I) and 68 KOA patients (K-L grade 2,3 and 4). We found that IPFP signaling was altered in all patients with KOA whose alteration was closely related to the K-L grading. We found that the IPFP signal intensity was increased in most OA patients, especially the ones in the late stage. There were significant differences in IPFP maximum CSA and IPFP depth between groups in KOA and non-KOA patients. Moreover, Spearman correlation analysis showed that IPFP signal intensity was moderately positively correlated with age, meniscal injury, cartilage injury, and bone marrow edema, and negatively correlated with height, while not correlated with visual analogue scale (VAS) scoring and body mass index (BMI). In addition, women have higher IPFP inflammation scores on MRI than men. In conclusion, IPFP signal intensity alteration is associated with joint damage in knee OA, which may have clinical significance for diagnosing and treating KOA.

rRNA Analysis Based on Long-Read High-Throughput Sequencing Reveals a More Accurate Diagnostic for the Bacterial Infection of Ascites.

Traditional pathogenic diagnosis presents defects such as a low positivity rate, inability to identify uncultured microorganisms, and time-consuming nature. Clinical metagenomics next-generation sequencing can be used to detect any pathogen, compensating for the shortcomings of traditional pathogenic diagnosis. We report third-generation long-read sequencing results and second-generation short-read sequencing results for ascitic fluid from a patient with liver ascites and compared the two types of sequencing results with the results of traditional clinical microbial culture. The distribution of pathogenic microbial species revealed by the two types of sequencing results was quite different, and the third-generation sequencing results were consistent with the results of traditional microbial culture, which can effectively guide subsequent treatment. Short reads, the lack of amplification, and enrichment to amplify signals from trace pathogens, and host background noise may be the reasons for the high error in the second-generation short-read sequencing results. Therefore, we propose that long-read-based rRNA analysis technology is superior to the short-read shotgun-based metagenomics method in the identification of pathogenic bacteria.

Preoperative Predictors of Prolonged Hospital Stay in Accelerated Rehabilitation for Patients Undergoing Orthopedic Surgery.

In this study, we performed a retrospective and prospective study of preoperative predictors of the length of stay (LOS) in three groups of surgical patients and conducted a clinical retrospective study of the current research status of preoperative predictors of LOS prolongation in three groups of patients under ERAS (enhanced recovery after surgery) mode, such as patient characteristics and comorbidities. Information such as patients' exercise preferences, exercise time, frequency and duration, footwear, location of knee osteoarthritis, whether there is a past history of knee injury, and smoking and drinking history was collected, and the research data of 312 patients undergoing the three operations were analyzed by SPSS. Meniscal injury-knee arthroscopy sample included a total of 104 people. Surgical sample for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction included a total of 100 subjects. Knee osteoarthritis-knee replacement surgery sample included 148 people who were divided into two groups in a ratio of 1 : 1: one group used Mailuo Shutong pills during hospitalization (intervention group) and the other group did not (control group). The research conclusions are as follows. Meniscal Knee Arthroscopy. (1) Samples from different causes of injury showed significant differences for all injured sites. (2) Samples with different smoking and drinking histories all showed significant differences for the causes of injury. (3) Exercise hobby, exercise frequency, duration of each exercise and duration of exercise, and warm-up time before exercise all showed positive correlation. Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction Surgery. (4) Samples from different causes of injury showed significant differences for all the injured sites. (5) Age has a significant negative influence on the wearing of shoes at ordinary times. (6) Exercise hobby: the warm-up time before exercise had a significant negative influence on the injured area. (7) Two groups of analysis items of exercise frequency, exercise duration and exercise duration, preexercise warm-up time, and exercise hobby were typically positively correlated. Total Knee Arthroplasty. (8) There was a significant difference of 0.01 between the hospitalization days of the intervention group and the control group (p < 0.01), and the hospitalization days of the intervention group were significantly lower than those of the control group. These results indicated that Mailuo Shutong pills were of great significance for the treatment of orthopedic patients during the operation period in that it could effectively shorten the hospital stay of all orthopedic patients and strengthen the accelerated rehabilitation. (9) There was a significant positive correlation between the history of knee joint surgery and the use time of Mailuo Shutong pills. (10) There was a markable positive correlation between occupation and sports hobbies, sports time, frequency and duration, and footwear. There was a significant negative correlation between occupation and preexercise warm-up. (11) Exercise time, frequency, and duration have significant positive influence on BMI.

Increased Serum Soluble Urokinase Plasminogen Activator Receptor Predicts Short-Term Outcome in Patients with Hepatitis B-Related Acute-on-Chronic Liver Failure.

AIMS: Soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) reflects the immune activation in circumstances of inflammation and infection. It has been considered as a risk biomarker associated with poor outcome in various low-grade inflammation and infectious diseases. The study is aimed at investigating whether suPAR has a predictive value with short-term survival in patients with hepatitis B-related acute-on-chronic liver failure (HB-ACLF). METHODS: Serum suPAR expression was compared among patients with different states of chronic hepatitis B virus infection. Sixty HB-ACLF patients were recruited as the training cohort and followed up for 90 days. Serum suPAR level and the clinical relevance with short-term outcome were investigated. The temporal dynamics of suPAR were evaluated in 50 HB-ACLF patients with available serum sequentially at baseline, week 2 and week 4. Another 167 HB-ACLF patients were enrolled to validate the predictive value of suPAR with respect to the prognosis. RESULTS: Serum suPAR level was significantly increased in HB-ACLF patients compared to non-ACLF patients. In the training set of HB-ACLF, we observed higher suPAR level, INR, MELD score, and more complications in nonsurvivors than survivors. Longitudinal analysis revealed an increased trend of suPAR level in nonsurvivors during week 0 to week 4 and the modest decline in survivors. It showed that the synchronous suPAR level was higher in nonsurvivors at all indicated time points. Elevated suPAR level at baseline was identified as a strong predictor of a 90-day mortality of HB-ACLF patients. It was confirmed suPAR > 16.26 ng/ml had a positive predictive value of 72.22% and a negative predictive value of 77.88% for poor outcome in the validation cohort. CONCLUSIONS: Serum suPAR level increases significantly in HB-ACLF patients and associated with a 90-day mortality. It suggests that suPAR might be a potential biomarker to predict the prognosis of HB-ACLF patients.

