Both PFNA and reverse Liss-DF were satisfactory for the treatment of proximal femoral fractures, but had different advantages. PFNA allowed earlier weight-bearing and accelerated fracture healing. Reverse Liss-DF more effectively avoided coxa vara and may be indicated for patients with very severe osteoporosis.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative disease of articular cartilage. The pathogenesis of OA remains to be fully elucidated, and several studies have found that oxidative stress is important in its pathogenesis. Baicalin is well known and has already been investigated for its role of inhibiting the oxidative stress pathway. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate the role of baicalin on the inhibition of oxidative stress in endplate chondrocytes induced by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Following treatment of endplate chondrocytes with different doses of H2O2 with or without baicalin for different incubation durations, a CCK‑8 assay and Annexin V/PI staining were used to measure the cell proliferation and apoptotic rates to identify the optimal experimental conditions. Subsequently, for examining the effects and underlying mechanism of baicalin on oxidative stress, the protein expression levels of cleaved‑poly (ADP‑ribose) polymerase (PARP), B‑cell lymphoma‑2‑associated X protein (Bax) and pro‑caspase‑3 were analyzed using western blot analysis, intracellular anti‑oxidant activities, including those of malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and nitric oxide (NO), were quantified, and the levels of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) were examined using reverse transcription‑polymerase chain reaction analysis. The results revealed that the oxidative stress of endplate chondrocytes induced by 0.5 mM H2O2 for 4 h were the most appropriate conditions for experiments, and pretreatment with 100 µmol/l baicalin for 1 h effectively reversed the effect of H2O2 on the endplate chondrocytes. In addition, Annexin V/PI staining demonstrated that the cell death induced by H2O2 was apoptotic, and baicalin reversed the apoptosis induced by oxidative stress. H2O2 activated PARP cleavage, and the expression of Bax and pro‑caspase‑3; however, baicalin inhibited the expression of these apoptotic signaling indicators. Baicalin also reduced the levels of MDA, and increased the levels of SOD and NO. Baicalin also significantly elevated the mRNA levels of eNOS in endplate chondrocytes. Therefore, the results of the present study showed that baicalin significantly inhibited the oxidative stress in endplate chondrocytes induced by H2O2, and decreased cell apoptosis.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is recognized as the most crippling or disabling type of arthritis, and osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritis. These diseases severely reduce the quality of life, and cause high socioeconomic burdens. However, the molecular mechanisms of RA and OA development remain elusive despite intensive research efforts. In this study, we aimed to identify the potential transcription regulatory relationships between transcription factors (TFs) and differentially co-expressed genes (DCGs) in RA and OA, respectively. We downloaded the gene expression profiles of RA and OA from the Gene Expression Omnibus and analyzed the gene expression using computational methods. We identified a set of 4,076 DCGs in pairwise comparisons between RA and OA patients, RA and normal donors (NDs), or OA and ND. After regulatory network construction and regulatory impact factor analysis, we found that EGR1, NFE2L1, and NFYA were crucial TFs in the regulatory network of RA and NFYA, CBFB, CREB1, YY1 and PATZ1 were crucial TFs in the regulatory network of OA. These TFs could regulate the DCGs expression to involve RA and OA by promoting or inhibiting their expression. Altogether, our work may extend our understanding of disease mechanisms and may lead to an improved diagnosis. However, further experiments are still needed to confirm these observations.

Abstract.The aim of the current study was to investigate disease-associated genes and related molecular mechanisms of osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Using GSE7669 datasets downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus databases, the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between RA and OA synovial fibroblasts (SFBs) (n=6 each) were screened. DEG-associated co-expression and topological properties were analyzed to determine the rank of disease-associated genes. Specifically, the fold change of differentially expressed genes, the clustering coefficient and the degree of differential gene co-expression were integrated to determine the disease-associated gene ranking. The underlying molecular mechanisms of these crucial disease-associated genes were investigated by gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis. A total of 1313 DEGs, including 1068 upregulated genes and 245 downregulated genes were observed. The top 20 disease-associated genes were identified, including proteoglycan 4, inhibin β B, carboxypeptidase M, alcohol dehydrogenase 1C and integrin β2. The major GO biological processes of these top 20 disease-associated genes were highly involved in the immune system, such as responses to stimuli, immune responses and inflammatory responses. This large-scale gene expression study observed disease-associated genes and their associated GO function in RA and OA, which may provide opportunities for biomarker development and novel insights into the molecular mechanisms of these two diseases.

BackgroundThis prospective study aimed to compare clinical effects of intramedullary nailing guided by digital and conventional technologies in treatment of tibial fractures.Material/MethodsThirty-two patients (mean age 43 years, 18 males and 14 females) who were treated for tibial fractures from October 2010 to October 2012 were enrolled. They were sequentially randomized to receive intramedullary nailing guided by either digital technology (digital group, n=16) or conventional technology (conventional group, n=16). The operation time, fluoroscopy times, fracture healing time, distance between the actual and planned insertion point, postoperative lower limb alignment, and functional recovery were recorded for all patients.ResultsThe mean operation time in the digital group was 43.1±6.2 min compared with 48.7±8.3 min for the conventional technology (P=0.039). The fluoroscopy times and distance between the actual and planned insertion point were significantly lower in the digital group than in the conventional group (both P<0.001). The accuracy rate of the insertion point was 99.12% by digital technology. No difference was found in fracture healing time and good postoperative lower limb alignment between the digital and conventional groups (P=0.083 and P=0.310), as well as the effective rate (100% vs. 87.50%, P=0.144).ConclusionsIntramedullary nailing guided by digital technology has many advantages in treatment of tibial fractures compared to conventional technology, including shorter operation time, reduced fluoroscopy times, and decreased distance between the actual and planned insertion point of the intramedullary nail.