APSIC dental infection prevention and control (IPC) guidelines

BACKGROUND

The Asia Pacific Society of Infection Control launched the Infection Prevention and Control Guidelines in July 2022. This document describes the guidelines and recommendations for safe practices in dental setting. It aims to highlight practical recommendations in a concise format designed to assist dental facilities at Asia Pacific region in achieving high standards in infection prevention and control practices, staff and patient safety.

METHOD

The guidelines were developed by an appointed workgroup comprising experts in the Asia Pacific region, following reviews of previously published international guidelines and recommendations relevant to each section.

RESULTS

It recommends standard precautions as a minimal set of preventive measures to protect staff and prevent cross transmission. Surgical aseptic technique is recommended when procedures are technically complex and longer in duration. Only trained staff are eligible to conduct reprocessing of dental instruments. The design, layout of the dental facility are important factors for successful infection prevention. The facility should also have a Pandemic Preparedness Plan.

CONCLUSIONS

Dental facilities should aim for excellence in infection prevention and control practices as this is part of patient safety. The guidelines that come with a checklist help dental facilities to identify gaps for improvement to reach this goal.

P02.01.B The telomere maintenance mechanism spectrum and its dynamics in gliomas

The activation of the telomere maintenance mechanism (TMM) is one of the critical drivers of cancer cell immortality. In gliomas, TERT expression and TERT promoter mutation are considered to reliably indicate telomerase activation, while ATRX mutation indicates alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT). However, these relationships have not been extensively validated in tumor tissues. Here, we show through the direct measurement of telomerase activity and ALT in a large set of glioma samples that the TMM in glioma cannot be defined in the dichotomy of telomerase activity and ALT, regardless of TERT expression, TERT promoter mutation and ATRX mutation. Moreover, we observed that a considerable proportion of gliomas lack both telomerase activity and ALT (Neither group). And this Neither group exhibited evidence of slow growth potential. From a set of longitudinal samples from a separate cohort of glioma patients, we discovered that the TMM is not fixed but changes with glioma progression. Collectively, these results suggest that the TMM is a dynamic entity and that reflects the plasticity of the oncogenic biological status of tumor cells and that the TMM should be defined by the direct measurement of telomerase enzyme activity and evidence of ALT.

Characterization of rhodanine derivatives as potential disease-modifying drugs for experimental mouse osteoarthritis

OBJECTIVE

This study was performed to characterize selected rhodanine derivatives as potential preclinical disease-modifying drugs for experimental osteoarthritis (OA) in mice.

METHODS

Three rhodanine derivatives, designated rhodanine (R)-501, R-502, and R-503, were selected as candidate OA disease-modifying drugs. Their effects were evaluated by intra-articular (IA) injection in OA mouse models induced by DMM (destabilization of the medial meniscus) or adenoviral overexpression in joint tissues of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-2α or zinc importer ZIP8. The regulatory mechanisms impacted by the rhodanine derivatives were examined in primary-culture chondrocytes and fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS).

RESULTS

All three rhodanine derivatives inhibited OA development caused by DMM or overexpression of HIF-2α or ZIP8. Compared to vehicle-treated group, for example, IA injection of R-501 in DMM-operated mice reduced median OARSI grade from 3.78 (IQR 3.00-5.00) to 1.89 (IQR 0.94-2.00, P = 0.0001). R-502 and R-503 also reduced from 3.67 (IQR 2.11-4.56) to 2.00 (IQR 1.00-2.00, P = 0.0030) and 2.00 (IQR 1.83-2.67, P = 0.0378), respectively. Mechanistically, the rhodanine derivatives inhibited the nuclear localization and transcriptional activity of HIF-2α in chondrocytes and FLS. They did not bind to Zn²⁺ or modulate Zn²⁺ homeostasis in chondrocytes or FLS; instead, they inhibited the nuclear localization and transcriptional activity of the Zn²⁺-dependent transcription factor, MTF1. HIF-2α, ZIP8, and interleukin-1β could upregulate matrix-degrading enzymes in chondrocytes and FLS, and the rhodanine derivatives inhibited these effects.

CONCLUSION

IA administration of rhodanine derivatives significantly reduced OA pathogenesis in various mouse models, demonstrating that these derivatives have disease-modifying therapeutic potential against OA pathogenesis.

