Summary
The aim of the current study was to use a Bayesian network meta-analysis to evaluate the relative benefits and risks of balloon kyphoplasty (BK), percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP), and ...non-surgical treatment (NST) for patients with osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCFs). The results demonstrate that for pain and functional status, PVP was significantly better than NST, while the three treatments did not significantly differ in other outcomes.
Introduction
BK, PVP, and NST are widely used to treat OVCFs, but preferable treatment is unknown. The aim of the current study was to use a Bayesian network meta-analysis to evaluate the relative benefits and risks of BK, PVP, and NST for patients with OVCFs.
Methods
PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library were screened. Based on the preplanned eligibility criteria, we screened and included randomized controlled trials that compared BK, PVP, and NST in treating patients with OVCFs. The risk of bias for individual studies was appraised. The data were pooled using a Bayesian network meta-analysis and a traditional direct comparison meta-analysis.
Results
Of the 1057 relevant studies, 15 were eligible and included. Compared with NST, PVP significantly reduced pain, Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), and Roland–Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ). The comparative efficacy of BK and PVP was similar for pain (mean difference (MD) 0.51, 95% credible interval (CrI) − 0.35 to 1.4), ODI (MD 0.11, 95% CrI − 13 to 13), and RMDQ (MD 1.2, 95% CrI − 2.7 to 5.4). The European Quality of Life–5 Dimensions (EQ–5D) and Physical Component Summary subscales of the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form General Health Survey (SF-36 PCS) did not differ significantly. There were also no substantial differences in the risks of subsequent vertebral fractures, adjacent vertebral fractures, and re-fractures at the treated level across all comparators. The results of pairwise meta-analyses were almost consistent with those of network meta-analyses. The treatment ranking indicated that PVP had the highest probability of being the most effective for pain, ODI, RMDQ, and EQ-5D. BK had the highest probability of improving SF-36 PCS and of reducing the risk of subsequent vertebral fractures and re-fractures at the treated level. NST was ranked first in preventing adjacent vertebral fractures.
Conclusion
PVP was the most effective method for improving pain, functional status, and quality of life (based on EQ-5D). BK emerged as the best intervention for decreasing the risk of subsequent vertebral fractures and re-fractures at the treated level. NST could be ranked first in reducing adjacent vertebral fractures. The future directions of OVCFs treatment will depend on the outcomes of additional and larger randomized trials in comparing BK with PVP.
The rotation curve (RC) of the Milky Way out to ~100 kpc has been constructed using ~16,000 primary red clump giants (PRCGs) in the outer disc selected from the LAMOST Spectroscopic Survey of the ...Galactic Anti-centre (LSS-GAC) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)-III/APOGEE survey, combined with ~5700 halo K giants (HKGs) selected from the SDSS/SEGUE survey. To derive the RC, the PRCG sample of the warm disc population and the HKG sample of halo stellar population are, respectively, analysed using a kinematical model allowing for the asymmetric drift corrections and re-analysed using the spherical Jeans equation along with measurements of the anisotropic parameter beta currently available. The typical uncertainties of RC derived from the PRCG and HKG samples are, respectively, 5-7 km s super( -1) and several tens km s super( -1). We determine a circular velocity at the solar position, ... and an azimuthal peculiar speed of the Sun, ..., both in good agreement with the previous determinations. The newly constructed RC has a generally flat value of 240 km s super( -1) within a Galactocentric distance rof 25 kpc and then decreases steadily to 150 km s super( -1) at r ~ 100 kpc. On top of this overall trend, the RC exhibits two prominent localized dips, one at r ~ 11 kpc and another at r ~ 19 kpc. From the newly constructed RC, combined with other constraints, we have built a parametrized mass model for the Galaxy, yielding a virial mass of the Milky Way's dark matter halo of ... and a local dark matter density, ... (ProQuest: ... denotes formulae/symbols omitted.)
