A number of patient-specific and leukemia-associated factors are related to the poor outcome in older patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). However, comprehensive studies regarding the impact ...of genetic alterations in this group of patients are limited. In this study, we compared relevant mutations in 21 genes between AML patients aged 60 years or older and those younger and exposed their prognostic implications. Compared with the younger patients, the elderly had significantly higher incidences of PTPN11, NPM1, RUNX1, ASXL1, TET2, DNMT3A and TP53 mutations but a lower frequency of WT1 mutations. The older patients more frequently harbored one or more adverse genetic alterations. Multivariate analysis showed that DNMT3A and TP53 mutations were independent poor prognostic factors among the elderly, while NPM1 mutation in the absence of FLT3/ITD was an independent favorable prognostic factor. Furthermore, the status of mutations could well stratify older patients with intermediate-risk cytogenetics into three risk groups. In conclusion, older AML patients showed distinct genetic alterations from the younger group. Integration of cytogenetics and molecular mutations can better risk-stratify older AML patients. Development of novel therapies is needed to improve the outcome of older patients with poor prognosis under current treatment modalities.
We revisit the diagonal ridge feature (diagonal distributions in the R, vφ plane) found in Gaia and present a timing analysis for it between Galactocentric distances of R = 7.5 and 12 kpc, using ...main-sequence turnoff and OB stars selected from the LAMOST Galactic spectroscopic surveys. We recover the ridge pattern in the R-vφ plane color coded by mean radial velocity and find that this feature is presented from very young (OB stars, few hundred megayears) to very old populations (τ = 9-14 Gyr). Meanwhile, some ridge features are also revealed in the metallicity Fe/H, /Fe, and vz distributions. In the LZ, vφ plane, one of the ridge patterns, with constant angular momentum per unit mass, shows variations with different age populations compared. However, the remaining two are relatively stable, implying there might be two kinds of ridge patterns with different dynamical origins and evolutions.
We demonstrate an optical Fabry-Perot interferometer fiber tip sensor based on an etched end of multimode fiber filled with ultraviolet adhesive. The fiber device is miniature (with diameter of less ...than 60 μm), robust and low cost, in a convenient reflection mode of operation, and has a very high gas pressure sensitivity of -40.94 nm/MPa, a large temperature sensitivity of 213 pm/°C within the range from 55 to 85 °C, and a relatively low temperature cross-sensitivity of 5.2 kPa/°C. This device has a high potential in monitoring environment of high pressure.
We report a study of the processes of e^{+}e^{-}→K^{+}D_{s}^{-}D^{*0} and K^{+}D_{s}^{*-}D^{0} based on e^{+}e^{-} annihilation samples collected with the BESIII detector operating at BEPCII at five ...center-of-mass energies ranging from 4.628 to 4.698 GeV with a total integrated luminosity of 3.7 fb^{-1}. An excess of events over the known contributions of the conventional charmed mesons is observed near the D_{s}^{-}D^{*0} and D_{s}^{*-}D^{0} mass thresholds in the K^{+} recoil-mass spectrum for events collected at sqrts=4.681 GeV. The structure matches a mass-dependent-width Breit-Wigner line shape, whose pole mass and width are determined as (3982.5_{-2.6}^{+1.8}±2.1) MeV/c^{2} and (12.8_{-4.4}^{+5.3}±3.0) MeV, respectively. The first uncertainties are statistical and the second are systematic. The significance of the resonance hypothesis is estimated to be 5.3 σ over the contributions only from the conventional charmed mesons. This is the first candidate for a charged hidden-charm tetraquark with strangeness, decaying into D_{s}^{-}D^{*0} and D_{s}^{*-}D^{0}. However, the properties of the excess need further exploration with more statistics.
Summary
Situational factors might help explain why most vertebral fractures occur in older people without a previous osteoporosis diagnosis. After adjusting for predisposing risk factors, the ...activity before the fall, type of fall, and falling direction remained as strong determinants of fall-related vertebral fractures in older men and women.
Introduction
A matched case-control study was conducted to investigate the effects of situational factors, in addition to predisposing factors, on clinical vertebral fractures in older men and women in Taiwan.
Methods
Cases were community-dwelling individuals aged ≥ 65 years who visited emergency departments (EDs) of two university-affiliated hospitals due to a fall and had a primary diagnosis of a vertebral fracture during a 1-year period in 2017. Five control patients per case, matched by the time of falling, gender, and age, who sought care in the same ED due to a fall resulting in a soft tissue injury were selected. A total of 64 men (age range: 65 ~ 99 years) and 194 women (age range: 65 ~ 100 years), diagnosed with a vertebral fracture, participated in the study.
