Scratch

BACKGROUND: Implant malalignment in primary TKA has been reported to increase stresses placed on the bearing surfaces of implant components. We used a longitudinally maintained registry coupled with an implant retrieval program to consider whether preoperative, postoperative, or prerevision malalignment was associated with increased risk of revision surgery after TKA. QUESTIONS/PURPOSES: (1) What is the relative polyethylene damage on medial and lateral compartments of the tibial plateaus from revised TKAs? (2) Does coronal TKA alignment affect implant performance, such that TKAs aligned in varus are predisposed to experience increased polyethylene damage? (3) Does TKA alignment differ between postoperative and prerevision radiographs, and if so, what does this difference suggest about the mechanical contact load placed on a knee with a TKA? METHODS: Between 2007 and 2012, we performed 18,065 primary TKAs at our institution...

AIM: The study investigated the ability of ataxia-telangiectasia mutated (ATM)/Rad3-related (ATR) signaling pathway to influence the proliferation, apoptosis, and radiosensitivity of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: NPC tissues and corresponding adjacent normal tissues were collected from 143 NPC patients. The NPC CNE2 cells were assigned into a control group, X-ray group, CGK-733 group, and X-ray+CGK-733 group. The mRNA levels of ATM and ATR were evaluated using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and the protein levels of ATM and ATR using western blotting...

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has become a standard treatment in patients with acute coronary syndrome. However, it is associated with endothelial cell denudation, which may predispose to in-stent thrombosis and restenosis. Pharmacological methods which prevent restenosis can delay post-PCI re-endothelialisation. We have therefore examined how atorvastatin (HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor), sirolimus and everolimus (mTOR inhibitors) affect young and old endothelial cell functions which are responsible for wound healing after PCI...

Hypokalemia is a common electrolyte disorder in hospitalized patients and those with chronic diseases and is associated with renal tubular injury. Our recent expression proteomics study revealed changes in levels of several proteins in renal tubular cells during K(+) deficiency. However, functional significance and mechanisms underlying such changes remained unclear. The present study, thus, aimed to investigate functional changes of renal tubular cells induced by K(+) deficiency. MDCK cells were maintained in normal-K(+) (ANK; [K(+)] = 5...

Cat-scratch disease (CSD) is a common cause of chronic benign lymphadenopathy in the child and the young adult. Bartonella henselae is the agent responsible for this disease. Common symptoms include regional lymphadenopathy associated with fever. We report a clinically atypical and potentially misleading case of a 18-year old girl with CSD revealed by elbow abscess.

Lymph node metastasis is still an important issue in metastatic process of lung adenocarcinoma. C-C chemokine receptor 7 (CCR7) has been proved to be closely associated with the metastasis of lung adenocarcinoma, and the mechanism is poorly understood. In order to investigate the relationship between CCR7 and lymph node metastasis in lung adenocarcinoma, and to explore the role of CCR7 in treating lung adenocarcinoma, 40 clinical specimens were collected to define the relationship between CCR7 and lymph node metastasis in lung adenocarcinoma by immunohistochemistry...

Although itch sensation is an important protective mechanism for animals, chronic itch remains a challenging clinical problem. Itch processing has been studied extensively at the spinal level. However, how itch information is transmitted to the brain and what central circuits underlie the itch-induced scratching behavior remain largely unknown. We found that the spinoparabrachial pathway was activated during itch processing and that optogenetic suppression of this pathway impaired itch-induced scratching behaviors...

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) are known to home to sites of tumor microenvironments where they participate in the formation of the tumor microenvironment and to interplay with tumor cells. However, the potential functional effects of MSCs on tumor cell growth are controversial. Here, we, from the view of bone marrow MSC-derived exosomes, study the molecular mechanism of MSCs on the growth of human osteosarcoma and human gastric cancer cells. METHODS: MSCs derived from human bone marrow (hBMSCs) were isolated and cultured in complete DMEM/F12 supplemented with 10% exosome-depleted fetal bovine serum and 1% penicillin-streptomycin, cell culture supernatants containing exosomes were harvested and exosome purification was performed by ultracentrifugation...

OBJECTIVE: To explore the expression level of Nrf2 in adenomyosis and study the mechanism of abnormal expression of Nrf2 in the pathogenesis of adenomyosis. METHODS: Western blot, immunohistochemistry(IHC) and real time PCR were used to measure Nrf2 expression levels in tissue and cell samples. Knockdown and overexpression of Nrf2 were used to investigate the variation of migration ability of endometrial glandular cells as well as the regulatory mechanism. RESULTS: Nrf2 protein levels were significantly higher in the eutopic and ectopic endometrial glands when compared with control cases using IHC and western blot methods...

Chloroquine (CQ) induces histamine-independent itch in human and mice. We recently reported the role of intradermal nitric oxide (NO)/ cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) pathway in CQ-evoked scratching in mice. Chloroquine stimulates neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) activity to over-producing NO in the skin. Sumatriptan, a 5-hydroxytryptamine 1b/1d receptors (5-HTR1b/1d) agonist, is involved in pain and used to treat migraine and cluster headaches. According to previous studies, sumatriptan inhibits NOS activity...

