A genetic association study between growth differentiation factor 5 (GDF 5) polymorphism and knee osteoarthritis in Thai population

Abstract Objective Osteoarthritis (OA) is a multi-factorial disease and genetic factor is one of the important etiologic risk factors. Various genetic polymorphisms have been elucidated that they might be associated with OA. Recently, several studies have shown an association between Growth Differentiation Factor 5(GDF5) polymorphism and knee OA. However, the role of genetic predisposing factor in each ethnic group cannot be replicated to all, with conflicting data in the literatures. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the association between GDF5 polymorphism and knee OA in Thai population. Materials and Methods One hundred and ninety three patients aged 54-88 years who attended Ramathibodi Hospital were enrolled. Ninety cases with knee OA according to American College of Rheumatology criteria and one hundred and three cases in control group gave informed consent. Blood sample (5 ml) were collected for identification of GDF5 (rs143383) single nucleotide polymorphism by PCR/RFLP according to a standard protocol. This study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee on human experimentation of Ramathibodi Hospital Faculty of Medicine, Mahidol University. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals were calculated for the risk of knee OA by genotype (TT, TC and CC) and allele (T/C) analyses. Results The baseline characteristics between two groups including job, smoking and activity were not different, except age and BMI. The entire cases and controls were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (p > 0.05). The OA knee group (n = 90) had genotypic figure which has shown by TT 42.2% (n = 38), TC 45.6% (n = 41) and CC 12% (n = 11), whereas the control group (n = 103) revealed TT 32% (n = 33), TC 45.6% (n = 47), and CC 22.3% (n = 23), respectively. Genotypic TT increased risk of knee OA as compared to CC [OR = 2.41 (P = 0.04, 95%CI = 1.02-5.67)]. In the allele analysis, the T allele was found to be significantly associated with knee OA [OR = 1.53 (P = 0.043, 95%CI = 1.01-2.30)]. Conclusion These data suggested that GDF5 polymorphism has an association with knee OA in Thai ethnic. This finding also supports the hypothesis that OA has an important genetic component in its etiology, and GDF5 protein might play important role in the pathophysiology of the disease.</p

Fine-Needle Aspiration Cytology of Parathyroid Carcinoma Mimic Hürthle Cell Thyroid Neoplasm

Background. Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) can cause misdiagnosis of cytomorphological findings between parathyroid and thyroid lesions. Case Presentation. A 31-year-old man presented with a palpable neck mass on the right thyroid lobe. FNA cytology was reported as intrathyroidal lymphoid hyperplasia. After 5 years, repeated FNA was done on the enlarged nodule with result of Hürthle cell lesion. Prior to right lobectomy, laboratories revealed elevated serum calcium and parathyroid hormone (PTH). Careful history taking revealed chronic knee pain and ossifying fibroma at the maxilla. Ultrasonography showed a 2.8 cm mass inferior to right thyroid lobe. Pathology from en bloc resection was parathyroid carcinoma and immunohistochemical study revealed positivity for PTH. Genetic analysis found somatic mutation of CDC73 gene in exon1 (c.70delG) which caused premature stop codon in amino acid 26 (p.Glu24Lysfs2*). The final diagnosis was hyperparathyroidism-jaw tumor syndrome. Conclusions. FNA cytology of parathyroid can mimic thyroid lesion. It is important to consider and correlate the entire information from clinical history, laboratory, imaging, and FNA

TYPLEX® Chelate, a novel feed additive, inhibits Campylobacter jejuni biofilm formation and cecal colonization in broiler chickens

Reducing Campylobacter spp. carriage in poultry is challenging, but essential to control this major cause of human bacterial gastroenteritis worldwide. Although much is known about the mechanisms and route of Campylobacter spp. colonization in poultry the literature is scarce on antibiotic-free solutions to combat Campylobacter spp. colonization in poultry. In vitro and in vivo studies were conducted to investigate the role of TYPLEX® Chelate, a novel feed additive, in inhibiting Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni) biofilm formation and reducing C. jejuni and Escherichia coli (E. coli) colonization in broiler chickens at market age. In an in vitro study, the inhibitory effect on C. jejuni biofilm formation using a plastic bead assay was investigated. The results demonstrated that TYPLEX® Chelate significantly reduces biofilm formation. For in vivo study, 800 broilers (one-day old) were randomly allocated to 4 dietary treatments in a randomised block design, each having 10 replicate pens with 20 birds per pen. At day 21, all birds were challenged with C. jejuni via seeded litter. At day 42, caecal samples were collected and tested for volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentrations, C. jejuni and E. coli counts. The results showed that TYPLEX® Chelate reduced the carriage of C. jejuni and E. coli in poultry by 2 and 1 log₁₀ per gram caecal sample, respectively, and increased caecal VFA concentrations. These findings support TYPLEX® Chelate as a novel non-antibiotic feed additive that may help produce poultry with a lower public health risk of Campylobacteriosis

An improved approximate method for solving two-dimensional time-fractional-order Black-Scholes model: a finite difference approach

In this paper, we considered the two-dimensional fractional-order Black-Scholes model in the Liouville-Caputo sense. The Black-Scholes model was an important tool in the financial market, used for determining option prices in the European-style market. However, finding a closed-form analytical solution for the fractional-order partial differential equation was challenging. To address this, we introduced an improved finite difference method for approximating the solution of the two-dimensional fractional-order Black-Scholes model in the Liouville-Caputo sense, based on the Crank-Nicolson finite difference method. This method combined the concepts of the finite difference method for solving the multidimensional Black-Scholes model and the finite difference method for solving the fractional-order heat equation. We analyzed the conditional stability and the order of convergence. Furthermore, numerical examples were provided to illustrate the determination of option prices