Activation of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway occurs frequently in breast cancer. However, clinical results of single-agent PI3K inhibitors have been modest to date. A combinatorial drug ...screen on multiple PIK3CA mutant cancers with decreased sensitivity to PI3K inhibitors revealed that combined CDK 4/6-PI3K inhibition synergistically reduces cell viability. Laboratory studies revealed that sensitive cancers suppress RB phosphorylation upon treatment with single-agent PI3K inhibitors but cancers with reduced sensitivity fail to do so. Similarly, patients’ tumors that responded to the PI3K inhibitor BYL719 demonstrated suppression of pRB, while nonresponding tumors showed sustained or increased levels of pRB. Importantly, the combination of PI3K and CDK 4/6 inhibitors overcomes intrinsic and adaptive resistance leading to tumor regressions in PIK3CA mutant xenografts.
•Synergy exists between inhibitions of CDK 4/6 and PI3K in PIK3CA mutant breast cancer.•CDK 4/6-PI3K inhibition is effective in several PIK3CA mutant xenograft tumor models.•Failure to suppress pRB correlates with resistance to PI3K inhibitors in patients.
PI3K inhibitors have only modest clinical efficacy in breast cancers with an aberrantly activated PI3K pathway. Vora et al. show that inhibiting CDK 4/6 overcomes intrinsic and adaptive resistance to PI3K inhibitors in these tumors and that reduction of phosphorylated RB is a good biomarker for the response.
•P-milling solves the kinetic and synthetic problems of Mg(In) simultaneously.•Mg(In) solid solution catalyzed with in situ formed MgF2 is prepared.•Mg(In) solid solution shows improved desorption ...kinetics (Ea=127.7kJ/mol).•Dual tuning of the thermodynamic and kinetic properties of MgH2 is realized.
The reversible formation of Mg(In) solid solution provides a new way to tune the dehydriding thermodynamics of MgH2. However, the preparation of this solid solution is quite difficult and its dehydriding kinetics is rather sluggish. This work offers a novel technique, plasma milling (P-milling), to solve the two problems simultaneously. The efficiency of the synthesis of Mg(In) solid solution, with a hydrogen capacity of up to 5.16wt.%, is improved significantly. Meanwhile, the kinetics is also modified by the catalyzing effect of in situ synthesized MgF2.
Mg2In0.1Ni solid solution with an Mg2Ni-type structure has been synthesized and its hydrogen storage properties have been investigated. The results showed that the introduction of In into Mg2Ni not ...only significantly improved the dehydrogenation kinetics but also greatly lowered the thermodynamic stability. The dehydrogenation activation energy (Ea) and enthalpy change (ΔH) decreased from 80 kJ/mol and 64.5 kJ/mol H2 to 28.9 kJ/mol and 38.4 kJ/mol H2, respectively. The obtained results point to a method for improving not only the thermodynamic but also the kinetic properties of hydrogen storage materials.
•Mg2In0.1Ni solid solution with an Mg2Ni-type structure is prepared.•Mg2Ni is thermodynamically destabilized by addition of In.•Mg2In0.1Ni solid solution shows excellent desorption kinetics.•Mechanisms of the tuned thermodynamic and kinetic properties are explained.•Dual tuning of the thermodynamic and kinetic properties is realized.
Abstract
We present the second release of value-added catalogues of the LAMOST Spectroscopic Survey of the Galactic Anticentre (LSS-GAC DR2). The catalogues present values of radial velocity Vr, ...atmospheric parameters – effective temperature Teff, surface gravity log g, metallicity Fe/H, α-element to iron (metal) abundance ratio α/Fe (α/M), elemental abundances C/H and N/H and absolute magnitudes MV and $M_{K_{\rm s}}$ deduced from 1.8 million spectra of 1.4 million unique stars targeted by the LSS-GAC since 2011 September until 2014 June. The catalogues also give values of interstellar reddening, distance and orbital parameters determined with a variety of techniques, as well as proper motions and multiband photometry from the far-UV to the mid-IR collected from the literature and various surveys. Accuracies of radial velocities reach 5 km s−1 for the late-type stars, and those of distance estimates range between 10 and 30 per cent, depending on the spectral signal-to-noise ratios. Precisions of Fe/H, C/H and N/H estimates reach 0.1 dex, and those of α/Fe and α/M reach 0.05 dex. The large number of stars, the contiguous sky coverage, the simple yet non-trivial target selection function and the robust estimates of stellar radial velocities and atmospheric parameters, distances and elemental abundances make the catalogues a valuable data set to study the structure and evolution of the Galaxy, especially the solar-neighbourhood and the outer disc.
