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Highlights: [•] SWCNT TCFs were prepared by different proportions of CNTs/SDBS solution that the ratio of CNTs/SDBS 1:5 gave the lowest sheet resistance both for pristine and nitric acid-treated films. [•] The mechanism SDBS dispersing CNTs and TCFs treated with nitric acid were investigate according to SEM, Raman and XPS. [•] Finally TCFs fabricated with CNTs/SDBS 1:5 solutions were further treated by a simple method that immersion with SOCl2 to achieve lower sheet resistance, we also explored the effect of SOCl2 on TCFs with XPS and Raman. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), a classic environmental pollutant, is reported to cause cardiotoxicity in animals and humans. It has been demonstrated that PFOS exposure down-regulates expression of cardiac-development related genes and proteins. However, the related mechanism of PFOS has not been fully elucidated. In the present study, the embryonic stem (ES) cells-derived cardiomyocytes (ESC-CMs) was employed to investigate PFOS-mediated mechanism in developmental toxicity of cardiomyocytes. Our previous study shows that PFOS induces cardiomyocyte toxicity via causing mitochondrial damage. Nevertheless, the underlying mechanism by which PFOS affects the autophagy-related mitochondrial toxicity in ESC-CMs remains unclear. Here, we found that PFOS induced the swelling of mitochondria and the autophagosome accumulation in ESC-CMs at 40 μM concentration. PFOS increased the levels of LC3-II, p62, and ubiquitinated proteins. PFOS also induced an increase of LC3 and p62 localization into mitochondria, indicating that mitophagy degradation was impaired. The results of autophagic flux using chloroquine and RFP-GFP-LC3 analysis showed that the accumulation of autophagosome was not caused by the formation but by the impaired degradation. PFOS was capable of blocking the fusion between autophagosome and lysosome. PFOS caused dysfunction of lysosomes because it down-regulated Lamp2a and cathepsin D, but it did not induced lysosome membrane permeabilization. Meanwhile, PFOS-mediated lysosomal function and the inhibitory effect of autophagic flux could be reversed by PP242 at 40 nM concentration, an mTOR inhibitor. Furthermore, PP242 restored PFOS-induced ATP depletion and mitochondrial membrane potential. In conclusion, PFOS induced mitochondrial dysfunction via blocking autophagy-lysosome degradation, leading to cardiomyocyte toxicity from ES cells. • PFOS affects the autophagy-related mitochondrial toxicity in ESC-CMs. • PFOS was capable of blocking the fusion between autophagosome and lysosome. • PFOS caused dysfunction of lysosomes, but did not induced lysosome membrane permeabilization. • PFOS-mediated lysosomal function and the inhibitory effect of autophagic flux could be reversed by PP242. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thin film metallic glasses (TFMGs) have been heavily studied recently due to their ability to improve structural integrity. These versatile materials can furthermore be engineered to encompass biomedical applications in addition to providing improved hardness and other such uses in altering the base materials. In this work, six Zr-Ti-Fe TFMGs were grown by a magnetron co-sputtering system using pure Fe, Zr, and Ti targets under different target power control. The Fe content of coatings increased from to 17.8 to 49.8 at.%. The amorphous phase of each coating was confirmed by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscope techniques, and a featureless cross-section microstructure was found for each coating. Very little pile-up was found after the nanoindentation test. The hardness and elastic modulus of TFMG increased from 5.4 to 10.4 GPa and 73 to 135 GPa, respectively, as the Fe content increased from 17.8 to 49.8 at.%. Each TFMG also had adequate adhesion by HRC-DB test. Good biocompatibility of each TFMG was confirmed with proliferation assay using MG-63 cells. Because of the intrinsic improvement on hardness, and the additional properties of biocompatibility, we can conclude that six thin film metallic glass materials show promising possibilities for biomedical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interfacial layers formed by in-situ H 2 O and O 2 plasma in an atomic layer deposition chamber on electrical and physical characteristics of high- k gated MOSFETs are investigated in this work. The dielectric constant of HfON gate dielectric can be up to 31 since more tetragonal HfO 2 is obtained by H 2 O plasma formed interfacial layer (IL) with less oxygen. The effective oxide thickness is scaled down to 0.72 nm, and simultaneously the leakage current is about 6 × 10 −3 A/cm 2 . A high on/off current ratio and low subthreshold swing are obtained thanks to good quality of H 2 O plasma formed IL. The H 2 O plasma formed IL is promising for high- k gated MOSFET. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A post-growth treatment is performed on a chemical oxide interfacial layer (IL) before an atomic layer deposition formed high-k for MOSFETs in this work. The treatment includes an IL desorption with a high temperature annealing and a re-growth process with a H 2 O 2 solution. The effective oxide thickness is scaled down and simultaneously the leakage current is decreased too. The improvement can be attributed to the high temperature desorption and the re-grown IL with fewer oxygen vacancies. In addition, a charge pumping technique is applied for interface and IL analyses. The charge pumping data are consistent with material analysis. The post-growth treatment is a novel approach to form an IL for ALD-formed high-k in MOS devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] We study the high-k dielectrics with in situ NH3, N2, H2 plasma treatment. [•] EOT and Jg are reduced for the MOS device with NH3 plasma treated HfO2. [•] A tetragonal phase HfO2 is obtained for the MOS device with NH3 plasma treatment. [•] Stress induced Vfb shift and leakage are reduced for NH3 plasma treated HfO2. [•] In-situ NH3 plasma treatment in ALD is a promising technique for high-k process. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this work, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were functionalized to fabricate MWCNT/epoxy composites by incorporating MWCNTs into an epoxy. Cure behavior of composites was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry. Thermo-mechanical behavior of the composite was then evaluated by dynamic mechanical analysis. Tensile strength, elastic modulus and maximum elongation were obtained by tensile test using the CMT-4204 universal testing machine. A field-emission scanning electron microscope was also used to characterize the fracture mechanism of composites and the dispersion state of MWCNTs in the epoxy. The results showed that the introduction of MWCNTs decreased the activation energy of the reaction and promoted the cure reaction. The addition of MWCNTs, especially amino-functionalized MWCNTs, clearly improved the tensile strength. The functionalized MWCNTs improved the interfacial bonding and made the dispersion of MWCNTs homogeneous in the matrix, giving the composites present a better mechanical property. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Functionalization of multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) was achieved by grafting carboxyl groups and amino groups. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to detect the changes produced by functional groups on the surface of the MWCNTs. Three different MWCNTs were incorporated into epoxy resin and the friction and wear behavior of MWCNT/epoxy composites was investigated using a M-2000 wear testing machine at different sliding speeds under different applied loads. Scanning electron microscopy was used to observe the worn surfaces of the samples. The results indicated that the functional groups had been grafted on the surface of MWCNTs. Compared with neat epoxy, the composites with MWCNTs showed a lower friction coefficient and wear rate, and the wear rate decreased with the increase of MWCNT loading. Combining epoxy resin with MWCNTs is an efficient method to improve the wear resistance and decrease the coefficient of friction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The ability of the mammalian kidney to repair or regenerate after acute kidney injury (AKI) is very limited. The maladaptive repair of AKI promotes progression to chronic kidney disease (CKD). Therefore, new strategies to promote the repair/regeneration of injured renal tubules after AKI are urgently needed. Hypoxia has been shown to induce heart regeneration in adult mice. However, it is unknown whether hypoxia can induce kidney regeneration after AKI. In this study, we used a prolyl hydroxylase domain inhibitor (PHDI), MK-8617, to mimic hypoxic conditions and found that MK-8617 significantly ameliorated ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI)-induced AKI. We also showed that MK-8617 dramatically facilitated renal tubule regeneration by promoting the proliferation of renal proximal tubular cells (RPTCs) after IRI-induced AKI. We then performed bulk mRNA sequencing and discovered that multiple nephrogenesis-related genes were significantly upregulated with MK-8617 pretreatment. We also showed that MK-8617 may alleviate proximal tubule injury by stabilizing the HIF-1α protein specifically in renal proximal tubular cells. Furthermore, we demonstrated that MK-8617 promotes the reprogramming of renal proximal tubular cells to Sox9 + renal progenitor cells and the regeneration of renal proximal tubules. In summary, we report that the inhibition of prolyl hydroxylase improves renal proximal tubule regeneration after IRI-induced AKI by promoting the reprogramming of renal proximal tubular cells to Sox9 + renal progenitor cells., Competing Interests: Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Pharmacological Society.)

