Objectives: Intervertebral disc degeneration is a progressive and chronic disease, usually manifesting as low back pain. This study aimed to screen effective biomarkers for medical practice as well as figuring out immune infiltration situations between circulation and intervertebral discs.Methods: Gene expression profiles of GSE124272 was included for differentially analysis, WGCNA and immune infiltration analysis from GEO database, and other GSE series were used as validation datasets. A series of validation methods were conducted to verify the robustness of hub genes, such as principal component analysis, machine learning models, and expression verification. Lastly, nomogram was established for medical practice.Results: 10 genes were commonly screened via combination of DEGs, WGCNA analysis and lipid metabolism related genes. Furthermore, 3 hub gens CYP27A1, FAR2, CYP1B1 were chosen for subsequent analysis based on validation of different methods. GSEA analysis discovered that neutrophil extracellular traps formation and NOD-like receptor signaling pathway was activated during IDD. Immune infiltration analysis demonstrated that the imbalance of neutrophils and γδT cells were significantly correlated with IDD progression. Nomogram was established based on CYP27A1, FAR2, CYP1B1 and age, the calibration plot confirmed the stability of our model.Conclusion: CYP27A1, FAR2, CYP1B1 were considered as hub lipid metabolism related genes (LMRGs) in the development of IDD, which were regarded as candidate diagnostic biomarkers especially in circulation. The effects are worth expected in the early diagnosis of IDD through detecting these genes in blood.

Low back pain (LBP), which is one of the most severe medical and social problems globally, has affected nearly 80% of the population worldwide, and intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) is a common musculoskeletal disorder that happens to be the primary trigger of LBP. The pathology of IDD is based on the impaired homeostasis of catabolism and anabolism in the extracellular matrix (ECM), uncontrolled activation of immunologic cascades, dysfunction, and loss of nucleus pulposus (NP) cells in addition to dynamic cellular and biochemical alterations in the microenvironment of intervertebral disc (IVD). Currently, the main therapeutic approach regarding IDD is surgical intervention, but it could not considerably cure IDD. Exosomes, extracellular vesicles with a diameter of 30–150 nm, are secreted by various kinds of cell types like stem cells, tumor cells, immune cells, and endothelial cells; the lipid bilayer of the exosomes protects them from ribonuclease degradation and helps improve their biological efficiency in recipient cells. Increasing lines of evidence have reported the promising applications of exosomes in immunological diseases, and regarded exosomes as a potential therapeutic source for IDD. This review focuses on clarifying novel therapies based on exosomes derived from different cell sources and the essential roles of exosomes in regulating IDD, especially the immunologic strategy.

Medical imaging can intuitively show people the internal structure, morphological information, and organ functions of the organism, which is one of the most important inspection methods in clinical medical diagnosis. Currently used medical imaging methods can only be applied to some diagnostic occasions after qualitative lesions have been generated, and the general imaging technology is usually accompanied by radiation and other conditions. However, electrical impedance tomography has the advantages of being noninvasive and non-radiative. EIT (Electrical Impedance Tomography) is also widely used in the early diagnosis and treatment of some diseases because of these advantages. At present, EIT is relatively mature and more and more image reconstruction algorithms are used to improve imaging resolution. Hardware technology is also developing rapidly, and the accuracy of data collection and processing is continuously improving. In terms of clinical application, EIT has also been used for pathological treatment of lungs, the brain, and the bladder. In the future, EIT has a good application prospect in the medical field, which can meet the needs of real-time, long-term monitoring and early diagnosis. Aiming at the application of EIT in the treatment of lung pathology, this article reviews the research progress of EIT, image reconstruction algorithms, hardware system design, and clinical applications used in the treatment of lung diseases. Through the research and introduction of several core components of EIT technology, it clarifies the characteristics of EIT system complexity and its solutions, provides research ideas for subsequent research, and once again verifies the broad development prospects of EIT technology in the future.

The results indicated that PUMA-G stimulation by NA in islet β cells inhibited GSIS likely via activation of the Gi signaling pathway.

Background The impact of intravertebral cleft (IVC) on cement leakage in percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) for osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCFs) has been discussed. However, the results were conflicting, as the study population and cement leakage classification were heterogeneous. The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of IVC on the incidence of leakage through vein, leakage through cortex as well as general leakage in PVP for OVCFs. Methods All patients with OVCFs who underwent PVP between January 2016 and June 2019 at our institution were retrospectively reviewed. Patients were eligible for this case-control study if they were diagnosed as single level fracture in spine. After inclusive and exclusive criteria were met, a total of 139 patients with IVC were enrolled as the study group. Non-IVC controls were matched in a 1:1 ratio in age (within 3 years), sex and fracture severity with patients in study group. Cement leakage were classified into four types [type B (through basivertebral vein), type S (through segmental vein), type-C (through a cortical defect), and type D (intradiscal leakage)], furtherly into two types [venous type (type-B or/and type S) and cortical type (type-C or/and type-D)]. A general leakage rate and a specific leakage rate per each type were compared between both groups. Results Each group included 139 patients. Groups were homogenous for age, sex, fracture severity, fracture location, fracture type, cement volume, puncture approach and property of cement. Compared with control group, IVC group had a significantly lower rate of type-B (20.9% vs. 31.7%, P = 0.041), type-S (24.5% vs. 52.5%, P = 0.000), and venous type leakage (37.4% vs. 67.6%, P = 0.000), a significantly higher rate of type-C (25.9% vs. 12.2%, P = 0.004), type-D (16.5% vs. 6.5%, P = 0.009), and cortical type leakage (40.3% vs. 16.5%, P = 0.000), no significant difference on the rate of general leakage (67.6% vs. 76.3%, P = 0.109). Conclusion IVC decreased the risk of cement leakage through vein and increased the risk of cement leakage through cortex. However, it had no significant effect on the occurrence of general leakage.