152 research outputs found
Efficacy of autologous bone marrow buffy coat grafting combined with core decompression in patients with avascular necrosis of femoral head: a prospective, double-blinded, randomized, controlled study
Introduction
Avascular necrosis of femoral head (ANFH) is a progressive disease that often leads to hip joint dysfunction and even disability in young patients. Although the standard treatment, which is core decompression, has the advantage of minimal invasion, the efficacy is variable. Recent studies have shown that implantation of bone marrow containing osteogenic precursors into necrotic lesion of ANFH may be promising for the treatment of ANFH.
Methods
A prospective, double-blinded, randomized controlled trial was conducted to examine the effect of bone-marrow buffy coat (BBC) grafting combined with core decompression for the treatment of ANFH. Forty-five patients (53 hips) with Ficat stage I to III ANFH were recruited. The hips were allocated to the control group (core decompression + autologous bone graft) or treatment group (core decompression + autologous bone graft with BBC). Both patients and assessors were blinded to the treatment options. The clinical symptoms and disease progression were assessed as the primary and secondary outcomes.
Results
At the final follow-up (24 months), there was a significant relief in pain (P \u3c0.05) and clinical joint symptoms as measured by the Lequesne index (P \u3c0.05) and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index (P \u3c0.05) in the treatment group. In addition, 33.3% of the hips in the control group have deteriorated to the next stage after 24 months post-procedure, whereas only 8% in the treatment group had further deterioration (P \u3c0.05). More importantly, the non-progression rates for stage I/II hips were 100% in the treatment group and 66.7% in the control group.
Conclusion
Implantation of the autologous BBC grafting combined with core decompression is effective to prevent further progression for the early stages of ANFH.
Trial registration
ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT01613612. Registered 13 December 2011
Continuous and Distribution-free Probabilistic Wind Power Forecasting: A Conditional Normalizing Flow Approach
We present a data-driven approach for probabilistic wind power forecasting
based on conditional normalizing flow (CNF). In contrast with the existing,
this approach is distribution-free (as for non-parametric and quantile-based
approaches) and can directly yield continuous probability densities, hence
avoiding quantile crossing. It relies on a base distribution and a set of
bijective mappings. Both the shape parameters of the base distribution and the
bijective mappings are approximated with neural networks. Spline-based
conditional normalizing flow is considered owing to its non-affine
characteristics. Over the training phase, the model sequentially maps input
examples onto samples of base distribution, given the conditional contexts,
where parameters are estimated through maximum likelihood. To issue
probabilistic forecasts, one eventually maps samples of the base distribution
into samples of a desired distribution. Case studies based on open datasets
validate the effectiveness of the proposed model, and allows us to discuss its
advantages and caveats with respect to the state of the art.Comment: The second revision to IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energ
Responses of tidal modification and nonlinearity to large-scale sequential harbor constructions in the northeastern China
Electrospun chitosan-graft-poly (É›-caprolactone)/poly (É›-caprolactone) nanofibrous scaffolds for retinal tissue engineering
A promising therapy for retinal diseases is to employ biodegradable scaffolds to deliver retinal progenitor cells (RPCs) for repairing damaged or diseased retinal tissue. In the present study, cationic chitosan-graft-poly(ɛ-caprolactone)/polycaprolactone (CS-PCL/PCL) hybrid scaffolds were successfully prepared by electrospinning. Characterization of the obtained nanofibrous scaffolds indicated that zeta-potential, fiber diameter, and the content of amino groups on their surface were closely correlated with the amount of CS-PCL in CS-PCL/PCL scaffolds. To assess the cell–scaffold interaction, mice RPCs (mRPCs) were cultured on the electrospun scaffolds for 7 days. In-vitro proliferation assays revealed that mRPCs proliferated faster on the CS-PCL/PCL (20/80) scaffolds than the other electrospun scaffolds. Scanning electron microscopy and the real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction results showed that mRPCs grown on CS-PCL/PCL (20/80) scaffolds were more likely to differentiate towards retinal neurons than those on PCL scaffolds. Taken together, these results suggest that CS-PCL/PCL(20/80) scaffolds have potential application in retinal tissue engineering
Free energy landscape for the binding process of Huperzine A to acetylcholinesterase
Drug-target residence time (t = 1/koff, where koff is the dissociation
rate constant) has become an important index in discovering betteror
best-in-class drugs. However, little effort has been dedicated to
developing computational methods that can accurately predict this
kinetic parameter or related parameters, koff and activation free
energy of dissociation (ΔGâ‰
off). In this paper, energy landscape theory
that has been developed to understand protein folding and function
is extended to develop a generally applicable computational framework
that is able to construct a complete ligand-target binding free
