Lunate morphology as a risk factor of idiopathic ulnar impaction syndrome.

AIMS: Positive ulnar variance is an established risk factor for idiopathic ulnar impaction syndrome (UIS). However, not all patients with positive ulnar variance develop symptomatic UIS and other factors, including the morphology of the lunate, may be involved. The aim of this study was to clarify the relationship between lunate morphology and idiopathic UIS. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A cohort of 95 patients with idiopathic UIS (UIS group) was compared with 95 asymptomatic controls with positive ulnar variance. The shape of the lunate was measured using the capitate-triquetrum distance (CTD), ulnar coverage ratio (UCR), radiolunate distance and radiolunate angle. The association of radiographic parameters and lunate types with the development of UIS was investigated in univariable and multivariable analyses. Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to estimate a cutoff for any statistically significant variables. RESULTS: The proportion of type II lunates, which have a medial hamate facet, were significantly higher in the UIS group than in the control group in the univariable analysis (p = 0.001). CTD (odds ratio (OR) 1.52; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.11 to 2.06; p = 0.008) and UCR (OR 44.78; 95% CI 5.35 to 374.90; p = 0.002) showed a positive association with UIS in the multivariable analysis. Estimated cutoff values were 2.5 mm for the CTD (area under the curve (AUC) = 0.65) and 0.4 for the UCR (AUC = 0.64). CONCLUSION: The proportion of type II lunates was greater in the UIS group than in the control group. A large UCR, which represents the broad base of the lunate, was positively associated with the development of idiopathic UIS. Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2017;99-B:1508-14.

Evaluation on simultaneous removal of particles and off-flavors using population balance for application of powdered activated carbon in dissolved air flotation process.

Most of the water treatment plants applying the DAF process are faced with off-flavors control problems. For simultaneous control of particles of impurities and dissolved organics that cause pungent taste and odor in water, an effective method would be the simple application of powdered activated carbon (PAC) in the DAF process. A series of experiments were carried out to explore the feasibility for simultaneous removal of kaolin particles and organic compounds that produce off-flavors (2-MIB and geosmin). In addition, the flotation efficiency of kaolin and PAC particles adsorbing organics in the DAF process was evaluated by employing the population balance theory. The removal efficiency of 2-MIB and geosmin under the treatment condition with kaolin particles for simultaneous treatment was lower than that of the individual treatment. The decrease in the removal efficiency was probably caused by 2-MIB and geosmin remaining in the PAC particle in the treated water of DAF after bubble flotation. Simulation results obtained by the population balance model indicate, that the initial collision-attachment efficiency of PAC particles was lower than that of kaolin particles.

Inhibitory effects of Cnidium officinale Makino and Tabanus fulvus Meigan on the high glucose-induced proliferation of glomerular mesangial cells.

This study describes a potent activity of Cnidium officinale Makino (Cnidii rhizoma) and Tabanus fulvus Meigan (Tabanus) as an inhibitor of high glucose-induced proliferation of glomerular mesangial cells (GMCs). Raising the ambient glucose concentration from 5.6 to 25 mM for 24 h caused a dramatic increase in [3H]thymidine incorporation, and these increases were attenuated by treatment of GMCs with the extracts of Cnidii rhizoma and Tabanus (2.5-20 microg/ml) in a dose-dependent manner. In contrast, extracts of Cnidii rhizoma or Tabanus (20 microg/ml) did not change the growth of GMCs cultured under normal glucose condition. To clarify the mechanism involved in anti-proliferative activity of these medicines, this study examined the effects of Cnidii rhizoma and Tabanus on high glucose-stimulated extracellular matrix (ECM) protein accumulation and transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) production. Exposure of GMCs to high glucose significantly stimulated the ECM protein, collagen and fibronectin, accumulation and TGF-beta1 secretion, and these changes were dramatically diminished by treatment of GMCs with extracts of Cnidii rhizoma or Tabanus (10 microg/ml). Taken together, these results indicate that Cnidii rhizoma and Tabanus inhibit the high glucose-induced GMC proliferation partially through suppressing the ECM accumulation and TGF-beta1 production, suggesting that these medicines may be a promising agent for treating the development and progression of diabetic glomerulopathy.

Effects of hwangryunjihwang-tang on in vitro ertilization and ovulation in mice fed a high-fat diet.

It has been generally accepted that hwangryunjihwang-tang (h-tang) is a useful prescription for treating polydipsia and to prevent obesity induced by a high-fat diet. The aim of this study was to clarify whether h-tang improved reproductive dysfunction caused by obesity in mice. Mice were fed a high density protein and lipid diet for 4 weeks, followed by administration of h-tang at 480 mg/kg body weight per day for 4 days. Thereafter, changes of body weight, ovulation rate, in vitro and in vivo fertilization, embryonic development and implantation rate were measured. H-tang markedly reduced the body weight of obese mice fed a high-fat diet, but not mice fed a normal diet. H-tang significantly improved ovulation rates, in vitro and in vivo fertilization rates and embryonic development. These results indicate pharmacological reversal of reproductive dysfunction caused by obesity, perhaps by adjusting internal secretions and metabolic functions.

Fuzzy inference neural network for fuzzy model tuning.

In fuzzy modeling, it is relatively easy to manually define rough fuzzy rules for a target system by intuition. It is, however, time-consuming and difficult to fine-tune them to improve their behavior. This paper describes a tuning method for fuzzy models which is applicable regardless of the form of fuzzy rules and the used defuzzification method. For this purpose, this paper proposes a fuzzy neural network model which can embody fuzzy models. The proposed model provides the functions to perform fuzzy inference and to tune the parameters for the shape of antecedent linguistic terms, the relative importance degrees of rules, and the relative importance degrees of antecedent linguistic terms in rules. In addition, to show its applicability, we perform some experiments and present the results.