Effective and validated animal models are valuable to investigate the pathogenesis and potential therapeutics for human diseases. There is much concern for diabetic retinopathy (DR) in that it ...affects substantial number of working population all around the world, resulting in visual deterioration and social deprivation. In this review, we discuss animal models of DR based on different species of animals from zebrafish to monkeys and prerequisites for animal models. Despite criticisms on imprudent use of laboratory animals, we hope that animal models of DR will be appropriately utilized to deepen our understanding on the pathogenesis of DR and to support our struggle to find novel therapeutics against catastrophic visual loss from DR.
We present the evolution of crystallographic orientation and microstructure during thermomechanical fatigue (TMF) of heat-resistant cast austenitic stainless steel at peak temperatures reaching ...950 °C using the electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) method. Higher restraints or peak temperatures induced larger crystal misorientation by geometrically necessary dislocations (GNDs), forming dislocation walls or subgrains in the grains. Networked carbide clusters in the microstructure locally amplified the misorientation in the adjacent matrix and initiated fatigue cracks. The mean value of cumulative misorientations over a specific distance in the matrix was linearly proportional to the cyclic plastic strain.
Vitamin D may have anticancer effects against colorectal cancer (CRC). Bone mineral density (BMD) reflects the long-term vitamin D status. This study investigated the association between osteoporosis ...and colorectal neoplasms (CRN). The data were obtained from the National Health Insurance Service sample cohort, which included 60,386 osteoporosis patients and 8224 controls who underwent BMD in 2002-2019. The logistic regression models included age, sex, income level, and comorbidity. Sensitivity tests were performed using the data from the National Health Screening Program. In total, 7706 (11.2%) patients were diagnosed with CRN, and the proportion was significantly higher in osteoporosis patients than in controls (11.7% vs. 8.1%). In the multivariate analysis, osteoporosis was associated with an increased risk of CRN (odds ratio (OR) = 1.91, 95% confidence interval = 1.75-2.09,
< 0.0001), which was significant for both colorectal adenomas and CRC (OR = 1.88 and 1.83, respectively). A subgroup analysis by sex revealed a significant association between osteoporosis and CRN in both women and men (OR = 2.06 and 1.66, respectively). The sensitivity tests revealed results similar to those of the original dataset. In conclusion, osteoporosis is significantly associated with CRN risk in both sexes. In high-risk patients with low BMD, appropriate screening for CRN and vitamin D supplementation are required, regardless of sex.
Abstract Background Management of atypical femoral fracture on bisphosphonate therapy still remains controversy and is reported high rate of complications. The aim of this study was to evaluate the ...outcome of intramedullary nailing in patients with atypical femoral fracture who took bisphosphonate more than one year through the multicenter retrospective study. Methods We gathered 75 atypical femoral fractures from seven institutions between 2009 and 2014. Among them 46 atypical femoral fractures which met the inclusion criteria was evaluated in this study. The average age was 70.1 years (53 to 80) and the average duration of bisphosphonate use was 5.1 years (1 to 15 years). Medical records and radiographs were reviewed to determine time to union, union rate, need for revision surgery, restoration of ambulatory function, and complications. Results Twenty-nine (63%) fractures healed within 6 months without complications. The average time to union except two non-union was 24.9 weeks (11 to 48 weeks). Two patients (4.3%) underwent revision surgery for non-union and there was no implant failure. Thirty-seven (80.4%) patients achieved their pre-fracture ambulatory function at the final follow up. Conclusions Although the incidence of delayed bone healing is high in atypical femoral fracture on bisphosphonate therapy even treated with intramedullary nailing, the incidence of revision surgery and implant failure was relatively lower than those of extramedullary devices.
An iridoid glycoside, oldenlandoside III (5) was isolated from the n-butanol fraction of methanol extracts of the aerial parts of Oldenlandia diffusa Roxb. along with six others previously ...characterized iridoid glycosides; geniposidic acid (1), scandoside (2), feretoside (3), 10-omicron-benzoylscandoside methyl ester (4), asperulosidic acid (6) and deacetylasperulosidic acid (7). Compounds 1, 2, and 7 inhibited LDL-oxidation, and showed 63.3+/-2.0, 62.2+/-1.6, and 63.8+/-1.5% inhibition, respectively, at a concentration of 20 microg/mL.
