Int J Med Sci
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Observational Study
Distinct Patterns of Brain Atrophy associated with Mild Behavioral Impairment in Cognitively Normal Elderly Adults.
A cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate patterns of gray matter changes in cognitively normal elderly adults with mild behavioral impairment (MBI). Sixteen MBI patients and 18 healthy controls were selected. All the participants underwent a neuropsychological assessment battery, including the Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), and Chinese version of the mild behavioral impairment-checklist scale (MBI-C), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. ⋯ This suggests a link between MBI and decreased grey matter volume in cognitively normal elderly adults. Atrophy in the left frontal cortex and right thalamus in MBI patients is in line with frontal-subcortical circuit deficits, which have been linked to neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) in dementia. These initial results imply that MBI might be an early harbinger for subsequent cognitive decline and dementia.
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Objectives: Bisphosphonates (BPs) are powerful inhibitors of osteoclastogenesis and are used to prevent osteoporotic bone loss and reduce the risk of osteoporotic fracture in patients suffering from postmenopausal osteoporosis. Patients with breast cancer or gynecological malignancies being treated with BPs or those receiving bone-targeted therapy for metastatic prostate cancer are at increased risk of bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (BRONJ). Although BPs markedly ameliorate osteoporosis, their adverse effects largely limit the clinical application of these drugs. ⋯ This was followed by biochemical and functional analyses to determine the clinicopathological mechanisms affected by ALN. Results: The findings from this proteomics study suggest that the RIPK3/Wnt/GSK3/β-catenin signaling pathway is significantly perturbed upon ALN treatment, resulting in abnormal angiogenesis, inflammation, anabolism, remodeling, and mineralization in bone cells in an in vitro cell culture system. Conclusion: Our investigation into potential key signaling mechanisms in response to ALN provides a rational basis for suppressing BP-induced adverse effect and presents various therapeutic strategies.
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Comparative Study
Comparing mTOR inhibitor Rapamycin with Torin-2 within the RIST molecular-targeted regimen in neuroblastoma cells.
The prognosis for patients with relapsed or refractory high-risk neuroblastoma remains dismal and novel therapeutic options are urgently needed. The RIST treatment protocol has a multimodal metronomic therapy design combining molecular-targeted drugs (Rapamycin and Dasatinib) with chemotherapy backbone (Irinotecan and Temozolomide), which is currently verified in a phase II clinical trial (NCT01467986). With the availability of novel and more potent ATP competitive mTOR inhibitors, we expect to improve the RIST combination therapy. ⋯ The efficacy of nanomolar concentrations may significantly reduce unwanted immunosuppression associated with Rapamycin. However, at this point we cannot rule out that Torin-2 has increased toxicity due to its potency in more complex systems. Nonetheless, our results suggest that including Torin-2 as a substitute for Rapamycin in the RIST protocol may represent a valid option to be evaluated in prospective clinical trials for relapsed or treatment-refractory high-risk neuroblastoma.
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We explored has_circ_0071106 as a diagnostic marker for type 2 diabetes (T2DM) in south China, and predicted the functional mechanism of the target circRNA. A total of 107 T2DM patients and 107 healthy reference persons were included as the research objects. In the first stage, the circRNA microarray was used to detect the peripheral blood of 4 T2DM and 4 control groups to screen the differential expression profile of circRNA. ⋯ Lastly,we found that has_circ_0071106 increase the risk of T2DM (OR=2.819 (95% CI: 1.415~5.616)). Thearea under the ROCcurve has_circ_0071106 was 0.690, the sensitivity was 62.1%, and the specificity was 69.9%. The function prediction results showed that has_circ_0071106 was involved in biological processes such as protein binding, gene transcription, and may be involved in the pathway of hsa-miR-29a-5p regulating diabetes, has_circ_0071106 may be used as a diagnostic marker for T2DM.
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Background: Periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) represents a serious complication following total knee arthroplasty. In the setting of chronic infections, the two-staged approach has traditionally been the preferred treatment method. The aim of this study was to determine the optimal period of rest between the first and second stage. ⋯ Conclusions: We observed the best outcome regarding infection control in patients who had undergone second-stage surgery within 12 weeks after first-stage surgery. Nearly 90% of these patients stayed free from infection until the final follow-up. An increased number of performed spacer-exchanges and a bad local extremity grade also had a negative impact on the outcome.