Tumor-derived cyclooxygenase-2 fuels hypothalamic inflammation.

Hypothalamic inflammation often coincides with cancer and cachexia-anorexia. Prior work established the significance of tumor-derived inflammatory factors in triggering hypothalamic inflammation, yet the precise mechanisms remained elusive. Here, we demonstrate that prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), produced in the tumor via cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), plays a pivotal role in this context.

An osteoinductive and biodegradable intramedullary implant accelerates bone healing and mitigates complications of bone transport in male rats.

Bone transport is a surgery-driven procedure for the treatment of large bone defects. However, challenging complications include prolonged consolidation, docking site nonunion and pin tract infection. Here, we develop an osteoinductive and biodegradable intramedullary implant by a hybrid tissue engineering construct technique to enable sustained delivery of bone morphogenetic protein-2 as an adjunctive therapy.

Lipopolysaccharide-induced hypothalamic inflammation in cancer cachexia-anorexia is amplified by tumour-derived prostaglandin E2.

Background: Cachexia-anorexia syndrome is a complex metabolic condition characterized by skeletal muscle wasting, reduced food intake and prominent involvement of systemic and central inflammation. Here, the gut barrier function was investigated in pancreatic cancer-induced cachexia mouse models by relating intestinal permeability to the degree of cachexia. We further investigated the involvement of the gut-brain axis and the crosstalk between tumour, gut and hypothalamus in vitro.

PUFA-Derived -Acylethanolamide Probes Identify Peroxiredoxins and Small GTPases as Molecular Targets in LPS-Stimulated RAW264.7 Macrophages.

We studied the mechanistic and biological origins of anti-inflammatory poly-unsaturated fatty acid-derived -acylethanolamines using synthetic bifunctional chemical probes of docosahexaenoyl ethanolamide (DHEA) and arachidonoyl ethanolamide (AEA) in RAW264.7 macrophages stimulated with 1.0 μg mL lipopolysaccharide.

Intubation biomechanics: Computational modeling to identify methods to minimize cervical spine motion and spinal cord strain during laryngoscopy and tracheal intubation in an intact cervical spine.

Study Objective: To minimize the risk of cervical spinal cord injury in patients who have cervical spine pathology, minimizing cervical spine motion during laryngoscopy and tracheal intubation is commonly recommended. However, clinicians may better aim to reduce cervical spinal cord strain during airway management of their patients. The aim of this study was to predict laryngoscope force characteristics (location, magnitude, and direction) that would minimize cervical spine motions and cord strains.