ß4GalT1 promotes inflammation in human osteoarthritic fibroblast-like synoviocytes by enhancing autocrine TNF-α activity.

OBJECTIVE: Synovial inflammation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis (OA), and ß4GalT1 has been reported to be involved in the inflammatory process. The aim of our study was to investigate the role of ß4GalT1 in the progression of inflammation and analyze the association between ß4GalT1 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in human OA fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Primary cultured FLS isolated from OA synovial tissues were cultured, and the levels of ß4GalT1, TNF-α, MMP-3, p/t-ERK, p/t-JNK, and p/t-P38 were analyzed by Western blotting. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was performed to measure the secretion of TNF-α, interleukin (IL)-1ß, and IL-6 in OA-FLS. Immunofluorescence staining was used to examine the co-localization of ß4GalT1 and TNF-α or THY1. RT-PCR was used to detect the transfection efficiency of ß4GalT1. RESULTS: The expression of ß4GalT1 was increased in OA-FLS. ß4GalT1 promoted cell invasion, MMP-3 production, and the secretion of TNF-α, IL-1ß, and IL-6. si-TNF-α attenuated the ß4GalT1-enhanced cell invasion and inflammatory factor secretion in OA-FLS. Furthermore, ß4GalT1 increased autocrine TNF-α signaling in OA-FLS. ß4GalT1 knockdown successfully decreased autocrine TNF-α activity, while ß4GalT1 overexpression increased autocrine TNF-α activity in OA-FLS. Moreover, ß4GalT1 enhanced the ERK, JNK, and P38 MAPK signaling pathways through the induction of autocrine TNF-α signaling in OA-FLS. CONCLUSIONS: ß4GalT1 may promote the inflammatory progression of OA-FLS by enhancing autocrine TNF-α signaling.

The use of transcallosal-interforniceal approach for microsurgical removal of the third ventricle tumors.

AIM: The third ventricle is located deep in the brain and is adjacent to important neurovascular structures. This makes tumor resection in this region difficult and causes more postoperative complications than surgeries in other regions of the brain. The objective of this study was to investigate the feasibility and clinical effects of transcallosal-interforniceal approach for microsurgical removal of the third ventricle tumors. METHODS: After preoperative evaluation, 23 patients with the third ventricle tumors were microsurgically operated using the transcallosal-interforniceal approach. RESULTS: Of these 23 patients, 12 (52.2%) underwent total excision, 9 (39.1%) had subtotal resection, and the remaining 2 (8.7%) underwent partial excision. After surgery, the following complications were observed: diabetes insipidus (11 patients), hemorrhages of the upper digestive tract (2 patients), central fever (1 patient), and memory impairment (1 patient). No mortality in the perioperative period was reported. CONCLUSION: The surgical procedure using the transcallosal-interforniceal approach is direct and provides good surgical field exposure and fewer post operational compilations. This approach should be considered as the method of choice for surgical removal of the third ventricle tumors.

Multiple variants of TERT and CLPTM1L constitute risk factors for lung adenocarcinoma.

Recent studies have shown that 5p15.33 is one of the chromosomal regions that is most consistently altered in lung cancer; common variants that are located in this region have been genotyped in various populations. However, the genetic contribution of these variants to carcinogenesis is relatively unknown. A clinic-based case-control study in Shanghai was undertaken on 196 patients with lung cancer and 229 healthy individuals. TERT rs2736100 and CLPTM1L rs401681 and rs402710 were genotyped using the ABI TaqMan Allelic Discrimination assay. For rs2736100, the G variant and the GG genotype were more frequent, whereas the TT genotype was less frequent in patients with lung adenocarcinoma than in controls. The CT genotype at rs401681 was more common and the TT genotype was rare in patients, and the differences were significant between lung adenocarcinoma patients and controls. This was also true for rs402710. Moreover, the frequency of the GGCTCT haplotype was higher and the TTTTTT frequency was lower in patients, especially those with lung adenocarcinoma. Aberrant linkage disequilibrium among the three SNPs was found in patients with lung adenocarcinoma. We conclude that multiple variants at 5p15.33 contribute to susceptibility to lung adenocarcinoma.

Finite element analysis of an osseointegrated stepped screw dental implant.

An osseointegrated stepped screw dental implant was evaluated using 2-dimensional finite element analysis (FEA). The implant was modeled in a cross section of the posterior human mandible digitized from a computed tomography (CT) generated patient data set. A 15-mm regular platform (RP) Branemark implant with equivalent length and neck diameter was used as a control. The study was performed under a number of clinically relevant parameters: loading at the top of the transmucosal abutment in vertical, horizontal, and 45 degrees oblique 3 orientations. Elastic moduli of the mandible varied from a normal cortical bone level (13.4 GPa) to a trabecular bone level (1.37 GPa). The study indicated that an oblique load and elastic moduli of the cortical bone are important parameters to the implant design optimization. Compared with the cylindrical screw implant, the maximum von Mises stress of the stepped screw implant model was 17.9% lower in the trabecular bone-implant area. The study also showed that the stepped screw implant is suitable for the cortical bone modulus from 10 to 13.4 GPa, which is not necessarily as strict as the Branemark implant, for which a minimum 13.4 GPa cortical bone modulus is recommended.

Earthquakes response analysis of slopes

A comprehensive method is presented in this paper for estimation for permanent embankment deformations due to earthquake loading and it combines the concept of variable critical acceleration coefficient with Newmark - type dynamic response analysis. The decrease in the value of critical acceleration is a consequence of strain - softening or pore pressure development or both. Due to space limitation only the former mechanism is considered in this paper (AU)