[Indirect coculture of human infrapatellar fat pad-derived stem cells with osteoarthritic chondrocytes induces their chondrogenesis].

Objective: To promote phenotype recovery of osteoarthritic articular chondrocytes( OACs) and induce chondrogenic differentiation of infrapatellar fat pad-derived stem cells( IPFPSCs) by indirectly coculturing these two types of cells. Methods: The OACs and IPFPSCs were isolated and cultured in vitro. This experiment included single IPFPSCs group,single OACs group,and coculture group. After cells were cultured in vitro with chondrogenic medium for 21 days,the chondrocyte phenotypes were determined by HE staining( cell morphology),Alcian blue staining( glycosaminoglycan content) and immunofluorescence cytochemistry( collagen 1,collagen 2,collagen 3,aggrecan,SOX9). Results: In coculture group,the OACs aggregated into microspheres,and the IPFPSCs were oval in shape. In single culture groups,the OACs were less aggregated and the spheres were smaller; and the IPFPSCs were spindle in shape. HE staining showed that,in the coculture group,the nuclei of OACs spheres were dark,and the IPFPSCs were rich in cytoplasm; while in single culture groups,the nuclei of OAC spheres were less dark,and the IPFPSCs were less stained compared with the coculture group. Alcian blue staining indicated that glycosaminoglycan content was higher in the coculture group than in single culture groups. Immunofluorescent staining showed that the intensity of chondrogenic markers( collagen 2,aggrecan,and SOX9)was stronger,while the intensity of collagen 1 and collagen 10 was weaker in the coculture group as compared with single culture groups. Conclusion: The indirect coculture of IPFPSCs with OACs can contribute to the phenotype recovery of OACs and induce the chondrogenic differentiation of IPFPSCs.

ROS/p38/p53/Puma signaling pathway is involved in emodin-induced apoptosis of human colorectal cancer cells.

AIM: Emodin was found effective in suppressing proliferation of cancer cells including colorectal cancer (CRC), but the mechanisms were still unclear. This study was aimed to investigate the possible mechanism of emodin's anti-CRC effects. METHODS: Two most frequently used CRC cell lines, SW480 and SW620, were investigated in this study. Serially diluted emodin solutions were used to incubate CRC cells. siRNAs were used to silence the expressions of p38 and Puma respectively. Intracellular ROS production was detected by DCFH-DA staining; proliferation and apoptosis of CRC cells were assessed by MTT assay and Hoechst staining respectively. Western blotting was applied to evaluate the activation of p38/p53/Puma signaling. RESULTS: Both in SW480 and SW620 cells, emodin inhibited proliferation by inducing ROS-mediated apoptosis in a concentration-dependent manner. The p38/p53/Puma signaling was also activated after emodin incubation in a concentration-dependent manner. The ROS scavenger NAC, p38 silencing and Puma silencing impaired the anti-proliferation and apoptosis- inducing effects of emodin. CONCLUSIONS: emodin inhibited proliferation of human CRC cells by inducing cell apoptosis by activating ROS/p38/p53/Puma signaling.

[A cross-sectional case study of human immunodeficiency virus and tuberculosis co-infection in mainland China].

OBJECTIVE: In order to take an insight into the profile of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis (TB) co-infection, we made a statistic survey in 9 hospitals in mainland China. With the purpose of guiding the prevention and treatment, 241 cases with such co-infection were enrolled and the data with respect to clinical manifestations, laboratory tests, therapy and prognosis were analysed. METHODS: All indices were collected with unified questionary. RESULTS: Young men (75.9%) took constituted the majority. HIV was transmitted mainly by intravenous drug use (IDU) in Xinjiang and Yunnan provinces, by blood transfusion or blood products in Shanghai, Henan and Wenxi county of Shanxi, and by sexual transmission in Fuzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Dehong prefecture of Yunnan province. In this survey, pulmonary TB accounted for 59.3%, extra-pulmonary TB for 21.2%, and both for 19.5% of the patients. As for laboratory tests, only 9.5% was positive in sputum for acid-fast bacillus (AFB) and 2.9% in culture, 10.8% of the patients had AFB in pleural fluid or cerebrospinal fluid. Besides, PPD was negative or weakly positive in most of the cases. Overall, 76.8% of the 241 cases had a CD(4) cell count < 200/microl, and 58.5% < 100/microl. 80.5% of the patients was treated with anti-tuberculous medications and 69.7% with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). 203 (84.2%) were still alive and 38 (15.8%) died. CONCLUSIONS: (1) The clinical manifestations of the 241 cases were varied because of prevailing pulmonary TB. (2) The immune function was depressed with reducing CD(4) counts in most of the patients. (3) Positivity rate of examination relevant to TB was too low to help the diagnosis. (4) The mortality (15.8%) was high even with HAART and/or chemotherapy.