Changes in cardiac function after pedicle subtraction osteotomy in patients with a kyphosis due to ankylosing spondylitis

Cardiac disease in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) has previously been studied but not in patients with a kyphosis or in those who have undergone an operation to correct it.

The aim of this study was to measure the post-operative changes in cardiac function of patients with an AS kyphosis after pedicle subtraction osteotomy (PSO).

The original cohort consisted of 39 patients (33 men, six women). Of these, four patients (two men, two women) were lost to follow-up leaving 35 patients (31 men, four women) to study. The mean age of the remaining patients was 37.4 years (22.3 to 47.8) and their mean duration of AS was 17.0 years (4.6 to 26.4). Echocardiographic measurements, resting heart rate (RHR), physical function score (PFS), and full-length standing spinal radiographs were obtained before surgery and at the two-year follow-up.

The mean pre-operative RHR was 80.2 bpm (60.6 to 112.3) which dropped to a mean of 73.7 bpm (60.7 to 90.6) at the two-year follow-up (p = 0.0000). Of 15 patients with normal ventricular function pre-operatively, two developed mild left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) at the two-year follow-up. Of 20 patients with mild LVDD pre-operatively only five had this post-operatively. Overall, 15 patients had normal LV diastolic function before their operation and 28 patients had normal LV function at the two-year follow-up.

The clinical improvement was 15 out of 20 (75.0%): cardiac function in patients with AS whose kyphosis was treated by PSO was significantly improved.

Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2015;97-B:1405–10.

Modified total arch replacement using a four-branched arch graft for acute type A aortic dissection with minimal brain and spinal cord ischemic time

AIM

This study aimed to evaluate the results of modified surgical strategies of total arch replacement using a four-branched arch graft, stented elephant trunk, and innovative organ protection method for acute type A aortic dissection.

METHODS

Between August 2011 and December 2011, 21 patients with acute type A aortic dissection underwent modified total arch replacement using the four-branched arch graft technique. All 21 patients had emergency surgery. Five patients had undergone previous aortic or cardiac surgery. The operations were stented elephant trunk implantation in 17 patients, ascending aorta replacement in 21 patients, coronary artery bypass grafting in four patients, Bentall operation in two patients, and aortic valve replacement in one patient. Twenty-one operations were performed under deep hypothermic extracorporeal circulation, modified selective cerebral perfusion, and end-organ and spinal cord protection for arch reconstruction.

RESULTS

There was two in-hospital deaths (9.5%). No persisting neurologic deficits or paraplegia occurred in 21 patients. Cardiopulmonary bypass time was 177.9±37.8 minutes. Myocardial ischemic time was 110.3±29.3 minutes. ICU time was 8.8±6.9 days and in-hospital duration was 28.7±13.7 days. Ventilation time varied from 9 hours to 21 days. A tracheotomy was necessary in four patients. Mean follow-up was 7.3±1.7 months and all patients are still alive.

CONCLUSION

Modified total arch replacement using a four-branched arch graft with stented elephant trunk and innovative organ protection is a useful and safe alternative technique for the treatment of acute type A aortic dissection and the results are encouraging.

A myeloablative conditioning regimen with fludarabine demonstrates good results in UCBT for 30 pediatric patients with hematologic malignancies, especially acute lymphoblastic leukemia

We retrospectively analyzed the safety and efficacy of a myeloablative conditioning regimen with fludarabine (FLU) in unrelated cord blood transplantation (UCBT) of 30 pediatric patients with hematologic malignancies. The conditioning regimen consisted of FLU, busulfan (BU) and cyclophosphamide (CY). All of the patients received Cyclosporine (CSA) and mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) as graft versus host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis. We achieved high engraftment rates (96.7%) and rapid hematopoietic reconstitution. Acute GVHD occurred in 12 cases of the 29 engraftment patients (41.4%), and 6 cases (20.7%) were of grade III-IV. Chronic GVHD only occurred in 1 of 28 evaluable patients (3.6%). Twenty-three patients (76.7%) became infected, and 3 cases (10.0%) died of severe infections. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) reactivation occurred in 70.0% of the patients, but no CMV diseases were observed, nor did any patients die of CMV infection. The cumulative incidence of relapse (6.7%) was significantly reduced, and none of the acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients relapsed. The 3-year overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) rates were 73.3% and 70.0%, respectively. The 3-year OS and EFS of the ALL patients was 75.0%. This conditioning regimen demonstrates good results and security in UCBT, especially in acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Dietary patterns are associated with prevalence of fatty liver disease in adults

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES

Previous studies have indicated that higher levels of food consumption are associated with fatty liver disease (FLD), but few studies have investigated the relationship between this disease and different dietary patterns. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to examine the association between dietary patterns and FLD in adults.

