In the past few years, metabolic disorders, such as type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, have reached global prevalence. Lycopene is one of the major carotenoids in tomatoes, watermelons, red grapefruits, and guava. In the current study, using high fat diet (HFD)-fed mice, we investigated the effect of Lycopene on insulin resistance. We showed that diet containing Lycopene significantly prevented HFD-induced increase of fasting blood glucose and insulin level, glucose and insulin intolerance, and decrease of hepatic glycogen content. We found that Lycopene notably prevented the increase of IL-1β, TNFα and CRP levels in mice fed HFD. We showed that Lycopene improved the lipid profiles in HFD-fed mice, as evidenced by decrease of systemic and hepatic TC, TG and LDL, and increase of HDL. Lycopene suppressed the increase of the expression of Srebp-1c, FAS and ACC-1 in mice fed HFD. The administration of Lycopene notably prevented the expression and phosphorylation of STAT3 in livers of mice induced by HFD. The treatment of adenovirus carrying STAT3 significantly suppressed the decrease of Srebp-1c expression induced by Lycopene. Furthermore, enhancement of STAT3 signaling by adenovirus markedly blocked the reduction of fasting blood glucose and insulin level. In conclusion, in the current study, we found that Lycopene prevented STAT3 signaling and inhibited Srebp-1c and downstream gene expression, resulting in inhibition of lipid accumulation, inflammation, insulin resistance and metabolic dysfunction. Overall, the data in the study provide better understanding of the beneficial effects of Lycopene against insulin resistance and metabolic disorder.

A selenium (Se)-containing polysaccharide, lotus leaf selenium (Se)-polysaccharide (LLP), was isolated from a lotus leaf. The effects of LLP on antioxidant enzyme activities and insulin resistance in pregnant rats with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) were investigated. LLP administered orally at two doses (50 and 100 mg/kg) could significantly reverse the weight loss of pregnant rats before the delivery, fetal rats, and placentas in GDM rats (P < 0.05). Furthermore, LLP treatment induced a decrease of fasting blood glucose (FBG) and fasting blood insulin (FINS) levels in GDM rats, but an increase of hepatic glycogen content, when compared with those in GDM rats (P < 0.05). Also, oral administrations of LLP markedly improved the lipid profile of GDM rats, as evidenced by a reduction of total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels except for the high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol level. Additionally, antioxidant enzyme levels, such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and glutathione (GSH), in liver tissues of the GDM group were lower than those of the other groups, and following treatment of LLP, these indexes in liver tissues were equivalent to those of the control group (P > 0.05). All the data indicated that LLP may be a promising drug candidate or a healthcare food for GDM therapy or protection.

Background: Management of large infected bone defects is a major clinical and socioeconomic problem.The induced membrane technique has been widely used as a solution. However, it has apparent disadvantages such as limited autologous bone graft supply and lack of continuous infection control. Meanwhile, calcium sulfate/calcium phosphate composites have efficacious osteogenesis and antibiotic delivery capacity. For the first time, we analyzed the efficiency of calcium sulfate/calcium phosphate composites as a bone graft expander in the induced membrane technique to treat large infected bone defects. Methods:We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 12 patients with large infected bone defects of 6.1-17.2 cm treated with the induced membrane technique from November 2016 to July 2019. In the second reconstruction stage, the bone defect was filled with a mixture of the autogenous iliac bone and vancomycinimpregnated calcium sulfate/calcium phosphate composites at a ratio of 3:1. We assessed the bony union by Samantha X-ray score and recorded infection recurrence and complications. Paley scale and SF-36 score were used to evaluate the function of adjacent joint and quality of life pre and postoperatively. Pearson's correlation coefficients were calculated for union time and other clinical scores.Results: The mean follow-up was 69 weeks (ranging from 30 to 142) after the second stage of the operation. The mean Samantha X-ray score was 5.1 [3-6], preoperative and postoperative SF-36 scores showed that there were statistical differences in all the nine aspects, and the excellent rate of adjacent joint function was 75% (Paley). All cases were radiologically healed, and none of the 12 patients had infection recurrence or failure of fixation at the last follow-up. Two cases had delayed wound healing and were cured after dress changing. There was a significant correlation between union time and Samantha X-ray score (r =-0.887; P=0.000), while there was no correlation between filling dose, size of the defect, and other outcomes.Conclusions: This study provided evidence supporting calcium sulfate/calcium phosphate composites as an effective and safe bone graft expander in the induced membrane technique to treat large infected bone defect. This technique may help decrease the use of autologous bone graft and enhance the anti-infection effect of the induced membrane technique.

Multifilter banks having all properties of symmetry, balancing, optimum time-frequency resolution, arbitrary order vanishing moment, orthogonality and  compactly supported together are constructed for the first time. Thus overcome the shortcoming of the present orthogonal optimum time-frequency resolution multifilter banks that have only the properties of symmetry and 2-order vanishing moment but not balanced. Balanced symmetric orthogonal multifilter banks with good regularity and time-frequency resolution are also provided. Due to the excellent properties, application experiments in image denoising and compression showed that, most of our multifilter banks outperform the best tools known as multiwavelet SA4 and wavelet CDF9-7 in denoising with texture image and smooth image. They also outperform multiwavelet SA4 or approximate wavelet DB4 in compression with texture image. <br />

Objective Neuropathic pain (NP) plays an important role in patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA). However, the prevalence of NP at different treatment stages including outpatient, awaiting and after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) have not been compared. The understanding of this issue and identify risk factors can help physicians develop individualized strategies to manage the pain of KOA. Therefore, the aim of the study is to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of NP at different treatment stages of KOA. Methods Patients diagnosed as KOA between August 2016 and August 2020 were enrolled in this cross‐sectional study and divided into three groups according to treatment stage, including outpatient stage, awaiting TKA stage (pre‐TKA) and after TKA stage (post‐TKA). A numeric rating scale (NRS) and PainDETECT questionnaire were used to evaluate nociceptive pain and NP. Patient demographics, radiological assessments using Kellgren–Lawrence (K‐L) grade, and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) scores were analyzed. Data analysis and statistics were processed using SPSS 20.0 and examined by ANOVA with/without Bonferroni correction or Kruskal–Wallis test. A chi‐square test was used to determine cross‐table data and calculate the odds ratio (OR) value. Results Of the 921 patients, the prevalence of possible and likely NP was 17.5% (56/320) and 2.5% (8/320) in the pre‐TKA group compared with 3.4% (8/233) and 0.4% (1/233) in the outpatient group and 1.4% (5/368) and 0.5% (2/368) in the post‐TKA group, respectively. In the pre‐TKA group, higher NRS (NRS >3; OR = 10.65, 95% CI: 3.25–34.92, P < 0.001) and WOMAC pain score (score > 10; OR = 4.88, 95% CI: 2.38–10.01, P < 0.001) conferred an increased risk of unclear pain. Age, gender, BMI and K‐L grade showed no significant differences among the unlikely, possible and likely NP groups. Conclusion Prevalence of NP is different at stages of out‐patient, awaiting and after TKA in patients with KOA. Patients awaiting TKA have the highest prevalence of NP compared with patients in outpatient and post‐TKA groups. In the patients waiting for TKA, higher NRS (NRS >3) and WOMAC pain scores (score > 10) are risk factors of NP.