Tom 13 (2019): Zeszyt 5 (October 2019)

Autophagy and ubiquitin–proteasome (UPS) are two main degradation systems for intracellular proteins. They are essential for homeostasis of neurons during normal and pathological conditions, but their changes after nerve injury remain unclear.

To examine the protein expression of autophagy and UPS in the dorsal root ganglia (DRG), including intact and injured sciatic nerves after crush injury in rats.

Left sciatic nerve crush was done in all Wistar rats and the specimens were removed at 1, 3, 7, and 14 days after injury. Expression of the autophagic (Beclin-1 and p62) and UPS proteins [muscle ring finger-1 (MuRF1) and ubiquitinated proteins] was measured using Western blot analysis.

Expression of p62 was significantly increased in the injured versus intact sciatic nerves on day 1 and day 7 (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01, respectively). There was a trend toward higher expression of Beclin-1 on the crushed nerve. In the DRG, expression of p62 and Beclin-1 was not significantly different between the two sides. Expression of MuRF1 and ubiquitinated proteins was not significantly different between the left and right DRG. The low quantity of MuRF1 and high variations in the ubiquitinated protein levels in the nerve prevented further analysis.

These results indicated the induction of autophagy with accumulation of autophagosomes in the nerve, but not DRG, after nerve injury. Future studies on the effects of the autophagic changes and the precise activity of UPS in nerve trauma are crucial.

The quadriceps tendon is a promising alternative graft choice for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. Morphology of the graft directly affects the biomechanical properties. However, a few studies are evaluating the anatomical structures of quadriceps tendon as a graft in Asian population.

To define the anatomical structures of quadriceps tendon as a graft for ACL reconstruction.

Forty-nine quadriceps tendons were dissected and analyzed. Measurements were also done including length, width, and thickness.

The maximum length of superficial quadriceps tendon was 63.2 ± 12.5 mm (range 37.6–83.4). The maximum length of tendon at the deepest part was 57.2 ± 11.5 (range 30.9–83.4). The maximum length of quadriceps tendon was located at 61.4% ± 13% (range 31.8–83.6) from medial edge of the patella insertion (approximately 5 mm lateral from the center of quadriceps tendon insertion). The width of quadriceps tendon at patella insertion was 42.4 ± 3.8 mm (range 33.8–50.5). The thickness of quadriceps tendon at its maximum length on patella insertion was 6.9 ± 2.0 mm (range 1.5–9.5). Positive correlation between the height of cadaver and the maximum length of quadriceps tendon was noted.

The maximum length of quadriceps tendon was located 5 mm lateral from the center of quadriceps tendon insertion. Thus, we recommend marking midline of the quadriceps tendon insertion as a medial border of the harvested graft to get maximum length of the graft. Graft length measurement using superficial anatomy should be cautioned because graft shortening might occur.

Trauma is a major cause of death in young adults. The mortality rate is one of the key performance indices of trauma centers.

To demonstrate a mortality rate, cause of death, and cause of nonpreventable death in a level-1 trauma center in Thailand.

There was a retrospective study of the death cases from a trauma registry. The number of trauma deaths during the study period was collected to identify the death rate. The causes of death and a death analysis were obtained from the morbidity and mortality.

The death rate was 6.6%. The most common cause of overall death was head injury, and exsanguination was the most common cause of death in the first 24 h. The preventable death rate was 2%, and the most common cause of preventable death was exsanguination.

The mortality rate of trauma patients in Thailand was not higher than that in other countries. The majority of deaths were caused from head injury. Therefore, improvement in injury prevention is needed to decrease the number of deaths.

While the assisted reproductive technology (ART) relieves the burden of infertility in many couples, it presents significant public health challenges due to the substantial risk for multiple birth delivery and preterm birth, which are associated with poor maternal and fetal health outcomes. For this reason, it is important to monitor the development and effectiveness of ART services in Thailand.

To analyze the trends of ART services in Thailand between 2008 and 2014.

ART clinics in Thailand are required to submit data to the Royal Thai College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists via the National Reporting System. The data from 2008 to 2014 were collected and analyzed.

The number of ART centers was increased from 35 to 47. The total fresh ART cycles were also increased from 3,723 to 6,516. The percentage values of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), in vitro fertilization, gamete intrafallopian transfer, and zygote intrafallopian transfer cycles were changed from 77.87 to 95.59, 21.43 to 4.31, 0.21 to 0.09, and 0.45 to 0.05, respectively. The clinical pregnancy rates were 28.79–33.19, 22.84–51.34, 14.29–42.86, and 0.00–26.67, respectively. The clinical pregnancy rates in fresh vs. frozen-thawed cycles were 31.01–36.33 vs. 31.54–37.34 (P < 0.05). The clinical pregnancy rates in female age <35 vs. 35–39 vs. ≥40 years were 36.97–40.70 vs. 32.74–33.42 vs. 21.08–31.34, respectively (P < 0.001), and the percentage values of multifetal pregnancy rate were 18.75 vs. 13.30 and 13.69, respectively (P < 0.001). There were increasing preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) cycles, with the percentage of the clinical pregnancy rate (25.90–42.63, P < 0.05). The clinical pregnancy rates in medium-sized ART centers (100–300 cycles per year) vs. in small and large centers were 30.79–41.14 vs. 28.01–34.04 and 8.70–40.35, respectively (P < 0.001). Trends of increasing percentage of ART birth rate to total birth rate ratio were 0.24–0.34 (P < 0.05).

There were higher clinical pregnancy rates in frozen-thawed cycles. Higher multifetal pregnancy rate and clinical pregnancy rate were also found in younger females. There were increasing uses of ICSI and PGS. A trend toward increasing ART birth to total birth ratio was observed.

Complications in periodontitis and other systemic infections related to Porphyromonas gingivalis poses a serious impediment in the treatment process. This leads to the search of novel target proteins to develop newer drugs against P. gingivalis. Prolyl tripeptidyl peptidase (ptp-A) seem to be a vital protein in P. gingivalis virulence and can be a good target for the novel natural bioactive compounds.

To explore the inhibitory potential of Rosmarinus officinalis biocompounds against the ptp-A of P. gingivalis.

Three-dimensional structure of ptp-A was retrieved from the Protein Data Bank with further optimization of both the protein and ligands. In silico inhibitory potential of the selected ligands against ptp-A was done by AutoDock 2.0 and was visualized with Biovia discovery studio visualizing tool with the assessment of the molecular properties of the ligands against ptp-A by molinspiration calculations and drug likeliness.

High ptp-A inhibitory effect was observed using rosmarinic acid and luteolin with a bonding energy of −9.81 kcal/mol with 10 hydrogen bond interactions and −9.99 kcal/mol with 7 hydrogen bond interactions, respectively. Carnosic acid and p-coumaric acid showed a binding energy of −7.14 kcal/mol and −6.34 kcal/mol, respectively, with 5 hydrogen bond interactions. Molinspiration assessments showed R. officinalis compounds as the best drug candidates with the topological polar surface area scores <140 Å toward the best oral bioavailability.

The carnosic acid, rosmarinic acid, p-coumaric acid, and luteolin from R. officinalis seem to possess a promising inhibitory effect against ptp-A of Candida albicans suggesting ptp-A as the best target to combat P. gingivalis with further in vivo validation.