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Biomimetics (Basel, Switzerland) Dec 2023Biomineralization peptides are versatile tools for generating nanostructures since they can make specific interactions with various inorganic metals, which can lead to...
Biomineralization peptides are versatile tools for generating nanostructures since they can make specific interactions with various inorganic metals, which can lead to the formation of intricate nanostructures. Previously, we examined the influence that multivalency has on inorganic structures formed by p53 tetramer-based biomineralization peptides and noted a connection between the geometry of the peptide and its ability to regulate nanostructure formation. To investigate the role of multivalency in nanostructure formation by biomineralization peptides more thoroughly, silver biomineralization peptides were engineered by linking them to additional self-assembling molecules based on coiled-coil peptides and multistranded DNA oligomers. Under mild reducing conditions at room temperature, these engineered biomineralization peptides self-assembled and formed silver nanostructures. The trimeric forms of the biomineralization peptides were the most efficient in forming a hexagonal disk nanostructure, with both the coiled-coil peptide and DNA-based multimeric forms. Together, the results suggest that the spatial arrangement of biomineralization peptides plays a more important role in regulating nanostructure formation than their valency.
PubMed: 38132545
DOI: 10.3390/biomimetics8080606 -
Clinical Spine Surgery Aug 2023A retrospective case series study.
STUDY DESIGN
A retrospective case series study.
OBJECTIVE
To analyze the epidemiology and burden of diagnoses of lumbar spinal conditions affecting Major League Baseball (MLB) and Minor League Baseball players.
SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA
Lumbar spinal conditions are a common cause of low back pain in the general population and can be caused by participation in sports and athletics. Data concerning the epidemiology of these injuries in professional baseball players are limited.
METHODS
We collected deidentified MLB and Minor League Baseball data concerning lumbar spine conditions (lumbar disk herniations, lumbar degenerative disease, or pars conditions) from 2011 to 2017 using the MLB-commissioned Health and Injury Tracking System database. Data concerning days missed because of injury, need for surgery, and player participation and career-ending status were assessed. Injury rates were reported as injuries per 1000 athlete exposures in concordance with prior studies.
RESULTS
Over 2011-2017, 5948 days of play were missed because of 206 lumbar spine-related injuries, of which 60 (29.1%) were season ending. Twenty-seven (13.1%) of these injuries required surgery. The most common injury among both pitchers and position players were lumbar disk herniations (45, 44.1% and 41, 39.4%, respectively). More surgeries were performed for lumbar disk herniations and degenerative disk disease compared with pars conditions (74% and 18.5% vs. 3.7%). Injury rates for pitchers was significantly higher than those of other position players 0.111 per 1000 AEs versus 0.040 per 1000 AEs ( P <0.0001). Injuries requiring surgery did not vary significantly by league, age group, or player position.
CONCLUSIONS
Lumbar spine-related injuries incurred substantial disability and days missed from play in professional baseball players. Lumbar disk herniations were the most common injury, and together with pars conditions led to higher rates of surgery compared with degenerative conditions.
LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
III.
Topics: Humans; Baseball; Retrospective Studies; Intervertebral Disc Displacement; Athletic Injuries; Low Back Pain; Spinal Diseases
PubMed: 36867724
DOI: 10.1097/BSD.0000000000001453 -
Current Pain and Headache Reports Mar 2024Intervertebral disc degeneration is the primary etiology of low back pain and radicular pain. This review examines the roles of crucial chemokines in different stages of... (Review)
Review
PURPOSE OF REVIEW
Intervertebral disc degeneration is the primary etiology of low back pain and radicular pain. This review examines the roles of crucial chemokines in different stages of degenerative disc disease, along with interventions targeting chemokine function to mitigate disc degeneration.
RECENT FINDINGS
The release of chemokines from degenerated discs facilitates the infiltration and activation of immune cells, thereby intensifying the inflammatory cascade response. The migration of immune cells into the venous lumen is concomitant with the emergence of microvascular tissue and nerve fibers. Furthermore, the presence of neurogenic factors secreted by disc cells and immune cells stimulates the activation of pain-related cation channels in the dorsal root ganglion, potentially exacerbating discogenic and neurogenic pain and intensifying the degenerative cascade response mediated by chemokines. Gaining a deeper comprehension of the functions of chemokines and immune cells in these processes involving catabolism, angiogenesis, and injury detection could offer novel therapeutic avenues for managing symptomatic disc disease.
