Pedicle Screw Fixation in Single-Level, Double-Level, or Multilevel Posterior Lumbar Fusion for Osteoporotic Spine: A Retrospective Study with a Minimum 2-Year Follow-Up.

Background: Pedicle screw loosening is a common postoperative complication for osteoporotic patients, and several studies have identified the important role of fusion length in internal fixation failure, but the relationship between the number of fusion segments and the potential risks remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the rate and risk factors of screw loosening in osteoporotic patients with different levels of degenerative lumbar disease.

Methods: The total cohort of 217 patients was divided into 3 groups according to the different fusion levels: single-level (group A; 100 cases), double-level (group B; 73 cases), and multilevel group (group C; 44 cases).

Nrf2 protects human lens epithelial cells against HO-induced oxidative and ER stress: The ATF4 may be involved.

Our previous study has shown heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) protects human lens epithelial cells (LECs) against HO-induced oxidative stress and apoptosis. Nrf2, the major regulator of HO-1, is triggered during the mutual induction of oxidative stress and ER stress. In response to ER stress, unfolded protein response (UPR) serves as a program of transcriptional and translational regulation mechanism with PERK involved.

Overexpression of the receptor-like protein kinase genes AtRPK1 and OsRPK1 reduces the salt tolerance of Arabidopsis thaliana.

AtRPK1 (AT1G69270) is a leucine-rich repeat receptor-like protein kinase (LRR-RLK) gene in Arabidopsis thaliana. The rice gene Os07g0602700 (OsRPK1) is the homolog of AtRPK1. AtRPK1 and OsRPK1 were overexpressed and the expression of AtRPK1 was inhibited by RNAi in A.

[Effects of interleukin 21 on anti-leukemia activity of cytotoxic T lymphocytes induced by dendritic cells].

This study was aimed to explore the effects of interleukin 21 (IL-21) on the anti-leukemia activity of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) induced by dendritic cells (DCs) in vitro. The peripheral mononuclear cells from leukemia patients in complete remission were cultured with the specific cytokines to induce the production of DCs. The DCs loaded with RNA from autologous leukemic cells as antigen, and co-cultured with autologous T lymphocytes to get leukemia specific CTL.

[Wilms' tumor-1 gene expression in myelodysplastic syndrome and its changes in the process of myelodysplastic syndrome transforming into acute leukemia].

Objective: To observe expression of Wilms' tumor-1 (WT1) gene in the different subtypes of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), and to explore the regularity of expression of WT1 gene in the process of MDS transforming into acute leukemia (AL).

Methods: The method of reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used, the levels of WT1 gene's presentation in different types of montagers of MDS were analyzed, and the relationship between the level and the clinical characteristic was analyzed. At the same time, the expression of WT1 gene in AL patients, post-MDS-AL patients and normal controls were examined.