BackgroundThis study aimed to investigate new bone formation using recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein 2 (rhBMP-2) and locally applied bisphosphonate in rat calvarial defects.MethodsThirty-six rats were studied. Two circular 5 mm diameter bony defect were formed in the calvaria using a trephine bur. The bony defect were grafted with Bio-Oss® only (group 1, n = 9), Bio-Oss® wetted with rhBMP-2 (group 2, n = 9), Bio-Oss® wetted with rhBMP-2 and 1 mM alendronate (group 3, n = 9) and Bio-Oss® wetted with rhBMP-2 and 10 mM alendronate (group 4, n = 9). In each group, three animals were euthanized at 2, 4 and 8 weeks after surgery, respectively. The specimens were then analyzed by histology, histomorphometry and immunohistochemistry analysis.ResultsThere were significant decrease of bone formation area (p < 0.05) between group 4 and group 2, 3. Group 3 showed increase of new bone formation compared to group 2. In immunohistochemistry, collagen type I and osteoprotegerin (OPG) didn’t show any difference. However, receptor activator of nuclear factor κB ligand (RANKL) decreased with time dependent except group 4.ConclusionLow concentration bisphosphonate and rhBMP-2 have synergic effect on bone regeneration and this is result from the decreased activity of RANKL of osteoblast.

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Soccer matches consist of spatial and spatiotemporal objects including a ball, players, and a field. Players and ball are also moving objects. This means that spatial and spatiotemporal analysis on ball and players could be useful in studying soccer tactics. From this view point, we extend the application areas of spatial information science to soccer tactic analysis. First we define a feature model to specify the basic units of analysis. Second, we study the morphological properties of each feature type. Third, a set of operations are defined for each feature type. Fourth, we perform an experiment with a real data set of the 2006 World Cup final match to validate the usefulness of our framework. Even though we focus on soccer match, we expect that this framework can be applied to similar sports such as handball and basket ball.

Prominin-1, a lipid raft protein, is required for maintaining cancer stem cell properties in hepatocarcinoma cell lines, but its physiological roles in the liver have not been well studied. Here, we investigate the role of Prominin-1 in lipid rafts during liver regeneration and show that expression of Prominin-1 increases after 2/3 partial hepatectomy or CCl4 injection. Hepatocyte proliferation and liver regeneration are attenuated in liver-specific Prominin-1 knockout mice compared to wild-type mice. Detailed mechanistic studies reveal that Prominin-1 interacts with the interleukin-6 signal transducer glycoprotein 130, confining it to lipid rafts so that STAT3 signaling by IL-6 is effectively activated. The overexpression of the glycosylphosphatidylinsositol-anchored first extracellular domain of Prominin-1, which is the domain that binds to GP130, rescued the proliferation of hepatocytes and liver regeneration in liver-specific Prominin-1 knockout mice. In summary, Prominin-1 is upregulated in hepatocytes during liver regeneration where it recruits GP130 into lipid rafts and activates the IL6-GP130-STAT3 axis, suggesting that Prominin-1 might be a promising target for therapeutic applications in liver transplantation.

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