Vascular integrity is important in maintaining homeostasis of brain microenvironments. In various brain diseases including Alzheimer's disease, stroke, and multiple sclerosis, increased paracellular ...permeability due to breakdown of blood-brain barrier is linked with initiation and progression of pathological conditions. We developed a capacitance sensor array to monitor dielectric responses of cerebral endothelial cell monolayer, which could be utilized to evaluate the integrity of brain microvasculature. Our system measured real-time capacitance values which demonstrated frequency- and time-dependent variations. With the measurement of capacitance at the frequency of 100 Hz, we could differentiate the effects of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a representative permeability-inducing factor, on endothelial cells and quantitatively analyse the normalized values. Interestingly, we showed differential capacitance values according to the status of endothelial cell monolayer, confluent or sparse, evidencing that the integrity of monolayer was associated with capacitance values. Another notable feature was that we could evaluate the expression of molecules in samples in our system with the reference of real-time capacitance values. We suggest that this dielectric spectroscopy system could be successfully implanted as a novel in vitro assay in the investigation of the roles of paracellular permeability in various brain diseases.
The quench and recovery characteristics of two GdBCO-coated conductor racetrack coils, one wound onto a high-strength aluminum (AL 6061-T6) bobbin and the other wound onto an oxygen-free ...high-conductivity (OFHC) copper bobbin, were evaluated to investigate the effect of bobbin material on the thermal stability of the HTS racetrack coil. The test results show that the minimum quench energy values of the coil wound onto the OFHC copper bobbin were larger than those of the coil wound onto the AL 6061-T6 bobbin. Furthermore, in the case of the coil wound onto the OFHC copper bobbin, the voltage signals increased more slowly compared to the coil wound onto the AL bobbin, and the recovery time was much shorter after a hot spot was generated by a heater. Overall, the coil wound onto the OFHC copper bobbin exhibited better thermal stability due to its superior thermal diffusivity.
Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a major regulator in retinal and choroidal angiogenesis, which are common causes of blindness in all age groups. Recently anti-VEGF treatment using ...anti-VEGF antibody has revolutionarily improved the visual outcome in patients with vaso-proliferative retinopathies. Herein, we demonstrated that bevacizumab as an anti-VEGF antibody could inhibit differentiation of retinoblastoma cells without affection to cellular viability, which would be mediated via blockade of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) 1/2 activation. The retinoblastoma cells expressed VEGFR-2 as well as TrkA which is a neurotrophin receptor associated with differentiation of retinoblastoma cells. TrkA in retinoblastoma cells was activated with VEGF treatment. Interestingly even in the concentration of no cellular death, bevascizumab significantly attenuated the neurite formation of differentiated retinoblastoma cells, which was accompanied by inhibition of neurofilament and shank2 expression. Furthermore, bevacizumab inhibited differentiation of retinoblastoma cells by blockade of ERK 1/2 activation. Therefore, based on that the differentiated retinoblastoma cells are mostly photoreceptors, our results suggest that anti-VEGF therapies would affect to the maintenance or function of photoreceptors in mature retina.
The grid map, representing area information with the number of cells, is a widely used mapping scheme for mobile robots and simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) processes. However, the ...tremendous amount of cells in a grid map for a detailed map representation results in overheads for memory space and computing paths in mobile robots. Therefore, to overcome the overhead of the grid map, this study proposes a new low overhead mapping scheme which the authors call as the Rmap that represents an area with variable sizes of rectangles instead of the number of cells in the grid map. This mapping scheme also provides an exploration path for obtaining new information for the unknown area. This study evaluated the performance of the Rmap in real environments as well as in simulation environments. The experiment results show that the Rmap can reduce the overhead of a grid map. In one of our experimental environments, the Rmap represented an area with 85% less memory than the grid map. The Rmap also showed better coverage performance compared with other previous algorithms.
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