Effects of Dexmedetomidine on Serum Interleukin-6, Hemodynamic Stability, and Postoperative Pain Relief in Elderly Patients under Spinal Anesthesia

The beneficial effects of dexmedetomidine (DEX) have not been extensively investigated in elderly patients receiving spinal anesthesia. This study evaluated the effects of intravenous DEX infusion on stress and hemodynamic response, as well as on postoperative analgesia in elderly patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA). We randomly allocated 45 adult patients to 3 patient groups (n=15 each): uni-saline group patients underwent unilateral TKA with saline administration, uni-DEX group patients underwent unilateral TKA with DEX administration, and bilateral-DEX group patients underwent bilateral TKA with DEX administration. Serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels were significantly lower in the bilateral-DEX group than in the uni-saline group 6 and 24h postoperatively, and were negatively correlated with total DEX dosage 24h postoperatively. Bradycardia occurred more frequently in the uni-DEX and bilateral-DEX groups than in the uni-saline group. The total dose of required supplementary analgesics was significantly higher in the uni-saline group than in the uni-DEX and bilateral-DEX groups 6h postoperatively. The results indicate that perioperative intravenous DEX administration decreases postoperative serum IL-6 levels in patients undergoing bilateral TKA, and has a postoperative analgesic effect in patients undergoing unilateral or bilateral TKA

Elastic Modulus of Osteoporotic Mouse Femur Based on Femoral Head Compression Test

A biomechanical test is a good evaluation method that describes the structural, functional, and pathological differences in the bones, such as osteoporosis and fracture. The tensile test, compression test, and bending test are generally performed to evaluate the elastic modulus of the bone using mice. In particular, the femoral head compression test is mainly used for verifying the osteoporosis change of the femoral neck. This study conducted bone mineral density analysis using in vivo microcomputed tomography (micro-CT) to observe changes in osteoporosis over time. It proposed a method of identifying the elastic modulus of the femur in the normal group (CON group) and the osteoporotic group (OVX group) through finite element analysis based on the femoral head compression test and also conducted a comparative analysis of the results. Through the femoral head compression test, it was verified that the CON group’s ultimate and yield loads were significantly higher than those of the OVX group. It was considered that this result was caused by the fact that the bone mineral density change by osteoporosis occurred in the proximal end more often than in the femur diaphysis. However, the elastic modulus derived from the finite element analysis showed no significant difference between the two groups

Construction of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived oriented bone matrix microstructure by using in vitro engineered anisotropic culture model

Bone tissue has anisotropic microstructure based on collagen/biological apatite orientation, which plays essential roles in the mechanical and biological functions of bone. However, obtaining an appropriate anisotropic microstructure during the bone regeneration process remains a great challenging. A powerful strategy for the control of both differentiation and structural development of newly-formed bone is required in bone tissue engineering, in order to realize functional bone tissue regeneration. In this study, we developed a novel anisotropic culture model by combining human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) and artificially-controlled oriented collagen scaffold. The oriented collagen scaffold allowed hiPSCs-derived osteoblast alignment and further construction of anisotropic bone matrix which mimics the bone tissue microstructure. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report showing the construction of bone mimetic anisotropic bone matrix microstructure from hiPSCs. Moreover, we demonstrated for the first time that the hiPSCs-derived osteoblasts possess a high level of intact functionality to regulate cell alignment. © 2017 The Authors Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 106A: 360–369, 2018.Ozasa R., Matsugaki A., Isobe Y., et al. Construction of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived oriented bone matrix microstructure by using in vitro engineered anisotropic culture model. Journal of Biomedical Materials Research - Part A, 106, 2, 360. https://doi.org/10.1002/jbm.a.36238

Superior alignment of human ipsc-osteoblasts associated with focal adhesion formation stimulated by oriented collagen scaffold

Human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) can be applied in patient-specific cell therapy to regenerate lost tissue or organ function. Anisotropic control of the structural organization in the newly generated bone matrix is pivotal for functional reconstruction during bone tissue regeneration. Recently, we revealed that hiPSC-derived osteoblasts (hiPSC-Obs) exhibit preferential alignment and organize in highly ordered bone matrices along a bone-mimetic collagen scaffold, indicating their critical role in regulating the unidirectional cellular arrangement, as well as the structural organization of regenerated bone tissue. However, it remains unclear how hiPSCs exhibit the cell properties required for oriented tissue construction. The present study aimed to characterize the properties of hiPSCs-Obs and those of their focal adhesions (FAs), which mediate the structural relationship between cells and the matrix. Our in vitro anisotropic cell culture system revealed the superior adhesion behavior of hiPSC-Obs, which exhibited accelerated cell proliferation and better cell alignment along the collagen axis compared to normal human osteoblasts. Notably, the oriented collagen scaffold stimulated FA formation along the scaffold collagen orientation. This is the first report of the superior cell adhesion behavior of hiPSC-Obs associated with the promotion of FA assembly along an anisotropic scaffold. These findings suggest a promising role for hiPSCs in enabling anisotropic bone microstructural regeneration.Ozasa R., Matsugaki A., Matsuzaka T., et al. Superior alignment of human ipsc-osteoblasts associated with focal adhesion formation stimulated by oriented collagen scaffold. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 22, 12, 6232. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22126232

A case of back pain caused by Salmonella spondylitis -A case report-

Salmonella spondylitis is a rare illness, and it generally occurs in patients who have already had sickle cell anemia, and it is even rarer in patients who are without sickle cell anemia. A 61-year-old male patient was hospitalized for the evaluation of his renal function and then treatment was started for his back pain. His back pain had developed about 2 months previously without any specific trauma. Only a bulging disc was detected on the initial lumbar MRI. Regarding his fever, it was diagnosed as possible atypical pneumonia, scrub typhus, etc., and multiple antibiotic therapy was administered. At the time of transfer, the leucocytes and hs-CRP were normal and the ESR was elevated. A diagnostic epidural block was performed for his back pain, but his symptoms were not improved. Lumbar MRI was performed again and it showed findings of infective spondylitis. Salmonella D was identified on the abscess culture and so he was diagnosed as suffering from Salmonella spondylitis. After antibiotic treatment, his back pain was improved and the patient was able to walk

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis

Search for supersymmetry in events with one lepton and multiple jets in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

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