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Background: Little data exist in the literature regarding second-look arthroscopic outcomes after pullout repair for avulsion tears of the posterior lateral meniscus root. Purpose: To (1) assess the functional, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and second-look arthroscopic outcomes after pullout repair for avulsion tears of the posterior lateral meniscus root; (2) determine which demographic and clinical factors influenced healing of the repaired posterior lateral meniscus root; and (3) compare outcomes between different meniscal healing status groups. Study Design: Case series; Level of evidence, 4. Methods: A total of 31 patients underwent pullout repair for avulsion tears of the posterior lateral meniscus root and had a minimum 2-year follow-up. Functional outcomes were assessed using patient-reported scores (Lysholm, Tegner, and International Knee Documentation Committee [IKDC] scores). Lateral meniscal extrusion, cartilage degeneration of the lateral compartment, and healing of the repaired posterior lateral meniscus root were assessed via MRI. The healing status was also assessed using second-look arthroscopic surgery, and the patients were divided into different healing status groups. Results: The postoperative patient-reported scores improved significantly compared with the preoperative values (P =.001). Lateral meniscal extrusion was reduced significantly from 3.37 ± 0.82 mm preoperatively to 0.63 ± 0.80 mm at final follow-up (P =.001). The grade of cartilage degeneration of the lateral compartment progressed from 0.69 ± 0.67 preoperatively to 0.95 ± 0.83 at final follow-up (P =.213). MRI scans showed complete healing in 28 patients (90.3%) and partial healing in 3 patients (9.7%). Second-look arthroscopic surgery showed stable healing in 18 of 23 patients (78.3%) and lax healing in 5 of 23 patients (21.7%). Patients with stable healing had significantly higher Lysholm and IKDC scores, more reduction of meniscal extrusion, and less progression of cartilage degeneration than did patients with lax healing (P <.05). Concomitant anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction was found to significantly positively influence healing of the repaired posterior lateral meniscus root (P =.047). Conclusion: Pullout repair for avulsion tears of the posterior lateral meniscus root yielded significantly improved patient-reported scores, reduced meniscal extrusion, and a satisfactory healing rate at final follow-up. Patients with stable healing had significantly better functional and MRI outcomes than did patients with lax healing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The similarity-based retrieval of lung nodule computed tomography (CT) images is an important task in the computer-aided diagnosis of lung lesions. It can provide similar clinical cases for physicians and help them make reliable clinical diagnostic decisions. However, when handling large-scale lung images with a general-purpose computer, traditional image retrieval methods may not be efficient. In this paper, a new retrieval framework based on a hashing method for lung nodule CT images is proposed. This method can translate high-dimensional image features into a compact hash code, so the retrieval time and required memory space can be reduced greatly. Moreover, a pruning algorithm is presented to further improve the retrieval speed, and a pruning-based decision rule is presented to improve the retrieval precision. Finally, the proposed retrieval method is validated on 2,450 lung nodule CT images selected from the public Lung Image Database Consortium (LIDC) database. The experimental results show that the proposed pruning algorithm effectively reduces the retrieval time of lung nodule CT images and improves the retrieval precision. In addition, the retrieval framework is evaluated by differentiating benign and malignant nodules, and the classification accuracy can reach 86.62%, outperforming other commonly used classification methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The significance of physical activity has been noticed. However, the dynamic change and the heterogeneity of physical activity patterns among older people are little explored. Purpose: This study aimed to identify the trajectory patterns of engaging in physical activity over time and its related factors. Method: Nationally representative four-wave panel data from Taiwanese older adults, gathered between 1996 and 2007, were used ( n = 4,018). The participants ranged in age from 50 to 96 years old. 'Being physically active' was defined as performing physical activity in sports or exercises at least three times per week and lasting for at least 30 min each time. Group-based trajectory analysis was performed for analyzing the data. Results: Four trajectory patterns were identified: inactive (47.83 %), decreasing (12.21 %), increasing (23.36 %), and active (16.60 %). Older respondents and those with more education were more likely to be active. Those respondents having more depressive symptoms, having more physical functional limitations, and having jobs were less likely to be physically active in the decreasing, increasing, and active patterns. Conclusion: There is heterogeneity among the trajectory patterns of physical activity across time in the older adults. Different strategies of physical activity promotion for the older people should be developed by the group characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Six new steroidal saponins, namely glauco-chinaosides A–F, and one known compound were isolated from the tubers ofSmilax glauco-china. Their structures were elucidated by a combination of spectroscopic analysis and hydrolysis followed by spectral and chromatographic analysis. Compounds1–7were testedin vitrofor their cytotoxic activities against four human tumor cell lines (SH-SY5Y, SGC-7901, HCT-116, and Lovo). Compounds1,2,and5exhibited cytotoxic activity against SGC-7901, with IC50values of 2.7, 11.5, and 6.8 μM, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have reported different results when using zoledr-onate to treat skeletal-related events (SREs) and bone pain in patients with metastatic bone disease (MBD), and few have looked at the risks and benefits of long-term use of the drug. This meta-analysis aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of zoledronate to treat MBD in the short and long-term. Methods. PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library were searched to identify RCTs evaluating zoledronate for MBD. Relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. Results. Twelve RCTs involving 4,450 patients were included in the meta-analysis. Zoledronate decreased the risk of developing SREs corn pared with placebo (RR 0.75, 95% CI 0.69 to 0.81, P< 0.001). Zoledronate consistently reduced the brief pain inventory (BPI) below baseline com-pared with placebo at 3,12, and 24 months. In addi-tion, the likelihood of experiencing a bone pain event was significantly lower in the