ObjectiveTo investigate the biomechanical characteristics of different types of fixation with bioactive cervical fusion cage made of hydroxyapatite and poly L-lactic acid in cervical spinal fusion.MethodsIliac crest bone,bioactive cervical fusion cage and bioactive cervical fusion cage with plate fixation were used for anterior interbody implants after anterior discectomy across C5-6 in six fresh human cervical spine specimens respectively,and the range of motion of the cervical vertebrae interbody fusion were measured through the motional stability test.Results After discectomy,Bioactive Cervical Fusion Cage with plate fixation exhibited a significant increase in stability and a decrease of range of motion in angular motion than others in all motional directions ( P ＜ 0.005 ). Bioactive cervical fusion cage exhibited a decrease in stability and an increase of range of motion (6.25 ± 0.29) in angular motion than the intact spine (5.76 ± 0.40) in extension,but the difference was not significantly ( P ＞ 0.05 ).Bioactive cervical fusion cage exhibited a decrease in angular motion than iliac crest bone and a significant increase in stability in all motional directions except extension (P ＜ 0.005).ConclusionsBioactive cervical fusion cage' s biomechanical performance was excellent and bioactive cervical fusion cage with plate fixation was excellent in stability in all motional direction,and could remain initial stability of cervical vertebrae.

BACKGROUND:Percutaneous vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty are both effective in the treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures, but different in the distribution and dispersion of bone cement. ＜br> OBJECTIVE:To analyze the factors affecting the bone cement dispersion within the vertebral body in treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture with vertebroplasty or kyphoplasty. ＜br> METHODS:A total of 41 patients with osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures were included, and divided into three groups:group A (22 cases receiving high viscosity bone cement vertebroplasty treatment), group B (5 cases receiving high viscosity bone cement kyphoplasty), group C (14 cases receiving low viscosity bone cement vertebroplasty treatment). The groups A and C were divided into subgroups according to bone cement injection volume, time from fracture to operation, preoperative degree of vertebral compression. The distribution and dispersion of bone cement in the vertebra were reconstructed by the CT three-dimensional imaging and volume rendering analysis. ＜br> RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:In the three groups, after operation, relative dispersion area and relative dispersion volume in the vertebrae had no obvious difference, and the bone cement could al diffuse to upper and lower lamina cross the vertebral midline. There was no significant difference in bone cement diffusion coefficient among the three groups. In a certain range, the bone cement injection volume and bone cement dispersion volume was positively correlated. In groups A and C, bone cement diffusion coefficient decreased with the increasing of bone cement injection volume, time from fracture to operation, and the compression degree of the fractured vertebrae, but showed no significant correlation with bone cement viscosity.

Objective: To categorize and summarize the clinical and mechanism studies of the past 30 years on the treatment of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT) with moxibustion, moxibustion plus medication, and acupuncture plus medication, etc., and to analyze the current problems. Methods: The clinical and laboratory studies related to the treatment of HT with acupuncture-moxibustion therapies published before June 2015 were retrieved from MEDLINE, Excerpta Medica Database (EMBASE), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Academic Journal Full-text Database (Wanfang) and Chongqing VIP Database (CQVIP). Results:Moxibustion, moxibustion plus medication, and acupuncture plus medication can produce certain therapeutic effects in treating HT. Conclusion:The research on the treatment of HT with acupuncture-moxibustion therapies is rather limited in the amount and content. In the future, standardization should be fortified, specific moxibustion research needs deepening, and the action mechanism of moxibustion should be emphasized.

BACKGROUND:Vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty can effectively repair osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures, but bone cement injection can cause the change of stress in the fractured vertebrae and adjacent vertebrae after surgery, leading to new fractures.
OBJECTIVE: To analyze the stress changes of the fractured vertebrae and adjacent vertebrae after vertebroplasty with different elastic modulus bone cement by a three-dimensional finite element method.
METHODS: One healthy adult male volunteer was selected for lumbar spine CT scan. The acquired images were imported for three-dimensional reconstruction using Mimics. The three-dimensional model was smoothed, polished and denoised by Geomagic software, and then the solid mode was built under Workbench Ansys. An osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture model in L2-4 segments was established after assignment. Bone cement (4 mL) with different elastic moduli (8 000, 4 000, 2 000 and 1 000 MPa) injected into the L3 segment distributed in the middle of the vertebrae as spherical shape. 500 N pre-load was applied on the L2 surface with an additional bending moment of 50 N?m. The lower surface free degree of L4 was restrained. The L2-4 forward flexion, posterior extension, right flexion and axial rotation on the right side were stimulated. The stress changes of the fractured vertebrae and the upper and lower adjacent vertebrae before and after bone cement injection with different elastic moduli were compared.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The stress of the fractured vertebrae and adjacent vertebrae were significantly increased compared with that before operation. With the increase of elastic modulus, the stress of the fractured vertebrae increased, but there were no changes in the stress of adjacent vertebrae. These findings indicate that the elastic modulus of bone cement may be a method to reduce new fractures of the fractured and adjacent vertebrae after bone cement injection.

