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The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of three different formulations of hyaluronic acid (HA): Low molecular weight (MW) Sinovial One((R)), medium MW Viscoplus((R)) and high MW Durolane((R)), on chondrocyte proliferation and collagen type II (COL2A1), hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF-1 alpha) and chondroadherin (CHAD) expression in primary chondrocyte cultures. Standard primary chondrocyte cultures were established from osteochondral tissues surgically obtained from 6 patients with gonarthrosis. Cell morphology was evaluated using an inverted light microscope; cell proliferation was determined with a MTT assay and confirmed with acridine orange/propidium iodide staining. Levels of CHAD, COL2A1 and HIF-1 alpha expression were assessed using specific TaqMan gene expression assays. The results demonstrated the positive effect of HA treatment on cell proliferation, which was independent from the MW. COL2A1 expression increased in the medium and high MW HA treated groups. It was observed that HIF-1 alpha expression increased in the high MW treated group alone. CHAD expression increased only in the medium MW HA treated group. Evaluation of gene expression revealed that levels of expression increased as the duration of HA application increased, in the medium and high MW HA treated groups. In terms of increased viability and proliferation, a longer duration of HA application was more effective. Taken together, it may be concluded that the administration of medium and high MW HA may be a successful way of treating diseases affecting chondrocytes in a clinical setting.

PubMedID: 28339432 Background: Chronic knee pain is a major widespread problem causing significant impairment of daily function. Pulsed radiofrequency has been shown to reduce severe chronic joint pain as a non-pharmacological and less invasive treatment method. Objective: We aimed to compare the effectiveness of unipolar and bipolar intraarticular pulsed radiofrequency methods in chronic knee pain control. Study Design: Prospective, randomized, double-blind study. Setting: Pain clinic in Cukurova University Faculty of Medicine. Methods: One hundred patients, aged 20-70 years with grade 2 or 3 knee osteoarthritis were included in this study. Patients were randomly allocated into 2 groups to receive either unipolar (group U, n = 50) or bipolar (group B, n = 50) intraarticular pulsed radiofrequency (IAPRF) with a 45 V voltage, 2 Hz frequency, 42° C temperature, 10 msec pulse width, and 10 minute duration. We recorded visual analog scale (VAS) and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index LK 3.1WOMAC (Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index LK 3.1) scores of patients at baseline and one, 4, and 12 weeks after the procedure. The primary outcome was the percentage of patients with ? 50% reduction in knee pain at 12 weeks after the procedure. Results: There was a significant difference between the groups according to VAS scores at all post-intervention time points. In group B, 84% of patients, and in the group U, 50% of patients achieved at least 50% knee pain relief from the baseline to 3 months. In group B, WOMAC scores were significantly lower than the group U at one and 3 months. Limitations: Lack of long-term clinical results and supportive laboratory tests. Conclusion: Bipolar IAPRF is more advantageous in reducing chronic knee pain and functional recovery compared with unipolar IAPRF. Further studies with longer follow-up times, laboratorybased tests, and different generator settings are required to establish the clinical importance and well-defined mechanism of action of PRF. © 2017, American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians. All rights reserved.

Summary The aim was to investigate the serum levels of leptin, TNF-alpha, IL-1 beta, IL-6, insulin, and growth hormone in patients with upper gastrointestinal cancer and cachexia. A total of 39 patients with various advanced stage (stage IV) gastrointestinal malignancies were enrolled. These cancer patients were divided into two groups according to the presence or absence of cachexia. Fifteen healthy adults were recruited as the control group. Body mass index (BMI; kg/m2) was calculated. Serum leptin, tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α interleukin (IL)-1 beta, interleukin (IL)-6, growth hormone, insulin, glucose, triglyceride, total protein, albumin, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and CRP were measured. In both cancer groups (cachectic and non-cachectic) body mass index and serum leptin levels were lower than controls (p