energy landscape. This enables both the binding affinity and the
binding kinetics to be accurately estimated.We applied this method
to simulate the binding event of the anti-Alzheimer’s disease drug
(−)−Huperzine A to its target acetylcholinesterase (AChE). The computational
results are in excellent agreement with our concurrent
experimental measurements. All of the predicted values of binding
free energy and activation free energies of association and dissociation
deviate from the experimental data only by less than 1 kcal/
mol. The method also provides atomic resolution information for the
(−)−Huperzine A binding pathway, which may be useful in designing
more potent AChE inhibitors. We expect thismethodology to be
widely applicable to drug discovery and development
Heat wave, electricity rationing, and trade-offs between environmental gains and economic losses: The example of Shanghai
In recent decades, many megacities in the world have suffered from increasingly frequent heat waves. During heat waves, air-conditioners, refrigerators, and electric fans add a considerable peak demand on electrical utility grids, and on the supply side, high temperatures exert adverse effects on electricity generation, transmission, and distribution. Without proactive planning and mitigation measures, the overloading would result in more frequent blackouts (the complete failure of electricity distribution) and brownouts (voltage reductions). To facilitate a pro-active planning, which aims to replace
blackouts and brownouts by a rationing regime in selected sectors, this research proposes an integrated modeling tool
which couples a regression model between daily electricity use and maximum temperature over the summer and a mixed
input–output model with supply constraints. With the help of available data in Shanghai, China, we show that this tool
is capable of quantitatively estimating the overall economic effects and sequential changes in carbon emissions, which a given magnitude of power rationing in a specific sector can exert across all sectors. The availability of such information would enable decision makers to plan an electricity rationing regime at the sector level to meet the double criterions of minimizing the overall economic losses and maximizing the extent of carbon emission reduction
Functional Analysis of General Odorant Binding Protein 2 from the Meadow Moth, Loxostege sticticalis L. (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)
Odorant binding proteins play a crucial role in transporting semiochemicals across the sensillum lymph to olfactory receptors within the insect antennal sensilla. In this study, the general odorant binding protein 2 gene was cloned from the antennae of Loxostege sticticalis, using reverse transcription PCR and rapid amplification of cDNA ends. Recombinant LstiGOBP2 was expressed in Escherichia coli and purified by Ni ion affinity chromatography. Real-time PCR assays indicated that LstiGOBP2 mRNA is expressed mainly in adult antennae, with expression levels differing with developmental age. Ligand-binding experiments using N-phenyl-naphthylamine (1-NPN) as a fluorescent probe demonstrated that the LstiGOBP2 protein has binding affinity to a broad range of odorants. Most importantly, trans-11-tetradecen-1-yl acetate, the pheromone component of Loxostege sticticalis, and trans-2-hexenal and cis-3-hexen-1-ol, the most abundant plant volatiles in essential oils extracted from host plants, had high binding affinities to LstiGOBP2 and elicited strong electrophysiological responses from the antennae of adults
Wild Type and Mutant 2009 Pandemic Influenza A (H1N1) Viruses Cause More Severe Disease and Higher Mortality in Pregnant BALB/c Mice
BACKGROUND: Pregnant women infected by the pandemic influenza A (H1N1) 2009 virus had more severe disease and higher mortality but its pathogenesis is still unclear. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We showed that higher mortality, more severe pneumonitis, higher pulmonary viral load, lower peripheral blood T lymphocytes and antibody responses, higher levels of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines, and worse fetal development occurred in pregnant mice than non-pregnant controls infected by either wild type (clinical isolate) or mouse-adapted mutant virus with D222G substitution in hemagglutinin. These disease-associated changes and the lower respiratory tract involvement were worse in pregnant mice challenged by mutant virus. Though human placental origin JEG-3 cell line could be infected and proinflammatory cytokines or chemokines were elevated in amniotic fluid of some mice, no placental or fetal involvement by virus were detected by culture, real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction or histopathological changes. Dual immunofluorescent staining of viral nucleoprotein and type II alveolar cell marker SP-C protein suggested that the majority of infected alveolar epithelial cells were type II pneumocytes. CONCLUSION: The adverse effect of this pandemic virus on maternal and fetal outcome is largely related to the severe pulmonary disease and the indirect effect of inflammatory cytokine spillover into the systemic circulation
Corrigendum to: The TianQin project: current progress on science and technology
In the originally published version, this manuscript included an error related to indicating the corresponding author within the author list. This has now been corrected online to reflect the fact that author Jun Luo is the corresponding author of the article
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