Universal Early Coarsening of Quenched Bose Gases

We investigate the early coarsening dynamics of an atomic Bose gas quenched into a superfluid phase. Using a two-step quench protocol, we independently control the two cooling rates during and after passing through the critical region, respectively, and measure the number of quantum vortices spontaneously created in the system. The latter cooling rate regulates the temperature during the condensate growth, consequently controlling the early coarsening dynamics in the defect formation. We find that the defect number shows a scaling behavior with the latter cooling rate regardless of the initial cooling rate, indicating universal coarsening dynamics in the early stage of condensate growth. Our results demonstrate that early coarsening not only reduces the defect density, but also affects its scaling with the quench rate, which is beyond the Kibble-Zurek mechanism.

Defect Saturation in a Rapidly Quenched Bose Gas

We investigate the saturation of defect density in an atomic Bose gas rapidly cooled into a superfluid phase. The number of quantum vortices, which are spontaneously created in the quenched gas, exhibits a Poissonian distribution not only for a slow quench in the Kibble-Zurek (KZ) scaling regime but also for a fast quench, in which case the mean vortex number is saturated. This shows that the saturation is not caused by destructive vortex collisions, but by the early-time coarsening in an emerging condensate, which is further supported by the observation that the condensate growth lags the quenching in the saturation regime. Our results demonstrate that the defect saturation is an effect beyond the KZ mechanism, opening a path for studying critical phase transition dynamics using the defect number distribution.

Critical Energy Dissipation in a Binary Superfluid Gas by a Moving Magnetic Obstacle

We study the critical energy dissipation in an atomic superfluid gas with two symmetric spin components by an oscillating magnetic obstacle. Above a certain critical oscillation frequency, spin-wave excitations are generated by the magnetic obstacle, demonstrating the spin superfluid behavior of the system. When the obstacle is strong enough to cause density perturbations via local saturation of spin polarization, half-quantum vortices (HQVs) are created for higher oscillation frequencies, which reveals the characteristic evolution of critical dissipative dynamics from spin-wave emission to HQV shedding. Critical HQV shedding is further investigated using a pulsed linear motion of the obstacle, and we identify two critical velocities to create HQVs with different core magnetization.

Masking of High-Translucency Zirconia for Various Cores

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

Various core materials with different shades affect the final color of high-translucency monolithic zirconia restorations. The blue core shows the greatest color difference in final zirconia restorations followed by metal, A3 dentin-shade resin core, and white core.

SUMMARY

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the masking ability of high-translucency monolithic zirconia for various core materials. A computer-aided design-computer-aided manufacturing system was used to design a zirconia disc with a diameter of 10 mm and a thickness of 1.0 mm. Four groups of cores (n=15 each) were fabricated with blue-colored dual-cure resin, white-colored dual-cure resin, A3 dentin-shade composite resin, and titanium block with 10-mm diameter and 5-mm thickness.Dual-cure, self-adhesive resin cement discs with a thickness of 25.0 ± 0.02 μm were fabricated. The color was measured using a handheld spectrophotometer. Color measurements of all specimens were performed on a white background. To assess the masking ability of zirconia, the difference between the values measured with zirconia on a white background and the values measured with zirconia on each of the four types of core material as a background with the cement specimens interposed (zirconia + cement + core) was determined. To enhance the optical connection between the specimens, distilled water was applied between each layer during each measurement.The results showed that the value of ΔE was highest for the blue core followed by metal, A3 dentin-shade resin core, and white-resin core. No significant differences were observed between the metal core and the A3 dentin-shade resin core or between the A3 dentin-shade resin core and the white core. The blue core had the significantly highest ΔE value based on Tukey's honest significant difference test.Different core materials affect the final color of high-translucency monolithic zirconia restorations. Thus, our study showed that the final color of high-translucency monolithic zirconia restorations could be affected by the type of core material used.

Parental concerns during COVID-19-related school closures: Children’s behaviors and media usage

Introduction

While coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spreads across the globe, many countries have closed schools to ensure physical distancing to slow transmission and ease the burden on health systems. Concerns regarding Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) school closures often increase stress levels in parents.

Objectives

This study examined whether higher levels of parental concerns were associated with children’s problematic behaviors and other factors during COVID-19-related primary school closures.

