Composite bone graft of CaO-MgO-SiO2 glass-ceramics and CaSO4 ceramics for boosting bone formation rate.

This study develops a composite bone graft of CaO-MgO-SiO2 glass-ceramic and CaSO4 [abbreviated as (CMS)3-x(CS)x] via the sponge replication technique with weight fractions of x = 0, 1, 1.5, 2, and 3. The (CMS)1.5(CS)1.5 composite displays a superior degradability and, a suitable compressive strength of ∼3 MPa, and excellent cell proliferation and differentiation. The in vivo rat femur test in the hybrid-pore (CMS)1.5(CS)1.5 composite granules achieves a higher rate of bone formation, which is ∼2.7 times better than that of the commercial HAP/ß-TCP at 12 weeks. Improved expressions of osteocyte and mature osteocyte marker genes, namely (Spp1, Dmp1, and Fgf23), were observed in the (CMS)1.5(CS)1.5 group, indicating a faster differentiation into mature bone tissue. The ions release of (CMS)1.5(CS)1.5 through the ERK1/2 signaling pathway promotes osteogenic differentiation. The high bone generation rate can be attributed to faster active ions release and modified surface topography. This work highlights an excellent bone graft candidate for clinical applications in orthopedic surgery.

Optimization of Electrochemical Sensitivity in Anticancer Drug Quantification through ZnS@CNS Nanosheets: Synthesis via Accelerated Sonochemical Methodology.

Zinc sulfide/graphitic Carbon Nitride binary nanosheets were synthesized by using a novel sonochemical pathway with high electrocatalytic ability. The as- obtained samples were characterized by various analytical methods such as Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to evaluate the properties of ZnS@CNS synthesized by this new route. Subsequently, the electrical and electrochemical performance of the proposed electrodes were characterized by using EIS and CV to establish an electroactive ability of the nanocomposites. The complete properties like structural and physical of ZnS@CNS were analyzed. As-prepared binary nanocomposite was applied towards the detection of anticancer drug (flutamide) by various electrochemical methods such as cyclic voltammetry (CV), differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and amperometry. The glassy carbon electrode modified with a ZnS@CNS composite demonstrates a remarkable electrocatalytic efficiency for detecting flutamide in a pH 7.0 (PBS). The composite modified electrode shows synergistic effect of ZnS and CNS catalyst. The electrochemical sensing performance of the linear range was improved significantly due to high electroactive sites and rapid electron transport pathways. Crucially, the electrochemical method was successfully demonstrated in biological fluids which reveals its potential real-time applicability in the analysis of drug.

Egg Incubation Mechanics of Giant Birds.

Finite element analysis (FEA) was used to conduct mechanical analyses on eggshells of giant birds, and relate this to the evolution and reproductive behavior of avian species. We aim to (1) investigate mechanical characteristics of eggshell structures of various ratite species, enabling comparisons between species with or without reversed sexual size dimorphism (RSSD); (2) quantify the safety margin provided by RSSD; (3) determine whether the Williams' egg can have been incubated by an extinct giant bird Genyornis newtoni; (4) determine the theoretical maximum body mass for contact incubation. We use a dimensionless number C to quantify relative shell stiffness with respect to the egg size, allowing for comparison across wide body masses. We find that RSSD in moas significantly increases the safety margin of contact incubation by the lighter males. However, their safety margins are still smaller than those of the moa species without RSSD. Two different strategies were adopted by giant birds-one is RSSD and thinner shells, represented by some moa species; the other is no RSSD and regular shells, represented by the giant elephant bird. Finally, we predicted that the upper limit of body mass for contact incubation was 2000 kg.

Enhanced mechanical and biological performances of CaO-MgO-SiO2 glass-ceramics via the modulation of glass and ceramic phases.

This work reports a new CaO-MgO-SiO2 (CMS) bioactive glass-ceramic, using ZrO2 as a nucleus to modulate the ratios of glass and ceramic phases as a function of sintering temperature. Mg-rich bioactive CMS glass-ceramics exhibit advantages regarding mechanical strength (flexural strength ~190 MPa and compressive strength ~555 MPa), in-vitro and in-vivo biocompatibilities, and bone ingrowth. The high mechanical strengths could be attributed to the CaMgSi2O6 glass-ceramic and lower porosity. X-ray absorption spectra indicate an increased SiO covalent bond via the development of CaMgSi2O6 glass-ceramics. From the in-vitro cytotoxicity and BMSC differentiation assays, the CMS samples sintered above 800 °C exhibited better cell attachment and differentiation, possibly due to structural stability, appropriate pore, and ion release to boost osteogenesis. Compared to hydroxyapatite (HA) ceramics, the CMS glass-ceramics display higher mechanical strengths, biocompatibility, and osteoconductivity. An in-vivo experiment demonstrated a fine bone-ingrowth profile around the CMS implant. This study may further the application of CMS glass-ceramics in bone implants.