Taxodin A (1), a unique C 30 terpenoid featuring an unprecedented skeleton composed of an abietane-type diterpene and a menthane-type monoterpene, was obtained from the leaves and branches of Taxodium mucronatum. The structure and absolute configuration of compound 1 was unequivocally established by the combination of extensive spectroscopic analyses and X-ray single-crystal diffraction analysis. Compound 1 exhibited potent cytotoxic activities against A549, SMMC-7721, MDA-MB-231, and SW480 cell lines with IC 50 values of 15.35±0.73, 8.49±0.35, 17.53±0.79, 18.93±0.60 μM, respectively., (© 2024 Wiley-VHCA AG, Zurich, Switzerland.)

What Works Clearinghouse (WWC, 2022) recommends a design-comparable effect size (D-CES; i.e., g AB ) to gauge an intervention in single-case experimental design (SCED) studies, or to synthesize findings in meta-analysis. So far, no research has examined g AB 's performance under non-normal distributions. This study expanded Pustejovsky et al. (2014) to investigate the impact of data distributions, number of cases (m), number of measurements (N), within-case reliability or intra-class correlation (ρ), ratio of variance components (λ), and autocorrelation (ϕ) on g AB in multiple-baseline (MB) design. The performance of g AB was assessed by relative bias (RB), relative bias of variance (RBV), MSE, and coverage rate of 95% CIs (CR). Findings revealed that g AB was unbiased even under non-normal distributions. g AB 's variance was generally overestimated, and its 95% CI was over-covered, especially when distributions were normal or nearly normal combined with small m and N. Large imprecision of g AB occurred when m was small and ρ was large. According to the ANOVA results, data distributions contributed to approximately 49% of variance in RB and 25% of variance in both RBV and CR. m and ρ each contributed to 34% of variance in MSE. We recommend g AB for MB studies and meta-analysis with N ≥ 16 and when either (1) data distributions are normal or nearly normal, m = 6, and ρ = 0.6 or 0.8, or (2) data distributions are mildly or moderately non-normal, m ≥ 4, and ρ = 0.2, 0.4, or 0.6. The paper concludes with a discussion of g AB 's applicability and design-comparability, and sound reporting practices of ES indices., (© 2023. The Psychonomic Society, Inc.)

Organoid evolution models complemented with integrated single-cell sequencing technology provide a powerful platform to characterize intra-tumor heterogeneity (ITH) and tumor evolution. Here, we conduct a parallel evolution experiment to mimic the tumor evolution process by evolving a colon cancer organoid model over 100 generations, spanning 6 months in time. We use single-cell whole-genome sequencing (WGS) in combination with viral lineage tracing at 12 time points to simultaneously monitor clone size, CNV states, SNV states, and viral lineage barcodes for 1,641 single cells. We integrate these measurements to construct clonal evolution trees with high resolution. We characterize the order of events in which chromosomal aberrations occur and identify aberrations that recur multiple times within the same tumor sub-population. We observe recurrent sequential loss of chromosome 4 after loss of chromosome 18 in four unique tumor clones. SNVs and CNVs identified in our organoid experiments are also frequently reported in colorectal carcinoma samples, and out of 334 patients with chromosome 18 loss in a Memorial Sloan Kettering colorectal cancer cohort, 99 (29.6%) also harbor chromosome 4 loss. Our study reconstructs tumor evolution in a colon cancer organoid model at high resolution, demonstrating an approach to identify potentially clinically relevant genomic aberrations in tumor evolution., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interests. J.d.R. is founder of Cyclomics B.V., (© 2022 The Authors.)

Levels of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in liquid biopsies may serve as a sensitive biomarker for real-time, minimally-invasive tumor diagnostics and monitoring. However, detecting ctDNA is challenging, as much fewer than 5% of the cell-free DNA in the blood typically originates from the tumor. To detect lowly abundant ctDNA molecules based on somatic variants, extremely sensitive sequencing methods are required. Here, we describe a new technique, CyclomicsSeq, which is based on Oxford Nanopore sequencing of concatenated copies of a single DNA molecule. Consensus calling of the DNA copies increased the base-calling accuracy ~60×, enabling accurate detection of TP53 mutations at frequencies down to 0.02%. We demonstrate that a TP53-specific CyclomicsSeq assay can be successfully used to monitor tumor burden during treatment for head-and-neck cancer patients. CyclomicsSeq can be applied to any genomic locus and offers an accurate diagnostic liquid biopsy approach that can be implemented in clinical workflows., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Single-case experimental design (SCED) research plays an important role in establishing and confirming evidence-based practices. Due to multiple measures of a target behavior in such studies, missing information is common in their data. The expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm has been successfully applied to deal with missing data in between-subjects designs, but only in a handful of SCED studies. The present study extends the findings from Smith, Borckardt, and Nash (2012) and Velicer and Colby (2005b, Study 2) by systematically examining the performance of EM in a baseline-intervention (or AB) design under various missing rates, autocorrelations, intervention phase lengths, and magnitudes of effects, as well as two fitted models. Three indicators of an intervention effect (baseline slope, level shift, and slope change) were estimated. The estimates' relative bias, root-mean squared error, and relative bias of the estimated standard error were used to assess EM's performance. The findings revealed that autocorrelation impacted the estimates' qualities most profoundly. Autocorrelation interacted with missing rate in impacting the relative bias of the estimates, impacted the root-mean squared error nonlinearly, and interacted with the fitted model in impacting the relative bias of the estimated standard errors. A simpler model without autocorrelation can be used to estimate baseline slope and slope change in time-series data. EM is recommended as a principled method to handle missing data in SCED studies. Two decision trees are presented to assist researchers and practitioners in applying EM. Emerging research directions are identified for treating missing data in SCED studies.

