BACKGROUND: Mechanic pressure could cause neurocyte death. Both direct mechanic injury and complex pathophysiological mechanism can induce the pathological changes of axon and neuronal soma. OBJECTIVE: To observe the relationship between ultrastructural changes and pressure degree of neurocyte and neurocyte damage. DESIGN: A randomized controlled observational study using experimental animals as study subjects.MATERIALS:The study was conducted in the Central Laboratory of Ruikang Hospital affiliated to Guangxi Traditional Chinese Medical University from December 2002 to August 2003.SUBJECTS:Fourty-eight male New Zealand rabbits with a bodymass of (2.45 ± 0. 28) kg were randomly divided into control group, mild pressure group and severe pressure group with 16 rabbits in each group.METHODS:Animal models with mild and severe cervical spinal cord chronic pressure were established in rabbits. Control group was pseudo-operation group. Spinal cord observation under optical microscope and electron microscope, neurocyte apoptosis analysis (TUNEL method), neuron counting, and the section size of the neuron were analyzed respectively.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Main results: observational results under optical microscope of each group. Subordinate results: ① observational results under electron microscope of each group; ② neurocyte apoptosis analysis RESULTS: After chronic pressure in the spinal cord of rabbits, phenomena like neuron atrophy,loss,reduced section size,and neuron and neurocyte apoptosis appeared. The morphology of neurons in control group was normal and the quantity was quite a lot, which was (40 ± 2), and the neuron section size was(41.24 ± 15.61) μm2.The number of neuron of mild pressurc group was(27 ± 2), and the neuron section size was(20. 82 ± 6.57) μm2. The number of neurons of severe pressure group was (22± 2), and the neuron section size was( 17. 96 ± 9.03 ) μm2. The difference between mild, severe pressure group and control group was significant( P ＜ 0.01),while the difference between mild and severe pressure groups was insignificant(P ＞ 0. 05 ). The ultrastructural changes of neurons after chronic pressure were reduced volume of soma, unclear nucleolus and reduced rough endoplasmic reticulum. The lamellar structure of spinal sheath was loose with vacuole, and the cell organs in axial plasma were reduced or lost.CONCLUSION: The ultrastructure of neurocyte changes after chronic pressure in spinal cord. The more serious the pressure is, the more serious the neurocyte damages are. Cell apoptosis exists after chronic pressure in spinal cord.

Background and purpose:A pressing obstacle in clinical chemotherapy is drug resistance in breast cancer.A nano-delivery system,which has many advantages as a drug carrier,such as carrying anticancer drugs,can be used effectively to overcome drug resistance in tumors.This paper examined a new nano-delivery system,called calcium phosphate and glycerophosphocholine-mPEG(CAP/GPC-MPEG)composite nanoparticle and its influence on the cellular drug uptake of BCRP-over expressing mitoxantrone(MIT)-resistant breast cancer cell MCF-7/MIT.This paper will also examine its effect on overcoming drug resistance in the MCF-7/MIT cells.Methods:After the calcium phosphate and GPC-mPEG composite nanoparticles were designed and prepared,the entrapment efficiency and in vitro drug release of mitoxantrone-loaded nanoparticles were investigated.Quantitative comparisons were made between cellular uptake of drug-loaded nanoparticles and free drugs.Finally,a confocal laser scanning microscopy Was used to compare the subcellular distribution of drug-loaded nanoparticles and the free drugs.Results:Calcium phosphate and GPC-mPEG composite nanoparticles were nanoporous spherical particles with diameters between 50-100 mn.The MIT-loaded nanoparticles have an entrapment efficiency of(89.45±0.05)%.Although the drug-loaded nanoparticles showed an initial burst of drug release,it was followed by a more sustained release.The concentration of mitoxantrone was 1.89 times treated with MIT-loaded nanoparticles for 1 h compared to that treated with free mitoxantrone for 1 h in MCF-7/MIT cells.and which was 2.33 times in MCF-7 cells.Fluorescent red mitoxantrone appeared in the cytoplasm and nucleus of the MCF-7 and MCF-7,MIT cells treated with MlT-loaded nanoparticles whereas it is almost undetected in both cells treated with free mitoxantrone.Conclusion:Calcium phosphate and GPC-mPEG composite nanoparticles Can promote the cellular uptake and entering of mitoxantrone to the nucleus in MCF-7 and its corresponding BCRP-over expressing MIT-resistant MCF-7/MIT breast cancer cell lines.This nanoparticle is a potential nano-carrier for overcoming drug resistance in tumors.

