Effect of Low-magnitude, High-frequency Vibration on Osteocytes in the Regulation of Osteoclasts

Osteocytes are well evidenced to be the major mechanosensor in bone, responsible for sending signals to the effector cells (osteoblasts and osteoclasts) that carry out bone formation and resorption. Consistent with this hypothesis, it has been shown that osteocytes release various soluble factors (e.g. transforming growth factor-β, nitric oxide, and prostaglandins) that influence osteoblastic and osteoclastic activities when subjected to a variety of mechanical stimuli, including fluid flow, hydrostatic pressure, and mechanical stretching. Recently, low-magnitude, high-frequency (LMHF) vibration (e.g., acceleration less than \u3c 1 × g, where g = 9.81 m/s2, at 20–90 Hz) has gained much interest as studies have shown that such mechanical stimulation can positively influence skeletal homeostasis in animals and humans. Although the anabolic and anti-resorptive potential of LMHF vibration is becoming apparent, the signaling pathways that mediate bone adaptation to LMHF vibration are unknown. We hypothesize that osteocytes are the mechanosensor responsible for detecting the vibration stimulation and producing soluble factors that modulate the activity of effector cells. Hence, we applied low-magnitude (0.3 × g) vibrations to osteocyte-like MLO-Y4 cells at various frequencies (30, 60, 90 Hz) for 1 h. We found that osteocytes were sensitive to this vibration stimulus at the transcriptional level: COX-2 maximally increased by 344% at 90 Hz, while RANKL decreased most significantly (−55%, p \u3c 0.01) at 60 Hz. Conditioned medium collected from the vibrated MLO-Y4 cells attenuated the formation of large osteoclasts (≥ 10 nuclei) by 36% (p \u3c 0.05) and the amount of osteoclastic resorption by 20% (p = 0.07). The amount of soluble RANKL (sRANKL) in the conditioned medium was found to be 53% lower in the vibrated group (p \u3c 0.01), while PGE2 release was also significantly decreased (−61%, p \u3c 0.01). We conclude that osteocytes are able to sense LMHF vibration and respond by producing soluble factors that inhibit osteoclast formation

Automatically early detection of skin cancer: Study based on nueral netwok classification

In this paper, an automatically skin cancer classification system is developed and the relationship of skin cancer image across different type of neural network are studied with different types of preprocessing.. The collected images are feed into the system, and across different image processing procedure to enhance the image properties. Then the normal skin is removed from the skin affected area and the cancer cell is left in the image. Useful information can be extracted from these images and pass to the classification system for training and testing. Recognition accuracy of the 3-layers back-propagation neural network classifier is 89.9% and auto-associative neural network is 80.8% in the image database that include dermoscopy photo and digital photo. © 2009 IEEE

Analysis of post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) outcomes with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) assessments-a single tertiary referral center experience and review of literature

Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders (PTLDs) are lymphoid or plasmacytic proliferations ranging from polyclonal reactive proliferations to overt lymphomas that develop as consequence of immunosuppression in recipients of solid organ transplantation (SOT) or allogeneic bone marrow/hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Immunosuppression and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection are known risk factors for PTLD. Patients with documented histopathologic diagnosis of primary PTLD at our institution between January 2000 and October 2019 were studied. Sixty-six patients with PTLD following SOT were followed for a median of 9.0 years. The overall median time from transplant to PTLD diagnosis was 5.5 years, with infant transplants showing the longest time to diagnosis at 12.0 years, compared to pediatric and adolescent transplants at 4.0 years and adult transplants at 4.5 years. The median overall survival (OS) was 19.0 years. In the monomorphic diffuse large B-cell (M-DLBCL-PTLD) subtype, median OS was 10.7 years, while median OS for polymorphic subtype was not yet reached. There was no significant difference in OS in patients with M-DLBCL-PTLD stratified by quantitative EBV viral load over and under 100,000 copies/mL at time of diagnosis, although there was a trend towards worse prognosis in those with higher copies