A silk fibroin composite film that can simultaneously scavenge and probe H 2 O 2 in situ was developed for possibly examining local concentrations of H 2 O 2 for biomedical applications. A multi-functional composite film (GDES) that consists of graphene oxide (G), a photothermally responsive element that was blended with polydopamine (PDA, D)/horseradish peroxidase (HRP, E) (or DE complex), and then GDE microaggregates were coated with silk fibroin (SF, S), a tyrosine-containing protein. At 37 °C, the H 2 O 2 -scavenging ability of a GDES film in solution at approximately 7.5 × 10 -3 μmol H 2 O 2 /mg film was the highest compared with those of S and GS films. The intensities of UV-excitable blue fluorescence of a GDES film linearly increased with increasing H 2 O 2 concentrations from 4.0 μM to 80 μM at 37 °C. Interestingly, after a GDES film scavenged H 2 O 2 , the UV-excitable blue fluorescent film could be qualitatively monitored by eye, making the film an eye-probe H 2 O 2 sensor. A GDES film enabled to heat H 2 O 2 -containing samples to 37 °C or higher by the absorption of near-IR irradiation at 808 nm. The good biocompatibility of a GDES film was examined according to the requirements of ISO-10993-5. Accordingly, a GDES film was developed herein to scavenge and eye-probe H 2 O 2 in situ and so it has potential for biomedical applications., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Objective: To study the clinical value of serum neuroglobin in evaluating hypoglycemic brain injury in neonates., Methods: A total of 100 neonates with hypoglycemia were enrolled as subjects. According to amplitude-integrated EEG (aEEG) findings and/or clinical manifestations, they were divided into symptomatic hypoglycemic brain injury group (n=22), asymptomatic hypoglycemic brain injury group (n=37) and hypoglycemic non-brain injury group (n=41). The three groups were compared in terms of blood glucose, duration of hypoglycemia, levels of neuroglobin and neuron-specific enolase (NSE), and modified aEEG score. The correlation of neuroglobin with NSE and modified aEEG score was analyzed. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was plotted., Results: Compared with the asymptomatic hypoglycemic brain injury and hypoglycemic non-brain injury groups, the symptomatic hypoglycemic brain injury group had significantly lower blood glucose and modified aEEG score, significantly higher neuroglobin and NSE levels, and a significantly longer duration of hypoglycemia (P<0.05). Compared with the hypoglycemic non-brain injury group, the asymptomatic hypoglycemic brain injury group had significantly lower blood glucose and modified aEEG score, significantly higher neuroglobin and NSE levels, and a significantly longer duration of hypoglycemia (P<0.05). Neuroglobin was positively correlated with NSE and duration of hypoglycemia (r=0.922 and 0.929 respectively; P<0.05) and negatively correlated with blood glucose and modified aEEG score (r=-0.849 and -0.968 respectively; P<0.05). The areas under the ROC curve of neuroglobin, NSE and modified aEEG score were 0.894, 0.890 and 0.941 respectively, and neuroglobin had a sensitivity of 80.8% and a specificity of 95.8% at the optimal cut-off value of 108 mg/L., Conclusions: Like NSE and modified aEEG score, serum neuroglobin can also be used as a specific indicator for the assessment of brain injury in neonates with hypoglycemia and has a certain value in clinical practice.

