BACKGROUND: Recently, zirconia ceramic implants have been reported to be used in clinic. Increasing studies on surface treatment of ziconia implants have been done, in order to promote bone-implant osseointegration and increase the success rate of implantation. There are no recognized surface treatment techniques of zirconia implants as yet.OBJECTIVE: To summarize the research progress in surface treatment techniques of zirconia implants.METHODS: The first author searched the CNKI, PubMed and Web of Science databases for relevant articles published from January 2000 to October 2016. The keywords were zirconia or zirconium, implant, surface treatment in Chinese and English, respectively. The search condition was((zirconia or zirconium) AND implant) AND surface treatment. Here,we reviewed the surface treatment techniques of zirconia implants, and introduced the properties, the surface treatment techniques and commercialization of zirconia implants.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Totally 23 papers were included in result analysis. Commonly used surface treatment technologies of zirconia implants include sand blasting, acid etching, sandblast and acid-etching, selective filtration etching, laser, ultraviolet and coating. These technologies all contribute to improving the surface activity of the implant,increasing the roughness, and promoting bone bonding to a certain extent.Because of the very limited experiments,further investigations are required to explore the optimum technique for the surface treatment of zirconia implants.

BACKGROUND: Hedgehog signaling pathway is shown to contribute to the osteogenesis of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, and to play an important role in regulating the expression of RANKL in osteoblasts. Nowadays, the definite signal transduction pathway has been revealed gradually.OBJECTIVE: To review the research progress of RANKL in osteoblasts that regulated by hedgehog signaling pathway.METHODS: A computer-based online search in CNKI, Google Scholar and PubMed databases was performed with the key words of Hedgehog, osteoblast, BMSCs, PTHrP, CREB, NFAT, RANKL in English and Chinese, respectively.Literatures related to the expression of RANKL in osteoblasts that regulated by the Hedgehog signaling pathway were included initially and 37 eligible articles were extensively summarized for review.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The Hedgehog signaling pathway plays an advanced role in the osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, and also upregulates intracellular parathyroid hormone related protein, which activates its downstream signaling molecules cAMP response element binding protein and nuclear factor of activated T cells ulteriorly, to promote the expression of RANKL in osteoblasts and increase the differentiation and formation from osteoclast precursor cells to mature osteoclasts.

Sulfur , a major component of gunpowder , has been widely used in the engineering and military in-dustries since ancient times . In fact , the application of sulfur in traditional Chinese medicine ( TCM ) has a long history , which indicated the uniqueness of TCM theory and practice . Besides , sulfur has played an impor-tant role for the development of TCM in the history . In order to scientifically analyze the role of sulfur in TCM , this paper focused on the application and evolution of sulfur in the development process of TCM , which aimed to provide a reference for the study of the value and role of sulfur in TCM .

BACKGROUNDMetabolic syndrome (MS) is a risk factor for stroke and thromboembolism event. Left atrial or LA appendage (LA/LAA) thrombus is a surrogate of potential stroke. The relationship between MS and atrial thrombus remains unclear. In this study, we sought to investigate the effect of MS on risk stratification of LA/LAA thrombus formation in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF).

METHODSThis cross-sectional study enrolled 294 consecutive NVAF patients without prior anticoagulant and lipid-lowering therapies. LA/LAA thrombus was determined by transesophageal echocardiography. Risk assessment of LA/LAA thrombus was performed using the CHADS2 , CHA2DS2 -VASc, MS, CHADS2 -MS, and CHA2DS2 -VASc-MS scores. Logistic regression analyses were performed to determine which factors were significantly related to LA/LAA thrombus. Odds ratio (OR) including 95% confidence interval was also calculated. The predictive powers of different scores for the risk of LA/LAA thrombus were represented by C-statistics and compared by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis.

RESULTSLA/LAA thrombi were identified in 56 patients (19.0%). Logistic analysis showed that MS was the strongest risk factor for LA/LAA thrombus in NVAF patients (OR = 14.698, P < 0.001). ROC curve analyses revealed that the C-statistics of CHADS2 -MS and CHA2DS2 -VASc-MS was significantly higher than those of CHADS2 and CHA2DS2 -VASc scores (CHADS2 -MS vs. CHADS2 , 0.807 vs. 0.726, P = 0.0019). Furthermore, MS was helpful for identifying individuals with a high risk of LA/LAA thrombus in the population with a low risk of stroke (CHADS2 or CHA2DS2 -VASc score = 0).

CONCLUSIONSMS is associated with LA/LAA thrombus risk in patients with NVAF. In addition to the CHADS2 and CHA2DS2 -VASc scores, the CHADS2 -MS and CHA2DS2 -VASc-MS scores provide additional information on stroke risk assessment.

Aged ; Atrial Appendage ; pathology ; Atrial Fibrillation ; complications ; physiopathology ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Metabolic Syndrome ; complications ; physiopathology ; Middle Aged ; Multivariate Analysis ; ROC Curve ; Risk Factors ; Thrombosis ; etiology ; physiopathology