Clinicopathologic Characteristics and the Surgical Outcome of Conjunctival Granulomas After Pterygium Surgery.

PURPOSE: To measure the incidence and evaluate the clinicopathologic characteristics, surgical outcome, and prognosis of conjunctival granulomas (CGs) after pterygium surgery. METHODS: This was a retrospective review of 3851 pterygium eyes (3330 patients) that underwent pterygium surgery from March 2004 to May 2017. The outcomes were evaluated in 52 eyes (50 patients) that developed CGs after pterygium surgery. RESULTS: CGs developed in 52 of 3851 operated pterygium eyes (1.4%) over a 13-year period. Mean patient age was 54.4 ± 9.9 years (range, 28-72 years). The mean onset time of the CG after pterygium surgery was 42.8 ± 18.3 days (range, 12-90 days). The location of the granulation was around the free conjunctival flap. Histopathologic examination showed inflammatory granulation tissue with large amounts of inflammatory cell infiltration. All CGs were successfully cured by surgical excision combined with corticosteroid eye drops. No patient had recurrence at a mean follow-up time of 6 months. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the difference of the cumulative survival rate of pterygium surgery methods was statistically significant (P < 0.001). Using the multivariate Cox regression model, 2 factors were found to be not correlated with the survival rate of patients with CGs: sex (P = 0.17) and the category of pterygium (primary or recurrent) (P = 0.96). CONCLUSIONS: CGs are an uncommon potential complication of pterygium surgery. The histologic characteristics, including the proliferation of inflammatory granulation tissue with large amounts of inflammatory cell infiltration, could be helpful to diagnose this disease. Surgical excision combined with corticosteroid drops proved to be a simple and effective treatment of CGs.

The avian egg exhibits general allometric invariances in mechanical design.

The avian egg exhibits extraordinary diversity in size, shape and color, and has a key role in avian adaptive radiations. Despite extensive work, our understanding of the underlying principles that guide the "design" of the egg as a load-bearing structure remains incomplete, especially over broad taxonomic scales. Here we define a dimensionless number C, a function of egg weight, stiffness and dimensions, to quantify how stiff an egg is with respect to its weight after removing geometry-induced rigidity. We analyze eggs of 463 bird species in 36 orders across five orders of magnitude in body mass, and find that C number is nearly invariant for most species, including tiny hummingbirds and giant elephant birds. This invariance or "design guideline" dictates that evolutionary changes in shell thickness and Young's modulus, both contributing to shell stiffness, are constrained by changes in egg weight. Our analysis illuminates unique reproductive strategies of brood parasites, kiwis, and megapodes, and quantifies the loss of safety margin for contact incubation due to artificial selection and environmental toxins. Our approach provides a mechanistic framework for a better understanding of the mechanical design of the avian egg, and may provide clues to the evolutionary origin of contact incubation of amniote eggs.

Size-dependent dielectrophoretic crossover frequency of spherical particles.

Dielectrophoresis (DEP) has been extensively used in lab-on-a-chip systems for trapping, separating, and manipulating of micro particles suspended in a liquid medium. The most widely used analytic model, the dipole model, provides an accurate prediction on the crossover frequency of submicron particles, but cannot explain the significant drop in crossover frequency of larger particles. Here, we present numerical simulations using the Maxwell stress tensor (MST) and finite element method to study the size effect of the DEP crossover frequency of spherical polystyrene particles suspended in de-ionized water. Our results show that the surface conductance due to the electrical double layer plays a key role, and the size dependency of crossover frequency obtained by the MST method agrees reasonably well with published experimental data. The exponents of the power law are approximately -1.0 and -4.3 for smaller (diameter < 4.6 µm) and larger particles (diameter > 4.6 µm), respectively. The free surface charge distribution reveals that the charge begins accumulating on the particle equator for particle diameters larger than a critical diameter of 4.6 µm, a result not captured by the dipolar approximation. This method may be extended to analyze bioparticles with complex shapes and composition, and provides new insights into the interpretation of dielectrophoresis applications using lab-on-a-chip systems.

Systematic review and meta-analysis of the clinical efficacy and adverse effects of Chinese herbal decoction for the treatment of gout.

