Icariin Facilitates Osteogenic Differentiation and Suppresses Adipogenic Differentiation of Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells by Enhancing SOST Methylation in Postmenopausal Osteoporosis.

Purpose: Postmenopausal osteoporosis (PMO) is mainly concerned with the imbalance of bone resorption and bone formation. Icariin (ICA) plays a vital role in bone protection. This study investigated the mechanism of ICA in PMO rats.

The anti-oxidation related bioactive materials for intervertebral disc degeneration regeneration and repair.

Intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD) is a prevalent chronic spinal condition characterized by the deterioration of the intervertebral discs (IVD), leading to structural damage and associated pain. This degenerative process is closely linked to oxidative stress injury, which plays a pivotal role in its onset and progression. Oxidative stress in IVDD results from the excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and impaired ROS clearance mechanisms, disrupting the redox balance within the intervertebral disc.

An enhanced AlexNet-Based model for femoral bone tumor classification and diagnosis using magnetic resonance imaging.

Objective: Bone tumors, known for their infrequent occurrence and diverse imaging characteristics, require precise differentiation into benign and malignant categories. Existing diagnostic approaches heavily depend on the laborious and variable manual delineation of tumor regions. Deep learning methods, particularly convolutional neural networks (CNNs), have emerged as a promising solution to tackle these issues.

Deep Learning Assisted Classification of T1ρ-MR Based Intervertebral Disc Degeneration Phases.

Background: According to the T1ρ value of nucleus pulposus, our previous study has found that intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) can be divided into three phases based on T1ρ-MR, which is helpful for the selection of biomaterial treatment timing. However, the routine MR sequences for patients with IDD are T1- and T2-MR, T1ρ-MR is not commonly used due to long scanning time and extra expenses, which limits the application of T1ρ-MR based IDD phases.

Purpose: To build a deep learning model to achieve the classification of T1ρ-MR based IDD phases from routine T1-MR images.

Association between grip strength and walking pace with incidence of degenerative cervical myelopathy: a UK biobank observational study.

Purpose: This study investigates the association between handgrip strength, walking pace, and the incidence of degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) using the UK Biobank dataset.

Methods: We analyzed data from 364,716 UK Biobank participants without prior neurological conditions. Handgrip strength was measured with a dynamometer, and walking pace was self-reported.

Superporous sponge prepared by secondary network compaction with enhanced permeability and mechanical properties for non-compressible hemostasis in pigs.

Developing superporous hemostatic sponges with simultaneously enhanced permeability and mechanical properties remains challenging but highly desirable to achieve rapid hemostasis for non-compressible hemorrhage. Typical approaches to improve the permeability of hemostatic sponges by increasing porosity sacrifice mechanical properties and yield limited pore interconnectivity, thereby undermining the hemostatic efficacy and subsequent tissue regeneration. Herein, we propose a temperature-assisted secondary network compaction strategy following the phase separation-induced primary compaction to fabricate the superporous chitosan sponge with highly-interconnected porous structure, enhanced blood absorption rate and capacity, and fatigue resistance.

Association of coffee and tea consumption with osteoporosis risk: A prospective study from the UK biobank.

Objective: The association of coffee and tea consumption with osteoporosis is highly controversial, and few studies have focused on the combined effects of the two beverages. This study aimed to investigate the independent and combined associations of coffee and tea consumption with osteoporosis risk.

Methods: A prospective cohort study involving 487,594 participants aged 38-73 years from the UK Biobank was conducted.

Supramolecular Hydrogel with Ultra-Rapid Cell-Mediated Network Adaptation for Enhancing Cellular Metabolic Energetics and Tissue Regeneration.

Cellular energetics plays an important role in tissue regeneration, and the enhanced metabolic activity of delivered stem cells can accelerate tissue repair and regeneration. However, conventional hydrogels with limited network cell adaptability restrict cell-cell interactions and cell metabolic activities. In this work, it is shown that a cell-adaptable hydrogel with high network dynamics enhances the glucose uptake and fatty acid β-oxidation of encapsulated human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) compared with a hydrogel with low network dynamics.

Metabolic syndrome increases osteoarthritis risk: findings from the UK Biobank prospective cohort study.

Objective: The association between Metabolic Syndrome (MetS), its components, and the risk of osteoarthritis (OA) has been a topic of conflicting evidence in different studies. The aim of this present study is to investigate the association between MetS, its components, and the risk of OA using data from the UK Biobank.

Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted in the UK Biobank to assess the risk of osteoarthritis (OA) related to MetS.

A protocol of Chinese expert consensuses for the management of health risk in the general public.

Introduction: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) represent the leading cause of mortality and disability worldwide. Robust evidence has demonstrated that modifiable lifestyle factors such as unhealthy diet, smoking, alcohol consumption and physical inactivity are the primary causes of NCDs. Although a series of guidelines for the management of NCDs have been published in China, these guidelines mainly focus on clinical practice targeting clinicians rather than the general population, and the evidence for NCD prevention based on modifiable lifestyle factors has been disorganized.