Hydrolysis of sodium borohydride (NaBH sub(4)) is one of the most attractive methods for energy generation of mobile systems used as hydrogen source because of the high gravimetric density and ...controllable hydrogen generation of NaBH sub(4). However, regeneration of NaBH sub(4) is a key issue that remains to be solved, and the energy efficiency of NaBH sub(4) is unknown. In the present study, the energy efficiency of NaBH sub(4) hydrolysis and the entire process of sodium metaborate (NaBO sub(2)) regeneration via reaction with magnesium hydride (MgH sub(2)) is determined through thermodynamics calculations. The maximum energy efficiency is 49.91%, indicating that NaBH sub(4) generation by reaction between MgH sub(2) and NaBO sub(2) during ball milling is feasible. An inexpensive high-energy ball milling method is employed to regenerate NaBH sub(4) by reaction of NaBO sub(2) with magnesium-lanthanum hydrides (H-Mg sub(3)La). Products after ball milling are characterized through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction measurements. In the reaction of NaBO sub(2) with H-Mg sub(3)La, MgH sub(2) reacts with NaBO sub(2) and then lanthanum hydride (LaH sub(3)) reacts with NaBO sub(2) to produce NaBH sub(4).
Amorphous and nanocrystalline vanadium pentoxide (V sub(2)O sub(5)) were prepared through a combination of sol-gel processing paired with electrochemical deposition and investigated as cathodes for ...sodium-ion batteries. Amorphous V sub(2)O sub(5) demonstrated superior electrochemical properties upon sodiation as compared to its crystalline counterpart. More specifically, amorphous vanadium pentoxide had a measured capacity of 241 mA h g super(-1), twice the capacity of its crystalline contemporary at 120 mA h g super(-1). In addition, the amorphous vanadium pentoxide demonstrated a much higher discharge potential, energy density, and cycle stability. The development of amorphous materials could enable the usage and design of previously unexplored electrode materials; herein, the possible relationship between the improved sodiation properties and the amorphous structure is discussed.
Estuaries have been sites of intensive human activities during the past century. Tracing the evolution of subaqueous topography in estuaries on a decadal timescale enables us to understand the ...effects of human activities on estuaries. Bathymetric data from 1955 to 2010 show that land reclamation decreased the subaqueous area of Lingding Bay, in the Pearl River estuary, by ~170 km
and decreased its water volume by 615 × 10
m
, representing a net decrease of 11.2 × 10
m
per year and indicating the deposition of approximately 14.5 Mt/yr of sediment in Lingding Bay during that period. Whereas Lingding Bay was mainly governed by natural processes with slight net deposition before 1980, subsequent dredging and large port engineering projects changed the subaqueous topography of the bay by shallowing its shoals and deepening its troughs. Between 2012 and 2013, continuous dredging and a surge of sand excavation resulted in local changes in water depth of ± 5 m/yr, far exceeding the magnitude of natural topographic evolution in Lingding Bay. Reclamation, dredging, and navigation-channel projects removed 8.4 Mt/yr of sediment from Lingding Bay, representing 29% of the sediment input to the bay, and these activities have increased recently.
Highlights • Microglial autophagy can influence the inflammatory response and survival of microglia. • Microglial autophagy may be pro-inflammatory or anti- inflammatory. • Many mechanisms involved ...in mediating the process of microglial autophagy.
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