Short-Term Outcomes of Surgery and Rehabilitation on Activities of Daily Living after Displaced Femoral Neck Fractures: Structural Equation Modeling.

In order to explore the factors affecting patients' level of activities of daily living (ADL) on discharge after undergoing bipolar hemiarthroplasty or total hip arthroplasty for displaced femoral neck fractures at an acute care hospital, patient data were analyzed with the following statistical tools: multiple regression analysis (MRA), structural equation modeling (SEM), and simultaneous analysis of several groups (SASG). The Barthel Index (BI) on discharge was set as the objective variable, while age, sex, degree of dementia, BI on admission, number of days from admission to surgery, surgical option, and number of rehabilitation units per day were set as explanatory variables. Factors such as age, sex, degree of dementia, BI on admission, and number of rehabilitation units per day were significant in MRA. While not significant in MRA, the number of days from admission to surgery was significant in SEM. According to the SASG, the number of rehabilitation units per day was significant for patients without dementia but not for patients with dementia. Analysis of real-world data suggests that early surgery and rehabilitation affect ADL on discharge to a greater degree than the surgical method. For patients without dementia, longer daily rehabilitation was significantly associated with better ADL on discharge.

An N-acetyllactosamine-specific lectin, PFA, isolated from a moth (Phalera flavescens), structurally resembles an invertebrate-type lysozyme.

PFA (Phalera flavescens agglutinin) lectin purified from larvae of the lobster moth (P. flavescens) shows a strong binding ability specific to the N-acetyllactosamine (Galß1-4GlcNAc) site. We determined the genomic and cDNA sequences of the PFA gene, which consists of five exons and spans approximately 5 kb of a genomic region. Surprisingly, the amino acid sequence (149 amino acids) was similar to invertebrate-type lysozymes and related proteins. The predicted tertiary structure of the PFA protein was similar to the lysozymes of clams such as the common orient clam (Meretrix lusoria) and Japanese littleneck (Venerupis philippinarum (Tapes japonica)). The PFA, however, lacks a catalytically essential amino acid, an Asp (D), which is one of the two important amino acids (Glu (E) and D) express the function of lysozyme. As a result, lysozyme activity assays indicated that PFA does not have lysozyme activity. Results suggest that the PFA gene evolved from a lysozyme gene through the loss of lysozyme activity sites and the acquisition of lectin activity during evolution of the genus Phalera.