Associations between proinflammatory cytokines in the synovial fluid and radiographic grading and pain-related scores in 47 consecutive patients with osteoarthritis of the knee

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>One of the sources of knee pain in osteoarthritis (OA) is believed to be related to local chronic inflammation of the knee joints, which involves the production of inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα), interleukin (IL)-6, and nerve growth factor (NGF) in the synovial membrane, and these cytokines are believed to promote pathological OA. In the present study, correlations between proinflammatory cytokines in knee synovial fluid and radiographic changes and functional scores and pain scores among OA patients were examined.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Synovial fluid was harvested from the knees of 47 consecutive OA patients, and the levels of TNFα, IL-6, and NGF were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Osteoarthritic knees were classified using Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) grading (1-4). The Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) was used to assess self-reported physical function, pain, and stiffness.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>TNFα and IL-6 were detectable in knee synovial, whereas NGF was not. TNFα was not correlated with the KL grade, whereas IL-6 had a significantly negative correlation. We observed differences in the correlations between TNFα and IL-6 with WOMAC scores and their subscales (pain, stiffness, and physical function). TNFα exhibited a significant correlation with the total score and its 3 subscales, whereas IL-6 exhibited a moderately significant negative correlation only with the subscale of stiffness.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The present study demonstrated that the concentrations of proinflammatory cytokines are correlated with KL grades and WOMAC scores in patients with knee OA. Although TNFα did not have a significant correlation with the radiographic grading, it was significantly associated with the WOMAC score. IL-6 had a significant negative correlation with the KL grading, whereas it had only a weakly significant correlation with the subscore of stiffness. The results suggest that these cytokines play a role in the pathogenesis of synovitis in osteoarthritic knees in different ways: TNFα is correlated with pain, whereas IL-6 is correlated with joint function.</p

Card-Based Protocols Using Regular Polygon Cards

Cryptographic protocols enable participating parties to compute any function of their inputs without leaking any information beyond the output. A card-based protocol is a cryptographic protocol implemented by physical cards. In this paper, for constructing protocols with small numbers of shuffles, we introduce a new type of cards, regular polygon cards, and a new protocol, oblivious conversion. Using our cards, we construct an addition protocol on non-binary inputs with only one shuffle and two cards. Furthermore, using our oblivious conversion protocol, we construct the first protocol for general functions in which the number of shuffles is linear in the number of inputs

タンカンナイ シュヨウセン オ ミトメ ゲンパツセイ カンナイ タンカンガン トノ カンベツ オ ヨウシタ イジセイ ダイチョウガン カンテンイ ノ 1セツジョレイ

The patient was a 68-year-old man who had undergone right hemicolectomy for ascending colon cancer, and pulmonary resection for lung metastases. After 10 months of operations, abdominal computed tomograms revealed a liver tumor with a biliary tumor thrombus in the segment 5 and a localized dilation of the intrahepatic bile duct. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography showed obstruction, 2cm long, of the intrahepatic bile duct （B5） and dilation of the peripheral duct. Cytological examination of extracted bile showed adenocarcinoma. A right hepatic lobectomy was performed under the diagnosis of metastatic liver tumor with tumor development in the intrahepatic bile duct or intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma. The resected specimen showed massive infiltration of the tumor into intrahepatic bile duct （B5） with forming a tumor thrombus. Histologically, the tumor was moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma, similar to the ascending colon cancer. The final diagnosis was liver metastasis of ascending colon cancer with intrabiliary tumor growth

NTCIR-17 MedNLP-SC Radiology Report Subtask Overview: Dataset and Solutions for Automated Lung Cancer Staging

This paper describes the Radiology Report TNM staging (RR-TNM) subtask as a part of NTCIR-17 Medical Natural Language Processing for Social Media and Clinical Texts (MedNLP-SC) shared task in 2023. This subtask focused on automated lung cancer staging based on radiology reports. We created a dataset of 243 Japanese radiology reports containing no personal health information. A total of three teams with 16 members participated and submitted seven solutions. The best accuracy scores for the T, N, and M categories reached 67%, 80%, and 93%, respectively. Through the RR- TNM subtask, we have provided a valuable open Japanese clinical corpus and useful insights to apply natural language processing for secondary usage of staging information

Randomised controlled trial on the effect of video-conference cognitive behavioural therapy for patients with schizophrenia: a study protocol

Introduction Cognitive behavioural therapy for psychosis (CBTp) has demonstrated effectiveness in reducing positive symptoms, improving depression, enhancing coping skills and increasing awareness of illness. However, compared with cognitive behavioural therapy for depression and anxiety, the spread of CBTp in clinical practice is minimal. The present study designed a randomised controlled trial (RCT) research protocol to evaluate whether real-time remote video-conference CBTp (vCBTp) could facilitate access to psychosocial interventions and effectively improve symptoms compared with usual care (UC) for patients with schizophrenia.Methods and analysis This exploratory RCT will consist of two parallel groups (vCBTp+UC and UC alone) of 12 participants (n=24) diagnosed with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder or paranoid disorder, who remain symptomatic following pharmacotherapy. Seven 50-min weekly vCBTp interventions will be administered to test efficacy. The primary outcome will be the positive and negative syndrome scale score at week 8. The secondary outcome will be the Beck Cognitive Insight Scale to assess insight, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 to assess depression, the Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7 to assess anxiety, the 5-level EuroQol 5-dimensional questionnaire to assess quality of life and the Impact of Event Scale-Revised to assess subjective distress about a specific stressful life event. We will take all measurements at 0 weeks (baseline) and at 8 weeks (post-intervention), and apply intention-to-treat analysis.Ethics and dissemination We will conduct this study in the outpatient department of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Center at Chiba University Hospital. Further, all participants will be informed of the study and will be asked to sign consent forms. We will report according to the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials.Trial registration number UMIN000043396

Biomechanical response of the temporomandubular joint disc complex to mechanical loads.

The temporomandibular joint(TMJ), one of the load-bearing organs in human body, is composed of bone componets and soft tissues. Of the soft tissues, the TMJ disc consists mainly of collagen fibers and proteoglycans constained in the interstices of the collagen network. This construction results in a viscoelastic response to loading and enables the disc to play an important role as a stress absorber during function. The viscoelastic properties depend on the direction(tension, compression, and shear) and the type of the applied loading (static and dynamic). For instance, upon dynamic loading the disc is likely to behave less stiff than under static loading because of the difference of fluid flow through and out of the tissue during loading. Furthermore, the retrodiscal tissue adjacent to the TMJ disc has an important joint-stablizing function during month opening although this tissue exhibits less stiffness than the TMJ disc and therefore has no or less function as a stress absorber. Information about the viscoelastic behavior of the soft tissues in the TMJ is required to understand its function, which is a requirement, for instance, to develop a suitable replacement and tissue engineering of the TMJ. In the present paper, the biomechanical properties of the TMJ disc and retrodiscal tissue in response to various loading conditions are discussed

A rare case of folliculotropic mycosis fungoides with eosinophilic pneumonia

We describe the first case of folliculotropic mycosis fungoides (FMF) involving eosinophilic pneumonia (EP). It would be difficult to treat EP without CTCL treatment