Molecular Targeted Therapy for the Bone Loss Secondary to Pyogenic Spondylodiscitis Using Medications for Osteoporosis: A Literature Review

Pyogenic spondylodiscitis can cause severe osteolytic and destructive lesions in the spine. Elderly or immunocompromised individuals are particularly susceptible to infectious diseases; specifically, infections in the spine can impair the ability of the spine to support the trunk, causing patients to be bedridden, which can also severely affect the physical condition of patients. Although treatments for osteoporosis have been well studied, treatments for bone loss secondary to infection remain to be elucidated because they have pathological manifestations that are similar to but distinct from those of osteoporosis. Recently, we encountered a patient with severely osteolytic pyogenic spondylodiscitis who was treated with romosozumab and exhibited enhanced bone formation. Romosozumab stimulated canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling, causing robust bone formation and the inhibition of bone resorption, which exceeded the bone loss secondary to infection. Bone loss due to infections involves the suppression of osteoblastogenesis by osteoblast apoptosis, which is induced by the nuclear factor-κB and mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways, and osteoclastogenesis with the receptor activator of the nuclear factor-κB ligand-receptor combination and subsequent activation of the nuclear factor of activated T cells cytoplasmic 1 and c-Fos. In this study, we review and discuss the molecular mechanisms of bone loss secondary to infection and analyze the efficacy of the medications for osteoporosis, focusing on romosozumab, teriparatide, denosumab, and bisphosphonates, in treating this pathological condition.     

Preparation of a Near-Infrared Ray Absorption Film from N-Phenylthiocarbamoyl Chitosan Derivative

We recently observed that the decanoylation of N-phenylthiocarbamoyl chitosan (2) with a mixture of decanoic anhydride and pyridine at 60 °C for 24 h afforded N,N-(decanoyl)phenythiocarbamoyl-/2-isothiocynato chitosan decanoate (3b) rather than the expected product N,N-(decanoyl)phenylthiocarbamoyl chitosan decanoate (3a). This result suggested that some of the N,N-(decanoyl)phenylthiocarmbamoyl groups had been converted to isothiocyanate groups during the decanoylation process. The subsequent reaction of compound 3b with aniline gave N,N-(decanoyl)phenylthiocarbamoyl/N-phenylthiocarbamoyl chitosan decanoate (4) in high yield. A solution of compound 4 in CHCl₃ was then added to a solution of copper decanoate (5) in the same solvent, and the resulting mixture was cast onto a glass plate to give a cast film. The film was annealed at 200 °C in an oven to give a greenish film, which showed good near-infrared absorption characteristic in the range of 800–2200 nm.     

Vapor absorption by LiBr aqueous solution in vertical smooth tubes

Heat and mass transfer in a falling film vertical in-tube absorber was studied experimentally with LiBr aqueous solution. The presented results include the effect of solution flow rate, solution subcooling and cooling water temperature on the absorption in a smooth copper tube 16.05 mm I.D. and 400 mm long. The experimental data in the previous report for a 1200-mm-long tube was also re-examined and compared. It was demonstrated by the observation of the flow in the tube that the break down of the liquid film into rivulets leads to deterioration of heat and mass transfer at lower film Reynolds number or in longer tubes. An attempt to evaluate physically acceptable heat and mass transfer coefficients that are defined with estimated temperature and concentration at the vapor–liquid interface was also presented.     

Gap modulation in MCu[Q1−xQ′x]F (M=Ba, Sr; Q, Q′=S, Se, Te) and related materials

BaCuQF (Q=S, Se, Te) materials exhibit band gaps that allow transmission of much of the visible spectrum. BaCuSF is transparent in thin-film form with a band gap of 3.1 eV. Band gap estimates for powders of the solid solution series BaCuS_1−xSe_xF were obtained from wavelength-dependent diffuse-reflectance measurements using an integrating sphere. The band gap can be tuned by the substitution of Se for S to 2.9 eV for BaCuSeF. The decrease scales almost linearly with the increase in the volume of the tetragonal unit cell, which is determined primarily by the expansion of the a lattice parameter; the overall volume increase is 7.0% from x=0 to 1. Further reduction of the band gap is observed in BaCuSe_1−xTe_xF solid solutions, where a unit cell volume increase of 5.5% produces a band gap of 2.7 eV in BaCuSe_0.5Te_0.5F. Powders and films of BaCuSF exhibit strong red luminescence under ultraviolet excitation, which is suppressed by K doping. Additional tuning of band gap and electrical properties (the materials are p-type conductors) can be achieved by replacing Ba with Sr.     

