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Knee osteoarthritis is a disabling disease, causing pain and reduced function.Orthoses are used to manage this problem, including knee braces and lateral wedge insoles. However, there is still controversy on which type of intervention is more effective. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed toevaluate the effect of knee braces and lateral wedge insoles and compare their clinical outcomes onindividuals with medial knee osteoarthritis. We conducted the search strategy based on the population, intervention, comparison, andoutcome (PICO) method. We searched with PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Scopus databases for the related studies. The articles quality assessment was done based on the modified Downs and Black checklist. selleck inhibitor Totally, we chose 32 controlled trials, including 1.849 participants, for the final evaluation. Almosttwo-thirds of the studies had a moderate quality. The overall outcome suggested that both interventionshad improved pain and function. The difference between both interventions on pain reduction was not significant (standardized mean difference = 0.12, 95% confidence interval = 0.34 to 0.1) based on meta-analysis. Both knee brace and lateral wedge insole can improve pain and function in people with knee osteoarthritis. Using either separately or both of them together are effective.Circular RNAs (circRNAs), the new stars of endogenous non-coding RNAs, are dysregulated in various tumors including pancreatic cancer. Here, we aimed to investigate the biological functions of hsa_circ_0071036 in the tumourigenesis and progression of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and its clinical implications. The differential expression profile of circRNAs in 4 pairs of PDAC tissues was analyzed by microarray assay. Quantitative real-time PCR and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) were utilized to determine the expression patterns and their clinical significance. Functional experiments in vitro and in vivo were performed to explore whether hsa_circ_0071036 functions as an oncogenic circRNA in PDAC. Mechanistically, RT-qPCR, dual luciferase reporter and RNA pull-down assays were conducted to identify the interaction between hsa_circ_0071036 and miR-489 in PDAC. Hsa_circ_0071036 was remarkably overexpressed in PDAC cell lines and tissue samples, which negatively correlated with miR-489 expression. Aberrant expression of hsa_circ_0071036 correlated with poor clinicopathological characteristics and prognoses of PDAC patients. Knockdown of hsa_circ_0071036 suppressed proliferation and invasion and induced apoptosis in vitro. Moreover, the in vivo xenograft model confirmed that silencing of hsa_circ_0071036 attenuated tumor growth. Mechanistic analyses indicated that hsa_circ_0071036 acted as an efficient miRNA sponge for miR-489 in PDAC. In summary, our study revealed that upregulated hsa_circ_0071036 promotes PDAC pathogenesis and progression by directly sponging miR-489, which implies an important role for this circRNA-miRNA functional network.Background Knee pain can be a common complaint during pregnancy; however, the severity of symptoms and their associated risk factors have not been described.Questions/purposes The aim of this study was to characterize knee-related dysfunction and describe risk factors in a general obstetric population.Patients and methods Patients in obstetric clinics completed the International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) questionnaire to assess their knee function, as well as the Pregnancy Physical Activity Questionnaire (PPAQ), a validated tool to assess physical activity. Age, weeks gestation, height, weight, and history of knee problems prior to pregnancy were analyzed to identify independent associations with IKDC score and determine predictors of knee dysfunction.Results 310 patients were included in this study, of which 68, 111 and 131 were in their first, second and trimesters, respectively. Mean age of the total study group was 30.3 ± 5.5 years. Knee function decreased with each trimester, from a mean IKDC s Case Series.Introduction Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most important health problems in the Western world. In order to reduce the burden of the disease, two strategies are proposed screening and prompt detection in symptomatic patients. Although diagnosis and prevention are mainly based on colonoscopy, fecal hemoglobin detection has been widely implemented as a noninvasive strategy. Various studies aiming to discover blood-based biomarkers have recently emerged.Areas covered The burgeoning omics field provides diverse high-throughput approaches for CRC blood-based biomarker discovery. In this review, we appraise the most robust and commonly used technologies within the fields of genomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, together with their targeted validation approaches. We summarize the transference process from the discovery phase until clinical translation. Finally, we review the best candidate biomarkers and their potential clinical applicability.Expert opinion Some available biomarkers are promising, especially in the field of epigenomics DNA methylation and microRNA. Transference requires the joint collaboration of basic researchers, intellectual property experts, technology transfer officers and clinicians. Blood-based biomarkers will be selected not only based on their diagnostic accuracy and cost but also on their reliability, applicability to clinical analysis laboratories and their acceptance by the population.Introduction Children with autoimmune diseases often require treatment with systemic immunosuppressives. Efficacy and safety of vaccination, particularly live-attenuated viral vaccines in these patients remain a concern. Areas covered To evaluate the immunogenicity and safety of viral vaccines in children and young people treated with systemic immunosuppressive drugs for autoimmune diseases. A systemic literature review was performed using Pubmed including English papers in subjects less than 21 years old. Viral vaccines were generally immunogenic and safe in children receiving immunosuppressive drugs, including biologics. Use of low-dose prednisolone or disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs did not significantly impact on vaccine immunogenicity, although there was anecdotal evidence of reduced immunogenicity in patients receiving high-dose prednisolone/methylprednisolone and pulse cyclophosphamide. Patients on biologics mounted adequate seroprotective responses, but antibody titers tended to be lower. Both live-attenuated and inactivated vaccines were well tolerated with no serious adverse events.