Methods

Participants were 217 parents who responded to a web-based questionnaire covering parental concerns, subjective stress, and depression; children’s sleep patterns, behavioral problems, and changes in activity level after COVID-19; previously received mental health services; and media usage during the online-only class period from community center in Suwon city.

Results

The number of parental concerns was associated with children’s behavioral problem index (BPI) score (Pearson correlation 0.211, p < 0.01), sleep problems (0.183, p < 0.01), increased smartphone usage (0.166, p < 0.05), increased TV usage (0.187, p < 0.01), parents’ subjective stress levels (0.168, p < 0.05), and parental depression (0.200, p < 0.01). In families with children who previously received mental health services, the children reportedly suffered from more sleep and behavioral problems but not increased media usage, and parents noted more stress and depression. Parental concerns are related to family factors such as change of caregiver, no available caregiver, decreased household income, and recent adverse life events.

Conclusions

Ongoing monitoring of mental health at risky group and multiple support systems should be considered for parents having difficulty in caring their children.

Observation of Wall-Vortex Composite Defects in a Spinor Bose-Einstein Condensate

We report the observation of spin domain walls bounded by half-quantum vortices (HQVs) in a spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate with antiferromagnetic interactions. A spinor condensate is initially prepared in the easy-plane polar phase, and then, suddenly quenched into the easy-axis polar phase. Domain walls are created via the spontaneous Z_{2} symmetry breaking in the phase transition and the walls dynamically split into composite defects due to snake instability. The end points of the defects are identified as HQVs for the polar order parameter and the mass supercurrent in their proximity is demonstrated using Bragg scattering. In a strong quench regime, we observe that singly charged quantum vortices are formed with the relaxation of free wall-vortex composite defects. Our results demonstrate a nucleation mechanism for composite defects via phase transition dynamics.

Band Gap Closing in a Synthetic Hall Tube of Neutral Fermions

We report the experimental realization of a synthetic three-leg Hall tube with ultracold fermionic atoms in a one-dimensional optical lattice. The legs of the synthetic tube are composed of three hyperfine spin states of the atoms, and the cyclic interleg links are generated by two-photon Raman transitions between the spin states, resulting in a uniform gauge flux ϕ penetrating each side plaquette of the tube. Using quench dynamics, we investigate the band structure of the Hall tube system for a commensurate flux ϕ=2π/3. Momentum-resolved analysis of the quench dynamics reveals a critical point of band gap closing as one of the interleg coupling strengths is varied, which is consistent with a topological phase transition predicted for the Hall tube system.

Evaluation of the Microshear Bond Strength of MDP-containing and Non-MDP-containing Self-adhesive Resin Cement on Zirconia Restoration

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this study was to measure the microshear bond strength (μSBS) of four different self-adhesive resin cements with/without 10-methacryloyloxydecyl dihydrogen phosphate (MDP)-containing primer to zirconium ceramics and to evaluate the effect of zirconia primers on these self-adhesive resin cements (SARCs).

METHODS AND MATERIALS

Zirconia blocks (20 × 20 × 8 mm³) were prepared and divided into eight groups (n=20). They were sandblasted (50 μm Al₂O₃) and treated as follows: no primer or primer (Z-Primer Plus). Four self-adhesive resin cements (MDP-containing: Permacem 2.0 [PC], Clearfil SA luting [CS]; non-MDP-containing: Rely-X U200 [RU], Maxcem Elite [ME]) were bonded to the zirconia surface. After thermocycling, a μSBS test was performed. The failure mode was analyzed using light microscopy. Statistical analysis of μSBS was performed using one-way analysis of variance and two-sample t-test with post hoc Tukey test. The loss rate was evaluated using the Fisher's exact test and χ² test with post hoc Tukey test (p<0.05).

RESULTS

Within the no primer groups, the PC and CS groups showed higher bond strength than the RU and ME groups. Comparing the μSBS of the no primer and primer groups in the same SARCs, the RU/P group was higher than the RU group, and the ME/P group was higher than the ME group. No significant difference was observed between the PC and PC/P groups and between the CS and CS/P groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Non-MDP-containing SARC showed the increased bonding value with MDP-containing primer to zirconia ceramics. The bond strength of MDP-containing SARCs was not affected significantly by the use of zirconia primer.