EFFECT OF DEVELOPER PROPERTIES ON PRINT QUALITY

We investigated the dependence of the toner charge-to-mass ratio (q/m) in a two-component electrophotographic developer on the shaking time, toner concentration (T/C), carrier sizes, and the carrier core and the coating materials, as well as the resulting print qualities in terms of print density, background density, tone reproduction, resolution, and dot gain. Four different sizes of spherical ferrite carriers, four different carrier coating materials, and an irregular iron carrier were used with two types of toner: 14 um red toner (NP-4080) and 8 um cyan toner (CLC-500). The q/m measurement by the blow-off method showed that the red toner charge was positive while the cyan toner charge was negative with these carriers. The toner q/m values, which depended on the shaking time and decreased with the increasing T/C were much more affected by the larger carrier and the smaller toner. The carriers which yielded charges in the proper range produced better print qualities than did the other carriers that yielded a toner q/m     

Caspase 1-independent IL-1beta release and inflammation induced by the apoptosis inducer Fas ligand

Anchietia salutaris tea is traditionally used in Brazil to treat allergies, suggesting it contains compounds with antagonistic activity on the allergic mediators. We have evaluated extracts and semi-purified fractions of Anchietia salutaris as a source of compounds having this type of antagonism on the contraction induced in guinea-pig lung parenchymal strips and on platelet aggregation and shape change. After 10 min pre-incubation dichloromethane extracts containing 30 or 100 microg mL(-1) inhibited the contraction induced by prostaglandin D2 (PGD2) in guinea-pig lung parenchymal strips with dose ratios (DR) of 0.76+/-0.14 and 0.93+/-0.19, respectively; the amount of inhibition depended both on the concentration and on the time of pre-incubation (DR after 30 min pre-incubation was 1.21+/-0.51). The dichloromethane extract and its semi-purified fractions also inhibited the contractions induced by U46619, a more potent, stable, synthetic agonist of thromboxane A2 (TxA2) prostanoid (TP) receptors, the receptors acted upon by PGD2 to produce lung contractions. The dichloromethane extract did not inhibit the lung parenchymal contractions induced by histamine, leukotriene D4 (LTD4) or platelet-activating factor (PAF). Platelet aggregation induced by U46619, adenosine 5'-diphosphate (ADP) or PAF was not inhibited by the dichloromethane extract. Indeed, the extract potentiated platelet aggregation induced by low concentrations of these agonists and also potentiated the shape change induced by U46619. These results imply that the dichloromethane extract of Anchietia salutaris and its semi-purified fractions contain an active principle that competitively inhibits TxA2 TP receptors, the stimulation of which causes lung parenchymal contraction. The inhibition seems to be selective for this receptor subtype, because the extract fails to inhibit platelet aggregation or shape change. This provides additional support of earlier reports suggesting the occurrence of TP receptor subtypes.     

Breakdown characteristics of oil and paper insulation for a very fast transient voltage

This paper describes the dielectric breakdown characteristics of oil and oil‐impregnated paper for very fast transient (VFT) voltages. Blumlein circuits generate VFT voltages of 60 and 300 ns in a pulse width that simulates disconnecting switching surges in gas‐insulated switch gears. We measured the breakdown voltages of needle‐to‐plane, plane‐to‐plane oil gaps and several pieces of paper between plane electrodes for VFT and lightning impulse voltages. The measured data were formulated in V‐t characteristics and Weibull probability distributions. The inclination n of V‐t characteristics of insulating paper is 150, which is less than n = 13.7 of the plane‐to‐plane oil gap in the VFT time range. The shape parameters of Weibull distribution obtained in this study show that the scattering of breakdown voltages of paper is much less than that of oil. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 141(4): 16–24, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.10043