BACKGROUND:Vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty can effectively repair osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures, but postoperative change of stress in the fractured vertebrae and adjacent vertebrae can lead to new fractures. OBJECTIVE:To analyze the stress changes of the fractured and adjacent vertebrae with different bone cement injection volume by three-dimensional finite element method. METHODS:One healthy adult male volunteer was selected for lumbar spine CT scan. The acquired images were imported for three-dimensional reconstruction using Mimics. The three-dimensional model was smoothed, polished and denoised by Geomagic software, and then the solid mode was built under Workbench Ansys. The osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture model in L2-L4 segments was established after assignment. Bone cement of 1, 2, 4, 6 mL was injected into the L3 vertebrae respectively and distributed in the middle of the vertebrae as spherical shape. 500 N pre-load was applied on L2 surface with an additional moment of 50 N·m. The lower surface free degree of L4 was restrainted. The L2-L4 forward flexion, extension, right flexion and axial rotation on the right side were stimulated to compare the stress changes of fractured vertebrae and adjacent vertebrae before and after the bone cement injection with different volume. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The stresses of fractured and adjacent vertebrae after the bone cement injection were significantly increased; meanwhile, the stresses of fractured and adjacent vertebrae increased with the increase of bone cement injection volume, which may be one of the factors leading to the compression fractures of adjacent vertebrae.

Objective:To investigate the reparative efficacy and mechanism of pressure-adjustable macroporous antibacterial hydrogel in the treatment of infected wounds.Methods:Staphylococcus aureus was used to establish wound infection models in healthy C57BL/6 mice. The models were divided into 3 groups subjected to 3 different treatments: a negative control group with no hydrogel treatment (group A), a control group treated by common medical hydrogel (group B) and an experiment group treated by pressure-adjustable macroporous antibacterial hydrogel (group C). On days 1, 3, 6, 9 and 12, the effects of 3 treatments were compared on the wound area and the number of bacterial colonies under scab, on the apoptosis of fibroblasts based on the changes of type Ⅰ procollagen, and on the inhibition of inflammation during wound repair by detecting the expression of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α).Results:On days 1 and 3, there was no significant difference between the 3 groups in the wound area ( P>0.05), but on days 6, 9 and 12, there were significant differences between the 3 groups in the wound area ( P<0.05). On day 6, the wound areas in group B (1.23 cm 2 ± 0.16 cm 2) and in group C (1.14 cm 2 ± 0.12 cm 2) were significantly smaller than that in group A (1.56 cm 2 ± 0.16 cm 2) ( P<0.05), but there was no significant difference between groups B and C ( P>0.05). On days 9 and 12, the wound areas in group B (0.97 cm 2 ± 0.13 cm 2 and 0.76 cm 2 ± 0.10 cm 2) and in group C (0.66 cm 2 ± 0.06 cm 2 and 0.48 cm 2 ± 0.07 cm 2) were significantly smaller than those in group A (1.49 cm 2 ± 0.11 cm 2 and 1.39 cm 2 ± 0.13 cm 2), and those in group C were significantly smaller than those in group B (all P<0.05). On day 1, there was no significant difference between the 3 groups in the number of bacterial colonies under scab ( P>0.05). On days 3, 6, 9 and 12, the numbers of bacterial colonies under scab in groups B and C were significantly smaller than that in group A ( P<0.05), and that in group C was significantly smaller than that in group B ( P< 0.05). The nucleic acid electrophoresis showed that the grayscale bands in group C were significantly darker than those in groups A and B. The early apoptosis rate of the fibroblasts in group C[low-right positive fluorescence (LR%): 9.72%] was significantly lower than that in group A (43.99%) and that in group B (38.43%), and that in group B was significantly lower than that in group A ( P<0.05). On day 12, the ratio of the gray values of IL-6 and β-actin (0.64 ± 0.10) and the ratio of the gray values of TNF-α and β-actin (0.34 ± 0.05) in the fibroblasts in group C were significantly higher than those in group A (1.22 ± 0.21 and 0.60 ± 0.14) and in group B (0.88 ± 0.02 and 0.41 ± 0.06) ( P<0.01). Conclusion:The pressure-adjustable macroporous antibacterial hydrogel is an effective treatment of infected wounds and its mechanism may be related to the reduced apoptosis of fibroblasts.