Relationship between the height of fibular head and the incidence and severity of knee osteoarthritis.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between fibular head height and the incidence and severity of osteoarthritis associated with varus knee deformity. The fibular head height, joint line convergence angle (JLCA) and medial proximal tibial angle (MPTA) were measured in a three-dimensional model. Ordinal multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze the correlation between fibular head height and Kellgren-Lawrence (K-L) grade. Pearson correlation was used to analyze the correlation between fibular head height and K-L grade. A total of 232 patients (232 knees) were finally included in the study. There were significant differences in JLCA and hip-knee-ankle angle (P < 0.05), and both JLCA and hip-knee-ankle angle increased with severe aggravation of K-L grade. Both fibular head height and MPTA decreased as the K-L grade was severely aggravated. There was a significant negative correlation between K-L grade and fibular head height (r = -0.812, P < 0.001). Furthermore, there was a significant negative correlation between fibular head height and hip-knee-ankle angle (r = -0.7905, P < 0.001). In addition to body mass index, fibular head height is a risk factor for the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis associated with varus knee deformity; the smaller the fibular head height, the more severe the degree of varus deformity.

Bidirectional Coupler Study for Chip-Based Spectral-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography.

A chip-based spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) system consists of a broadband source, interferometer, and spectrometer. The optical power divider flatness in the interferometer's wavelength is crucial to higher signal-to-noise ratios. A Mach-Zehnder directional coupler (MZDC) structure could be utilized to smoothly maximize the splitting ratio of 50:50 on a silicon platform, with a sub-micrometer of decoupler optical path difference insensitive to the process variation up to 20 nanometers. However, the optical signal reflected from the reference and sample will go back to the same interferometer MZDC. The so-called bidirectional coupler MZDC will not illustrate a flat optical power response in the operating wavelength range but could still demonstrate at least 20 dB signal-to-noise ratio improvement in OCT after the echelle grating spectrum compensation is applied. For maintaining the axial resolution and sensitivity, the echelle grating is also insensitive to process shifts such as MZDC and could be further utilized to compensate a 3 dB bidirectional MZDC structure for a broad and flat 100 nm wavelength response in the interferometer-based on-chip SD-OCT.

Potential predictive value of SCN4A mutation status for immune checkpoint inhibitors in melanoma.

Melanoma refers to a pigmented nevus with malignant changes. The preferred treatment for primary melanoma is surgical excision and postoperative radiotherapy, but the prognosis is poor. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have been remarkably successful in different types of cancers, but not all cancer patients can benefit from it. Therefore, it is essential to find predictable biomarkers and improve the accuracy of treatment. In this study, we used survival analysis, gene panorama analysis, immune cell enrichment analysis, TMB analysis, and GSEA to demonstrate that SCN4A gene mutations may be used as one of the indicators to predict the prognosis of melanoma patients undergoing ICI treatment. The research further indicates that SCN4A gene mutations improve the prognosis of ICI treatment. It is hoped that the effect of SCN4A on immunogenicity and tumor immunity can be demonstrated to further suggest the effect of this gene on the efficacy of ICIs.

[Modulation of lung oxidant/antioxidant status by ischemic post-conditioning during ischemia/ reperfusion injury: experiment with rats].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of ischemic post-conditioning (IPO) on the lung endogenous oxidant-antioxidant system and nitric oxide level during the early stage of ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. METHODS: Twenty four male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 3 equal groups: sham-operation (S) group, I/R Group, undergoing ischemia by blocking the lung hilus for 1 h and then reperfusion for 30 min, IPO Group, undergoing blocking the lung hilus for 1 h and then 3 cycles of 10 s ischemia and 10 s reperfusion. Then the rats were killed with their lungs taken out. The levels of glutathione (GSH), nitric oxide (NO), malondialdehyde (MDA), xanthine oxidase (XO), and endogenous antioxidant enzymes, i. e, superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT), and activities of gultathionine peroxidase (GPX) and myeloperoxidase (MPO), a neutrophil accumulation marker, were measured respectively. RESULTS: In IPO group, Compared with I/R group, antioxidant systems such as the levels of SOD, CAT, GPX, and GSH of IPO Group were (41.4 +/- 4.4 ) U/mg, (19.5 +/- 1.6) U/mg, (168 +/- 13) U/mg, and (1.72 +/- 0.26) U/g, all significantly higher than those of I/R Group [(19.6 +/- 2.8) U/mg, (8.4 +/- 0.8) U/mg, (72 +/- 8) U/mg, and (0.89 +/-+/- 0.07) mg/g respectively, all P < 0.05); and the levels of XO, MPO, and MDA of Group IPO were (50 +/- 6) U/g, (5.0 +/- 0.5) U/g, and (0.91 +/- 0.08) nmol/mg respectively, all significantly lower than those of I/R Group [(83 +/- 8) U/g, (7.6 +/- 0.7) U/g and (1.58 +/- 0.17) nmol/mg respectively, all P < 0.05). The endogenous NO level of IPO Group was (93 +/- 7) micromol/g, significantly higher than that of I/R Group [(22 +/- 4) micromol/g, P < 0.01]. CONCLUSION: Post-conditioning at onset of reperfusion reduces lung I/R injury. The lung protection of IPO may be mediated, in part, by inhibiting the oxidant generation and oxidizing, and may be associated with the increasing of the endogenous NO level.