SUBJECTS/METHODS

Dietary intakes of participants in the Tianjin were assessed via questionnaire. Factor analysis was used to identify dietary patterns, and FLD was defined as having a FLD diagnosis using liver ultrasonography. Relationships between dietary patterns and FLD were assessed using multiple logistic regression analysis.

RESULTS

Female participants in the highest quartile of high-carbohydrate/sweet pattern scores had a 2.19-fold greater risk (95% confidence interval (CI), 1.40-3.46) of developing non-alcoholic FLD (NAFLD) than those in the lowest quartile after adjusting for confounding factors. No significant differences were found between any dietary pattern and NAFLD in males. In males, a significantly increasing trend of alcoholic FLD (AFLD) prevalence was associated with increasing high-protein/cholesterol pattern scores (P for trend = 0.03; odds ratio (OR), 2.08; 95% CI, 1.15-3.81) while an increased high-carbohydrate/sweet pattern score appeared protective against AFLD (P for trend = 0.02; OR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.29-1.00).

CONCLUSIONS

Our study demonstrates that high-protein/cholesterol pattern scores are associated with higher prevalence of AFLD in males. We also show high-carbohydrate/sweet pattern scores are associated with higher prevalence of NAFLD in females; but, interestingly, this pattern shows a favorable effect on AFLD in males.

209 CLONED EMBRYONIC DEVELOPMENT AND GENE EXPRESSION OF SPONTANEOUSLY IMMORTALIZED PORCINE SKIN FIBROBLASTS

Immortalization of somatic cells by oncogenes is effective for evaluation of gene targeting tools or molecular cell pathway because of relatively longer life span than normal cells. The BMI1 gene has been used to immortalize human and murine somatic cells, and we confirmed that BMI1 increased cell-life span of porcine skin fibroblasts and had no detrimental effect on pre-implantational development after somatic-cell nuclear transfer (SCNT; unpublished data). Here, we report a primary cell-line which was spontaneously immortalized without transduction of any additional gene. The minipig skin fibroblasts (passage 3 after primary culture) were divided into two parts, one group was electroporetically transfected with pCAG-BMI1-T2A-RFP plasmids (BC1) and the other had no treatment (CC1). To establish the single-cell-originated cell-lines, cells of each group were plated in 100-mm dishes at 100 cells/dish and well-formed colonies were picked up after 2 weeks. These colonies were expanded until they were fully confluent in 100-mm dishes (designated Passage 0) and then, the cell were maintained with DMEM (20% FBS) at 3 × 105 cells/60 mm dish. Population doubling time was checked every 5 passages until Passage 45 (sub-cultured during ~160 days) by calculation of cells that had been plated in 12-well plates at 4 × 104 cells/well. The expressions of p16, p21, and DNMT3b genes were determined by RT-qPCR at early (Passage 5) and late (Passage 45) stage. Also, SCNT (Song et al. 2009 Mol. Reprod. Dev. 76, 611–619) embryos using cells of early and middle (Passage 35) stage were evaluated in terms of reprograming efficiency. Data were analysed by t-test (Prism version 5.01, GraphPad Software, La Jolla, CA, USA). While the mean doubling time of BC1 was 25.3 h until Passage 40 and drastically increased at Passage 45 (81.7 h), that of CC1 was maintained until Passage 45 (mean 38.3 h). Expression of p16 in CC1 was significantly higher than that in BC1 at all stages. However, in late stage CC1, p21 expression was significantly lower than other groups and DNMT3b expression was increased. In SCNT embryos, the rate of blastocysts with early stage CC1 (18.3%) was not different from that of early stage BC1 (19.9%). And, although the rates of SCNT blastocyst derived from middle stage cells were decreased than those of early stage cells, there was no difference between BC1 and CC1 (6.6% and 5.4%, respectively). In karyotyping, while BC1 was trisomy of chromosome 14 only in late stage, CC1 had an isochromosome in chromosome 17 from early stage and an additional part was attached in chromosome 11 at late stage CC1. In summary, spontaneously immortalized skin fibroblasts could maintain the cell-life span by down-regulating the p21 expression and the pre-implantational development after SCNT was not different from that of BMI1-immortalized cells. And, additional studies are needed to confirm whether the chromosomal abnormality influences the expression of other genes related with cell cycle or senescence.This study was supported by NRF-2013R1A1A2010766, IPET (#311011-05-3-SB010), the Research Institute for Veterinary Science, and the BK21 plus program.