Scientific considerations for acidification monitoring in the US Mid-Atlantic Region

Coastal and ocean acidification has the potential to cause significant environmental and societal impacts. Monitoring carbonate chemistry parameters over spatial and temporal scales is challenging, especially with limited resources. A lack of monitoring data can lead to a limited understanding of real-world conditions. Without such data, robust experimental and model design is challenging, and the identification and understanding of episodic acidification events is nearly impossible. We present considerations for resource managers, academia, and industry professionals who are currently developing acidification monitoring programs in the Mid-Atlantic region. We highlight the following considerations for deliberation: 1) leverage existing infrastructure to include multiple carbonate chemistry parameters as well as other water quality measurements, 2) direct monitoring efforts in subsurface waters rather than limiting monitoring to surface waters, 3) identify the best available sensor technology for long-term, in-situ monitoring, 4) monitor across a salinity gradient to account for the complexity of estuarine, coastal, and ocean environments, and identify potential areas of enhanced vulnerability, 5) increase sampling frequency to capture variability, 6) consider other drivers (e.g., freshwater discharge, nutrients, physiochemical parameters) that may affect acidification, and 7) conduct or continue monitoring in specific ecological and general regions that may have enhanced vulnerability. Through the incorporation of these considerations, individual monitoring programs can more efficiently and effectively leverage resources and build partnerships for a more comprehensive data collection in the region. While these considerations focus on the Mid-Atlantic region), similar strategies can be used to leverage resources in other locations

Recent Increase in HIV cases in Oman

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Real-world COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness against the Omicron BA.2 variant in a SARS-CoV-2 infection-naive population

The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant has demonstrated enhanced transmissibility and escape of vaccine-derived immunity. Although first-generation vaccines remain effective against severe disease and death, robust evidence on vaccine effectiveness (VE) against all Omicron infections, irrespective of symptoms, remains sparse. We used a community-wide serosurvey with 5,310 subjects to estimate how vaccination histories modulated risk of infection in infection-naive Hong Kong during a large wave of Omicron BA.2 epidemic in January-July 2022. We estimated that Omicron infected 45% (41-48%) of the local population. Three and four doses of BNT162b2 or CoronaVac were effective against Omicron infection 7 days after vaccination (VE of 48% (95% credible interval 34-64%) and 69% (46-98%) for three and four doses of BNT162b2, respectively; VE of 30% (1-66%) and 56% (6-97%) for three and four doses of CoronaVac, respectively). At 100 days after immunization, VE waned to 26% (7-41%) and 35% (10-71%) for three and four doses of BNT162b2, and to 6% (0-29%) and 11% (0-54%) for three and four doses of CoronaVac. The rapid waning of VE against infection conferred by first-generation vaccines and an increasingly complex viral evolutionary landscape highlight the necessity for rapidly deploying updated vaccines followed by vigilant monitoring of VE

Deformation and mechanical properties of quaternary blended cements containing ground granulated blast furnace slag, fly ash and magnesia

Shrinkages of cementitious materials may lead to cracking under restrained conditions. This study was motivated to develop non-shrinkage quaternary blended cements through blending slag and fly ash with Portland cement containing reactive MgO. The hydration process, autogenous shrinkage at early age, long-term volume deformation, mechanical properties, and microstructure of cement specimens were investigated. Results showed that the autogenous shrinkage of the cement pastes was effectively mitigated due to the compensation of the MgO present and the reduction of cement content owing to the partial replacements with slag and fly ash. The mechanical strengths of the blended cement mortars were lower than that of the corresponding plain Portland cement mortars at early age of 3 d, but increased significantly to be similar or higher at late ages of 28 d and 90 d. This is attributed to the microstructure densification and the interface microstructure enhancement due to the reaction of SCMs with clinker phases.The financial support from the Royal Academy of Engineering UK/China Exchange (12/13RECI013), the National Key Technology R&D Program (2011BAE27B01-1), the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51461135003) is acknowledged.This is the accepted manuscript. The final published version is available from Elsevier at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0008884615000319