Bone-like apatite formation on the surface of calcium phosphate ceramics has been believed to be necessary for new bone to grow on the ceramics and to be related to the osteoinductivity of the material. The research of bone-like apatite formation is a great help to understanding the mechanism of osteoinduction. Synthetic porous calcium phosphate ceramics (HA/TCP = 70/30) were implanted intramuscularly in pigs, dogs, rabbits and rats to make a comparative study of the bone-like apatite formation onto the porous HA/TCP ceramics in different animals. Specimens were harvested at 14 days after implantation. Samples were detected for the surface morphology with SEM. The chemical composition of the sample surface after implantation was analyzed with reflection infrared (R-IR). Obvious bone-like apatite formation could be detected in the sections of porous specimens harvested from all animals after 14 days intramuscular implantation. Crystal deposition could be only observed on the surface of the concave regions of the samples collected from dogs, rabbits and rat. On the contrary, evenly distributed flake-shaped crystal could be found on the pore surface and also on the outer surface of the materials implanted in pigs. The morphology of bone-like apatite in pigs was different from that in the others animals. Bone-like apatite was not observed in dense specimen implanted intramuscularly. Bone-like apatite formed faster on specimens implanted in rabbit than that in other animals. This formation sequence is different from the sequence of osteoinductivity of biphasic calcium phosphate ceramics implanted in these animals. The results demonstrated that the formation of bone-like apatite on materials is a prerequisite condition to their osteoinduction but other factors also play important roles in osteoinduction.
Animals ; Apatites ; chemical synthesis ; Body Fluids ; chemistry ; Bone Substitutes ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; Calcium Phosphates ; chemistry ; Ceramics ; chemistry ; Dogs ; Male ; Materials Testing ; Prostheses and Implants ; Rabbits ; Rats ; Swine

Bone-like apatite formation on the surface of calcium phosphate ceramics has been believed to be the prerequisite of new bone growth on ceramics and to be related to the osteoinductivity of the material. The research of the factors effecting bone-like apatite formation is a great help in understanding the mechanism of osteoinduction. This paper is aimed to a comparative study of in vitro formation of bone-like apatite on the surface of dense and rough calcium phosphate ceramics with SBF flowing at different rates. The results showed that the rough surface was beneficial to the formation of bone-like apatite, and the apatite formed faster in 1.5 SBF than in SBF. Rough surface, namely, larger surface area, increased the dissolution of Ca2+ and HPO4(2-) and higher concentration of Ca2+ and HPO4(2-) ions of SBF and was in turn advantageous to the accumulation of Ca2+, HPO4(2-), PO4(3-) near the ceramic surface. Local supersaturating concentration of Ca2+, HPO4(2-), PO4(3-) near sample surface was essential to nucleation of apatite on the surface of sample.
Apatites ; Biocompatible Materials ; Calcium Phosphates ; Ceramics ; Materials Testing ; Surface Properties