Overexpression of the Brassica rapa transcription factor WRKY12 results in reduced soft rot symptoms caused by Pectobacterium carotovorum in Arabidopsis and Chinese cabbage

Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa L. ssp. pekinensis), an important vegetable crop, can succumb to diseases such as bacterial soft rot, resulting in significant loss of crop productivity and quality. Pectobacterium carotovorum ssp. carotovorum (Pcc) causes soft rot disease in various plants, including Chinese cabbage. To overcome crop loss caused by bacterial soft rot, a gene from Chinese cabbage was isolated and characterised in this study. We isolated the BrWRKY12 gene from Chinese cabbage, which is a group II member of the WRKY transcription factor superfamily. The 645-bp coding sequence of BrWRKY12 translates to a protein with a molecular mass of approximately 24.4 kDa, and BrWRKY12 was exclusively localised in the nucleus. Transcripts of BrWRKY12 were induced by Pcc infection in Brassica. Heterologous expression of BrWRKY12 resulted in reduced susceptibility to Pcc but not to Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato in Arabidopsis. Defence-associated genes, such as AtPDF1.2 and AtPGIP2, were constitutively expressed in transgenic lines overexpressing BrWRKY12. The expression of AtWKRY12, which is the closest orthologue of BrWRKY12, was down-regulated by Pcc in Arabidopsis. However, the Atwrky12-2 mutants did not show any difference in response to Pcc, pointing to a difference in function of WRKY12 in Brassica and Arabidopsis. Furthermore, BrWRKY12 in Chinese cabbage also exhibited enhanced resistance to bacterial soft rot and increased the expression of defence-associated genes. In summary, BrWRKY12 confers enhanced resistance to Pcc through transcriptional activation of defence-related genes.

Andrographolide inhibits HMGB1-induced inflammatory responses in human umbilical vein endothelial cells and in murine polymicrobial sepsis

AIM

Nuclear DNA-binding protein high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) protein acts as a late mediator of severe vascular inflammatory conditions, such as septic shock, upregulating pro-inflammatory cytokines. Andrographolide (AG) is isolated from the plant of Andrographis paniculata and used as a folk medicine for treatment of viral infection, diarrhoea, dysentery and fever. However, the effect of AG on HMGB1-induced inflammatory response has not been studied.

METHODS

Firstly, we accessed this question by monitoring the effects of post-treatment AG on lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and caecal ligation and puncture (CLP)-mediated release of HMGB1 and HMGB1-mediated regulation of pro-inflammatory responses in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and septic mice.

RESULTS

Post-treatment AG was found to suppress LPS-mediated release of HMGB1 and HMGB1-mediated cytoskeletal rearrangements. AG also inhibited HMGB1-mediated hyperpermeability and leucocyte migration in septic mice. In addition, AG inhibited production of tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and activation of AKT, nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) and extracellular-regulated kinases (ERK) 1/2 by HMGB1 in HUVECs. AG also induced downregulation of CLP-induced release of HMGB1, production of interleukin (IL) 1β/6/8 and mortality.

CONCLUSION

Collectively, these results suggest that AG may be regarded as a candidate therapeutic agent for the treatment of vascular inflammatory diseases via inhibition of the HMGB1 signalling pathway.