The efficacy and safety of condoliase for lumbar disc herniation: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Chemonucleolysis is a minimally invasive treatment of lumbar disc herniation (LDH). However, the low specificity of the enzyme and the existence of serious adverse events limit the application of chemonucleolysis. Clinical studies in recent years have shown that Chondroitin sulfate ABC endolyase (condoliase) is a potential therapeutic enzyme for LDH. Aim. A meta-analysis was conducted to determine the efficacy and safety of condoliase in LDH treatment.Methods: We searched Web of Science, Embase, PubMed, and Cochrane Library databases. Two reviewers independently screened articles, extracted data, and assessed the risk of bias. The outcomes were the total effective rate, Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) score change, the proportion of lumbar surgery after condoliase treatment, herniated mass volume change, Pfirrmann grade change, and adverse events. Review Manager 5.3 and Stata 12.0 were used for meta-, sensitivity, and bias analysis.Results: Ten studies were included. A single-arm meta-analysis showed that the total effective rate was 78% [95% confidence interval (CI) 75%–81%], the proportion of surgery was 9% (95% CI 7%–12%), the proportion of Pfirrmann grade change was 43% (95%CI 38%–47%), and the adverse events were 4% (95% CI 2%–6%) after condoliase treatment. The two-arm meta-analysis showed that the ODI score change [standardized mean difference (SMD) −2.46, 95% CI −3.30 to −1.63] and the herniated mass volume change (SMD −16.97, 95% CI −23.92 to −10.03) of the condoliase treatment group were greater than those of the placebo control group, and there was no difference in adverse events between the two groups (OR 1.52, 95% CI 0.60–3.85). The results of sensitivity and publication bias analyses showed that the results were robust.Conclusion: Condoliase intradiscal injection has excellent eutherapeutic and safety for LDH, thus, has considerable potential as a treatment option besides conservative treatment and surgical intervention for LDH.Systematic Review Registration:https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42022375492, PROSPERO (CRD42022375492)

An Integration Optimization Method for Power Collection Systems of Offshore Wind Farms

The traditional power collection system design separately optimizes the connection topology and the cable cross sections, which may result in the inherent shortcoming of lacking the most economical solutions. In this pursuit, the present work envisages the development of an integrated design method for general wind farm power collection systems, which integrated the coupling random fork tree coding, union-find set loop identification, current and voltage drop calculation models, and a high performance optimization algorithm. The proposed coupling random fork tree coding, for the first time, realized the coupling code of the substation location, connection topology, and cable cross sections, providing the basis for the integration design of the power collection system. The optimization results for discrete and regular wind farms indicated that the proposed integration method achieved the best match of topology, substation location, and the cable cross sections, thus presenting the most economical scheme of the power collection system. Compared to the traditional two-step methods, the integration method used more branches while acquiring them, to maintain the lower number of wind turbines in each branch. Furthermore, it also employed large cross-section cables to reduce the energy loss caused by the impedance in the topology, thereby resulting in a slight increased cable cost; however, the total cost was minimized. The proposed method is very versatile and suitable for the optimization of power collection systems containing any number of wind turbines and substations, and can be combined with any evolutionary algorithm

Purified exosome product enhances chondrocyte survival and regeneration by modulating inflammation and promoting chondrogenesis

Aim: This study was to detect the effects of purified exosome product (PEP) on C28/I2 cells and chondrocytes derived from osteoarthritis patients. Materials &amp; methods: Cell viability and apoptosis assays were used to detect the effect of PEP on cells. qRT-PCR and cell fluorescence assays were used to investigate the potential mechanism of PEP on cell chondrogenesis. Results: PEP was internalized by cells at a fast rate and enhanced cellular proliferation and migration while attenuating apoptosis. These findings reflect the fact that PEP can increase the expression of PCNA and reduce the expression of CASP3/7/9 and BAX. Conclusion: This study suggests an innovative strategy for chondrogenesis that could be applied to osteoarthritis repair in the future.</p