Adsorption and release of BMP-2 on nanocrystalline apatite-coated and uncoated hydroxyapatite/b-tricalcium phosphate porous ceramics

The association of bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) with calcium phosphate bioceramics is known to confer them osteoinductive properties. The aim of this study was to evaluate the surface properties, especially regarding recombinant human BMP-2 (rhBMP-2) adsorption and release, of commercial sintered biphasic calcium phosphate ceramics after coating with biomimetic nanocrystalline apatite. The raw and coated ceramics exhibited similar macroporous structures but different nanometer-sized pores contents. Both types of ceramics showed Langmuir-type adsorption isotherms of rhBMP-2. The coating noticeably increased the rate of adsorption and the total amount of growth factor taken up, but the maximum coverage per surface area unit as well as the affinity constant appeared lower for coated ceramics compared with raw ceramic surfaces. The limited advantage gained by coating the ceramics can be assigned to a lower accessibility of the surface adsorption sites compared with the raw ceramics. The quantity of rhBMP-2 spontaneously released in cell culture medium during the first weeks was lower for coated samples than for uncoated ceramics and represented a minor fraction of the total adsorbed amount. In conclusion, the nanocrystalline apatite coating was found to favor the adsorption of rhBMP-2 while providing a mean to fine tune the release of the growth factor

Preconception nutritional intake and lifestyle factors: First results of an explorative study

Objective: To describe nutritional intake and lifestyle factors in women planning pregnancy. Study design: A semi-quantitative, 1-month food frequency questionnaire and a questionnaire on health practices and personal views were filled out at home and verified by telephone interview. Results: One hundred and one women agreed to participate and data of 69 women were eligible for evaluation. Women planning pregnancy (n=46) consumed significantly more saturated fats and proteins, less carbohydrates and higher median intakes of Vitamin A, thiamin, riboflavin, calcium, selenium, magnesium and iron than controls (n=23; P<0.05). However, the percentage of women

Association Between the 1291-C/G Polymorphism in the Adrenergic alpha-2a Receptor and the Metabolic Syndrome

The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome is increased in patients with schizophrenia compared with the general population. The strong interindividual differences in susceptibility to developing the metabolic syndrome suggests that the genetic makeup is a modulating factor. Part of the genetic puzzle can possibly be explained by variations in the gene coding for the adrenergic alpha-2a receptor (ADRA2A) because this receptor plays an important role in lipolysis. Three studies have found an association between the alpha-2a 1291-C/G polymorphism and antipsychotic induced weight gain, with conflicting results between whites and Asians. No studies have been published investigating the association between the 1291-C/G polymorphism and the metabolic syndrome. The primary objective of this cross-sectional study was to investigate the association between the ADRA2A 1291-C/G polymorphism and the metabolic syndrome in 470 patients using antipsychotic drugs. There was no significant association between carriership of the variant 1291-G allele and prevalence of the metabolic syndrome (odds ratio, 0.73; 95% confidence interval, 0.49Y1.15). Exploratory analysis showed an association between carriership of the variant 1291-G allele and a reduced prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in patients not currently using antipsychotics (odds ratio, 0.05; 95% confidence interval, 0.003Y0.97; P = 0.048). In conclusion, this study shows that the ADRA2A 1291-C/G polymorphism does not seem to be a strong predictor for long-term occurrence of the metabolic syndrome in antipsychotic using patients. Studies investigating this association using a prospective, or retrospective, design, as well as studies investigating this association in a nonpsychiatric population, are warranted

Brain changes associated with cognitive and emotional factors in chronic pain : a systematic review

An emerging technique in chronic pain research is MRI, which has led to the understanding that chronic pain patients display brain structure and function alterations. Many of these altered brain regions and networks are not just involved in pain processing, but also in other sensory and particularly cognitive tasks. Therefore, the next step is to investigate the relation between brain alterations and pain related cognitive and emotional factors. This review aims at providing an overview of the existing literature on this subject. Pubmed, Web of Science and Embase were searched for original research reports. Twenty eight eligible papers were included, with information on the association of brain alterations with pain catastrophizing, fear-avoidance, anxiety and depressive symptoms. Methodological quality of eligible papers was checked by two independent researchers. Evidence on the direction of these associations is inconclusive. Pain catastrophizing is related to brain areas involved in pain processing, attention to pain, emotion and motor activity, and to reduced top-down pain inhibition. In contrast to pain catastrophizing, evidence on anxiety and depressive symptoms shows no clear association with brain characteristics. However, all included cognitive or emotional factors showed significant associations with resting state fMRI data, providing that even at rest the brain reserves a certain activity for these pain-related factors. Brain changes associated with illness perceptions, pain attention, attitudes and beliefs seem to receive less attention in literature. Significance: This review shows that maladaptive cognitive and emotional factors are associated with several brain regions involved in chronic pain. Targeting these factors in these patients might normalize specific brain alterations

