No abstract

A highly bioactive bone-bonding Ti metal was obtained when Ti metal was simply heattreated after a common acid treatment. This bone-bonding property was ascribed to the formation of apatite on the Ti metal in a body environment. The formation of apatite on the Ti metal was induced neither by its surface roughness nor by the rutile phase precipitated on its surface, but by its positively charged surface. The surface of the Ti metal was positively charged because acid groups were adsorbed on titanium hydride formed on the Ti metal by the acid treatment, and remained even after the titanium hydride was transformed into titanium oxide by the subsequent heat treatment. These results provide a new principle based on a positively charged surface for obtaining bioactive materials.

AimsOver the last decade, major developments in medicine have led to significant changes in the clinical management of heart failure patients. This study was designed to evaluate the recent trends in clinical characteristics, management, and short‐term and long‐term prognosis of patients with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) in Japan.Methods and resultsThe Kyoto Congestive Heart Failure study is a prospective, observational, multicentre cohort study, enrolling consecutive ADHF patients from 19 participating hospitals in Japan from November 2014 to March 2016. A total of 4000 patients will be enrolled into the study and patients' anthropometric, socio‐economic, and clinical data from hospital admission to discharge will be collected. In addition, in a pre‐determined subgroup of patients (n=1500), a longitudinal follow‐up for 2 years is scheduled.ConclusionsThe Kyoto Congestive Heart Failure study will provide valuable information regarding patients with ADHF in the real‐world clinical practice of Japan and will be indispensable for future clinical and policy decision‐making with respect to heart failure.

the high controlling nutritional status (conUt) score that represents poor nutritional status has been acknowledged to have prognostic implications in chronic heart failure. We aimed to investigate its role in acute decompensated heart failure (ADHf). Using the data from an multicenter registry that enrolled 4056 consecutive patients hospitalized for ADHF in Japan between 2014 and 2016, we analyzed 2466 patients in whom data on the components of the conUt score at hospital presentation were available. The decrease of lymphocyte count and total cholesterol was assigned with 0, 1, 2, and 3 points and the decrease of albumin was assigned with 0, 2, 4, and 6 points according to the severity. We defined low CONUT score as 0-4 (N = 1568) and high CONUT score as 5-9 (N = 898). The patients in the high CONUT score group were older and more likely to have a smaller body mass index than those in the low conUt score group. the high conUt score group was associated with higher rate of death and infection during the index hospitalization compared to the low CONUT score group (9.0% versus 4.4%, and 21.9% versus 12.7%, respectively). After adjusting for confounders, the excess risk of high relative to low CONUT score for mortality and infection was significant (OR: 1.61, 95%CI: 1.05-2.44, and OR: 1.66, 95%CI: 1.30-2.12, respectively). The effect was incremental according to the score. High CONUT score was associated with higher risk for in-hospital mortality and infection in an incremental manner in patients hospitalized for ADHf. Despite recent advances in chronic heart failure (HF) therapy, there remain unmet needs to reduce the high mortality rate and to assess the mortality risk in patients hospitalized for acute decompensated HF (ADHF) 1 .

Osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) is a debilitating disease that results in progressive collapse of the femoral head and subsequent degenerative arthritis. Few treatments provide both sufficient mechanical support and biological cues for regeneration of bone and vascularity when the femoral head is still round and therefore salvageable. We designed and 3D printed a functionally graded scaffold (FGS) made of polycaprolactone (PCL) and β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) with spatially controlled porosity, degradation, and mechanical strength properties to reconstruct necrotic bone tissue in the femoral head. The FGS was designed to have low porosity segments (15% in proximal and distal segments) and a high porosity segment (60% in middle segment) according to the desired mechanical and osteoconductive properties at each specific site after implantation into the femoral head. The FGS was inserted into a bone tunnel drilled in rabbit femoral neck and head, and at 8 weeks after implantation, the tissue formation as well as scaffold degradation was analyzed. Micro-CT analysis demonstrated that the FGS-filled group had a significantly higher bone ingrowth ratio compared to the empty-tunnel group, and the difference was higher at the distal low porosity segments. The in vivo degradation rate of the scaffold was higher in the proximal and distal segments than in the middle segment. Histological analysis of both non-decalcified and calcified samples clearly indicated new bone ingrowth and bone marrow-containing bone formation across the FGS. A 3D printed PCL-β-TCP FGS appears to be a promising customized resorbable load-bearing implant for treatment of early stage ONFH. © 2017 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 36:1002-1011, 2018.