The histone demethylase Jmjd3 plays a critical role in cell lineage specification and differentiation at various stages of development. However, its function during normal myeloid development remains poorly understood. Here, we carried out a systematic in vivo screen of epigenetic factors for their function in hematopoiesis and identified Jmjd3 as a new epigenetic factor that regulates myelopoiesis in zebrafish. We demonstrated that jmjd3 was essential for zebrafish primitive and definitive myelopoiesis, knockdown of jmjd3 suppressed the myeloid commitment and enhanced the erythroid commitment. Only overexpression of spi1 but not the other myeloid regulators rescued the myeloid development in jmjd3 morphants. Furthermore, preliminary mechanistic studies demonstrated that Jmjd3 could directly bind to the spi1 regulatory region to alleviate the repressive H3K27me3 modification and activate spi1 expression. Thus, our studies highlight that Jmjd3 is indispensable for early zebrafish myeloid development by promoting spi1 expression., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Study Objectives: The aim of this study is to investigate changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in awake people with untreated severe obstructive sleep apnoea (OSAs) compared with good sleepers (GSs)., Design: Arterial spin labelling perfusion imaging was used to quantify cerebral perfusion based on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)., Setting: Lying supine in a 3.0-T magnetic resonance imaging scanner in the night was done., Participants: Included in this study were 30 subjects with OSA (males; mean age 38.4 years, range 25-55) and 30 controls (males; mean age: 38.3 years, range 26-52) matched for age and years of education., Results: Compared with GSs, participants with severe OSA had reduced rCBF in the left cerebellum posterior lobe, left temporal lobe, right medial frontal gyrus, and bilateral parahippocampal gyrus and increased rCBF in the bilateral superior frontal gyrus. The lower mean CBF in the right parahippocampal gyrus exhibited a significant positive correlation with arousal index (r = 0.365, P = 0.047). The increased mean CBF in the left superior frontal gyrus exhibited a significant positive correlation with the longest apnoea time (r = 0.422, P = 0.020), and the increased mean CBF in the right superior frontal gyrus exhibited a significant positive correlation with the longest apnoea time (r = 0.447, P = 0.013)., Conclusions: Our results show that the altered rCBF pattern in the left cerebellum posterior lobe, left temporal lobe, left medial frontal gyrus, bilateral parahippocampal gyrus and superior frontal gyrus in patients have with severe OSA. The arterial spin labelling perfusion imaging method is a useful non-invasive imaging tool for detection of early changes in the regional cerebral blood flow in patients with OSA.

Confidence interval (CI) estimation for an effect size (ES) provides a range of possible population ESs supported by data. In this article, we investigated the noncentral t method, Bonett's method, and the bias-corrected and accelerated (BCa) bootstrap method for constructing CIs when a standardized linear contrast of means is defined as an ES. The noncentral t method assumes normality and equal variances, Bonett's method assumes only normality, and the BCa bootstrap method makes no assumptions. We simulated data for three and four groups from a variety of populations (one normal and five nonnormals) with varied variance ratios (1, 2.25, 4, 8), population ESs (0, 0.2, 0.5, 0.8), and sample size patterns (one equal and two unequal). Results showed that the noncentral method performed the best among the three methods under the joint condition of ES = 0 and equal variances. Performance of the noncentral method was comparable to that of the other two methods under (1) equal sample size, unequal weight for each group, and the last group sampled from a leptokurtic distribution, or (2) equal sample size and equal weight for all groups, when all are sampled from a normal population, or only the last group sampled from a nonnormal distribution. In the remaining conditions, Bonett's and the BCa bootstrap methods performed better than the noncentral method. The BCa bootstrap method is the method of choice when the sample size per group is 30 or more. Findings from this study have implications for simultaneous comparisons of means and of ranked means in between- and within-subjects designs.

In the title compound, C(29)H(28)ClNO(7), the tetra-hydro-furan ring and the six-membered ring fused to it both display envelope conformations. The dihedral angles between the plane of the benzene ring of the benzo[d][1,3]dioxole system and the planes of the other two benzene rings are 80.59 (3) and 63.60 (2)°.

The title compound, C(20)H(20)N(2)O(4), crystallizes with four independent mol-ecules in the asymmetric unit. In the mol-ecules, the dihedral angles between the benzene rings and indole mean planes are 24.5 (1), 22.5 (1), 8.8 (1) and 13.9 (1)°. In the crystal, inter-molecular N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds are present between the imino groups and the adjacent carbonyl groups. π-π stacking is also observed with a centroid-centroid distance between nearly parallel pyrrole rings of 3.745 (3) Å.

