Summary
We investigated the secular trends of the incidence and hospitalization cost of hip fracture in Tangshan, China. The incidence of hip fracture and the hospitalization cost were both ...increasing during the observation period.
Introduction
The present study aimed to determine sex-, age-, and fracture type-specific incidence and annual changes in hip fractures in Tangshan, China, between 2007 and 2018.
Methods
We analyzed annual hip fracture incidence using urban hospital data during 2007–2018 and calculated incidence rate/100,000 person years in each age group and sex. We assessed annual changes in incidence among people aged >60 years using linear-by-linear association tests and evaluated hospitalization costs with the Kruskal–Wallis test.
Results
During the study period, we observed an increasing proportion of hip fractures in people >60 years old from 14.2 to 22.79%. Crude hip fracture incidence increased markedly from 140.87 to 306.56/100,000 in women (
p
< 0.01) and from 124.83 to 167.19/100,000 in men (
p
< 0.01) in the age group >60 years. Type-specific analysis indicated significantly increased trends in incidence of cervical and trochanteric fractures among women and cervical fracture among men (
p
< 0.01). In people aged 36–60 years, the trend of hip fracture increased significantly in both sexes. The total and cervical-to-trochanteric ratio in men increased, with significant upward trends (
p
< 0.01). The proportion of cervical fracture was higher than that for trochanteric fracture in women, with stable levels from 2007 to 2018. Hospitalization costs for cervical and trochanteric fractures increased by 51.91% and 53.20%, respectively, during 2011–2018.
Conclusion
Tangshan will have an increasing burden on health care resources attributable to a considerable rise in hip fracture incidence and the older population. Further investigation of risk factors and subsequent implementation of effective measures to prevent hip fracture are needed.
Summary Objective To evaluate the effects of PTH(1-34) on cartilage, subchondral bone mass and structure in medial meniscectomized guinea pigs and compare them to those of celecoxib (CLX). Method ...Forty-eight 3-month-old male Hartley albino guinea pigs received either sham or medial meniscectomy (MNX) operations. One week after the procedure, meniscectomized animals began 12 weeks of treatment by oral administration of CLX (20 mg/kg, daily), subcutaneous injection of PTH (1-34) (24 μg/kg, 5 days/week), or normal saline for MNX group. All animals were euthanized 12 weeks later, cartilage degeneration and subchondral bone micro-architecture was analyzed. Results OARSI scores indicated cartilage degeneration was partially inhibited by either CLX or PTH(1-34). Cartilage was significantly thicker in PTH(1-34)-treated animals than in CLX-treated animals. Both CLX and PTH(1-34) treatment were associated with lower ADAMTS-4 and periostin expression than MNX. MMP-13 expression in PTH(1-34) group was significantly lower than that in CLX group. However, AGG expression and the ratio of Col-II/MMP-13 expression in PTH(1-34) group were significantly higher than in the CLX group. Micro-CT analysis showed BMD, BV/TV, and Tb.Th levels to be significantly lower in the MNX group and CLX groups than in the sham group, but these parameters were significantly higher in the PTH(1-34) group than in either the MNX group or CLX group. Conclusions Both CLX and PTH(1-34) exhibits protective effects on cartilage degeneration in meniscectomized guinea pigs. However, PTH(1-34) exhibited superior performance to CLX not only in metabolism of cartilage tissue but also in maintenance of subchondral bone micro-architecture.
Abnormal remodeling of subchondral bone (SB) induced by estrogen deficiency has been shown to be involved in osteoarthritis (OA). Raloxifene (RAL) is commonly used to treat postmenopausal ...osteoporosis (OP). However, little is known about its effects on OA combined with estrogen deficiency. This study was performed to evaluate the efficacy of RAL on patella baja-induced patellofemoral joint OA (PFJOA) in an ovariectomized rat model.
Patellar ligament shortening (PLS) and ovariectomy (OVX) were performed simultaneously in 3-month-old female Sprague–Dawley rats, which were treated with RAL (10 mg/kg/day) or vehicle at 72 h postoperatively for 10 weeks. PFJOA was assessed by immunohistochemistry (IHC), real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) staining, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), micro-computed tomography (μCT), histomorphology and behavioral analyses.
X-ray examinations showed that patella baja was successfully established by PLS. Histomorphological analysis revealed that PFJOA was significantly exacerbated by OVX and markedly alleviated by RAL. Moreover, RAL improved cartilage metabolism by decreasing MMP-13, ADAMTS-4, and caspase-3 and increasing Col-II and aggrecan at both the protein and mRNA levels. Furthermore, RAL markedly improved bone mass and SB microarchitecture and reduced osteoclast numbers and the serum osteocalcin and CTX-I levels. Although RAL showed a trend toward reducing pain sensitivity based on mechanical allodynia testing, this result was not statistically significant.
These findings demonstrate that RAL treatment retards PFJOA progression in an ovariectomized rat model, suggesting that it may be a potential candidate for amelioration of the progression of PFJOA accompanied by postmenopausal OP.
Accounting for the genetic substructure of human populations has become a major practical issue for studying complex genetic disorders. Allele frequency differences among ethnic groups and subgroups ...and admixture between different ethnic groups can result in frequent false-positive results or reduced power in genetic studies. Here, we review the problems and progress in defining population differences and the application of statistical methods to improve association studies. It is now possible to take into account the confounding effects of population stratification using thousands of unselected genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphisms or, alternatively, selected panels of ancestry informative markers. These methods do not require any demographic information and therefore can be widely applied to genotypes available from multiple sources. We further suggest that it will be important to explore results in homogeneous population subsets as we seek to define the extent to which genomic variation influences complex phenotypes.
