Ground glass hepatocyte (GGH) represents a histological hallmark of chronic hepatitis B virus infection and contains surface antigens in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Several types of GGHs are recognized at different hepatitis B virus replicative stages. The recent identification of pre-S mutants from GGHs encourages us to investigate whether different GGHs may harbor specific mutants and exhibit differential biological activities. In this study, we applied laser capture microdissection to isolate specific GGHs from a total of 50 samples on eight resected liver specimens. The surface genes in two major types of GGHs were analyzed. Type I GGHs expressed an inclusion-like pattern of hepatitis B surface antigens and harbored mutants with deletions over pre-S1 region, whereas type II GGHs, distributed in clusters and emerged at late replicative phase, contained mutants with deletions over pre-S2 region that defines a cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) immune epitope, and may represent an immune escape mutant. Transfection of pre-S mutants in Huh7 revealed decreased syntheses of middle and small S proteins with accumulation of large surface antigen in ER, which in turn led to the activation of ER stress response with differential activities for different mutants. This study therefore demonstrates that different GGHs may contain specific mutants and exhibit differential biological activities.

The aim of this study was designed to assess the risk factors of lag-screw cutout in the treatment of intertrochanteric fracture with a dynamic hip screw (DHS). From 2003 to 2007, 1,150 patients who had acute unilateral intertrochanteric fractures of the femur were enrolled to the study. All fractures were managed by closed reduction and internal fixation with 135°DHS devices. Patient demographics, fracture patterns, reduction and fixation and perioperative course parameters were all recorded. The follow-up period was 38 months on average (range 16-60 months). Finally, 937 patients were available for evaluation of final results in which we focused on lagscrew cutout. Excluding complications not related to screw position, 64 patients (6.8%) with screw cutout were encountered, and the remaining 873 patients had uneventful union, with the average union time of 17.5 weeks (range15-24 weeks). Upon analysis with logistic regression, the tip−apex distance (TAD) was shown to be the most important predictive factor for cutout, followed by screw position, fracture pattern, reduction and patient age. In order to decrease the risk of lag-screw cutout, it is important to ensure good fracture reduction and to place the lag screw in either the middle/middle or inferior/middle position with appropriate TAD.

To evaluate the role of leptin, a 16-kDa adipocyte-derived hormone, in the development of metabolic dysregulation of psoriasis.

IntroductionIdiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a progressive diffuse parenchymal lung disorder of unknown etiology. Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-based therapy is a novel approach with great therapeutic potential for the treatment of lung diseases. Despite demonstration of MSC grafting, the populations of engrafted MSCs have been shown to decrease dramatically 24 hours post-transplantation due to exposure to harsh microenvironments. Hypoxia is known to induce expression of cytoprotective genes and also secretion of anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic and anti-fibrotic factors. Hypoxic preconditioning is thought to enhance the therapeutic potency and duration of survival of engrafted MSCs. In this work, we aimed to prolong the duration of survival of engrafted MSCs and to enhance the effectiveness of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis transplantation therapy by the use of hypoxia-preconditioned MSCs.MethodsHypoxic preconditioning was achieved in MSCs under an optimal hypoxic environment. The expression levels of cytoprotective factors and their biological effects on damaged alveolar epithelial cells or transforming growth factor-beta 1-treated fibroblast cells were studied in co-culture experiments in vitro. Furthermore, hypoxia-preconditioned MSCs (HP-MSCs) were intratracheally instilled into bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis mice at day 3, and lung functions, cellular, molecular and pathological changes were assessed at 7 and 21 days after bleomycin administration.ResultsThe expression of genes for pro-survival, anti-apoptotic, anti-oxidant and growth factors was upregulated in MSCs under hypoxic conditions. In transforming growth factor-beta 1-treated MRC-5 fibroblast cells, hypoxia-preconditioned MSCs attenuated extracellular matrix production through paracrine effects. The pulmonary respiratory functions significantly improved for up to 18 days of hypoxia-preconditioned MSC treatment. Expression of inflammatory factors and fibrotic factor were all downregulated in the lung tissues of the hypoxia-preconditioned MSC-treated mice. Histopathologic examination observed a significant amelioration of the lung fibrosis. Several LacZ-labeled MSCs were observed within the lungs in the hypoxia-preconditioned MSC treatment groups at day 21, but no signals were detected in the normoxic MSC group. Our data further demonstrated that upregulation of hepatocyte growth factor possibly played an important role in mediating the therapeutic effects of transplanted hypoxia-preconditioned MSCs.ConclusionTransplantation of hypoxia-preconditioned MSCs exerted better therapeutic effects in bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrotic mice and enhanced the survival rate of engrafted MSCs, partially due to the upregulation of hepatocyte growth factor.

An on-field colorimetric sensing strategy employing gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and a paper-based analytical platform was investigated for mercury ion (Hg(2+)) detection at water sources. By utilizing thymine-Hg(2+)-thymine (T-Hg(2+)-T) coordination chemistry, label-free detection oligonucleotide sequences were attached to unmodified gold nanoparticles to provide rapid mercury ion sensing without complicated and time-consuming thiolated or other costly labeled probe preparation processes. Not only is this strategy's sensing mechanism specific toward Hg(2+), rather than other metal ions, but also the conformational change in the detection oligonucleotide sequences introduces different degrees of AuNP aggregation that causes the color of AuNPs to exhibit a mixture variance. To eliminate the use of sophisticated equipment and minimize the power requirement for data analysis and transmission, the color variance of multiple detection results were transferred and concentrated on cellulose-based paper analytical devices, and the data were subsequently transmitted for the readout and storage of results using cloud computing via a smartphone. As a result, a detection limit of 50 nM for Hg(2+) spiked pond and river water could be achieved. Furthermore, multiple tests could be performed simultaneously with a 40 min turnaround time. These results suggest that the proposed platform possesses the capability for sensitive and high-throughput on-site mercury pollution monitoring in resource-constrained settings.