Orientated-quantitative computed tomography study on individualized axial safety target area of femoral neck screw channel and establishment of a stable spatial coordinate system based on anterior cortex of femoral neck basilar.

BACKGROUND: Frequent in-out-in femoral neck screws were reported potential huge iatrogenic-injury risks, related to axial safe target area (ASTA) of femoral neck screws channel. However, orientated-quantitative ASTA based on stable coordinate system was unreported before. METHODS: Three-dimensional reconstruction was performed on computed tomography (CT) images of 139 intact normal hips, and the intersection area, defined as ASTA, was obtained by superimposing the axial CT images of each femoral neck. Taking anterior cortex of femoral neck basilar (AC-FNB) as landmark, a coordinate system was established to measure the anterior-posterior diameter (D-AP), the superior-inferior diameter (D-SI) and the oblique angle respectively. Each intersection was overlaid up to the axial CT images to determine the coronal location of the ASTA boundaries. RESULTS: Each ASTA presented an inclined rounded triangle with a flat anterior base coincided with AC-FNB. There were significant sex differences in D-SI (male: 33.6±2.3 vs. female: 29.4±1.9 mm) and D-AP (male: 25.3±2.1 vs. 21.9±1.9 mm), P <0.001. D-SI was found to be positively correlated with D-AP ( R2 =0.6). All fluoroscopic visible border isthmus completely matched the corresponding ASTA boundaries. The oblique angle was 5-53° (male: 28.1±10.3°, female: 27.1±8.2°) without significant difference between sexes. CONCLUSION: The intersection method was employed to conveniently acquire orientated-quantitative individualized ASTA. Under this coordinate system, x-ray data of screws could be converted to axial coordinates in CT ASTA, which could help surgeons design combined screws configuration preoperatively and evaluate quantitatively their axial position intraoperatively.

A Novel Thrombosis-Related Signature for Predicting Survival and Drug Compounds in Glioblastoma.

Glioblastoma is the most common primary tumor in the central nervous system, and thrombosis-associated genes are related to its occurrence and progression. Univariate Cox and LASSO regression analysis were utilized to develop a new prognostic signature based on thrombosis-associated genes. Gene ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), and HALLMARK were used for functional annotation of risk signature. ESTIMATE, MCP-counter, xCell, and TIMER algorithms were used to quantify immune infiltration in the tumor microenvironment. Genomics of Drug Sensitivity in Cancer (GDSC) was used for selecting potential drug compounds. Risk signature based on thrombosis-associated genes shows moderate performance in prognosis prediction. The functional annotation of the risk signature indicates that the signaling pathways related to the cell cycle, apoptosis, tumorigenesis, and immune suppression are rich in the high-risk group. Somatic mutation analysis shows that tumor-suppressive gene TP53 and oncogene PTEN have higher expression in low-risk and high-risk groups, respectively. Potential drug compounds are explored in risk score groups and show higher AUC values in the low-risk score group. A nomogram with valuable prognostic factors exhibits high sensitivity in predicting the survival outcome of GBM patients. Our research screens out multiple thromboses-associated genes with remarkable clinical significance in GBM and further develops a meaningful prognostic risk signature predicting drug sensitivity and survival outcome.

Mitochondrial Damage-Associated Molecular Patterns Exacerbate Lung Fluid Imbalance Via the Formyl Peptide Receptor-1 Signaling Pathway in Acute Lung Injury.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effect of mitochondrial damage-associated molecular patterns on the lung fluid homeostasis in experimental acute lung injury. DESIGN: Experimental study. SETTING: Research laboratory. SUBJECTS: Patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome and control subjects, wild-type C57BL/6 and formyl peptide receptor-1 gene knockout mice, and primary rat alveolar epithelial type II cells. INTERVENTIONS: Samples of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and serum were obtained from patients and control subjects. Mice were intratracheally instilled with lipopolysaccharide and mitochondrial damage-associated molecular patterns. The primary rat alveolar epithelial type II cells were isolated and incubated with mitochondrial damage-associated molecular patterns. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Patients were divided into direct (pulmonary) and indirect (extrapulmonary) injury groups based on etiology. The release of mitochondrial peptide nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide dehydrogenase 1 in both bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and serum was induced in patients and was associated with etiology. In the lipopolysaccharide-induced lung injury, administration of mitochondrial damage-associated molecular patterns exacerbated the lung fluid imbalance, which was mitigated in formyl peptide receptor-1 knockout mice. Proteomic analysis of mouse lung tissues revealed the involvement of ion channels and tight junction proteins in this process. Treatment with mitochondrial damage-associated molecular patterns decreased the expression of epithelial sodium channel α, zonula occludens-1, and occludin via the formyl peptide receptor-1/p38 pathway in the primary rat alveolar epithelial type II cells. CONCLUSIONS: Mitochondrial damage-associated molecular patterns exacerbate lung fluid imbalance in the experimental acute lung injury model through formyl peptide receptor-1 signaling, the inhibition of which may prevent exacerbation of lung fluid imbalance induced by mitochondrial damage-associated molecular patterns. Thus, formyl peptide receptor-1 is a potential therapeutic target for acute respiratory distress syndrome.

[Studies on the dynamic trends of diosgenin content in vegetative organs of Dioscorea zingiberensis].

Diosgenin was determined by HPLC to study dynamic trend of diosgenin content in vegetative organs especially the rhizome, and the differences of diosgenin content between strains and between male and female rhizomes of Dioscorea zingiberensis C. H. Wright. The results are as follows: Diosgenin content of biennial seedling rhizome is higher than that of annual seedling rhizome; Diosgenin content of biennial rhizome derived from vegetative propagation is higher than that of annual rhizome derived from vegetative propagation; In piebald leaf strain is higher than in green leaf strain; In male is higher than in female. Diosgenin was not detected in twining stem nor in leaf. Diosgenin content of annual rhizome from vegetative propagation increased slowly at early stage, and it increased comparatively quickly at later stage; Diosgenin content of biennial rhizome at the stage of blossom is the highest, and it is the lowest at the later stage of bloom, afterwards it increases gradually. So cultivated variety of higher output and higher fastness should be chosen from the piebald leaf strain. The right time to collect rhizome should be at the stage of twining stem withering.