[Microbiological analysis of late infected hip arthroplasty in 62 cases].

OBJECTIVE: To review the type and number of pathogens and their antibiotic sensitivity in patients with late infected total joint replacement so as to offer guidance for the choice of antibiotics. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted for 62 patients whose suspected specimens were obtained intra-operatively during a total hip arthroplasty since January 2002 to August 2010 at our department. Their demographic data, bacterial species and antibiotic sensitivity profiles were recorded. RESULTS: Among 62 cases, the cultures were tested positive in 48 cases; the most common bacteria was Gram-positive bacteria (74%). And coagulase-negative staphylococci and Staphylococcus aureus accounted for 62.9% of all bacterial cultures. And the ratio of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus was 41.18%. CONCLUSION: The late infection of total hip arthroplasty is mainly caused by Gram-positive bacteria. Antibiotic treatment for late periprosthetic infection should be guided by the findings of drug susceptibility. Vancomycin may be used as a primary agent for the treatment of infected hip arthroplasty.

Synergistic Effects of Erzhi Pill Combined With Methotrexate on Osteoblasts Mediated via the Wnt1/LRP5/ß-Catenin Signaling Pathway in Collagen-Induced Arthritis Rats.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic autoimmune disease characterized by chronic synovitis, bone erosion, and bone loss. Erzhi Pill (EZP), a classic Chinese patent medicine, is often used to treat osteoporosis and shows a capacity for bone metabolism regulation. Methotrexate (MTX), an essential drug for RA treatment, has been reported to inhibit generalized bone loss in RA patients. However, the combined therapeutic effects and mechanism of EZP and MTX in RA have not been fully elucidated. The aim of this study was to investigate the synergistic effect of EZP and MTX on RA and to explore the underlying mechanism through network pharmacological prediction and experimental verification. Chemical compounds of EZP, human target proteins of EZP and MTX, and RA-related human genes were identified in the Encyclopedia of Traditional Chinese Medicine database, PubChem database, and NCBI database, respectively. The molecular network of EZP and MTX in RA was generated and analyzed with Ingenuity Pathway Analysis software according to the datasets. Then, MTX monotherapy, EZP monotherapy, and combined MTX and EZP therapy were administered to collagen-induced arthritis rats, followed by assessment of pathological score, bone damage, bone alkaline phosphatases (BALP), and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRACP), and of gene levels related to the Wnt1/LRP5/ß-catenin pathway according to network pharmacological analysis. Finally, serum samples from MTX-, EZP- and MTX+EZP-treated rats were used to treat the rat osteoblast (OB)-like UMR-106 cell line to evaluate gene levels related to Wnt1/LRP5/ß-catenin. Network pharmacological analysis showed that the Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway was the top signaling pathway shared among MTX, EZP, and RA. The results from in vivo experiments indicated that EZP combined with MTX reduced arthritis severity, alleviated ankle bone damage, increased BALP and decreased TRACP serum levels, and regulated the mRNA expression of Wnt1, LRP5, ß-catenin, Runx2, BALP, and BGP in the ankles. In vitro experiments showed that EZP combined with MTX could also improve the expression of genes related to the Wnt1/LRP5/ß-catenin pathway. This study demonstrated that EZP in combination with MTX played a synergistic role in regulating OBs in RA, which was connected to the modulatory effect of EZP and MTX on the Wnt1/LRP5/ß-catenin signaling pathway.

Regulating the emission of tetraphenylethenes by changing the alkoxyl linkage length between two neighboring phenyl moieties.

Alkoxyl linkages with different carbon lengths are employed to link the two neighboring ortho carbons of the two phenyl moieties at the same ethylene carbon of the tetraphenylethene framework, resulting in successful regulation of the molecular conformation and in turn the emission properties.

Switching on the proton transport pathway of a lanthanide metal-organic framework by one-pot loading of tetraethylene glycol for high proton conduction.

A one-pot hydrothermal approach has been developed to introduce tetraethylene glycol (TEG) molecules into a two-dimensional (2D) layered lanthanide metal-organic framework ([Sm(H5C2P2O7)(H2O)2]·Guest, denoted SmHEDP-Guest). Through the straightforward loading of TEG, the proton conductivity of SmHEDP-TEG (1.21 × 10-3 S cm-1) is increased by 3 orders of magnitude compared with its analogue SmHEDP-H2O (1.22 × 10-6 S cm-1) under 100% relative humidity at room temperature. More excitingly, SmHEDP-TEG exhibits very high proton conductivity of 9.17 × 10-2 S cm-1, even higher than commercial Nafion, when the temperature is increased to 333 K, which is significantly higher than SmHEDP-H2O (3.38 × 10-5 S cm-1). The single crystal XRD reveals that the adjacent water molecules located in the channels of SmHEDP-H2O are isolated without hydrogen bonding interactions owing to their long distances. However, interestingly, the guest TEG molecules of SmHEDP-TEG behave as hydrogen bonded connected bridges, which switch on the proton transport pathway to promote proton hopping. This discovery may provide a facile strategy to design and synthesize more promising candidates for novel proton conductors.