Critical Vortex Shedding in a Strongly Interacting Fermionic Superfluid

We study the critical vortex shedding in a strongly interacting fermionic superfluid of ^{6}Li across the BEC-BCS crossover. By moving an optical obstacle in the sample and directly imaging the vortices after the time of flight, the critical velocity u_{vor} for vortex shedding is measured as a function of the obstacle travel distance L. The observed u_{vor} increases with decreasing L, where the rate of increase is the highest in the unitary regime. In the deep Bose-Einstein condensation regime, an empirical dissipation model well captures the dependence of u_{vor} on L, characterized by a constant value of η=-[d(1/u_{vor})/d(1/L)]. However, as the system is tuned across the resonance, a step increase of η develops about a characteristic distance L_{c} as L is increased, where L_{c} is comparable to the obstacle size. This bimodal behavior is strengthened as the system is tuned towards the BCS regime. We attribute this evolution of u_{vor} to the emergence of the underlying fermionic degree of freedom in the vortex-shedding dynamics of a Fermi condensate.

Realization of a Cross-Linked Chiral Ladder with Neutral Fermions in a 1D Optical Lattice by Orbital-Momentum Coupling

We report the experimental realization of a cross-linked chiral ladder with ultracold fermionic atoms in a 1D optical lattice. In the ladder, the legs are formed by the orbital states of the optical lattice and the complex interleg links are generated by the orbital-changing Raman transitions that are driven by a moving lattice potential superimposed onto the optical lattice. The effective magnetic flux per ladder plaquette is tuned by the spatial periodicity of the moving lattice, and the chiral currents are observed from the asymmetric momentum distributions of the orbitals. The effect of the complex cross-links is demonstrated in quench dynamics by measuring the momentum dependence of the interorbital coupling strength. We discuss the topological phase transition of the chiral ladder system for the variations of the complex cross-links.

Structural and Dynamic Elucidation of a Non-acid PPARγ Partial Agonist: SR1988

Targeting peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) by synthetic compounds has been shown to elicit insulin sensitising properties in type 2 diabetics. Treatment with a class of these compounds, the thiazolidinediones (TZDs), has shown adverse side effects such as weight gain, fluid retention, and congestive heart failure. This is due to their full agonist properties on the receptor, where a number of genes are upregulated beyond normal physiological levels. Lessened transactivation of PPARγ by partial agonists has proved beneficial in terms of reducing side effects, while still maintaining insulin sensitising properties. However, some partial agonists have been associated with unfavourable pharmacokinetic profiles due to their acidic moieties, often causing partitioning to the liver. Here we present SR1988, a new partial agonist with favourable non-acid chemical properties. We used a combination of X-ray crystallography and hydrogen/deuterium exchange (HDX) to elucidate the structural basis for reduced activation of PPARγ by SR1988. This structural analysis reveals a mechanism that decreases stabilisation of the AF2 coactivator binding surface by the ligand.

The roughening kinetics of hydrogenated graphene

The roughness is a common property of all growing surfaces – however, the way the roughness of a growing surface changes with time and space is uniquely related to the underlying growth process, i.e. to how the atoms stick to the surface during the first stage of nucleation. This concept allows getting insights on the nucleation process of a growing surface by measuring two scaling exponents, α and β, known as roughness and growth exponents, respectively. In this work, we studied hydrogenation of graphene using the roughening kinetics. The coverage of graphene will depend on how the H ions stick on the surface, giving rise to a unique roughness evolution in time and space. We measured a roughness exponent of ~0.5 (derived from a Fourier index of ~3), and a growth exponent of ~0.3. The values of the growth and roughness exponents are close to those reported for clustered carbon, suggesting a roughening mechanism by clustering, in good agreement with the theory. We also compared our coverage data with a different model, used to describe the dynamics of graphene coverage, during chemical vapour deposition. Our data are in agreement with a nucleation-dominated growth, further confirming that hydrogenation is happening by clustering.