Application of Ultrafiltered Sweet Buttermilk and Sweet Buttermilk Powder in the Manufacture of Nonfat and Lowfat Yogurts

The objective of this study was to study the effect of ultrafiltered sweet buttermilk (UBM), sweet buttermilk powder (BMP) and nonfat dry milk (NDM) on chemical, physical, sensory, microstructural and microbiological properties of nonfat and lowfat yogurts. Experiments included five replications consisting of three ingredients (UBM, BMP and NDM) and two fat levels (0.34% and 1.36%). Ultrafiltered sweet buttermilk (13.77% protein), BMP (31.45% protein) or NDM (36.2% protein) were used to fortify skim milk to 3.65 to 3.77% protein and 9.55 to 10.39% total solids (TS) in nonfat yogurt (NF) mix, and 4.40 to 6.39% protein and 13.4% TS in lowfat yogurt (LF) mix. Fat was adjusted with 40% fat cream to 0.34% in NF and 1.36% in LF. Mixes were homogenized at 20 MPa, pasteurized at 82.2°C for 30 min, inoculated with a mixed yogurt culture, incubated at 43°C for 4.5 hand cooled to 4°C. Titratable acidity (TA) of LF yogurts was higher (P0.05) TA of yogurts at any time period. As storage time increased, the TA increased pH of lowfat yogurts was higher (P \u3c 0.05) than that of nonfat yogurts. There were no differences (P \u3e 0.05) in, TA and pH among nonfat yogurts. Lowfat yogurt with UBM had the highest (P\u3c 0.05) pH and TA suggesting increased buffer capacity. Lowfat yogurt with UBM was the firmest (P\u3c 0.05); whereas BMP-LF was softer (P \u3c 0.05) than NDM-LF. Treatment did not affect firmness of nonfat yogurts. As speed of shearing increased, viscosity of yogurts decreased indicating shear thinning property and at high speed of shearing, time of shearing had little effect on yogurt viscosity. Viscosity of UBM-LF was the highest (P \u3c 0.05). Nonfat yogurts with UBM and BMP were similar in flavor, appearance, texture, aroma, smoothness and sourness to NDM-NF. Lowfat yogurt with UBM received the lowest (P \u3c 0.05) flavor score and sourness, but the highest (P \u3c 0.05) appearance score. Overall acceptability for BMP-LF was similar (P \u3e 0.05) to NDM-LF, but BMP-LF was smoother (P \u3c 0.05). Two-wk-old UBM-LF was the least acidic. Although rods to cocci ratio of yogurt was approximately 1:4, yogurts with good flavor were obtained. Microstructures of nonfat yogurts were more open than those of lowfat yogurts, possibly due to higher protein contents of the latter. Ultrafiltered sweet buttermilk yielded the densest matrix with fused casein particles. It is likely that whey protein denaturation was responsible for this phenomenon. Addition of BMP to yogurt mix up to 4.8% yielded soft and smooth product

Biofilm removal technique using sands as a research tool for accessing microbial attachment on surface

Biofilms have profound impacts on improved survival of the constituent microorganisms in nature. Biofilms were believed to protect constituent microorganisms from sanitizer treatment, provide a more suitable habitat for microorganisms, and become a site for genetic material exchanges between microorganisms. As we realize more about the significance of biofilm, methods used for biofilm study should be consistently developed and evaluated. To determine microbial attachment on surfaces, usually biofilms are grown on substratum surfaces and removed by vortexing with glass beads or scraping. However, scraping is not as effective as vortexing with glass beads. Another approach is direct-agar overlaying which cannot be used with high density biofilm. In this experiment, we compared effectiveness of glass beads (298±28 μm in diameter) and sands (width: 221±55 μm and length: 329±118 μm) in removing biofilm of Pseudomonas aeruginosa by vortexing method. The results suggested that acid-washed sands, which are significantly less inexpensive than glass beads, were as effective as (P>0.05) analytical grade glass beads in Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm removal without inhibiting growth of the organism

Application of the Laplace Homotopy Perturbation Method to the Black–Scholes Model Based on a European Put Option with Two Assets

In this paper, the Laplace homotopy perturbation method (LHPM) is applied to obtain the approximate solution of Black–Scholes partial differential equations for a European put option with two assets. Different from all other approximation methods, LHPM provides a simple way to get the explicit solution which is represented in the form of a Mellin–Ross function. The numerical examples represent that the solution from the proposed method is easy and effective.</jats:p

On the solution of two-dimensional fractional Black–Scholes equation for European put option

AbstractThe purpose of this paper was to investigate the dynamics of the option pricing in the market through the two-dimensional time fractional-order Black–Scholes equation for a European put option. The Liouville–Caputo derivative was used to improve the ordinary Black–Scholes equation. The analytic solution is a powerful tool for describing the behavior of the option price in the European style market. In this study, analytic solution is carried out by the Laplace homotopy perturbation method. Moreover, the obtained solution showed that the Laplace homotopy perturbation method was an efficient method for finding an analytic solution of two-dimensional fractional-order differential equation.</jats:p