Ilizarov method in combination with autologous mesenchymal stem cells from iliac crest shows improved outcome in tibial non-union

AbstractAutologous bone grafting and ilizarov technique are the preferred mode of treatment for bone nonunion, studies suggest that bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells can be effective in treatment of tibial non-union where there is length of bone defect. The current study investigates the beneficial clinical outcome of combining the ilizarov procedure with intraosseous injection of autologous mesenchymal stem cells. The open-label study enrolled 25 patients with infected tibial non-union at the Shanghai Fengxian District Central Hospital, Shanghai, China between April 2010 and July 2014. Patients were randomised to undergo the ilizarov procedure with (n=11) or without (n=13) intraosseous injection of bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells. All participants were followed prospectively until union was achieved (primary end point). The mean length of the bone defect in the Ilizarov group and Ilizarov group plus MSC group was 6.09 and 5.84cm respectively. The mean time from the original injury to the time of the treatment for tibial non-union was 5–22months (mean 13.5months) for the Ilizarov group and 6–21months (mean 13.5months) for Ilizarov plus MSc group. All 24 patients were followed up for 12–34months (mean 16months). Both groups achieved the primary endpoint of stable union of the tibial fracture. No adverse events were observed in any of the group. Our study demonstrates that using autologous bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cell as an add-on therapy to the ilizarov procedure shows significant clinical benefit in fixation of tibial non-union

NEW METHODS TO DETERMINE 3-D ROTATIONAL INERTIA

Due to the different stature of the various nationalities and the limitation of the sample or the divergent research methods, the results on human-body inertia parameters of occidentals are not suitable to be applied to oriental adults. In this study, the 3-D principal inertia of each segment and of the entire body of Chinese adults was determined and the mathematical models for calculating their parameters were constructed. The results from this study can aid in the development of the prosthetic limbs for invalids, and analysis of the movements of astronauts, etc. In addition, the regression equations for calculating 3-D principal inertia of human standard postures and for each segment were derived. Their reliability are tested and verified by threestring pendulum method

Understanding the Weakness of Large Language Model Agents within a Complex Android Environment

Large language models (LLMs) have empowered intelligent agents to execute intricate tasks within domain-specific software such as browsers and games. However, when applied to general-purpose software systems like operating systems, LLM agents face three primary challenges. Firstly, the action space is vast and dynamic, posing difficulties for LLM agents to maintain an up-to-date understanding and deliver accurate responses. Secondly, real-world tasks often require inter-application cooperation}, demanding farsighted planning from LLM agents. Thirdly, agents need to identify optimal solutions aligning with user constraints, such as security concerns and preferences. These challenges motivate AndroidArena, an environment and benchmark designed to evaluate LLM agents on a modern operating system. To address high-cost of manpower, we design a scalable and semi-automated method to construct the benchmark. In the task evaluation, AndroidArena incorporates accurate and adaptive metrics to address the issue of non-unique solutions. Our findings reveal that even state-of-the-art LLM agents struggle in cross-APP scenarios and adhering to specific constraints. Additionally, we identify a lack of four key capabilities, i.e., understanding, reasoning, exploration, and reflection, as primary reasons for the failure of LLM agents. Furthermore, we provide empirical analysis on the failure of reflection, and improve the success rate by 27% with our proposed exploration strategy. This work is the first to present valuable insights in understanding fine-grained weakness of LLM agents, and offers a path forward for future research in this area. Environment, benchmark, and evaluation code for AndroidArena are released at https://github.com/AndroidArenaAgent/AndroidArena

Withaferin A induces apoptosis in rat C6 glioma cells through regulating NF-ΚB nuclear translocation and activation of caspase cascade

Background: The demand for the chemopreventive drug from the plant source is increasing in recent times, owing to its various biological activities without any adverse effect. The intention of this current study was to examine the antiglioma effect of Withaferin A (WFA) on C6 glioma cell line model.Materials and Methods: C6 glioma cells were administrated with different concentration of WFA (50, 100, 200 and 500 μg/mL) and DMSO (control) group to examine its anti-proliferative, anti-inflammatory and pro-apoptotic activities.Results: Treatment with WFA showed a significant decline in the glioma cell count in a dose-dependent manner and thus proving its anti-proliferative effect. Similarly, inflammatory markers were also substantially lowered upon treatment with different concentration of WFA. However, DNA fragmentation and apoptotic markers like Caspase-3 and 9 were concomitantly enhanced after co-cultured with different concentration of WFA and thus exhibiting its cytotoxicity efficacy. Furthermore, the protein expression of Bcl2 and Bax were markedly downregulated and upregulated respectively; upon treatment with WFA on C6 glioma cells.Conclusion: The outcome of this study evidently demonstrates that C6 glioma cells co-cultured with increased concentration of WFA, showed an anti-proliferative, anti-inflammatory and pro-apoptotic effect in a dose-dependent fashion.Keywords: Withaferin A, C6 glioma cells, anti-proliferative, anti-inflammatory, caspase, apoptosi