Critical Spin Superflow in a Spinor Bose-Einstein Condensate

We investigate the critical dynamics of spin superflow in an easy-plane antiferromagnetic spinor Bose-Einstein condensate. Spin-dipole oscillations are induced in a trapped condensate by applying a linear magnetic field gradient and we observe that the damping rate increases rapidly as the field gradient increases above a certain critical value. The onset of dissipation is found to be associated with the generation of dark-bright solitons due to the modulation instability of the counterflow of two spin components. Spin turbulence emerges as the solitons decay because of their snake instability. We identify another critical point for spin superflow, in which transverse magnon excitations are dynamically generated via spin-exchanging collisions, which leads to the transient formation of axial polar spin domains.

Molecular epidemiology and environmental contamination during an outbreak of parainfluenza virus 3 in a haematology ward

Background

Although fomites or contaminated surfaces have been considered as transmission routes, the role of environmental contamination by human parainfluenza virus type 3 (hPIV-3) in healthcare settings is not established.

Aim

To describe an hPIV-3 nosocomial outbreak and the results of environmental sampling to elucidate the source of nosocomial transmission and the role of environmental contamination.

Methods

During an hPIV-3 outbreak between May and June 2016, environmental surfaces in contact with clustered patients were swabbed and respiratory specimens used from infected patients and epidemiologically unlinked controls. The epidemiologic relatedness of hPIV-3 strains was investigated by sequencing of the haemagglutinin–neuraminidase and fusion protein genes.

Findings

Of 19 hPIV-3-infected patients, eight were haematopoietic stem cell recipients and one was a healthcare worker. In addition, four had upper and 12 had lower respiratory tract infections. Of the 19 patients, six (32%) were community-onset infections (symptom onset within <7 days of hospitalization) and 13 (68%) were hospital-onset infections (≥7 days of hospitalization). Phylogenetic analysis identified two major clusters: five patients, and three patients plus one healthcare worker. Therefore, seven (37%) were classified as nosocomial transmissions. hPIV-3 was detected in 21 (43%) of 49 environmental swabs up to 12 days after negative respiratory polymerase chain reaction conversion.

Conclusion

At least one-third of a peak season nosocomial hPIV-3 outbreak originated from nosocomial transmission, with multiple importations of hPIV-3 from the community, providing experimental evidence for extensive environmental hPIV-3 contamination. Direct contact with the contaminated surfaces and fomites or indirect transmission from infected healthcare workers could be responsible for nosocomial transmission.

Observation of vortex-antivortex pairing in decaying 2D turbulence of a superfluid gas

In a two-dimensional (2D) classical fluid, a large-scale flow structure emerges out of turbulence, which is known as the inverse energy cascade where energy flows from small to large length scales. An interesting question is whether this phenomenon can occur in a superfluid, which is inviscid and irrotational by nature. Atomic Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) of highly oblate geometry provide an experimental venue for studying 2D superfluid turbulence, but their full investigation has been hindered due to a lack of the circulation sign information of individual quantum vortices in a turbulent sample. Here, we demonstrate a vortex sign detection method by using Bragg scattering, and we investigate decaying turbulence in a highly oblate BEC at low temperatures, with our lowest being ~0.5T _c , where T _c is the superfluid critical temperature. We observe that weak spatial pairing between vortices and antivortices develops in the turbulent BEC, which corresponds to the vortex-dipole gas regime predicted for high dissipation. Our results provide a direct quantitative marker for the survey of various 2D turbulence regimes in the BEC system.

Effect of Insufficient Light Exposure on Polymerization Kinetics of Conventional and Self-adhesive Dual-cure Resin Cements

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of insufficient light exposure on the polymerization of conventional and self-adhesive dual-cure resin cements under ceramic restorations.

Methods: Two conventional dual-cure resin cements (Rely-X ARC, Duolink) and two self-adhesive resin cements (Rely-X U200, Maxcem Elite) were polymerized under different curing modes (dual-cure or self-cure), curing times (20 and 120 seconds), and thickness of a ceramic overlay (2 and 4 mm). Polymerization kinetics was measured by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy for the initial 10 minutes and after 24 hours. Data were analyzed using mixed model analysis of variance (ANOVA), one-way ANOVA/Student-Newman-Keuls post hoc test, and paired t-test (α=0.05).