Alpinia intermedia, a perennial plant that belongs to the Zingiberaceae family, has been used in folk medicine for a long time in the southern region of Japan. Because skin care is an effective approach that enables patients to manage their atopic dermatitis (AD), various herbal ingredients with few adverse effects have been evaluated for use in AD patients in recent years. In this study, we examined whether distilled extracts obtained from A. intermedia were beneficial for AD-like skin conditions in NC/Tnd mice...

In patients with atopic dermatitis agreeableness and public self-consciousness have previously been shown to be significant predictors of induced scratching, while depression was significantly related to induced itch. This study aimed to replicate these findings. Itch and scratching were induced by videos of crawling insects or skin diseases. Induced itch was measured using a visual analogue scale. Scratching behavior was evaluated by two raters. Psychological variables were assessed using validated questionnaires...

BACKGROUND: Intra-abdominal adhesions are fibrous bands that develop after abdominal surgery or inflammation and cause mortality and morbidity following surgeries. This study aimed to assess the effects of bupivacaine, saline and two doses of lidocaine, after peritoneal lavage and to compare their effects in reducing abdominal adhesions in rat. METHODS: In a blinded, randomised, placebo-controlled clinical trial, 50 female rats were anaesthetised and the parietal peritoneum was scratched to induce punctate bleeding...

Licorice (Glycyrrhiza) species have been widely used as a traditional medicine and a natural sweetener in foods. The 18β-glycyrrhetinic acid (18β-GA) is a bioactive compound in licorice that exhibits potential anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, and anti-microbial activities. Many synthesized derivatives of 18β-GA have been reported to be cytotoxic and suggested for the treatment of malignant diseases. In this study, we explored the possible pharmacological roles of an 18β-GA derivative in skin biology using primary human dermal fibroblasts and HaCaT keratinocytes as cell models...

Milonine is an alkaloid of Cissampelos sympodialis Eichl. (Menispermaceae), a plant used in the northeast of Brazil to treat allergies such as asthma, rhinitis, and other conditions. Previously, several alkaloids were isolated from its roots and leaves with pharmacological properties in asthma and acute inflammation models. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the milonine effect on mast cells degranulation in vivo and in vitro. Swiss mice (n = 8) were used in models of paw edema induced by carrageenan, compound 48/80, or histamine...

The study aims to explore how microRNA-146a/b (miR-146a/b) regulates the function of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) in acute ischemic stroke in mice. Eighty male SPF C57BL/6J mice were evenly divided into the model-6 h, model-12 h, model-24 h (mice suffered from middle cerebral artery occlusion [MCAO] for 6 h, 12 h and model-24 h) and normal groups. EPCs were transfected and assigned into the control, MCAO, MCAO-miR-146a, MCAO-miR-146b and MCAO-miR-146a/b groups. The qRT-PCR was used to detect miR-146a/b expression in EPCs...

BACKGROUND: Radiotherapy has been used increasingly to treat primary hepatocellular carcinoma. Clinically, the main cause of radiotherapy failure is cellular radioresistance, conferred via glycolytic metabolism. Our previous study demonstrated that Girdin is upregulated in primary hepatocellular carcinoma and promotes the invasion and metastasis of tumor cells. However, whether Girdin underlies the radio-sensitivity of hepatocellular carcinoma remains unclear. METHODS: A short hairpin RNA (shRNA) was used to silence CCDC88A (encoding Girdin), and real-time PCR was performed to determine CCDC88A mRNA expression...

The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of CCAAT enhancer binding protein β (C/EBPβ) on human breast cancer cells. The plasmids pCDH-C/EBPβ and pLKO.1-shC/EBPβ were constructed and were infected into MDA-MB-468 cells, to provide C/EBPβ overexpressing and C/EBPβ knockdown cells, respectively. Cell viability, cell cycle and apoptosis were observed by MTT assay and flow cytometry analysis. Protein expression levels of C/EBPβ, TGF-β1, P-Smad3 and Smad3 were detected by western blotting. MTT assay showed that the absorbance of MDA-MB-468 cells in the pCDH-C/EBPβ group was increased, whereas that in the pLKO...

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a common urinary malignancy that is resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Osthole, a monomer compound extracted from a traditional Chinese herb, has potent anti-tumor effects on various types of cancer cells. However, the therapeutic effects of osthole on RCC remain unclear. In our study, osthole could suppress the proliferation and colony formation of two RCC cell lines, ACHN and 786-O cells, in a dose-dependent manner. Treatment with osthole resulted in a significant, dose-dependent increase in the expression of pro-apoptotic proteins (cleaved caspase-3 and Bax) and decreased expression of anti-apoptotic proteins (Bcl-2 and survivin), which were consistent with evidence of apoptotic nuclear morphology revealed by DAPI staining...

OBJECTIVE: To verify that miR-490-5p could influence hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells' proliferation, invasion, cycle, and apoptosis by targeting BUB1. METHODS: Quantitative real time-PCR (QRT-PCR) was used to determine the miR-490-5p expression. Immunohistochemistry, qRT-PCR, and Western blot were employed to detect BUB1 and transforming growth factor-beta (TGFβ/Smad) signaling-related proteins expression in hepatic tissues and cells. The luciferase assay was used to confirm the targeting relationship between miR-490-5p and BUB1...