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Osteoporosis is a systemic and metabolic bone disease. New drugs with good curative effect, fewer side effects, and high safety need to be developed urgently. Recently, simvastatin has been used to treat osteoporosis more frequently; however, its clinical effect and treatment mechanism are still unknown. With the use of animal models, the treatment effectiveness of simvastatin on experimental osteoporosis was investigated and the functional mechanism was preliminarily explored. The results show that simvastatin significantly increased the mechanical parameters such as maximum load, stiffness, and energy-absorbing capacity, and improved the microarchitecture. They indicated that the antiosteoporosis activity of simvastatin may be due to the promotion of proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts. Simvastatin was effective in treating experimental osteoporosis. This study provides necessary experimental evidence for the clinical application of simvastatin in osteoporosis treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bevacizumab (Bev), a monoclonal antibody against vascular endothelial growth factor, when combined with standard first-line chemotherapy, shows impressive clinical benefit in advanced non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (ns-NSCLC). Our study aims to investigate whether the addition of Bev to pemetrexed improves progression-free survival (PFS) in advanced ns-NSCLC patients after the failure of at least one prior chemotherapy regimens. Patients with locally advanced, recurrent, or metastatic ns-NSCLC, after failure of platinum-based therapy, with a performance status 0 to 2, were eligible. Patients received 500 mg/m of pemetrexed intravenously (IV) day 1 with vitamin B12, folic acid, and dexamethasone and Bev 7.5 mg/kg IV day 1 of a 21-day cycle until unacceptable toxicity, disease progression or the patient requested therapy discontinuation. The primary end point was PFS. Between December 2011 and October 2013, 33 patients were enrolled, with median age of 55 years and 36.4 % men. Twenty-three patients (69.7 %) had received two or more prior regimens, and 28 patients (84.8 %) had received chemotherapy containing pemetrexed. The median number of the protocol regimens was 4. Median PFS was 4.37 months (95 % CI 2.64-6.09 months). Median overall survival (OS) was 15.83 months (95 % CI 10.52-21.15 months). Overall response rates were 6.45 %. Disease control rate was 54.84 %. No new safety signals were detected. No patient experienced drug-related deaths. The combination of Bev and pemetrexed every 21 days is effective in ns-NSCLC patients who failed of prior therapies with improved PFS. Toxicities are similar with historical data of these two agents and are tolerable. Our results may provide more a regimen containing Bev and pemetrexed for Chinese clinical practice in previously treated ns-NSCLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic neuropathic pain is a common and debilitating consequence of spinal cord injury (SCI). In a rat contusion injury model, we observed that chronic neuropathic pain is present on day 7 after SCI and persists for the entire 56-day observation period. However, currently available pain therapies are inadequate for SCI-induced neuropathic pain. In this study, we show that spinal transplantation of mouse embryonic stem cell-derived oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) enhances remyelination in the injured spinal cord and reduces SCI-induced chronic neuropathic pain. Moreover, we found that SCI reduces the protein level of neuregulin-1 and ErbB4 in the injured spinal cord and that OPC transplantation enhances the spinal expression of both proteins after SCI. Finally, intrathecal injection of neuregulin-1 small interfering RNA, but not the control nontarget RNA, diminishes OPC transplantation-produced remyelination and reverses the antinociceptive effect of OPC transplantation. Our findings suggest that the transplantation of embryonic stem cell-derived OPCs is an appropriate therapeutic intervention for treatment of SCI-induced chronic neuropathic pain, and that neuregulin-1/ErbB signaling plays an important role in central remyelination under pathological conditions and contributes to the alleviation of such pain. S TEM C ells 2013;31:83-91 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective The study is to observe the effect of nitric oxide (NO) donor and scavenger to the hypo-glossal motor nucleus (HMN) activity and explore the underlying mechanism. Methods Male adult anesthetized Wis-tar rats were anesthetized. The activity of genioglossus (GG), diaphragma, blood pressure (BP) and respiratory rate (RR) were recorded when constant microdialysis perfusion of artificial cerebrospinal fluid (ACSF) to HMN as control, fol-lowed with diethylamine NONOate sodium salt hydrate (DEA), a NO donor, and 2-(4-carboxyphenyl) -4,4,5,5-tetra -methylimidazoline -1 -oxyl -3 -oxide potassium salt (carboxy-PTIO), a NO scavenger. Results Compared with ACSF, application of DEA and carboxy-PTIO at HMN increased and decreased the GG activity respectively and significantly (P<0.05), mainly respiratory-related activity. The tonic GG, diaphragma activity, BP and RR had not been affected statistically between 30-120 min when microdialysis perfusion of both DEA and carboxy-PTIO were delivered. Con-clusion Acting as an excitatory neurotransmitter of HMN, NO may contribute to the patency of upper airway phy-siologically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Aortic dissection is a life-threatening cardiovascular disease with high mortality. Little is known about comparisons of the clinical characteristics or the factors that influence the long-term prognosis of Chinese patients with aortic dissection with and without Marfan syndrome (MFS). METHODS: The authors studied the data of 246 patients with aortic dissection. The patients were hospitalised for aortic abnormalities from 2004 to 2008 in Fuwai Hospital. Medical charts were reviewed to obtain clinical data using a standardised data collection sheet. RESULTS: Of the 246 patients with acute aortic dissection, 56 had MFS. Compared with the non-MFS patients, those with MFS were considerably younger (mean±SD age 35.27±11.11 vs 54.11±11.96 years, p<0.001) and had pre-existing hypertension much less commonly (5.4% vs 80.0%, p<0.001). The patients with MFS presented with a wider