We carry out a project to independently measure the distances of supernova remnants (SNRs) in the first quadrant of the Galaxy. In this project, red clump (RC) stars are used as standard candles and ...extinction probes to build the optical extinction (AV)-distance(D) relation in each direction of extinction-known SNRs. The distances of 15 SNRs are determined. Among them, the distances of G65.8-0.5, G66.0-0.0, and G67.6+0.9 are given for the first time. We also obtain 32 upper/lower limits of distances, and the distances to G5.7-0.1, G15.1-1.6, G28.8+1.5, and G78.2+2.1 are constrained. Most of the distances measured by the RC method are consistent with previous results. The RC method provides independent access to the distances of SNRs.
► Graphene–β-CD–gold nanoparticles material was synthesized through a green route. ► The material showed excellent electrochemical behavior on oxidation of AA, DA and UA. ► Simultaneous determination ...of AA, DA and UA was performed by square wave voltammetry. ► UA in human urine sample was detected without pretreatment.
Graphene decorated with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs–β-CD–Gra) has been synthesized by in situ thermal reduction of graphene oxide and HAuCl4 with β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) under alkaline condition. The AuNPs–β-CD–Gra product was well characterized by infrared spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and selected area electron diffraction. This material was used to fabricate an AuNPs–β-CD–Gra-modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) which showed excellent electro-oxidation of l-ascorbic acid (AA), dopamine (DA) and uric acid (UA) in 0.10M NaH2PO4–HCl buffer solution (pH 2.0) by square wave voltammetry (SWV). Three well-resolved oxidation peaks of AA and DA and UA were obtained. The AuNPs–β-CD–Gra/GCE exhibits linear responses to AA, DA and UA in the ranges 30–2000, 0.5–150 and 0.5–60μM, respectively. The detection limits (based on S/N=3 and preconcentration time=3.0min) for AA, DA and UA are 10, 0.15 and 0.21μM, respectively. The AuNPs–β-CD–Gra/GCE has been successfully applied to determine UA in human urine with satisfactory results. Our work provides a simple, convenient and green route to synthesize AuNPs on Gra which is potentially useful in electroanalysis.
This paper reports for the first time the electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) behavior of graphite-like carbon nitride (g-C3N4) with K2S2O8 as the coreactant. The possible ECL reaction ...mechanisms are proposed. The spectral features of the ECL emission and photoluminescence (PL) of g-C3N4 are compared, and their resemblance demonstrates that the excited states of g-C3N4 from both ECL and photoexcitation are the same. The effects of K2S2O8 concentration, pH, g-C3N4/carbon powder ratio, and scan rate on the ECL intensity have been studied in detail. Furthermore, it is observed that the ECL intensity is efficiently quenched by trace amounts of Cu2+. g-C3N4 is thus employed to fabricate an ECL sensor which shows high selectivity to Cu2+ determination. The limit of detection is determined as 0.9 nM. It is anticipated that g-C3N4 could be a new class of promising material for fabricating ECL sensors.
The recent rapid development in the field of extracellular vesicles (EVs) based nanotechnology has provided unprecedented opportunities for nanomedicine platforms. As natural nanocarriers, EVs such ...as exosomes, exosome-like nanoparticles and outer membrane vesicles (OMVs), have unique structure/composition/morphology characteristics, and show excellent physical and chemical/biochemical properties, making them a new generation of theranostic nanomedicine. Here, we reviewed the characteristics of EVs from the perspective of their formation and biological function in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Moreover, EVs can crucially participate in the interaction and communication of intestinal epithelial cells (IECs)-immune cells-gut microbiota to regulate immune response, intestinal inflammation and intestinal homeostasis. Interestingly, based on current representative examples in the field of exosomes and exosome-like nanoparticles for IBD treatment, it is shown that plant, milk, and cells-derived exosomes and exosome-like nanoparticles can exert a therapeutic effect through their components, such as proteins, nucleic acid, and lipids. Moreover, several drug loading methods and target modification of exosomes are used to improve their therapeutic capability. We also discussed the application of exosomes and exosome-like nanoparticles in the treatment of IBD. In this review, we aim to better and more clearly clarify the underlying mechanisms of the EVs in the pathogenesis of IBD, and provide directions of exosomes and exosome-like nanoparticles mediated for IBD treatment.
The purpose of the current study was to characterize the expression of long-noncoding-RNA ZFAS1 (ZFAS1) and assess the clinical significance of ZFAS1 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
A total of ...173 patients with NSCLC were addressed in the present retrospective study. Expression levels of ZFAS1 were detected by quantitative real-time PCR. We further analyzed the correlation between ZFAS1 and clinicopathologic features of NSCLC with X2-test. Survival rate was determined with Kaplan-Meier and statistically analyzed with the log-rank method between groups. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to analyze the prognostic significance of ZFAS1 expression.
ZFAS1 was upregulated in NSCLC tissues (p < 0.01) and higher expression levels of ZFAS1 were found in more advanced tumor tissues (All p < 0.05). ZFAS1 expression levels were significantly associated with tumor differentiation grade (p = 0.028), lymph node metastasis (p = 0.001) and TMN stage (p = 0.001). Furthermore, we found that patients with higher ZFAS1 expression level are associated with a poorer overall survival. Univariate and multivariate analyses indicated that high ZFAS1 expression was an independent prognostic factor for poor survival of NSCLC patients.
Our results illustrated the potential role of ZFAS1 as a prognostic marker for NSCLC patients.