Increased apoptosis in human knee osteoarthritis cartilage related to the expression of protein kinase B and protein kinase Cα in chondrocytes

Protein kinase B (Akt) and protein kinase Cα (PKCα) play important roles in the regulation of cell apoptosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of Akt and PKCa in chondrocytes of human knee osteoarthritic (OA) cartilage, further evaluating their role in chondrocyte apoptosis during OA progression. Human knee OA cartilages were obtained from 38 patients undergoing knee arthroplasty, which is the medium-late stage of OA. Healthy knee cartilages were obtained from 11 amputees. The samples taken from the condyle of femur were collected routinely for morphological, immunohistochemical and Western blot detection, respectively. Light microscopy and laser-scanning confocal microscopy were used for morphological observation. The optical density with computer image analysis evaluated the intensity of immunohistochemical reaction of Akt and PKCα in OA cartilage. Western blot detected the protein expression levels. The results indicated that Akt and PKCa were involved in OA progression, along with the increase of cell apoptosis. In OA cartilage, Akt decreased (p < 0.05) and PKCα increased (p < 0.05). There was a negative correlation and interaction between Akt and PKCα (r = –0.8). These results demonstrated that both Akt and PKCα are related to increased chondrocyte apoptosis in human OA cartilage. The correlation between human OA progression, the role of Akt and PKCα, and chondrocyte apoptosis allows for new therapeutic strategies to be considered

Meta-analysis of clinical randomized controlled trials comparing ReZOOM with ReSTOR multifocal intraocular lenses in cataract surgery

AIM: To systematic review the effectiveness of refractive multifocal intraocular lens(MIOL)ReZOOM <i>vs</i> diffractive MIOL ReSTOR in the treatment of cataract.<p>METHODS: Randomized controlled trials comparing refractive MIOL ReZOOM with diffractive MIOL ReSTOR were identified by searching CENTRAL, MEDLINE, EMbase, WANFANG MED ONLINE, CMJD, SinoMed, and CNKI. Related journals also were hand-searched. Methodological quality of randomized controlled trials(RCTs)was evaluated by simple evaluate method that recommended by the Cochrane Collaboration. Data extracted by two reviewers with designed extraction form. RevMan software(release 5.2)was used for data management and analysis.<p>RESULTS:A total of 7 trials(846 eyes)were included for systematic review. Subgroup analyses were used according to different model comparison of ReSTOR MIOL. The results showed a significant difference in the mean of the best distance corrected intermediate visual acuity(BDCIVA)in the ReZOOM MIOL group with WMD= -0.11, 95% <i>CI</i>(-0.16, -0.06)(<i>P</i><0.0001). It showed a significantly difference in the mean of the uncorrected near visual acuity(UCNVA), complete spectacle independent rate, halo rate and glare rate in the ReSTOR MIOL group with WMD= 0.09, 95% <i>CI</i>(0.05, 0.14)(<i>P</i><0.00001), WMD= 2.62, 95%<i>CI</i>(1.76, 3.91)(<i>P</i><0.00001), WMD=1.35, 95% <i>CI</i>(1.15, 1.60)(<i>P</i>=0.0004)and WMD= 1.29, 95% <i>CI</i>(1.09, 1.53)(<i>P</i>=0.003). There was no significant difference between the two groups in the mean of the uncorrected distance visual acuity(UCDVA), the uncorrected intermediate visual acuity(UCIVA), the best corrected distance visual acuity(BCDVA)and the best distance corrected near visual acuity(BDCNVA)with WMD -0.03, 95% <i>CI</i>(-0.06, 0.01)(<i>P</i>=0.15), WMD= -0.04, 95% <i>CI</i>(-0.09, 0.01)(<i>P</i>=0.10), WMD= -0.01, 95%<i>CI</i>(-0.04, 0.02)(<i>P</i>=0.55)and WMD= 0.06, 95% <i>CI</i>(-0.06, 0.17)(<i>P</i>=0.32). <p>CONCLUSION: Patients implanted with ReZOOM MIOL can provide better BDCIVA; patients implanted with ReSTOR MIOL show better UCNVA, are less likely to appear light halo, glare and other visual adverse reactions; correction in spectacles cases, patients implanted with ReZOOM or ReSTOR MIOL have considerable performances in the far and near visual acuity

Production of dibaryon dNΩd_{N\Omega} in kaon induced reactions

In this work, we propose to investigate the $d_{N\Omega}$ dibaryon production in the process $K^- p \rightarrow d_{N\Omega} \bar{\Xi}^0$ by utilizing the kaon beam with the typical momentum to be around 10 GeV, which may be available at COMPASS, OKA@U-70 and SPS@CERN. The cross sections for $K^- p \rightarrow d_{N\Omega} \bar{\Xi}^0$ are estimated and in particular, the cross sections can reach up to $577.20\ \mathrm{\mu b}$ at $P_{K}=20$ GeV. Considering that $d_{N\Omega}$ dominantly decay into $\Xi \Lambda$ and $\Xi \Sigma$, we also estimate the cross sections for $K^- p \to \Xi^0 \Lambda \bar{\Xi}^0$ and $K^- p \to \Xi^+ \Sigma^- \bar{\Xi}^0$, which can reach up to $134.89$ and $5.93 \ \mathrm{\mu b}$, respectively, at$P_K=20$ GeV.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

hidden charm decays of X(4014)X(4014) in a D∗Dˉ∗D^{*}\bar{D}^{*} molecule scenario

Inspired by the recent observation of a new structure, $X(4014)$, in the process $\gamma\gamma\to \gamma\psi(2S)$, we evaluate the possibility of assigning $X(4014)$ as a $D^\ast \bar{D}^\ast$ molecular state with $I(J^{PC})=0(0^{++})$ by investigating the hidden charm decays of $X(4014)$. The partial widths of $J/\psi\omega$, $\eta_{c}\eta$ and $\eta_{c}\eta^{\prime}$ channels are evaluated to be about $(0.41\sim 5.00)$, $(2.05\sim7.49)$ and $(0.11\sim0.51)\ \mathrm{MeV}$, respectively. Considering the experimental observation and the present estimations, we proposed to search $X(4014)$ in the $\gamma \gamma \to J/\psi \omega$ process in Belle II.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.