Results: When light-curing time was set to 20 seconds, the presence of the ceramic block significantly affected the degree of conversion (DC) of all resin cements. Especially, the DC of the groups with 20 seconds of light-curing time under 4 mm of ceramic thickness was even lower than that of the self-cured groups at 24 hours after polymerization (p&lt;0.05). However, when light-curing time was set to 120 seconds, a similar DC compared with the group with direct light exposure (p&gt;0.05) was achieved in all dual-cure groups except Maxcem Elite, at 24 hours after polymerization.

Conclusions: For both conventional and self-adhesive dual-cure resin cements, insufficient light exposure (20 seconds of light-curing time) through thick ceramic restoration (4 mm thick) resulted in a DC even lower than that of self-curing alone.

Observation of von Kármán Vortex Street in an Atomic Superfluid Gas

We report on the experimental observation of vortex cluster shedding from a moving obstacle in an oblate atomic Bose-Einstein condensate. At low obstacle velocities v above a critical value, vortex clusters consisting of two like-sign vortices are generated to form a regular configuration like a von Kármán street, and as v is increased, the shedding pattern becomes irregular with many different kinds of vortex clusters. In particular, we observe that the Stouhal number associated with the shedding frequency exhibits saturation behavior with increasing v. The regular-to-turbulent transition of the vortex cluster shedding reveals remarkable similarities between a superfluid and a classical viscous fluid. Our work opens a new direction for experimental investigations of the superfluid Reynolds number characterizing universal superfluid hydrodynamics.

EEG based image encryption via quantum walks

An electroencephalogram (EEG) based image encryption combined with Quantum walks (QW) is encoded in Fresnel domain. The computational version of EEG randomizes the original plaintext whereas QW can serve as an excellent key generator due to its inherent nonlinear chaotic dynamic behavior. First, a spatially coherent monochromatic laser beam passes through an SLM, which introduces an arbitrary EEG phase-only mask. The modified beam is collected by a CCD. Further, the intensity is multiply with the QW digitally. EEG shows high sensitivity to system parameters and capable of encrypting and transmitting the data whereas QW has unpredictability, stability and non-periodicity. Only applying the correct keys, the original image can be retrieved successfully. Simulations and comparisons show the proposed method to be secure enough for image encryption and outperforms prior works. The proposed method opens the door towards introducing EEG and quantum computation into image encryption and promotes the convergence between our approach and image processing.

Collisional Dynamics of Half-Quantum Vortices in a Spinor Bose-Einstein Condensate

We present an experimental study on the interaction and dynamics of half-quantum vortices (HQVs) in an antiferromagnetic spinor Bose-Einstein condensate. By exploiting the orbit motion of a vortex dipole in a trapped condensate, we perform a collision experiment of two HQV pairs, and observe that the scattering motions of the HQVs is consistent with the short-range vortex interaction that arises from nonsingular magnetized vortex cores. We also investigate the relaxation dynamics of turbulent condensates containing many HQVs, and demonstrate that spin wave excitations are generated by the collisional motions of the HQVs. The short-range vortex interaction and the HQV-magnon coupling represent two characteristics of the HQV dynamics in the spinor superfluid.

SR2067 Reveals a Unique Kinetic and Structural Signature for PPARγ Partial Agonism

Synthetic full agonists of PPARγ have been prescribed for the treatment of diabetes due to their ability to regulate glucose homeostasis and insulin sensitization. While the use of full agonists of PPARγ has been hampered due to severe side effects, partial agonists have shown promise due to their decreased incidence of such side effects in preclinical models. No kinetic information has been forthcoming in regard to the mechanism of full versus partial agonism of PPARγ to date. Here, we describe the discovery of a partial agonist, SR2067. A co-crystal structure obtained at 2.2 Å resolution demonstrates that interactions with the β-sheet are driven exclusively via hydrophobic interactions mediated through a naphthalene group, an observation that is unique from other partial agonists. Surface plasmon resonance revealed that SR2067 binds to the receptor with higher affinity (KD = 513 nM) as compared to that of full agonist rosiglitazone, yet it has a much slower off rate compared to that of rosiglitazone.

Reciprocal activation of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-2α and the zinc-ZIP8-MTF1 axis amplifies catabolic signaling in osteoarthritis

OBJECTIVE

Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-2α and the zinc-ZIP8-MTF1 axis in chondrocytes serve as catabolic regulators of osteoarthritic cartilage destruction by regulating the expression of catabolic factor genes. We explored possible crosstalk between these signaling pathways and its biological significance in osteoarthritis (OA).