BACKGROUND: In East Asia, numerous reports describe the utilization of traditional Chinese herbal decoctions to treat gout. However, the reported clinical effects vary. OBJECTIVES: In this study, we reviewed and analyzed a large number of randomized controlled clinical trials to systematically assess the clinical efficacy and adverse reactions of Chinese herbal decoctions for treating gout. METHODS: We performed a comprehensive search of databases, such as PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Chinese biomedical literature database, et al. In addition, we manually searched the relevant meeting information in the library of the Third Military Medical University. RESULTS: Finally, 17 randomized controlled trials with a sample size of 1,402 cases met the criteria and were included in the study. The results of the meta-analysis showed that when gout had progressed to the stage of acute arthritis, there was no significant difference in clinical efficacy between Chinese herbal decoctions and traditional Western medicine, as indicated based on the following parameters: serum uric acid (standardized mean difference (SMD):0.35, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.03 to 0.67), C reactive protein (SMD: 0.25, 95% CI: -0.18 to 0.69), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (SMD: 0.21, 95% CI: -0.02 to 0.45) and overall clinical response (relative risk (RR): 1.05, 95% CI: 1.01 to 1.10). However, the Chinese herbal decoction was significantly better than traditional Western medicine in controlling adverse drug reactions (RR: 0.06, 95% CI: 0.03 to 0.13). CONCLUSIONS: Through a systematic review of the clinical efficacy and safety of Chinese herbal decoctions and traditional Western medicine for the treatment of gout, we found that Chinese herbal decoction and traditional Western medicine led to similar clinical efficacy, but the Chinese herbal decoctions were superior to Western medicine in terms of controlling adverse drug reactions.

Clinical trials of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of diabetic nephropathy--a systematic review based on a subgroup analysis.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: The purpose of this study is to systematically evaluate the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) decoctions with different ingredients in the treatment of diabetic nephropathy (DN). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Papers obtained after the retrieval of randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs) of TCM treatments of diabetic nephropathy through online database (e.g. Medline, CBM, CNKI, VIP, the online database of Chinese medicine, CDFD, CMFD, and CENTRAL FROM Cochrane Library, etc.) as well as research data in our library. They were published between January 2001 and December 2012. According to the categories of the main TCM ingredients, all the cases in the literature were divided into a liver-kidney YIN deficiency group, a QI-BLOOD YIN-and-YANG deficiency group, and a spleen-kidney YANG deficiency group. Stata 11.0 was applied for subgroup analysis. RESULTS: A total of 21 Chinese RCTs were included in this review. The Q values of the three groups were 13.18, 0.25 and 3.27, respectively, P>0.05, and thus, there was no clinical heterogeneity. The combined relative risk (RR) value and its 95% confidence interval were 1.48 (1.37, 1.60), 1.19 (1.06, 1.34), and 1.33 (1.19, 1.50), respectively, P<0.05. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with the qi-blood yin-and-yang deficiency group and the spleen-kidney yang deficiency group, the liver-kidney yin deficiency group has better prospects in clinical application to ensure renal function during the treatment of DN, and this possibility is worthy of further study.

Systematic review and meta-analysis of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of migraines.

Migraine is a chronic disorder characterized by recurrent moderate to severe headaches often in association with a number of autonomic nervous system symptoms. It is a common disease and incidence has increased yearly. Chinese medical treatments are popularly used in Asian countries, although they vary in effectiveness. In this study, we applied a systematic review method and combined meta-regression with meta-subgroup analysis to explore heterogeneity of clinical therapeutic efficacy upon meta-analysis of randomized controlled Chinese medical treatments for migraine. We also aimed to provide a more effective Chinese prescription and to advance the knowledge in evaluating validity of preventing or alleviating migraine symptoms with Chinese medical treatments. Twenty randomized migraine control trails, including 2246 patients, were collected from online databases: PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL of Cochrane Library, CBM, integrated version of CMCI/CMCC, TCM online, CDFD, and CMFD from January 2000 to December 2011. The results showed that the major factors influencing therapeutic efficacy were either the specific medicine form of or its prescription type (p < 0.05). The use of TCM decoctions, especially those that condition the viscera, treat from the perspective of "wind", and target the Shaoyang gateway, could be the best migraine treatment in clinical TCM practice (RR > 1.30).

Prevalence of HIV among men who have sex with men in Chongqing, China, 2006-2009: cross-sectional biological and behavioural surveys.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of HIV among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Chongqing, China from 2006 to 2009. METHODS: The authors used a snowball sampling method to perform a 3-month cross-sectional study each year from 2006 to 2009. Every participant was asked to complete a questionnaire about demographic and behavioural characteristics, and blood samples were taken for antibody testing for HIV and syphilis. RESULTS: A total of 953, 1015, 743 and 603 participants were investigated in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, respectively. HIV prevalence rates were 10.9%, 12.8%, 10.6% and 19.1%, respectively. The rates increased by 2.3% averagely per year (p<0.001). The HIV prevalence rates were significantly higher than the total population in subjects who were aged more than 40 years, subjects with an educational background of a junior high school level or lower, subjects with a positive syphilis infection or subjects who were recruited from a public bath (p<0.01). The HIV prevalence rates increased on average per year more than 4% in subjects over 30, subjects who worked in the entertainment business, subjects who were married or divorced, subjects with a positive syphilis infection or subjects who were not informed HIV test results. Although most subjects had good HIV/AIDS knowledge awareness (90%), the rate of consistent condom use was low (<37%). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of HIV is high and is rapidly growing among MSM in Chongqing, China. More appropriate responses are urgently needed to promote a change in the behaviour of MSM.