Characteristics and Etiologies of Chronic Scrotal Pain: A Common but Poorly Understood Condition

Chronic scrotal pain (CSP) is a common and debilitating condition, but the underlying characteristics and etiology of CSP are poorly understood. The objective of this study is to identify the characteristic and etiologies of CSP. Men presenting for management of CSP completed a standardized questionnaire and underwent a complete physical examination. From Feb 2014 to Sep 2015, a total of 131 men (mean age 43) with CSP were studied. The CSP was of long duration (mean of 4.7±5.95 years) and dramatically affected men’s lives, with adverse effects on normal activities (71.%), ability to work (51.90%), and sexual functioning (61.8%). 50.4% felt depressed on most days, and 67.17% felt either unhappy or terrible with their present condition. Physical examination revealed that the epididymis was the most common tender area found in 70/131 men (53.43%), though a musculoskeletal source for the pain was found in 9.9%. Neuropathic changes were found in 30%. For close to half of the men (43.5%) we were unable to identify any potential cause for the CSP. This study characterizes the dramatic impact that CSP has on the lives of men, while providing an understanding of the common etiologies

Anelasticity across seismic to tidal timescales: a self-consistent approach

In a pioneering study, Wahr & Bergen developed the widely adopted, pseudo-normal mode framework for predicting the impact of anelastic effects on the Earth's body tides. Lau $\textit{et al.}$ have recently derived an extended normal mode treatment of the problem (as well as a minor variant of the theory known as the direct solution method) that makes full use of theoretical developments in free oscillation seismology spanning the last quarter century and that avoids a series of assumptions and approximations adopted in the traditional theory for predicting anelastic effects. There are two noteworthy differences between these two theories: (1) the traditional theory only considers perturbations to the eigenmodes of an elastic Earth, whereas the new theory augments this set of modes to include the relaxation modes that arise in anelastic behaviour; and (2) the traditional theory approximates the complex perturbation to the tidal Love number as a scaled version of the complex perturbation to the elastic moduli, whereas the new theory computes the full complex perturbation to each eigenmode. In this study, we highlight the above differences using a series of synthetic calculations, and demonstrate that the traditional theory can introduce significant error in predictions of the complex perturbation to the Love numbers due to anelasticity and the related predictions of tidal lag angles. For the simplified Earth models we adopt, the computed lag angles differ by ∼20 per cent. The assumptions in the traditional theory have important implications for previous studies that use model predictions to correct observables for body tide signals or that analyse observations of body tide deformation to infer mantle anelastic structure. Finally, we also highlight the fundamental difference between apparent attenuation (i.e. attenuation inferred from observations or predicted using the above theories) and intrinsic attenuation (i.e. the material property investigated through experiments), where both are often expressed in terms of lag angles or $\textit{Q}$$^{-1}$. In particular, we demonstrate the potentially significant (factor of two or more) bias introduced in estimates of $\textit{Q}$$^{-1}$ and its frequency dependence in studies that have treated $\textit{Q}$$^{-1}$ determined from tidal phase lags or measured experimentally as being equal. The observed or theoretically predicted lag angle (or apparent $\textit{Q}$$^{-1}$) differs from the intrinsic, material property due to inertia, self-gravity and effects associated with the energy budget. By accounting for these differences we derive, for a special case, an expression that accurately maps apparent attenuation predicted using the extended normal mode formalism of Lau $\textit{et al.}$ into intrinsic attenuation. The theory allows for more generalized mappings which may be used to robustly connect observations and predictions of tidal lag angles to results from laboratory experiments of mantle materials.This work was supported by NSF EAR-1464024, NSF EAR-1215061, and Harvard University