An innovative approach to assess spinal canal expansion following French-door cervical laminoplasty by intraoperative ultrasonography.

Objective: To investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of applying intraoperative ultrasound (IOUS) to evaluate spinal canal expansion in patients undergoing French-door cervical laminoplasty (FDCL).

Materials And Methods: Twenty-five patients who underwent FDCL for multilevel degenerative cervical myelopathy were prospectively recruited. Formulae describing the relationship between laminoplasty opening angle (LOA) and laminoplasty opening size, the increase in sagittal canal diameter and the spinal canal area were deduced with trigonometric functions.

Attractive deep morphology-aware active contour network for vertebral body contour extraction with extensions to heterogeneous and semi-supervised scenarios.

Automatic vertebral body contour extraction (AVBCE) from heterogeneous spinal MRI is indispensable for the comprehensive diagnosis and treatment of spinal diseases. However, AVBCE is challenging due to data heterogeneity, image characteristics complexity, and vertebral body morphology variations, which may cause morphology errors in semantic segmentation. Deep active contour-based (deep ACM-based) methods provide a promising complement for tackling morphology errors by directly parameterizing the contour coordinates.

A Novel Method of Making Hinges Using a Newly Designed Sharp Rongeur to Enhance Radiological and Clinical Outcomes in French-Door Cervical Expansive Laminoplasty.

Objective: Although the lamina open angle of making hinges is closely related to the outcomes of French-door laminoplasty (FDL) for treatment of cervical spondylosis, there have been no methods to predict the lamina open angle preoperatively as yet. The aim of this study was to investigate the accuracy of predicting the laminal open angle using our newly designed sharp rongeur, and to compare the postoperative outcomes and complications between the methods of making hinges using the newly designed sharp rongeur and the traditional high-speed micro-drill during the FDL.

Methods: This was a single-center retrospective study.

Oxidative Stress and Intervertebral Disc Degeneration: Pathophysiology, Signaling Pathway, and Therapy.

Intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD), characterized as decreased proteoglycan content, ossification of endplate, and decreased intervertebral height, is one of the major reasons of low back pain, which seriously affects the quality of life and also brings heavy economic burden. However, the mechanisms leading to IDD and its therapeutic targets have not been fully elucidated. Oxidative stress refers to the imbalance between oxidation and antioxidant systems, between too many products of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the insufficient scavenging function.

Transplanting neurofibromatosis-1 gene knockout neural stem cells improve functional recovery in rats with spinal cord injury by enhancing the mTORC2 pathway.

The poor survival and low efficiency of neuronal differentiation limits the therapeutic effects of transplanted neural stem cells in the treatment of spinal cord injury. Neurofibromatosis-1 (NF-1) is a tumor suppressor gene that restricts the rapid and abnormal growth and differentiation of neural cells. In the present study, lentiviral vectors were used to knock out NF-1, Ricotr (the core member of mTORC2) or NF-1+Ricotr in neural stem cells in vitro, and the NF-1, Ricotr or NF-1+Ricotr knockout neural stem cells were transplanted at the lesion site in a rat model of spinal cord injury (SCI).

scEnhancer: a single-cell enhancer resource with annotation across hundreds of tissue/cell types in three species.

Previous studies on enhancers and their target genes were largely based on bulk samples that represent 'average' regulatory activities from a large population of millions of cells, masking the heterogeneity and important effects from the sub-populations. In recent years, single-cell sequencing technology has enabled the profiling of open chromatin accessibility at the single-cell level (scATAC-seq), which can be used to annotate the enhancers and promoters in specific cell types. A comprehensive resource is highly desirable for exploring how the enhancers regulate the target genes at the single-cell level.

Transcriptional profiling of intervertebral disc in a post-traumatic early degeneration organ culture model.

Introduction: The goal of this study is to characterize transcriptome changes and gene regulation networks in an organ culture system that mimics early post-traumatic intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration.

Methods: To mimic a traumatic insult, bovine caudal IVDs underwent one strike loading. The control group was cultured under physiological loading.

Potential of intraoperative ultrasonographic assessment of the spinal cord central echo complex in predicting postoperative neurological recovery of degenerative cervical myelopathy.

Background And Purpose: The spinal cord central echo complex (SCCEC) is a special ultrasonography-based intramedullary structure, but its clinical significance in degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) is undefined. This study aimed to explore the potential of the SCCEC in predicting postoperative neurological recovery in DCM.

Methods: Thirty-two DCM patients who underwent intraoperative ultrasonography-guided French-door laminoplasty were prospectively enrolled.

Single Impact Injury of Vertebral Endplates Without Structural Disruption, Initiates Disc Degeneration Through Piezo1 Mediated Inflammation and Metabolism Dysfunction.

Study Design: In vitro experimental study.

Objective: To establish an axial impact injury model of intervertebral disc (IVD) and to investigate if a single impact injury without endplate structural disruption could initiate intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD), and what is the roles of Piezo1 in this process.

Summary Of Background Data: Although IDD process has been confirmed to be associated with structural failures such as endplate fractures, whether a single impact injury of the endplates without structural disruption could initiate IDD remains controversial.