This study aimed at investigating the influence of the flow rate of simulated body fluid (SBF) (2 ml/100 ml.min) of body fluid in skeletal muscle upon the formation of bone-like apatite on porous calcium phosphate ceramics. The in vitro immersion experiment in SBF flowing at normal physiological rate is referred to as dynamic SBF. The results showed that bone-like apatite could only formed in the pores of porous calcium phosphate when SBF flow at physiological rate (2 ml/100 ml.min) of body fluid in skeletal muscle. At the same time, bone-like apatite could form both in the pores and on the surface of the samples if the flowing physiological solution is 1.5 SBF. When the flowing speed of SBF is higher than normal physiological speed (10 ml/100 ml.min), no bone-like apatite could be detected both on the surface and in the pores of the materials. This result is in concordance with animal experiments. The dynamic SBF simulates the biological environment of bone-like apatite formation in body better than static SBF (SBF does not flow). This method is very useful for the research of the mechanism of bonelike apatite formation, which is the key step of bone growth on biomaterials, and can be used as an effective approach to investigate mechanism of the osteoinduction of calcium phosphate in nonosseous tissues in vivo.
Apatites ; chemistry ; Body Fluids ; chemistry ; Bone Substitutes ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; Calcium Phosphates ; chemistry ; Ceramics ; chemistry ; In Vitro Techniques ; Materials Testing ; Surface Properties

Objective:To review the experience of closure of the left-main-bronchial stump fistula using endoscopic liner cutter staplers through the right thoracic approach and I stage or staged treatment for the left pyothorax.Methods:6 patients with the left-main-bronchial stump fistula after left pneumonectomy combined with pyothorax were treated by closing the left-main-bronchial stump using endoscopic liner cutter staplers through the right thoracic approach, and pleura was used to cover the distal and proximal incisional margin of the stump respectively. The thoracic T-tube drainage was used in the I stage or staged treatment for the left pyothorax.Results:All patients were survived without recurrence of the bronchopleural fistula. 4 patients were observed to have no recurrence of pyothorax when 1 patient had recurrence of pyothorax and was treated with intermittent T-tube drainage.1 patient operated with left-thoracic fenestration in the past was treated with drainage waiting for secondary operation.Conclusion:The right thoracic approach seemed to be a safer and more effective method than the transsternal transpericardial approach in cases with the left-main-bronchial stump fistula combined with pyothorax. The use of endoscopic liner cutter staplers reduced the risk of bleeding, infection and recurrence of fistula. The T-tube drainage in the I stage or staged treatment for the left pyothorax was considered to be an easier way for treatment.

Background::To perform anatomical anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR), tunnels should be placed relatively higher in the femoral anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) footprint based on the findings of direct and indirect femoral insertion. But the clinical results of higher femoral tunnels (HFT) in double-bundle ACLR (DB-ACLR) remain unclear. The purpose was to investigate the clinical results of HFT and lower femoral tunnels (LFT) in DB-ACLR.Methods::From September 2014 to February 2016, 83 patients who underwent DB-ACLR and met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were divided into HFT-ACLR (group 1, n = 37) and LFT-ACLR (group 2, n = 46) according to the position of femoral tunnels. Preoperatively and at the final follow-up, clinical scores were evaluated with International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC), Tegner activity, and Lysholm score. The stability of the knee was evaluated with KT-2000, Lachman test, and pivot-shift test. Cartilage degeneration grades of the International Cartilage Repair Society (ICRS) were evaluated on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Graft tension, continuity, and synovialization were evaluated by second-look arthroscopy. Return-to-sports was assessed at the final follow-up. Results::Significantly better improvement were found for KT-2000, Lachman test, and pivot-shift test postoperatively in group 1 ( P >0.05). Posterolateral bundles (PL) showed significantly better results in second-look arthroscopy regarding graft tension, continuity, and synovialization ( P <0.05), but not in anteromedial bundles in group 1. At the final follow-up, cartilage worsening was observed in groups 1 and 2, but it did not reach a stastistically significant difference ( P >0.05). No statistically significant differences were found in IKDC subjective score, Tegner activity, and Lysholm score between the two groups. Higher return-to-sports rate was found in group 1 with 86.8% (32/37) vs. 65.2% (30/46) in group 2 ( P = 0.027). Conclusion::The HFT-ACLR group showed better stability results, better PL, and higher return-to-sports rate compared to the LFT-ACLR group.

