Abstract. Knee osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease that may develop due ageing, obesity, strain, congenital abnormal joints, joint deformity or trauma. It is caused by many factors, such as degradation of articular cartilage injury, joint edge and subchondral bone hyperplasia of reactivity. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is an autologous blood sample that contains highly concentrated platelets and multiple cell growth factors. PRP promotes synovial cell proliferation and differentiation and may recover cartilage morphology. In the present study, the clinical efficacy of PRP was investigated in patients with knee osteoarthritis aged between 18 and 30 years in a phase-III clinical study. Following an 8-week baseline, patients with knee osteoarthritis were randomized into once-weekly, double-blind treatment with PRP (2-14 ml) or placebo groups. The results indicated that patients with osteoarthritis treated with PRP had modulated plasma concentrations of inflammatory factors and pro-angiogenic factors compared with the placebo group. Treatment responses were assessed by median percent reduction in inflammatory and pro-angiogenic factors and these improved with PRP treatment compared with the placebo. Clinical data indicated that PRP alleviated knee osteoarthritis and reduced humoral and cellular immune responses that led to beneficial effects on histological parameters. Inflammation was significantly alleviated in patients receiving PRP compared with the placebo group. The most common treatment-emergent adverse events in the presence of PRP were hypertension and proteinuria. In conclusion, treatment with PRP for patients with knee osteoarthritis presented beneficial effects in alleviating joint inflammation, cartilage destruction and bone damage, and repairing joint tissue. These results suggested that PRP may be a potential therapeutic agent for knee osteoarthritis.

An approach to detection of phishing webpages based on visual similarity is proposed, which can be utilized as a part of an enterprise solution for anti-phishing. A legitimate webpage owner can use this approach to search the Web for suspicious webpages which are visually similar to the true webpage. A webpage is reported as a phishing suspect if the visual similarity is higher than its corresponding preset threshold. Preliminary experiments show that the approach can successfully detect those phishing webpages for online use.

Background and aimUreteroscopic lithotripsy (URL) and extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) are two widely used methods for the treatment of ureteral stones. The need for ureteral stenting during these procedures is controversial. In this meta-analysis, we evaluated the benefits and disadvantages of ureteral stents for the treatment of ureteral stones.MethodsDatabases including PubMed, Embase and Cochrane library were selected for systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing outcomes with or without stenting during URL and ESWL. Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 and STATA 13.0 software.ResultsWe identified 22 RCTs comparing stenting and non-stenting. The stented group was associated with longer operation time (WMD: 4.93; 95% CI: 2.07 to 7.84; p < 0.001), lower stone-free rate (OR: 0.55; 95% CI: 0.34 to 0.89; p = 0.01). In terms of complications, the incidence of hematuria (OR: 3.68; 95% CI: 1.86 to 7.29; p < 0.001), irritative urinary symptoms (OR: 4.40; 95% CI: 2.19 to 9.10; p < 0.001), urinary infection (OR: 2.23; 95% CI: 1.57 to 3.19; p < 0.001), and dysuria (OR: 3.90; 95% CI: 2.51 to 6.07; p < 0.001) were significantly higher in the stented group. No significant differences in visual analogue score (VAS), stricture formation, fever, or hospital stay were found between stenting and non-stenting groups. The risk of unplanned readmissions (OR: 0.63; 95% CI: 0.41 to 0.97; p = 0.04) was higher in the non-stented group.ConclusionsOur analysis showed that stenting failed to improve the stone-free rate, and instead, it resulted in additional complications. However, ureteral stents are valuable in preventing unplanned re-hospitalization. Additional randomized controlled trials are still required to corroborate our findings.

The present study aimed to identify a long non-coding (lnc) RNAs-based signature for prognosis assessment in gastric cancer (GC) patients. By integrating gene expression data of GC and normal samples from the National Center for Biotechnology Information Gene Expression Omnibus, the EBI ArrayExpress and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) repositories, the common RNAs in Genomic Spatial Event (GSE) 65801, GSE29998, E-MTAB-1338, and TCGA set were screened and used to construct a weighted correlation network analysis (WGCNA) network for mining GC-related modules. Consensus differentially expressed RNAs (DERs) between GC and normal samples in the four datasets were screened using the MetaDE method. From the overlapped lncRNAs shared by preserved WGCNA modules and the consensus DERs, an lncRNAs signature was obtained using L1-penalized (lasso) Cox-proportional hazard (PH) model. LncRNA-mRNA networks were constructed for these signature lncRNAs, followed by functional annotation. A total of 14,824 common mRNAs and 2,869 common lncRNAs were identified in the 4 sets and 5 GC-associated WGCNA modules were preserved across all sets. MetaDE method identified 1,121 consensus DERs. A total of 50 lncRNAs were shared by preserved WGCNA modules and the consensus DERs. Subsequently, an 11-lncRNA signature was identified by LASSO-based Cox-PH model. The lncRNAs signature-based risk score could divide patients into 2 risk groups with significantly different overall survival and recurrence-free survival times. The predictive capability of this signature was verified in an independent set. These signature lncRNAs were implicated in several biological processes and pathways associated with the immune response, the inflammatory response and cell cycle control. The present study identified an 11-lncRNA signature that could predict the survival rate for GC.

BackgroundThe aim of the present study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the combined application of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) and radiotherapy in the treatment of locally advanced pancreatic carcinoma (LAPC).MethodsA total number of sixteen patients with LAPC started treatment beginning with HIFU and radiotherapy 1 week after the HIFU treatment. Evaluation of the effectiveness of treatment was performed using main clinical symptoms, serum levels of CA-19-9, Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) guidelines, and the Kaplan-Meier method for estimating median overall survival (OS). The occurrence of adverse reactions was recorded.ResultsThe main clinical symptoms including abdominal pain and lower back pain were alleviated, and the mean visual analog scale (VAS) pain score declined from 5.1 points to just 3.3 points immediately after the HIFU treatment. The median pain relief time was 5.6 months after radiotherapy, serum CA-19-9 levels began to decrease significantly 1 week after the HIFU treatment, from 102.1 to 60.8 U/ml, and the median continuous decline time was 4.3 months after radiotherapy. Partial response (PR) was observed in seven of sixteen patients, with stable disease (SD) in four patients, and progressive disease (PD) in the remaining five patients at 6 months after radiotherapy. Serum levels of amylopsin and lipase were not elevated to abnormal levels. The median OS was 14 months. No serious adverse reactions occurred.ConclusionsTreatment with both HIFU and radiotherapy can quickly improve symptoms and the quality of life and prolong survival lengths. This combination might be a promising therapeutic treatment for patients with LAPC.