Chronic pain in families:A cross-sectional study of shared social, behavioural, and environmental influences

Chronic pain is common and creates a significant burden to the individual and society. Emerging research has shown the influence of the family environment on pain outcomes. However, it is not clear what shared factors between family members associate with chronic pain. This study aimed to investigate the family-level contribution to an individual's chronic pain status. This was a cross-sectional study using the Generation Scotland: Scottish Family Health Study data set. This study focused on a nested cohort of dyads (only 2 relatives per family, n = 2714). Multi-level modelling was first performed to estimate the extent of variance in chronic pain at the family level. Then each member of the dyad was randomly assigned as either the exposure or outcome family member, and logistic regression was used to identify shared factors associated with the outcome of chronic pain status. Multi-level modelling showed just under 10% of variation in chronic pain status was at a family level. There was an increase in odds of chronic pain if exposure family member had chronic pain (odds ratio [OR]: 1.30, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.02-1.65), if both were women (OR: 1.39, 95% CI: 0.99-1.94), if both were older in age (OR: 1.80, 95% CI: 1.31-2.48), and if both had low household income (OR: 3.27, 95% CI: 1.72-6.21). These findings show that most explanation for chronic pain is still at the individual level. However, some significant shared effects between family members associate with chronic pain, and this highlights the influence of the family context

Glaucoma in large-scale population-based epidemiology:a questionnaire-based proxy

Purpose: To improve upon self-reported glaucoma status in population-based cohorts by developing a questionnaire-based proxy incorporating self-reported status in conjunction with glaucoma-specific visual complaints. Methods: A vision specific questionnaire, including questions from the National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire-25 (NEI-VFQ-25) was administered to 79,866 Lifelines participants, a population-based cohort study in the Northern Netherlands. We compared NEI-VFQ-25 responses between ‘definite’ glaucoma cases (n = 90; self-reported surgical cases) and an age- and gender-matched subset of controls (n = 1,800) to uncover glaucoma-specific visual complaints, using a case–control logistic regression. We defined ‘probable glaucoma’ as both self-reported disease status and visual complaints, and ‘possible glaucoma’ as either. To evaluate the resulting proxy, we determined age-stratified glaucoma prevalences in the remaining cohort and compared the result to the literature. Results: Per unit increase in the vision subscales (range 0–100) distance, peripheral and low luminance, we observed significantly increased odds of definite glaucoma (2% [P = 0.03], 4% [P = 1.2 × 10−8] and 2% [P = 0.02], respectively); the associated area under the curve was 0.73. We identified 300 probable and 3,015 (1,434 by self-report) possible glaucoma cases. Standardised prevalences of definite, probable and possible glaucoma for 55+ were 0.4%, 1.1% and 7.3%, respectively. For self-reported glaucoma (combining definite, probable and possible by self-report), this was 5.2%. Conclusions: The combination of self-reported glaucoma status and visual complaints can be used to capture glaucoma cases in population-based settings. The resulting prevalence of combined definite and probable glaucoma (1.5%) appears to be more consistent with previous reports than the prevalence estimate of 5.2% based only on self-report

Monkey see, monkey do: truth-telling in matching algorithms and the manipulation of others

We test the effect of the amount of information on the strategies played by others in the theoretically strategy-proof Top Trading Cycles (TTC) mechanism. We find that providing limited information on the strategies played by others has a negative and significant effect in truth-telling rates. Subjects report truthfully more often when either full information or no information on the strategies played by others is available. Our results have potentially important implications for the design of markets based on strategy-proof matching algorithms

Correction:Glaucoma in large-scale population-based epidemiology: a questionnaire-based proxy (Eye, (2021), 35, 2, (508-516), 10.1038/s41433-020-0882-4)

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake. The Acknowledgements section was incorrect. The corrected Acknowledgements section is given below. The original article has been corrected. Acknowledgements This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement EGRET No 661883. The funding organisation had no role in the design, conduct, analysis, or publication of this research. The Lifelines Biobank initiative has been made possible by subsidy from the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG the Netherlands), University of Groningen and the Northern Provinces of the Netherlands