We have performed a dielectric spectroscopy study of four homologous cyanobiphenyl polyacrylates with long side chains. The alpha- and delta-relaxation times were found to be sensitive to the sequential transformations between mesophases. The tau(delta) in the isotropic phase exhibits the characteristics that obeys VET relation and depend strongly on spacer length The relaxation times, tau(delta), for the crossover from short range intermolecular interactions to long range LC ordering, decreases with increasing side chain length, implying that the cooperative motions of mesogenic dipoles arrange long range order at shorter time scales, as the spacer length is increased. In the SmA mesophases of CBPAn compounds with n = 8,9 and 11 alpha-relaxation times were found to be nearly temperature independent at high temperatures Thus, segmental motions take place in the state of diminished dynamical constraints of backbones, which can be attributed to the plasticization effects of polymeric layers in the case of long methylene spacers. In CBPA6 and CBPA8, with even numbers of methylene groups, anomalies of delta-relaxation processes were observed at the nematic reentrant (N(re)) transitions The anomalies of alpha-relaxation processes in the SmA mesophases were found to be precursors of N(re) transitions as temperature decreases The changes in backbone conformations of the SmA layers with decreasing temperature create the conditions for molecular corrugations of the side chains leading to the formation of the nematic order of N(re) phases. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.

Dielectric spectroscopy of liquid crystalline cyanobiphenyl polyacrylates (CBPA6) with six methylene groups in the side chain has been investigated in the frequency range of 30 Hz-13 MHz and in the temperature interval from 100 to 470 K. From the temperature dependence of epsilon'(T), the anomalies corresponding to sequential phase transitions of liquid crystalline mesophases were revealed. The observed alpha- and delta- relaxation processes were described by the Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann law. It was found that delta-relaxation exhibits a multistage slowing behavior with decreasing temperature. The existence of a reentrant nematic (N(re)) phase upper glassy phase shows us the special conditions for glass transition: the enhancement of the degree of cooperativity in mesogenic subsystems due to corrugation effects results in interaction of the side chain modes with a mixture of segmental and normal modes of the backbone, leading to a step-like anomaly of epsilon'(T) at the glass transition.

Pimpinella anisum is a member of the Umbelliferae and is found in the northeastern Anatolia (Zeybek, 1960). In Turkish folk medicine, Pimpinella species have several uses such. as analgesic, anti-inflammatory, appetizing, hypnotic, antispasmodic, expectorant,. antibacterial and hepato-protective. Seeds of P. anisum contains 1.5 - 2.0 % essential oil, 10-20 % fixed oil, 18 % protein.

The aim was to investigate the serum levels of leptin, TNFalpha, IL-1 beta, IL-6, insulin, and growth hormone in patients with upper gastrointestinal cancer and cachexia. A total of 39 patients with various advanced stage (stage IV) gastrointestinal malignancies were enrolled. These cancer patients were divided into two groups according to the presence or absence of cachexia. Fifteen healthy adults were recruited as the control group. Body mass index (BMI; kg/m(2)) was calculated. Serum leptin, turnout necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha interleukin (IL)-1 beta, interleukin (IL)-6, growth hormone, insulin, glucose, triglyceride, total protein, albumin, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and CRP were measured. In both cancer groups (cachectic and non-cachectic) body mass index and serum leptin levels were lower than controls (p < 0.001). Serum IL-1 beta, IL-6, and growth hormone levels were higher in both cachectic and non-cachectic groups than those of controls (p < 0.05). Serum TNF-alpha level in non-cachectic group was also significantly higher than in control group (p < 0.01). There is no significant difference between three groups in terms of insulin resistance as assessed by HOMA index. Our results showed that some proinflammatory cytokine levels were increased and leptin level was decreased due to upper gastrointestinal cancers. Increased cytokine levels may lead to decreased food intake and caused a weight loss. (C) 2004 Blackwell Ptiblishing Ltd.

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Thermal phase transitions of K-carrageenan in pure water and in KCl solution were studied using photon transmission technique. Photon transmission intensity, I-tr, was monitored against temperature to determine the critical coil-to-helix (T-ch) and helix-to-coil (T-hc) temperatures and exponents, beta. T-ch, and T-hc values were found to be higher for the gels containing cations (K+) than for those without cations (K+). The increase in carrageenan content caused an increase in critical temperatures for the gels prepared in pure water and in KCl solution. Increases in the KCl/carrageenan ratio, raised both T-ch and T-hc values. On the other hand, the critical exponents, beta were found to be independent of the system, they are measured by indicating that they fall into the same universality class. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The effects of sublethal concentration of thiocarbamide on various haematological and biochemical constituents of rat were investigated under laboratory conditions. 250 ppm of thiocarbamide was orally administered to eight ad libitum-fed rats during the test period of 25 days.