zoledronate group than in the placebo group (RR 0.83, 95% CI 0.76 to 0.89, P< 0.001). While the two groups did not differ significantly in the incidence of nause-a(RR = 1.07, 95% CI 0.96 to 1.19, P= 0.250), emesis (RR 0.94, 95% Cl 0.81 to 1.09, P= 0.420), or adverse renal events (RR 1.41, 95% CI 0.94 to 2.11, P=0.09), the zoledronate group showed a significantly higher relative risk of pyrexia (RR 1.43, 95% CI 1.20 to 1.70, P< 0.001), fatigue (RR 1.26, 95% CI 1.10 to 1.43, P< 0.001), and anemia (RR 1.33, 95% C11.14 to 1.55, P< 0.001). Conclusion. Compared to placebo, zoledronate sig-nificantly reduced the incidence of bone pain and SREs in patients with MBD for periods as long as 24 months. In addition, zoledronate is generally well tolerated over this long period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. How to effectively control the postoperative pain of patients is extremely important to clinicians. Transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block is a novel analgesic method reported to greatly decrease postoperative pain. However, in many areas, there still exists a phenomenon of surgeons using wound infiltration (WI) with conventional local anesthetics (not liposome anesthetics) as the main means to decrease postoperative pain because of traditional wisdom or convenience. Here, we compared the analgesic effectiveness of the two different methods to determine which method is more suitable for adult patients. Materials and methods. A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing TAP block and WI without liposome anesthetics in adult patients were performed. Frequently used databases were extensively searched. The main outcomes were postoperative pain scores in different situations (at rest or during movement) and the time until the first use of rescue analgesics. The secondary outcomes were postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) incidence and patient satisfaction scores. Results. Fifteen studies with 983 participants met the inclusion criteria and were included in the present study. The heterogeneity in the final analysis regarding the pain score was low to moderate. The major results of the sensitivity analysis were stable. WI had the same analgesic effect as TAP block only at the one-hour postoperative time point (mean difference = − 0.32 , 95% confidence interval (-0.87, 0.24), P = 0.26) and was associated with a shorter time until the first rescue analgesic and poorer patient satisfaction. Conclusion. TAP block results in a more effective and steady analgesic effect than WI with conventional local anesthetics in adult patients from the early postoperative period and obtains higher patient satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnopharmacological relevance Houttuynia cordata (HC) has been used as a folk therapy to treat pulmonary infections. This study aimed to determine the role and mechanism of action of polysaccharides isolated from HC (HCP) in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced ALI in the mice. Materials and methods LPS was delivered by the intratracheal route to Balb/c mice 2 h before HCP (40, 80 and 160 mg/kg) administration. Results The number of total cells, protein and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) concentrations in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, the wet/dry weight ratio (w/d) of lungs and pulmonary pathology of each mouse were analyzed, it was found that HCP significantly alleviated ALI induced by LPS. Moreover, in lungs of mice, it was found that the infiltration of inflammatory cells, the expression of Toll-like receptor 4 and complement deposition were significantly decreased by HCP treatment. In vitro assays showed that C5a, a complement activation product, induced significant macrophage migration and treatment with HCP prevented it. The in vitro results also proved that LPS increased nitric oxide and pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, interleukin-6, and interleukin-1β) production, and HCP antagonized these effects of LPS. It was also found that HCP alone augmented secretion of some pro-inflammatory cytokines. Conclusion These results indicate that HCP may alleviate LPS induced lung inflammatory injury, which may be associated with its inhibitory effect on the over activation of complement and macrophages. This suggests a potential role to treat ALI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This study examined the relationships between health literacy, self-efficacy and preventive care utilization among older adults in Taiwan. Methods: The data were from a longitudinal survey, 'Taiwan Longitudinal Study in Aging' in 2003 and 2007. A total of 3479 participants who completed both two waves were included for analysis. Health literacy first was constructed through education, cognitive function and disease knowledge through structural equation modeling (SEM); then, the associations of health literacy to later self-efficacy and preventive care were examined. Results: The model fit of SEM was good, indicating that the construct of health literacy was appropriate. Healthy literacy showed a moderate positive effect on self-efficacy and a small positive effect on preventive care utilization. Conclusions: Health literacy increases self-efficacy and utilization of preventive care. Promoting people's health knowledge and health literacy is suggested. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2013; 13: 70-76. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To investigate the clinical outcomes after osteochondral allograft transplantation for large Hill-Sachs lesions. Methods: Patients who underwent osteochondral allograft transplantation for large Hill-Sachs lesions were identified. Clinical assessment consisted of active range of motion (ROM), American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons score (ASES), Constant-Murley score, Rowe score, and patient satisfaction rate. Radiographic assessment was performed with CT scan. Results: Nineteen patients met the inclusion criteria. The mean age was 21.7 years. The mean preoperative size of the Hill-Sachs lesion was 35.70 ± 3.02%. The mean follow-up was 27.8 months. All grafts achieved union at an average of 3.47 months after surgery. At the final follow-up, graft resorption was observed in 43.1% of patients. The average size of residual humeral head articular arc loss was 12.31 ± 2.79%. Significant improvements (P <.001) were observed for the active ROM, ASES score, Constant-Murley score, and Rowe score. The overall satisfaction rate was 94.7%. No significant difference was found between the resorption group and the nonresorption group in postoperative clinical outcomes. Conclusion: Osteochondral allograft transplantation is a useful treatment option for patients with large Hill-Sachs lesions. Although the incidence of graft resorption may be relatively high, the clinical outcomes at a minimum 2-year follow-up are favorable. Level of evidence: Level IV, case series [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]