Topics: Humans; Intervertebral Disc Degeneration; Intervertebral Disc; Low Back Pain; Chemokines; Ganglia, Spinal
PubMed: 37976014
DOI: 10.1007/s11916-023-01188-1 -
Frontiers in Medicine 2023Intervertebral disk (IVD) degeneration (IVDD) is a main factor in lower back pain, and immunomodulation plays a vital role in disease progression. The IVD is an immune... (Review)
Review
Intervertebral disk (IVD) degeneration (IVDD) is a main factor in lower back pain, and immunomodulation plays a vital role in disease progression. The IVD is an immune privileged organ, and immunosuppressive molecules in tissues reduce immune cell (mainly monocytes/macrophages and mast cells) infiltration, and these cells can release proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines, disrupting the IVD microenvironment and leading to disease progression. Improving the inflammatory microenvironment in the IVD through immunomodulation during IVDD may be a promising therapeutic strategy. This article reviews the normal physiology of the IVD and its degenerative mechanisms, focusing on IVDD-related immunomodulation, including innate immune responses involving Toll-like receptors, NOD-like receptors and the complement system and adaptive immune responses that regulate cellular and humoral immunity, as well as IVDD-associated immunomodulatory therapies, which mainly include mesenchymal stem cell therapies, small molecule therapies, growth factor therapies, scaffolds, and gene therapy, to provide new strategies for the treatment of IVDD.
PubMed: 38179277
DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2023.1289642 -
Micromachines Dec 2023A diamond gel polishing disk with self-sharpening ability is proposed to solve the problem of glazing phenomenon in the gel polishing disks. Aluminum nitride (AlN)...
A diamond gel polishing disk with self-sharpening ability is proposed to solve the problem of glazing phenomenon in the gel polishing disks. Aluminum nitride (AlN) powder with silica sol film coating (A/S powder) is added to the polishing disk, and a specific solution is used to dissolve the A/S powder during polishing, forming a pore structure on the polishing disk. To realize the self-sharpening process, the dissolution property of the A/S powder is analyzed. The effect of A/S powder content on the friction and wear performance and the polishing performance of 4H-SiC wafers are investigated. Results showed that the friction coefficient of the polishing disk with 9 wt% A/S powder content is the most stable. The surface roughness of 2.25 nm can be achieved, and there is no obvious glazing phenomenon on the polishing disk after polishing. The surface roughness of the 4H-SiC wafer is reduced by 38.8% compared with that of the polishing disk with no A/S powder addition after rough polishing, and the 4H-SiC wafer then obtained a damage-free surface with a less than 0.4 nm after fine polishing by chemical mechanical polishing (CMP).
PubMed: 38258175
DOI: 10.3390/mi15010056 -
Journal of Muscle Research and Cell... Dec 2023The Z-disk of striated muscle defines the ends of the sarcomere, which repeats many times within the muscle fiber. Here we report application of cryoelectron tomography... (Review)
Review
The Z-disk of striated muscle defines the ends of the sarcomere, which repeats many times within the muscle fiber. Here we report application of cryoelectron tomography and subtomogram averaging to Z-disks isolated from the flight muscles of the large waterbug Lethocerus indicus. We use high salt solutions to remove the myosin containing filaments and use gelsolin to remove the actin filaments of the A- and I-bands leaving only the thin filaments within the Z-disk which were then frozen for cryoelectron microscopy. The Lethocerus Z-disk structure is similar in many ways to the previously studied Z-disk of the honeybee Apis mellifera. At the corners of the unit cell are positioned trimers of paired antiparallel F-actins defining a large solvent channel, whereas at the trigonal positions are positioned F-actin trimers converging slowly towards their (+) ends defining a small solvent channel through the Z-disk. These near parallel F-actins terminate at different Z-heights within the Z-disk. The two types of solvent channel in Lethocerus are similar in size compared to those of Apis which are very different in size. Two types of α-actinin crosslinks were observed between oppositely oriented actin filaments. In one of these, the α-actinin long axis is almost parallel to the F-actins it crosslinks. In the other, the α-actinins are at a small but distinctive angle with respect to the crosslinked actin filaments. The utility of isolated Z-disks for structure determination is discussed.
Topics: Animals; Sarcomeres; Actins; Actinin; Muscle Proteins; Cryoelectron Microscopy; Muscle, Skeletal; Solvents; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
PubMed: 37661214
DOI: 10.1007/s10974-023-09657-1 -
Journal of AAPOS : the Official... Aug 2023To report on the incidence, characteristics, and treatment of glaucoma in association with aniridia in a population of Egyptian children.