Histone modifications play an important role in the epigenetic regulation of gene expression. All histone modifications are reversible, which may therefore provide a flexible way for regulating gene expression during the plant's development and during the plant response to environmental stimuli. The reversible acetylation and deacetylation of specific lysine residues on core histones are catalysed by histone acetyltransferases and histone deacetylases (HDAs). HDA6 is an RPD3-type histone deacetylase in Arabidopsis. The Arabidopsis HDA6 mutant, axe1-5, and HDA6 RNA-interfering plants displayed a phenotype that was hypersensitive to ABA and salt stress. Compared with wild-type plants, the expression of the ABA and abiotic stress-responsive genes, ABI1, ABI2, KAT1, KAT2, DREB2A, RD29A, and RD29B, was decreased in axe1-5 and HDA6 RNA-interfering plants when treated with ABA or salt stress. It was found that both ABA and salt stress could enrich the gene activation markers, histone H3K9K14 acetylation, and H3K4 trimethylation, but decrease the gene repression marker, H3K9 dimethylation, of the ABA and abiotic stress-responsive genes. Our study indicates that HDA6-involved histone modifications modulate seed germination and the salt stress response, as well as ABA- and salt stress-induced gene expression in Arabidopsis.

Objective: To explore the injuries to the urinary system caused by uterine artery embolization (UAE) for treatment of obstetrical and gynecological benign diseases, including the classification, aetiology, therapy of the injuries and precaution methods., Methods: The injuries of the urinary system were reviewed in 960 cases of obstetrical and gynecological benign diseases treated with UAE by our interventional centre. Of all 960 cases, 690 cases were myoma, 244 adenomyosis, 8 cervical pregnancy, 2 cornus pregnancy, 14 postpartum hemorrhage, 2 late postpartum hemorrhage. Meanwhile, the correlative problems of the vascular anatomy, DSA and the embolization technics of microcatheter were analyzed., Results: (1) Different degrees of urinary system injuries occurred in 5 of 960 cases, the rate was 0.5%. None was severe injury, one case (0.1%) was moderate injury, and the patient suffered of hydronephrosis caused by segmental necrosis of unilateral ureter. Mild injury occurred in 4 cases (0.4%), including one case of inflammation of bladder, one case of partial necrosis of bladder mucosa membrane, 2 cases of transient slight unilateral hydronephrosis. Among all the injuries, 4 occurred in myoma patients, and one occurred in adenomyosis patient. The operation procedures of all five cases were bilateral uterine artery embolization, and none used microcatheter. (2) The ureter branch arising from the middle or lower part of the uterine artery supplied the middle or lower part of ureter and the length of this part of ureter is about 4 cm, the bladder branch arising from the middle or lower part of uterine artery supplied the bladder and communicated with the bladder vascular net. Correlative injuries could be caused by the retroflow of embolisms into the above arteries. (3) Placement of the catheter into the upper branch of the uterine artery or the tumor vascular net, using microcatheter if necessary and notation of the retroflow in the embolization process could avoid the embolization of bladder and ureter arteries. (4) Totally 506 cases used microcatheter, the ratio was 52.7%. The 5 cases of injuries did not use microcatheter., Conclusions: Injuries to the urinary system could occur in UAE for treatment of obstetrical and gynecological benign diseases, which can be prevented by carefully differentiating the vascular communicating branch and the conditions of branches, and embolization of the upper branch of uterine artery can avoid the injury.

Bisphosphonates are synthetic pyrophosphate analogs that can be used for the treatment of osteoporosis. Sintered dicalcium pyrophosphate, as a pyrophosphate analog, may be useful in the clinical setting for osteoporosis. In this study, an ovariectomized rat model is used to evaluate the effects of orally administered sintered dicalcium pyrophosphate on bone mass. Thirty-six female rats were used in this study. They randomly were divided into six groups: a negative normal control group, a positive osteoporosis control group, and ovariectomized groups treated either with alendronate sodium (one group) or sintered dicalcium pyrophosphate (three groups, each at a different level). The animals were sacrificed at 4 weeks after treatment. For all the rats, whole blood samples were obtained for the biochemical study. Bone ashes of long bones were measured and studied and histologic studies of cancellous bone were carried out. The ingestion of either alendronate or sintered dicalcium pyrophosphate did not have any deleterious effect on the major visceral organs. Ingestion of alendronate or sintered pyrophosphate decreased the bony porosity and increased bone mineral contents in the long bones of ovariectomized rats. Thus sintered dicalcium pyrophosphate can increase bone mass in the ovariectomized rat., (Copyright 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res 59: 246-253, 2002)