Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Modulates Tendon Cells Response in IL-1β-Conditioned Environment

Strategies aiming at controlling and modulating inflammatory cues may offer therapeutic solutions for improving tendon regeneration. This study aims to investigate the modulatory effect of pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) on the inflammatory profile of human tendon-derived cells (hTDCs) after supplementation with interleukin-1β (IL-1β). IL-1β was used to artificially induce inflammatory cues associated with injured tendon environments. The PEMF effect was investigated varying the frequency (5 or 17 Hz), intensity (1.5, 4, or 5 mT), and duty-cycle (10% or 50%) parameters to which IL-1β-treated hTDCs were exposed to. A PEMF actuation with 4 mT, 5 Hz and a 50% duty cycle decreased the production of IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), as well as the expression of TNFα, IL-6, IL-8, COX-2, MMP-1, MMP-2, and MMP-3, while IL-4, IL-10, and TIMP-1 expression increased. These results suggest that PEMF stimulation can modulate hTDCs response in an inflammatory environment holding therapeutic potential for tendon regenerative strategies. © 2019 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 38:160–172, 2020     

Metformin decreases testicular damages following ischaemia/reperfusion injury in rats

The effects of metformin on a testicular torsion injury in adolescent rat testis after I/R were evaluated in the present study. Forty adolescent rats were divided into five groups with eight rats per group: a control group; a sham-operated group; an ischaemia group, where torsion was applied for 4 hr and testis was examined immediately after detorsion; an I/R group, where torsion was applied for 4 hr and the testis was examined 4 hr after detorsion; and an I/R + M group, where the metformin (300 mg/kg) administration was added to the identical procedures used for the I/R group. Spermatogenesis, basal membrane integrity and cleaved caspase-3 expression were assessed. The I/R + M group had a significantly higher Johnsen score than the I/R group (7.9 ± 0.1 vs. 7.5 ± 0.2; p < .001; F-value = 14.2). Failure of basal membrane integrity was highest in the ischaemia group (45 ± 5) compared to the other groups (control group, 20 ± 5; sham-operated group, 16.6 ± 2.8), but not different between the I/R + M (31.6 ± 12.5) and the I/R groups (25 ± 3.5). Cleaved caspase-3 expression was highest in the ischaemia group (73.5 ± 0.7), and significantly lower in the I/R + M group (33.4 ± 0.9) than the I/R group (58.5 ± 0.2; p < .05; F-value = 7.6). Metformin decreases testicular damage by exerting protection against the harmful effects of I/R on spermatogenesis and alleviating apoptosis in adolescent rat testis.     

Gastric Bypass But Not Sleeve Gastrectomy Increases Risk of Major Osteoporotic Fracture: French Population-Based Cohort Study

The objective of this work was to investigate the risk of major osteoporotic fracture (MOF; hip, proximal humerus, wrist and distal forearm, and clinical spine) in bariatric surgery patients versus matched controls. Bariatric surgery is associated with an increase in fracture risk. However, it remains unclear whether the same degree of fracture risk is associated with sleeve gastrectomy, which has recently surpassed gastric bypass. Records from the French National Inpatient database were used from 2008 to 2018. Bariatric surgery patients, aged 40 to 65 years, with BMI ≥40 kg/m², hospitalized between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2014, were matched to one control (1:1) by age, sex, Charlson comorbidity index, year of inclusion, and class of obesity (40 to 49.9 kg/m² versus ≥50 kg/m²). We performed a Cox regression analysis to assess the association between the risk of any MOF and, respectively, (i) bariatric surgery (yes/no) and (ii) type of surgical procedure (gastric bypass, gastric banding, vertical banded gastroplasty, and sleeve gastrectomy) versus no surgery. A total of 81,984 patients were included in the study (40,992 in the bariatric surgery group, and 40,992 matched controls). There were 585 MOFs in the surgical group (2.30 cases per 1000 patient-year [PY]) and 416 MOFs in the matched controls (1.93 cases per 1000 PY). The risk of MOF was significantly higher in the surgical group (hazard ratio [HR] 1.22; 95% CI, 1.08–1.39). We observed an increase in risk of MOF for gastric bypass only (HR 1.70; 95% CI, 1.46–1.98) compared with the matched controls. In patients aged 40 to 65 years, gastric bypass but not sleeve gastrectomy or the other procedures increased risk of major osteoporotic fractures. © 2020 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.     

Development of the " core="" yellow="" flags="" index"="" (cyfi)="" as="" a="" brief="" instrument="" for="" the="" assessment="" of="" key="" psychological="" factors="" in="" patients="" undergoing="" spine="" surgery"="

European Spine Journal - Depression, anxiety, catastrophising, and fear-avoidance beliefs are key "yellow flags" (YFs) that predict a poor outcome in back patients. Most surgeons...     

Real-world outcomes following 12 months of intravitreal aflibercept monotherapy in patients with diabetic macular edema in France: results from the APOLLON study

Graefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology - To report the effectiveness of intravitreal aflibercept (IVT-AFL) treatment for diabetic macular edema (DME) in French clinical...     

Sensitive HPLC-fluorescence method for irinotecan and four major metabolites in human plasma and saliva: application to pharmacokinetic studies

BACKGROUND: We developed gradient HPLC methods for quantification of the antimitotic drug irinotecan (CPT-11) and its four metabolites, SN-38, SN-38 G, 7-ethyl-10-[4-N-(5-aminopentanoic acid)-1-piperidino]-carbonyloxycamptothecin (APC), and 7-ethyl-10-[4amino-1-piperidino]-carbonyloxycamptothecin (NPC), as the sum of the lactone and carboxylate forms, in human plasma and saliva. Camptothecin was used as internal standard. METHODS: The sample pretreatment involved protein precipitation with methanol-acetonitrile (50:50 by volume) followed by acidification with hydrochloric acid to convert the lactone ring-opened form into its lactone form, quantitatively. HPLC separation was performed on a Xterra RP18 column. The excitation wavelength was 370 nm, and the emission wavelength was set at 470 nm for the first 24 min and then at 534 nm for the next 4 min. The stabilities of irinotecan and its four metabolites in plasma, saliva, and acidic extracts were also investigated under various conditions. RESULTS: Assays were linear in the tested range of 0.5-1000 micro g/L. For the five analytes, limits of quantification were 0.5 micro g/L in both matrices. The interassay imprecision (as relative standard deviation) was 3.2-14% in plasma and 2.6-5.6% in saliva. Assay recoveries ranged from 92.8% to 111.2% for plasma and 100.1% to 104.1% for saliva. Mean extraction recovery from plasma or saliva was 90%. CONCLUSION: The developed assay can be used to determine pharmacokinetic parameters for CPT-11, SN-38, SN-38 G, APC, and NPC in plasma and saliva from patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.