PURPOSE
To report on the incidence, characteristics, and treatment of glaucoma in association with aniridia in a population of Egyptian children.
METHODS
A retrospective chart review was conducted of children (<18 years of age) presenting with aniridia between 2007 and 2022. Diagnosis of glaucoma was based on cup:disk ratio (>0.3) and IOP (>16 mm Hg). Success of glaucoma surgery was defined as IOP ≤16 mm Hg and stable or regressing cup:disk ratio.
RESULTS
A total of 93 eyes of 47 children were included. The mean patient age at presentation was 41.2 ± 44.7 months. The mean intraocular pressure (IOP), corneal diameter, cup:disk ratio, and axial length on presentation were 16.4 ± 10.3 mm Hg, 11.4 ± 1.3 mm, 0.4 ± 0.3, and 22.43 ± 2.6 mm Hg. Of eyes with IOP and cup:disk ratio data at presentation, 23 (30%) were diagnosed with glaucoma. Fourteen eyes underwent surgery after presentation; follow-up data were available for half the remaining eyes. At the final follow-up, glaucoma was present in 20 eyes (49%). Glaucoma surgery was performed in 17 eyes, with a complete or qualified success rate of 82.4% at final follow-up, with 15 eyes having at least 12 months' follow-up.
CONCLUSIONS
In this study cohort, children with aniridia presented at around 3 years of age, with glaucoma at presentation in almost one-third of the cases.
Topics: Humans; Child; Child, Preschool; Retrospective Studies; Egypt; Glaucoma; Intraocular Pressure; Aniridia; Treatment Outcome; Follow-Up Studies; Trabeculectomy
PubMed: 37499898
DOI: 10.1016/j.jaapos.2023.06.005 -
Ophthalmology. Retina Dec 2023
Topics: Humans; Optic Disk; Optic Nerve Diseases; Eye Abnormalities
PubMed: 37480896
DOI: 10.1016/j.oret.2023.06.023 -
Optics Letters Sep 2023Kerr-lens mode-locking (KLM) has been widely used in thin-disk oscillators to generate high-power femtosecond pulses. Here we demonstrate a Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:YAG...
Kerr-lens mode-locking (KLM) has been widely used in thin-disk oscillators to generate high-power femtosecond pulses. Here we demonstrate a Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:YAG thin-disk oscillator that can be self-started under two configurations. The first can deliver 13-W, 235-fs pulses at a repetition rate of 103 MHz; the second delivers 49 W at a repetition rate of 46.5 MHz, whose corresponding pulse energy of 1.05 µJ is, to the best of our knowledge, the highest energy ever obtained in self-started Kerr-lens mode-locked oscillators. A new method to initiate KLM in the form of optical perturbation in a thin-disk oscillator has also been demonstrated.
PubMed: 37656573
DOI: 10.1364/OL.495730 -
Journal of Food Protection Oct 2023The iron-binding glycoprotein lactoferrin is well known for its wide range of antibacterial effects. However, the aim of this study was to show that its antibacterial...
The iron-binding glycoprotein lactoferrin is well known for its wide range of antibacterial effects. However, the aim of this study was to show that its antibacterial activity is not generally applicable to a bacterial species as a whole. In disk diffusion assays performed with 112 isolates from 13 bacterial species (including the foodborne pathogens Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus), a lactoferrin-based food supplement showed no inhibition of growth on 24%, moderate inhibition on 31%, and strong inhibition on 45% of all tested isolates. Minimal inhibitory concentrations against B. cereus and Bacillus thuringiensis strain-specifically ranged from 0.31 mg/mL to no impairment at all. Further 11 commercially available lactoferrin-based food supplements and purified bovine lactoferrin showed strain- as well as product-specific growth inhibition. In comparison to bovine lactoferrin, human lactoferrin showed no inhibitory effects. In summary, purified lactoferrin and lactoferrin-based food supplements inhibit bacterial growth in a dose-, strain-, and product-dependent manner. Thus, a general antimicrobial effect of lactoferrin against a specific bacterial species cannot be assumed.
Topics: Humans; Lactoferrin; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Bacteria; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Dietary Supplements; Bacillus cereus
PubMed: 37640158
DOI: 10.1016/j.jfp.2023.100153