Radiological Factors Associated with Bisphosphonate Treatment Failure and Their Impact on Fracture Healing in Postmenopausal Women with Osteoporotic Vertebral Fractures.

(1) Background: Bisphosphonate treatment failure is one of the most difficult clinical problems for patients with osteoporosis. This study aimed to analyze the incidence of bisphosphonate treatment failure, associated radiological factors, and effect of fracture healing in postmenopausal women with osteoporotic vertebral fractures (OVFs). (2) Methods: A total of 300 postmenopausal patients with OVFs who were prescribed bisphosphonate were retrospectively analyzed and divided into two groups according to the treatment response: response ( = 116) and non-response ( = 184) groups.

Active Methanol Oxidation Reaction by Enhanced CO Tolerance on Bimetallic Pt/Ir Electrocatalysts Using Electronic and Bifunctional Effects.

Platinum-based metal alloys have been generally developed to provide high carbon monoxide resistance in the anodes of direct methanol fuel cells. We report the potential of bimetallic platinum/iridium electrocatalysts in preserving the outstanding carbon monoxide tolerance obtained from both experimental and theoretical studies, which represents the enhanced electrochemical performance of methanol oxidation and the in-depth and stepwise investigations for reaction mechanisms, respectively. In this study, the findings highlight the dual-enhancement characteristics of low carbon monoxide adsorption energy (electronic effect) and carbon monoxide oxidative removal (bifunctional effect) compared with various electrocatalysts such as platinum, iridium, and platinum/ruthenium alloys.

A systematic procedure for modeling usability based on product design variables: a case study in audiovisual consumer electronic products.

A systematic modeling approach to describing, prescribing, and predicting usability of a product has been presented. Given the evaluation results of the usability dimension (UD) and the measurement of the product's design variables, referred to as the human interface elements (HIEs), the approach enables one to systematically assess the relationship between the UD and HIEs. The assessed relationship is called a usability model.

Crystallization and preliminary X-ray crystallographic analysis of the helicase domain of hepatitis C virus NS3 protein.

The NS3 protein of hepatitis C virus (HCV) is thought to be essential for viral replication. The N-terminal domain of the protein contains protease activity and the C-terminal domain contains nucleotide triphosphatase and RNA helicase activity. The RNA helicase domain of HCV NS3 protein was purified by using affinity-column chromatographic methods, and crystallized by using the microbatch crystallization method under oil at 277 K.