Assessment of functional prognosis of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction in athletes based on a body shape index.

BACKGROUND: A healthy body shape is essential to maintain athletes' sports level. At present, little is known about the effect of athletes' body shape on anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR). Moreover, the relationship between body shape and variables such as knee joint function after operation and return to the field has not been well studied. AIM: To verify the relationship between a body shape index (ABSI) and the functional prognosis of the knee after ACLR in athletes with ACL injuries. METHODS: We reviewed 76 athletes with unilateral ACL ruptures who underwent ACLR surgery in the First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University between 2017 and 2020, with a follow-up period of more than 24 mo. First, all populations were divided into a High-ABSI group (ABSI > 0.835, n = 38) and a Low-ABSI group (ABSI < 0.835, n = 38) based on the arithmetic median (0.835) of ABSI values. The primary exposure factor was ABSI, and the outcome indicators were knee function scores as well as postoperative complications. The correlation between ABSI and postoperative knee function scores and postoperative complications after ACLR were analyzed using multifactorial logistic regression. RESULTS: The preoperative knee function scores of the two groups were similar. The surgery and postoperative rehabilitation exercises, range of motion (ROM) compliance rate, Lysholm score, and Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score of the two groups gradually increased, whereas the quadriceps atrophy index gradually decreased. The knee function scores were higher in the Low-ABSI group than in the High-ABSI group at the 24-mo postoperative follow-up (P < 0.05). In multifactorial logistic regression, ABSI was a risk factor of low knee joint function score after surgery, specifically low ROM scores (odds ratio [OR] = 1.31, 95% confidence interval [CI] [1.10-1.44]; P < 0.001), low quadriceps atrophy index (OR = 1.11, 95%CI [0.97-1.29]; P < 0.05), low Lysholm scores (OR = 2.34, 95%CI [1.78-2.94]; P < 0.001), low symptoms (OR = 1.14, 95%CI [1.02-1.34]; P < 0.05), low activity of daily living (OR = 1.34, 95%CI [1.18-1.65]; P < 0.05), low sports (OR = 2.47, 95%CI [1.78-2.84]; P < 0.001), and low quality of life (OR = 3.34, 95%CI [2.88-3.94]; P < 0.001). ABSI was also a risk factor for deep vein thrombosis of the lower limb (OR = 2.14, 95%CI [1.88-2.36], P < 0.05] and ACL recurrent rupture (OR = 1.24, 95%CI [0.98-1.44], P < 0.05) after ACLR. CONCLUSION: ABSI is a risk factor for the poor prognosis of knee function in ACL athletes after ACLR, and the risk of poor knee function after ACLR, deep vein thrombosis of lower limb, and ACL recurrent rupture gradually increases with the rise of ABSI.

High-potency nucleos(t)ide analogues alone or plus immunoglobulin for HBV prophylaxis after liver transplantation: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: The optimum prophylactic regimen against hepatitis B virus (HBV) recurrence after liver transplantation (LT) in HBV-infected patients is uncertain but of great clinical relevance. New evidence suggests that hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIG)-free approach would become a reasonable choice in the era of high-potency nucleos(t)ide analogues (HPNAs). We aimed to provide robust estimates for long-term survival and HBV recurrence in patients receiving different HBV-prophylaxis strategies after LT. METHODS: We did a systematic review and meta-analysis using both pseudo-individual patient data recovered from included studies (IPDMA) and conventional trial-level aggregate data meta-analysis (ADMA). Hazard ratios (HRs) were calculated using different Cox proportional hazard models accounting for inter-study heterogeneity. ADMA was conducted to pool outcomes at specific time points. RESULTS: A total of 16 studies involving 7897 patients and 41 studies involving 9435 were eligible for IPDMA and AMDA, respectively. Cumulative HBV recurrence rate and overall survival (OS) at 1, 3, 5 and 10 years post-LT were 0.3%, 0.9%, 1.2%, 1.7% and 95.6%, 89%, 86.4%, 86.4% in the HPNAs (i.e., entecavir and tenofovir) + HBIG combination group vs. 0.6%, 0.6%, 1.2%, 1.7% and 94.5%, 86.8%, 84.8%, 81.2% in the HPNAs monotherapy group (HR 1.20, 95% CI 0.56-2.60, p = 0.64; HR 1.09, 95% CI 0.70-1.69, p = 0.72), respectively. The results were compatible with AMDA. CONCLUSION: A similar HBV recurrence and overall survival were found in patients who used HPNAs (mainly entecavir) monotherapy as in those who received a combination of HPNAs and HBIG. These findings address concerns regarding the safety and effectiveness of HPNAs monotherapy.

NCAPH regulates gastric cancer progression through DNA damage response.

Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common devastating and deadly malignancies of the gastrointestinal tract in the world. GLOBOCAN data analysis showed that GC accounted for approximately 1,033,000 new cases of cancer and 78,200 deaths in 2018. Nonstructural maintenance of chromosomes (non-SMC) condensin I complex subunit H (NCAPH) is a regulatory subunit that encodes the non-SMC condensin I complex. Previous studies have demonstrated that NCAPH is highly expressed in multiple cancers. This study aimed to explore the function and potential mechanism of NCAPH in GC. Our study showed that NCAPH expression was significantly upregulated in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Oncomine datasets. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and western blotting were used to detect NCAPH expression in GC and paracarcinoma tissues. Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) and colony formation assays were used to examine cell proliferation. Cell scratch and Transwell invasion assays were performed to assess cell migration. In addition, western blotting was used to detect the expression of proteins related to the cell cycle, DNA damage repair, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Flow cytometry was applied for cell cycle and apoptosis detection. A xenograft model was employed to assess the effect of NCAPH in vivo. The results demonstrated that NCAPH expression was significantly increased in GC tissue samples and cell lines. Knockout of NCAPH notably inhibited cell proliferation, cell migration, cell invasion, cell cycle progression, and tumor growth in vitro and in vivo, and induced the G1-phase cell cycle arrest by regulating the DNA damage response. In addition, knockout of NCAPH promoted cell apoptosis and regulated the expression of EMT-related proteins. The results indicate that the knockout of NCAPH in GC cells inhibits proliferation and metastasis via the DNA damage response in vitro and in vivo. NCAPH plays an important role in GC and may be a potential therapeutic target for GC treatment.

Erratum: microRNAs carried by exosomes promote epithelial-mesenchymal transition and metastasis of liver cancer cells.

[This corrects the article on p. 6811 in vol. 12, PMID: 33194074.].

microRNAs carried by exosomes promote epithelial-mesenchymal transition and metastasis of liver cancer cells.

In this study, transforming growth factor-ß1 treatment effectively induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of SMMC-7721 cells, and the expression and function of microRNAs (miRNAs) were determined to understand the processes involved in liver cancer metastasis. Nanoparticle tracking analysis and western blotting were performed to identify exosomes. Transwell and MTS assays were used to assess cell migration and proliferation, respectively. Immunofluorescence microscopy was used to identify the metastasis of exosomes in cells. High-throughput sequencing was used to identify mRNAs and miRNAs in cells and exosomes, respectively. The identified differentially expressed miRNAs (DEmis) were further confirmed using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. An miRNA-target mRNA interaction network was constructed using Cytoscape_V2_8_3. SPSS version 16.0 software with one-way analysis of variance was used for statistical analysis. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The overall size of exosomes in EMT SMMC-7721 cells was smaller than that in normal SMMC-7721 cells. Exosomes of EMT SMMC-7721 cells could promote cell migration and invasion in several cell lines. We identified differentially expressed mRNAs (DEms) and DEmis. Among them, a total of 60 and 78 DEms were upregulated and downregulated, respectively, in EMT SMMC-7721 cells compared with those in SMMC-7721 cells. A total of 709 and 123 DEmis were upregulated and downregulated, respectively, in exosomes in EMT SMMC-7721 cells compared with those in SMMC-7721 cells. hsa-miR-24-3p and hsa-miR-21-5p were further selected for knockdown experiments. Exosomes in cells with hsa-miR-24-3p knockdown could effectively inhibit EMT. hsa-miR-24-3p may be one of the most important molecular markers for EMT in liver cancer, which provides novel clues for the mechanisms involved in liver cancer metastasis.

A Wearable Flow-MIMU Device for Monitoring Human Dynamic Motion.

For personalized rehabilitation or sports training, it is necessary to monitor dynamic motions and track postures of human body and limbs. Traditional methods using micro inertial sensors usually suffer from drift problems in tracking dynamic motions. In this paper, a wearable flow-MIMU human motion capture device is proposed by incorporating micro flow sensor with micro inertial measurement unit (MIMU). Motion velocity is detected by a micro flow sensor and utilized to figure out the motion acceleration. The gravity accelerations are extracted by eliminating the motion accelerations from the accelerometer outputs. Finally, posture estimation is implemented by using a tailor-designed Kalman-based data fusion of the gyroscope outputs and the extracted gravity accelerations. The flow-MIMU device with wireless communication is designed like a watch to be wearable. Experimental results validate that the motion velocity, acceleration and posture of human limb are determined accurately and free of accumulative error in monitoring of dynamic motions using the proposed method. The wearable flow-MIMU device provides an advantageous monitoring approach for applications of personalized rehabilitation, sports training, intelligent prosthetics, etc.

A Wearable Human Motion Tracking Device Using Micro Flow Sensor Incorporating a Micro Accelerometer.

OBJECTIVE: This paper proposes a wearable human motion tracking device using micro flow sensor incorporating a micro accelerometer, which allows detecting postures of human limbs in dynamic motions. METHODS: A micro flow sensor is used to detect motion velocity, from which, motion acceleration can be estimated. Thereby, the limb postures are figured out by using the components of the gravity acceleration that are determined by subtracting the motion accelerations from the accelerometer outputs. The motion tracking device is packaged in a watch-type case, which allows it to be wearable. A Kalman filter is employed to implement sensor data fusion. RESULTS: The motion velocity, motion acceleration, and postures of human limbs can be effectively detected by the proposed motion tracking device and methodology. Experiments including human limb tracking are conducted to validate the effectiveness of the proposed device and methodology. CONCLUSION: The experimental results show that the measurements of human limb motion and posture are feasible and free of accumulative errors. SIGNIFICANCE: The flow-aid motion tracking device is wearable, environmental-restriction free, and practicable for long-term monitoring, and provides a promising approach for physical rehabilitation, intelligent prosthesis, personal athletic training, etc.