METHODS

Microarray analysis, various mRNA and protein assays were conducted using primary cultured mouse articular chondrocytes and experimental OA cartilage to reveal molecular mechanisms underlying the crosstalk between HIF-2α and the zinc-ZIP8-MTF1 axis. Experimental OA in mice was induced by intra-articular (IA) injection of adenovirus expressing HIF-2α (Ad-Epas1), ZIP8 (Ad-Zip8), or MTF1 (Ad-Mtf1) in wild-type mice or mice with cartilage-specific conditional knockout of HIF-2α (Epas1(fl/fl);Col2a1-Cre), ZIP8 (Zip8(fl/fl);Col2a1-Cre), or MTF1 (Mtf1(fl/fl);Col2a1-Cre).

RESULTS

HIF-2α activated the zinc-ZIP8-MTF1 axis in chondrocytes by upregulating the Zn(2+) transporter ZIP8, thereby increasing Zn(2+) influx and activating the downstream transcription factor MTF1. The zinc-ZIP8-MTF1 axis, in turn, acted as a novel transcriptional regulator of HIF-2α. HIF-2α-induced activation of the zinc-ZIP8-MTF1 axis amplified HIF-2α regulation of OA cartilage destruction by synergistically promoting expression of matrix-degrading enzymes. Thus, HIF-2α-induced activation of the zinc-ZIP8-MTF1 axis, together with zinc-ZIP8-MTF1 regulation of HIF-2α, acted collectively to synergistically promote expression of matrix-degrading enzymes and OA cartilage destruction.

CONCLUSION

Our findings identify a reciprocal activation mechanism involving HIF-2α and the zinc-ZIP8-MTF1 axis during OA pathogenesis that amplifies catabolic signaling and cartilage destruction.

Design, Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of Indole Biphenylcarboxylic Acids as PPARγ Antagonists

The thiazolidinediones (TZD) typified by rosiglitazone are the only approved therapeutics targeting PPARγ for the treatment of type-2 diabetes (T2DM). Unfortunately, despite robust insulin sensitizing properties, they are accompanied by a number of severe side effects including congestive heart failure, edema, weight gain, and osteoporosis. We recently identified PPARγ antagonists that bind reversibly with high affinity but do not induce transactivation of the receptor, yet they act as insulin sensitizers in mouse models of diabetes (SR1664).1 This Letter details our synthetic exploration around this novel series of PPARγ antagonists based on an N-biphenylmethylindole scaffold. Structure-activity relationship studies led to the identification of compound 46 as a high affinity PPARγ antagonist that exhibits antidiabetic properties following oral administration in diet-induced obese mice.

Effect of Antimuscarinic Autoantibodies in Primary Sjögren's Syndrome

The presence of functional autoantibodies against the muscarinic type 3 receptor (M3R) has been reported in primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS). However, the pathogenic role of these autoantibodies in pSS development remains to be elucidated. In this experiment, we investigated a pathologic role of pSS autoantibodies (pSS IgG) associated with downregulation of the major histocompatibility complex I (MHC I) molecule with M3R through internalization. Anti-M3R autoantibodies in purified control and pSS IgG were detected using 4 synthesized cyclic M3R peptides by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The binding reactivity of pSS IgG to M3R in situ was analyzed by a dual immunostaining method. Surface expression, interaction, and internalization of M3R with MHC I were analyzed by immunofluorescence confocal microscopy and biochemical assays. Synthetic cyclic peptides M3RP(205-221) and M3RP(520-527) showed significantly high reactivity with pSS IgG compared to the control IgG or the other 3 peptides (P < 0.05). Significantly high reactivity of pSS IgG to M3R in situ was observed. PSS IgG increased the interaction of membrane M3R with MHC I and induced their internalization in primary human submandibular gland cells. The pSS IgG-induced internalization of M3R with MHC I was significantly inhibited by the cholesterol-sequestering drug filipin. Our novel finding-namely, strong downregulation of the membrane MHC I with M3R through internalization of the cholesterol-rich microdomain associating with anti-M3R autoantibodies-could be an important mechanism contributing to the impaired salivation seen in pSS and linking secretory hypofunction to autoimmune pathogenesis.