Results
Multivariable logistic models were conducted separately for men and women. Results suggested that the following factors were significantly associated with an increased risk of vertebral fractures in men: a low educational level (adjusted odds ratio OR = 1.95; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.02 ~ 3.71), asthma (OR = 2.96; 95% CI, 1.35 ~ 6.92), depression (OR = 4.31; 95% CI, 1.03 ~ 17.5), toileting (OR = 2.30; 95% CI, 1.04 ~ 4.94), slipping (OR = 5.27; 95% CI, 1.80 ~ 15.4), stepping down (OR = 3.99; 95% CI, 1.40 ~ 11.4), sudden leg weakness (OR = 3.73; 95% CI, 1.13 ~ 12.4), and falling backwards (OR = 3.78; 95% CI, 1.83 ~ 7.80); and in women: a fracture history (OR = 2.00; 95% CI, 1.07 ~ 3.76), osteoporosis (OR = 1.94; 95% CI, 1.15 ~ 3.49), getting in/out of the bed/chair (OR = 1.90; 95% CI, 1.07 ~ 3.39), stepping down (OR = 2.10; 95% CI, 1.17 ~ 3.77), and falling backwards (OR = 4.00; 95% CI, 2.39 ~ 6.68) and sideways (OR = 2.61; 95% CI, 1.38 ~ 4.96).
Conclusions
The combination of predisposing and situational risk factors may display a more comprehensive risk profile for the occurrence of VFs, and thus, interventions that add both types of risk factors may result in greater risk reduction of VFs, although those specifically targeted at situational risk factors during falls are limited and their effectiveness and efficiency remained to be explored.
Biodegradable metals have attracted considerable attentions in recent years. Besides the early launched biodegradable Mg and Fe metals, Zn, an essential element with osteogenic potential of human ...body, is regarded and studied as a new kind of potential biodegradable metal quite recently. Unfortunately, pure Zn is soft, brittle and has low mechanical strength in the practice, which needs further improvement in order to meet the clinical requirements. On the other hand, the widely used industrial Zn-based alloys usually contain biotoxic elements (for instance, ZA series contain toxic Al elements up to 40 wt.%), which subsequently bring up biosafety concerns. In the present work, novel Zn-1X binary alloys, with the addition of nutrition elements Mg, Ca and Sr were designed (cast, rolled and extruded Zn-1Mg, Zn-1Ca and Zn-1Sr). Their microstructure and mechanical property, degradation and in vitro and in vivo biocompatibility were studied systematically. The results demonstrated that the Zn-1X (Mg, Ca and Sr) alloys have profoundly modified the mechanical properties and biocompatibility of pure Zn. Zn-1X (Mg, Ca and Sr) alloys showed great potential for use in a new generation of biodegradable implants, opening up a new avenue in the area of biodegradable metals.
An ideal material has yet to be discovered that can completely treat dentin hypersensitivity; however, calcium phosphate precipitation has exhibited potential value for the treatment of dentin ...hypersensitivity by the occlusion of dentinal tubules. We hypothesized that a novel mesoporous silica biomaterial (nano CaO@mesoporous silica, NCMS) containing nano-sized calcium oxide particles mixed with 30% phosphoric acid can efficiently occlude dentinal tubules and significantly reduce dentin permeability, even with the presence of pulpal pressure. This highly supersaturated Ca2+-and HPO4
2−ion-containing NCMS paste was brushed onto dentin surfaces, and the ions diffused deeply into the dentinal tubules and formed a CaHPO4·2H2O precipitation with a depth of 100 μm. The results of the dentin permeability tests showed that the novel mesoporous material exhibited a significant reduction in dentin permeability (p < 0.05), even under simulated pulpal pressure, as compared with our previously developed material, DP-bioglass, and a commercial desensitizing material, Seal & Protect®.
Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is regarded as a crucial contributing factor to cancer progression. Diverse factors have been identified as potent EMT inducers in ovarian cancer. However, ...molecular mechanism sustaining EMT of ovarian cancer cells remains elusive. Here we show that the presence of SOS1/EPS8/ABI1 complex is critical for sustained EMT traits of ovarian cancer cells. Consistent with the role of SOS1/EPS8/ABI1 complex as a Rac1-specific guanine nucleotide exchange factor, depleting Rac1 results in the loss of most of mesenchymal traits in mesenchymal-like ovarian cancer cells, whereas expressing constitutively active Rac1 leads to EMT in epithelial-like ovarian cancer cells. With the aid of clinically tested inhibitors targeting various EMT-associated signaling pathways, we show that only combined treatment of mitogen-activated extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (MEK1/2) and Src inhibitors can abolish constitutively active Rac1-led EMT and mesenchymal traits displayed by mesenchymal-like ovarian cancer cells. Further experiments also reveal that EMT can be induced in epithelial-like ovarian cancer cells by co-expressing constitutively active MEK1 and Src rather than either alone. As the activities of Erk and Src are higher in ovarian cancer cells with constitutively active Rac1, we conclude that Rac1 sustains ovarian cancer cell EMT through simultaneous activation of MEK1/2 and Src signaling pathways. Importantly, we demonstrate that combined use of MEK1/2 and Src inhibitors effectively suppresses development of intraperitoneal xenografts and prolongs the survival of ovarian cancer-bearing mice. This study suggests that cocktail of MEK1/2 and Src inhibitors represents an effective therapeutic strategy against ovarian cancer progression.
A classification for peri‐implant diseases and conditions was presented. Focused questions on the characteristics of peri‐implant health, peri‐implant mucositis, peri‐implantitis, and soft‐ and ...hard‐tissue deficiencies were addressed.
Peri‐implant health is characterized by the absence of erythema, bleeding on probing, swelling, and suppuration. It is not possible to define a range of probing depths compatible with health; Peri‐implant health can exist around implants with reduced bone support.
The main clinical characteristic of peri‐implant mucositis is bleeding on gentle probing. Erythema, swelling, and/or suppuration may also be present. An increase in probing depth is often observed in the presence of peri‐implant mucositis due to swelling or decrease in probing resistance. There is strong evidence from animal and human experimental studies that plaque is the etiological factor for peri‐implant mucositis.
Peri‐implantitis is a plaque‐associated pathological condition occurring in tissues around dental implants, characterized by inflammation in the peri‐implant mucosa and subsequent progressive loss of supporting bone. Peri‐implantitis sites exhibit clinical signs of inflammation, bleeding on probing, and/or suppuration, increased probing depths and/or recession of the mucosal margin in addition to radiographic bone loss.
The evidence is equivocal regarding the effect of keratinized mucosa on the long‐term health of the peri‐implant tissue. It appears, however, that keratinized mucosa may have advantages regarding patient comfort and ease of plaque removal.
Case definitions in day‐to‐day clinical practice and in epidemiological or disease‐surveillance studies for peri‐implant health, peri‐implant mucositis, and peri‐implantitis were introduced. The proposed case definitions should be viewed within the context that there is no generic implant and that there are numerous implant designs with different surface characteristics, surgical and loading protocols. It is recommended that the clinician obtain baseline radiographic and probing measurements following the completion of the implant‐supported prosthesis.
Aims
To report the annual incidence rate and the socio‐demographic and clinical characteristics of childhood Type 1 diabetes in Taiwan in the period 2003–2008.
Methods
A total of 1306 incident cases ...of childhood (0–14 years) Type 1 diabetes were identified from Taiwan's National Health Insurance claim datasets from the period 2003–2008. The temporal trend of the incidence rate of Type 1 diabetes and the features of hospitalizations in the first year after diagnosis were investigated. The associations of patient characteristics, child population density and the urbanization level of the residential areas with the risk of Type 1 diabetes were assessed using Poisson regression analysis.
Results
The annual incidence rate was stable, irrespective of age and gender, with a mean annual incidence rate of 5.3 per 100 000 children. Girls were more likely than boys to develop Type 1 diabetes (6.0 vs 4.7 per 100 000 children) and the incidence rate increased with age. There was no apparent geographic variation in the incidence rates. Despite the 60% decrease in the rate of admission (from 11.0 to 5.8%) over the study period, ketoacidosis remained the major diabetes complication leading to admission for childhood Type 1 diabetes. The multivariate analysis suggested that female gender and older age were significant predictors of the incidence of Type 1 diabetes, whereas the population density of children and the urbanization levels of the residential areas were not.
Conclusions
Girls and older children should receive particular attention when formulating preventive strategies targeting Type 1 diabetes. Additionally, clinicians should still carefully optimize the management of children with Type 1 diabetes to further reduce the occurrence of ketoacidosis.
What's new?
The incidence of childhood (<15 years) Type 1 diabetes was stable between 2003 and 2008 in Taiwan, with a mean annual incidence rate of 5.3 per 100 000 children.
Female gender and older age were significant predictors for the incidence of Type 1 diabetes.
Although the rate of admission for Type 1 diabetes decreased by 60% over the study period, ketoacidosis still accounted for 24.6% of all admissions of Type 1 diabetes in 2007–2008 and remained the major complication of diabetes leading to admission in the first year after the onset of Type 1 diabetes.
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