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BACKGROUND@#Intra-articular injection is a classic strategy for the treatment of early osteoarthritis (OA). However, the local delivery of traditional therapeutic agents has limited benefits for alleviating OA. Exosomes, an important type of extracellular nanovesicle, show great potential for suppressing cartilage destruction in OA to replace drugs and stem cellbased administration. @*METHODS@#In this study, we developed a thermosensitive, injectable hydrogel by in situ crosslinking of Pluronic F-127 and hyaluronic acid, which can be used as a slow-release carrier to durably retain primary chondrocyte-derived exosomes at damaged cartilage sites to effectively magnify their reparative effect. @*RESULTS@#It was found that the hydrogel can sustainedly release exosomes, positively regulate chondrocytes on the proliferation, migration and differentiation, as well as efficiently induce polarization of M1 to M2 macrophages. Intraarticular injection of this exosomes-incorporated hydrogel significantly prevented cartilage destruction by promoting cartilage matrix formation. This strategy also displayed a regenerative immune phenotype characterized by a higher infiltration of CD163+ regenerative M2 macrophages over CD86+ M1 macrophages in synovial and chondral tissue, with a concomitant reduction in pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-a, IL-1b, and IL-6) and increase in anti-inflammatory cytokine (IL-10) in synovial fluid. @*CONCLUSION@#Our results demonstrated that local sustained-release primary chondrocyte-derived exosomes may relieve OA by promoting the phenotypic transformation of macrophages from M1 to M2, which suggesting a great potential for the application in OA.
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Objective:By establishing the reference intervals of free thyroxine (FT 4), thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPOAb) of pregnant women in different pregnancy in Yangzhou, and analyzing the dynamic trends of each indicator, so as to provide a basis for timely and accurate diagnosis of thyroid disease during pregnancy, and promote prenatal and postnatal care. Methods:Clinical data of 3 726 healthy early (1 747 cases), middle (1 481 cases), and late (498 cases) pregnant women were collected from the Department of Perinatal and Health Care in Yangzhou Women and Children Hospital, the Affiliated Hospital of Yangzhou University Medical College from October 2017 to October 2018. At the same time, data of 407 non-pregnant women in the same period were collected as normal controls. The levels of serum FT 4, TSH and TPOAb in each stage of pregnancy were detected by Beckman automatic chemiluminescence analyzer. The reference interval was established by using the 95% reference value of the bilateral limit, and the differences of early, middle and late pregnancy were compared. Results:There were significant differences in FT 4 levels between early, middle and late stages of pregnancy ( H = 82.56, P < 0.01), with the early stage higher than the middle stage ( P < 0.01) and the middle stage higher than the late stage( P < 0.01). The difference of TSH levels was statistically significant ( H = 91.27, P < 0.01), in which the early stage was lower than the middle stage ( P < 0.01), and the middle stage was lower than the late stage ( P < 0.01). There was a statistically significant difference in TPOAb levels ( H = 30.36, P < 0.01). There was no significant difference between the early stage and the middle stage ( P > 0.05), and the early and middle stages were higher than the late stage ( P < 0.01). The reference intervals of thyroid function index in different pregnancies were, early pregnancy: FT 4 8.28 - 15.66 pmol/L, TSH 0.11 - 4.23 mU/L, TPOAb 0.10 - 16.46 U/ml; middle pregnancy: FT 4 7.38 - 14.36 pmol/L, TSH 0.13 - 4.67 mU/L, TPOAb 0.10 - 18.97 U/ml; and late pregnancy: FT 4 6.33 - 11.39 pmol/L, TSH 0.40 - 3.96 mU/L, TPOAb 0.10 - 6.17 U/ml. Conclusions:There are significant differences in serum thyroid function indicators in different pregnant women. Establishing reference intervals of thyroid function indicators in different stages of pregnancy have important clinical significance for diagnosis of thyroid disease and eugenics.
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Objectives To observe the effect of rehabilitation robots with routine rehabilitation training on walking func -tion after stroke .Methods Sixty patients with stroke were randomly divided into treatment group and control group , 30 ca-ses in each group .The control group received routine rehabilitation training while the treatment group received routine reha -bilitation training by rehabilitation robots .The lower extremity functions ,balance and walking ability were assessed with a simplified Fugl-Meyer Assessment(FMA) and using the Berg Balance Scale (BBS) before treatment and after 12 weeks. Results Before treatment , neither the treatment group nor the control group showed any statistically significant difference in terms of FMA and BBS results (P>0.05).After 12 weeks′training, both groups showed significant improvement in terms of FMA and BBS results(P<0.05).The treatment group showed significantly better improvement in lower extremity function, balance and walking function than the control group (P<0.05).Conclusion Rehabilitation robots can signifi-cantly improve walking function in patients after stroke .