Objective To develop a diagnosis model for active pulmonary tuberculosis. Methods The proteomic fingerprinting of 264 sera from active tuberculosis patients and controls were analyzed using the surface-enhanced laser desorption ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF-MS) and protein-chip technology. The peaks were detected and filtrated by Ciphergen PrnteinChip(R) Software (version 3.1.1). Using the Biomarker Pattern 5.0 software, a diagnostic model was developed for diagnosis of active tuberculosis. Re-sults Fifty protein peaks were significantly different between the patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis and the controls with overlapping clinical features (P<0.01). Five protein peaks at 4360, 3311, 8160, 5723, 15173 m/z were chosen for the system classifier and the development of diagnosis model 1. The model differenti-ated the patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis from the controls with a sensitivity of 83.0%, and a speci-ficity of 89.6%. The diagnostic accuracy was up to 86.4%. Three protein peaks at 5643, 4486, 4360 m/z were chosen for the system classifier and the development of diagnosis model 2. The model differentiated the pa-tients with active pulmonary tuberculosis from the controls with a sensitivity of 96.9%, and a specificity of 97.8%. The diagnostic accuracy was up to 97.3%. Conclusion It might be a new diagnostic test for the de-tection of sera from the patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis using SELDI-TOF-MS and protein chip.

Objective:To explore eye movement characteristics in newly diagnosed, drug-naive Parkinson′s disease (PD) patients and their correlation with motor and non-motor symptoms.Methods:Seventy-five newly diagnosed, drug-naive PD patients and 46 healthy controls (HCs) were included in this cross-sectional study. Patients were recruited from the Department of Neurology, Shanghai Ninth People′s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine from November 2017 to December 2021, while HCs were recruited from the local community during the same period. For PD patients, motor severity was measured with the modified Hoehn and Yahr stage, Movement Disorder Society Unified Parkinson′s Disease Rating Scale part Ⅲ and the Freezing of Gait questionnaire. Non-motor symptoms were evaluated by serial scales such as Non-Motor Symptoms Questionnaire, 16-item odor identification test from Sniffin Sticks, 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, Chinese version of Mini-Mental State Examination, Montreal Cognitive Assessment Basic and REM Behavior Disorder Screening Questionnaire. All subjects underwent oculomotor test including pro-saccade task and smooth pursuit eye movement (SPEM) task in the horizontal direction via videonystagmography. Visually guided saccade latency, saccadic accuracy and gain in SPEM at three frequencies (0.1, 0.2, 0.4 Hz) of the horizontal axis were compared between the 2 groups. The association between key oculomotor parameters and clinical phenotypes was explored in PD patients. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses of eye movement parameters as independent factors were also performed for detecting PD from HCs, then combining the saccadic latency, saccadic accuracy and the most significant SPEM gain (0.4 Hz) as the model to distinguish PD from HCs.Results:Relative to HCs, newly diagnosed, drug-naive PD patients showed prolonged saccadic latency [(210.4±41.3) ms vs (191.3±18.9) ms, t=-3.445, P=0.001] and decreased saccadic accuracy (88.4%±6.8% vs 92.2%±6.1%, t=3.064, P=0.003). SPEM gain in PD was uniformly reduced at each frequency(0.1 Hz: 0.68±0.15 vs 0.74±0.14, t=2.261, P=0.026; 0.2 Hz: 0.72±0.16 vs 0.79±0.16, t=2.704, P=0.008; 0.4 Hz: 0.67±0.19 vs 0.78±0.19, t=2.937, P=0.004). The ROC analyses of saccade latency, saccadic accuracy and gain in SPEM at 0.1, 0.2, 0.4 Hz as independent factors for detecting PD from HCs showed that the area under the curve (AUC) of each parameter was lower than 0.7: the AUC of saccade latency was 0.641 ( P=0.010), the AUC of saccadic accuracy was 0.681 ( P=0.001), the AUC of gain in SPEM at 0.1 Hz was 0.616 ( P=0.032), at 0.2 Hz was 0.652 ( P=0.005), at 0.4 Hz was 0.660 ( P=0.003). Combining the saccadic latency, saccadic accuracy and the most significant SPEM gain (0.4 Hz) revealed that the model could significantly distinguish PD from HCs with an 80.4% sensitivity and a 73.3% specificity (AUC=0.780, P<0.001). Prolonged saccadic latency was correlated with long disease duration ( β=0.334, 95% CI 0.014-0.654, P=0.041), whereas decreased SPEM gain was associated with severe motor symptoms in newly diagnosed drug-naive PD patients (0.1 Hz: β=-0.004, 95% CI -0.008--0.001, P=0.036; 0.4 Hz: β=-0.006, 95% CI -0.011--0.001, P=0.012). Conclusions:Ocular movements are impaired in newly diagnosed, drug-naive PD patients. These changes could be indicators for disease progression in PD.