ascending aorta diameter (63.60±9.00 vs 38.55±9.44 mm, p<0.001) and a lower body mass index (20.14±2.00 vs 25.62±3.41, p<0.001) than the non-MFS patients. Overall, 91.1% of the MFS patients underwent surgical treatment, whereas 55.78% of the non-MFS patients accepted medical treatment. However, mortality in the two groups did not differ significantly (6 vs 17, p=0.527). Multivariate analysis showed that the aortic diameter (OR=1.072) was a risk factor and surgical treatment (OR=0.006) was a protective factor for the survival of MFS patients with aortic dissection. With increased diastolic blood pressure, mortality decreased in non-MFS patients with aortic dissection (OR=0.905). CONCLUSIONS: These clinical results could be useful for rapid assessment of the treatment and prognosis of patients with aortic dissection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The two equilibrium structures of the compound Li3AlB2O6 have been investigated via the minimization of the total energy within Local Spin Density Approximation (LSDA) based on the Density Functional Theory (DFT) in our work. The calculated lattice parameters are all in good agreement with their corresponding experimental values. The relative stability of the two structures are determined. We find that the structure suggested by He et al. is more stable than that proposed by Abdullaev et al. at zero pressure conditions. The reasons for which the structure suggested by He et al. is more stable are also described. Then the electronic properties of the compound Li3AlB2O6 including the density of states and energy band structure are successfully obtained and compared for the two structures. We find that the properties of insulator decreases from the structure suggested by He et al. to the structure proposed by Abdullaev et al. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The two equilibrium structures of the compound Li3AlB2O6 have been investigated via the minimization of the total energy within Local Spin Density Approximation (LSDA) based on the Density Functional Theory (DFT) in our work. The calculated lattice parameters are all in good agreement with their corresponding experimental values. The relative stability of the two structures are determined. We find that the structure suggested by He et al. is more stable than that proposed by Abdullaev et al. at zero pressure conditions. The reasons for which the structure suggested by He et al. is more stable are also described. Then the electronic properties of the compound Li3AlB2O6 including the density of states and energy band structure are successfully obtained and compared for the two structures. We find that the properties of insulator decreases from the structure suggested by He et al. to the structure proposed by Abdullaev et al. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The machine-simulated corrosion is performed based on an acid rain corrosion. • The mathematical models between corrosion level and tensile property are established. • The effect of corrosion morphology on static mechanical properties is revealed. • The correlation between atmospheric corrosion and accelerated corrosion is analyzed. The correlation between the accelerated corrosion and atmospheric corrosion is needed in order to study the degradation of mechanical properties, based on the former. To achieve that end, static tensile tests were performed on 78 specimens under three different environments: urban industrial atmospheric corrosion, dry/wet cyclic accelerated corrosion in a laboratory as simulated from the urban industrial atmosphere, and machine-simulated corrosion; and the effects of corrosion method and corrosion degree on the constitutive law of corroded steel plates were investigated based on the corrosion morphology. Moreover, the degree of correlation for the corrosion level assessment and mechanical properties indices were analyzed between the atmospheric corrosion and accelerated corrosion, based on the grey relational analysis. As a result, the mechanical properties decrease and the dispersion increases with the increasing corrosion degree. When the mass loss is ≥16%, the yield plateau of the stress-strain curve of corroded steel plate is significantly shortened. The mass loss of 30% can be defined as the critical point at which the yielding plateau disappears under the dry/wet cyclic accelerated corrosion test. The critical corrosion ratios for the main mechanical indices not meeting the specification requirements are proposed; and the relationship between the etch pit depth and mechanical property degradation is established along with a deterministic constitutive model related to the corrosion ratio. The degree of correlation for either the corrosion level assessment index or the mechanical property index is found to be good. The mechanical properties of corroded steel under the acid rain corrosion environment may be better simulated by the dry/wet cyclic accelerated corrosion or the machine-simulated corrosion when both pitting corrosion and uniform corrosion are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a highly aggressive tumour subtype associated with poor prognosis. The function of leucine-rich repeat-containing protein 15 (LRRC15), a member of the leucine-rich repeat superfamily, in TNBC has not yet been elucidated. The aim of this study was to identify the combined role of LRRC15 and Wnt/β-catenin signalling pathway in the development of TNBC. The expression of LRRC15 in TNBC tissues was analysed using data from The Cancer Genome Atlas. Cell migration and invasion assays were conducted to study the function of LRRC15 in TNBC. The expression of Wnt/β-catenin signalling proteins was analysed via western blotting. The effect of LRRC15 on β-catenin nuclear localisation was measured by performing western blotting and luciferase assays. It was found that high LRRC15 expression was associated with poor prognosis in patients with TNBC. High expression of LRRC15 in cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) promoted cell migration and invasion in TNBC cells. In addition, TNBC cells with LRRC15 overexpression in CAFs showed an aberrant increase in β-catenin activity concomitant with nuclear localisation of β-catenin, which inhibited its degradation. These results showed that LRRC15 promoted tumour migration and invasion in TNBC cells by regulating the Wnt/β-catenin signalling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]