Measurement of acetabular inclination and anteversion via CT generated 3D pelvic model.

BACKGROUND: Inclination and anteversion were the main factors that determined the reliability of the acetabulum. Inclination and anteversion measurements included anatomical, operational and radiographic methods. The aim of our present study was to exhibit divergence of inclination and anteversion via the three measurements. METHODS: Inclination and anteversion were defined according to the definitions put forward by Murray. Three-dimensional models of pelvis of CT data were brought forth. Acetabular axis was determined by the rim of acetabula. Reference planes were established by bone landmarks including anterior superior iliac spine, pubic tubercles and sacral crests. Inclinations and anteversions were calculated according to the definitions. RESULTS: Forty-nine cases were involved in the research. Data of inclination form anatomical, operational and radiographic showed 37.48 ± 11.07, 45.12 ± 14.76 and 48.76 ± 14.36, and anteversion were 18.12 ± 7.59, 24.97 ± 9.68, 14.30 ± 5.64. A substantial deviation was noted in the inclinations (P < 0.01) and anteversions (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Our findings suggested that the inclinations and anteversions of the three measurements varied, which might in turn interfere the decision of orthopedists.

Meta-analysis of osteoporosis: fracture risks, medication and treatment.

Osteoporosis is a brittle bone disease that can cause fractures mostly in older men and women. Meta-analysis is the statistical method which is applied in the frame work for the assessment of results obtained from various research studies conducted in several years. A meta-analysis of osteoporotic fracture risk with medication non-adherence has been described to assess the bone fracture risk among patients non-adherent versus adherent to therapy for osteoporosis by many researchers. Osteoporosis therapy reduces the risk of fracture in clinical trials, and real-world adherence to therapy which is suboptimal and can reduce the effectiveness of intervention. The methods of Medline, Embase, and CINAHL were literature searched for these observational studies from year 1998 to 2009, and up to 2015. The results of meta-analysis of osteoporosis research on fractures of postmenopausal women and men are presented. The use of bisphosphonate therapy for osteoporosis has been described with other drugs. The authors, design, studies (women %), years (data), follow-up (wks), fractures (types), and compliance or persistence results from years 2004 to 2009 from are shown in a brief table. The meta-analysis studies have been reviewed from other researchers on osteoporosis and fractures, medications and treatments.

FLZ protects dopaminergic neuron through activating protein kinase B/mammalian target of rapamycin pathway and inhibiting RTP801 expression in Parkinson's disease models.

The pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease is characterized by progressive degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in substantia nigra (SNpc). FLZ, a novel synthetic squamosamide derivative from a Chinese herb, has been shown to have neuroprotective effects in experimental Parkinson's disease (PD) models. However, it is still unclear whether FLZ protects against PD through regulating the function of dopaminergic system. In this study, we carried out a set of in vitro and in vivo experiments to address these questions. Oral administration of FLZ significantly improved motor dysfunction of mice challenged by MPTP. The beneficial effects of FLZ on motor behavior attributed to the elevation of dopamine level in striatum, tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-positive cells, and TH activity in the middle brain of mouse. Mechanism study showed that treatment of FLZ increased the phosphorylation of activating protein kinase B (Akt) and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR). Using LY294002 to block phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI3K)/Akt signaling pathway prevented the phosphorylation of mTOR and attenuated the neuroprotection of FLZ in MN9D cells challenged by MPP(+). In addition, FLZ reduced the expression of RTP801, an important protein in PD, in mice and cells intoxicated by MPTP/MPP(+). Taken together, these results revealed a novel role that FLZ elevated TH expression and activity in dopaminergic neuron through activation of Akt/mTOR survival pathway and inhibition of RTP801 in MPTP/MPP(+)-induced PD models. The data also provided evidence that FLZ had potent neuroprotecive effects and might become a new promising anti-PD drug.

In the assessment of supratentorial glioma grade: the combined role of multivoxel proton MR spectroscopy and diffusion tensor imaging.

AIM: To detect a difference in the parameters derived from proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H-MRS) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) between low-grade and high-grade gliomas, and to evaluate whether the combination of these two techniques can improve the diagnostic accuracy of conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in supratentorial glioma grading. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty patients with histologically proved supratentorial brain gliomas (12 low grade, 18 high grade) were prospectively evaluated with contrast material-enhanced MRI, DTI, and multivoxel (1)H-MRS (135 ms echo time). The tumour grades determined using the three methods were then compared with those obtained at histopathology. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were performed to determine the optimum thresholds for glioma grading. Independent sample t-test, Spearman's rank correlation, and the Fisher's exact test were also carried out for statistical analysis. p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Statistically significant differences were found between the low-grade and high-grade gliomas for the choline (Cho)/creatine (Cr), N-acetylaspartate (NAA)/Cr, NAA/Cho ratio in the tumours (p<0.01), apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value (p<0.01), and fractional anisotropy (FA) value (p<0.05) in the tumours. The NAA/Cr and NAA/Cho ratios and the calculated ADC value significantly correlated with the histological grading of the gliomas (p<0.01). Using a threshold value of 0.66 for tumour NAA/Cr, 0.265 for NAA/Cho, 1118.1×10(-6) mm(2)/s for the calculated ADC value, corresponding to the maximum Youden index from the ROC curve of the above-selected parameters, the resultant sensitivities, specificities, positive predictive values (PPVs), negative predictive values (NPVs), and Kappa values were all higher and the fraction of misclassified tumour was lower when compared with conventional MRI. However, only NAA/Cho and ADC calculation contributed to the significant difference (p<0.01) in the assessment of glioma grade compared to conventional MRI alone, and the grading results of statistical tests comparing those two parameters were highly consistent (kappa value=0.798). CONCLUSION: Thresholds for NAA/Cho and calculated ADC values, corresponding to maximum Youden index from ROC curve analyses, helped to improve the accuracy of supratentorial glioma grading when compared with conventional MRI alone. In addition, a combination of NAA/Cho and ADC calculation were more useful together than each alone in a clinical setting to evaluate glioma grade preoperatively and provide a means for guiding treatment.

Repertoire selection by pre-B-cell receptors and B-cell receptors, and genetic control of B-cell development from immature to mature B cells.

During B-cell development the surrogate light (SL) chain is selectively expressed in progenitor and precursor B cells during the developmental stages of D(H) to J(H) and V(H) to D(H)J(H) rearrangements. Approximately half of all muH chains produced by these rearrangements cannot pair with SL chains and cannot form a pre-B-cell receptor (pre-BCR). A spectrum of affinities between VpreB and individual V(H) domains generates preB cells with pre-BCR of different fitness which, in turn, determines the extent of the pre-B II-cell proliferation and the fidelity of allelic exclusion of the H chain locus. Once pre-BCR is expressed, SL chain expression is turned off. As pre-B II cells proliferate, SL is diluted out, thus limiting pre-BCR formation. As a consequence, pre-B II cells stop proliferating, become small and resting and begin to rearrange the L chain loci. Multiple rearrangements of the kappaL chain alleles are often detected in wild-type small pre-B II cells. Around 20% of the muH chain-expressing small pre-B II cells also express L chains but do not display the Ig on the surface. Hence, it is likely that not all L chains originally generated in resting pre-B II cells can pair with the muH chain previously present in that cell. The best fitting ones are selected preferentially to generate sIg+ B cells. Furthermore, the transition of immature B cells from the bone marrow to spleen and their development to mature cells appear as two separate steps controlled by different genes.