Objective To find the effects of varus degree on the early metabolic changes of the lateral compartment cartilage in knees with medial unicompartmental osteoarthritis by detecting glycosaminoglycan (GAG) in varus knees.Methods From June 2016 to December 2017,twenty middle-aged volunteers without osteoarthritis or coronal deformities were recruited as the control group.Sixty patients diagnosed as medial unicompartmental osteoarthritis were recruited as the osteoarthritis group.The patients were further divided into four groups according to the degrees of varus angle,namely 2°-5° varus group,5°-10° varus group,10°-15° varus group and ＞15° varus group with 15 patients in each group.Delayed gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of cartilage (dGEMRIC) was performed in all participants.The dGEMRIC indices (T1Gd) representing GAG content were calculated in the weight-bearing femoral cartilage (wbFC),the posterior non-weight-bearing femoral cartilage (pFC),the lateral femoral cartilage (FC,wbFC+pFC) and the tibial cartilage (TC) in the lateral compartment by using Matlab 7.1 and MRIMapper software.Results T1Gd of wbFC,pFC,FC and TC were 400.3±51.5 ms,393.6±57.9 ms,397.5±52.3 ms and 448.6±62.5 ms in the control group,391.8±41.5 ms,407.2±43.8 ms,400.1±37.8 ms and 461.3±41.6 ms in 2°-5° varus group and 386.9±57.1 ms,401.3±73.5 ms,397.7±59.6 ms and 438.9±42.8 ms in 5°-10° varus group.There was no significant difference among the above three groups in T1Gd in any of the analyzed cartilage regions (P＞0.05).In 10°-15° varus group,T1Gd of wbFC,pFC,FC and TC were 380.1±45.5 ms,385.5±76.6 ms,384.0±53.5 ms and 400.2±43.8 ms,respectively.Although T1Gd of wbFC,pFC and FC in 10°-15° varus group were similar with that in the control group,2°-5° varus group and 5°-10° varus (P＞0.05),T1Gd of TC in 10°-15° varus group decreased significantly (P＜0.05).In addition,T1Gd of wbFC,pFC,FC and TC in ＞15° varus groupwere 327.7±54.3 ms,340.1±33.0 ms,334.9±36.0 ms and 363.6±48.6 ms,respectively.T1Gd of all regions of interest in ＞15° varus group were significantly lower than that informer four groups (P＜0.05).Conclusion In medial unicompartmental knee osteoarthritis,there is a relationship between varus degree and GAG content of the lateral compartment cartilage.If varus angle ≤10°,the GAG content of the lateral compartment cartilage was similar with the similar aged subjects without osteoarthritis.If varus angle ＞ 10°,GAG content of the lateral compartment decreases significantly.