Two-year clinical outcome of denosumab treatment alone and in combination with teriparatide in Japanese treatment-naive postmenopausal osteoporotic women

This randomized prospective study aimed to evaluate the clinical outcome of denosumab treatment alone and in combination with teriparatide in treatment-naive postmenopausal Japanese female patients with osteoporosis. Thirty patients were randomly assigned to two groups:(1) denosumab group(denosumab alone, n=13); and(2) combination group(denosumab+teriparatide, n=17). Serum bone-specific alkaline phosphatase(BAP), serum tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase(TRACP)-5b, urinary cross-linked N-terminal telopeptides of type I collagen(NTX), and bone mineral density(BMD) of L1–4 lumbar vertebrae(L-BMD)and bilateral total hips(H-BMD) were determined at the first visit and at various time points up to 24 months post-treatment to determine percentage changes. Serum TRACP-5b and urinary NTX were equally suppressed in both groups and maintained at low levels, with slight increases at 12, 18 and 24 months. BAP was significantly decreased in both groups from 4 to 24 months, with significant differences between the groups at 4, 8 and 15 months(P<0.05). L-BMD was significantly increased at most time points in both groups, with a significant difference between the combination group and denosumab group at 24 months(17.2% increase versus 9.6% increase; P<0.05). There was no significant difference in H-BMD between the two groups, although the levels tended to be higher in the combination group than in the denosumab group(9.5% increase versus 5.6% increase). These findings suggest that denosumab+teriparatide combination therapy may represent an important treatment for primary osteoporotic patients at high risk of vertebral fracture.

Sputtered nano-cobalt on H-USY zeolite for selectively converting syngas to gasoline

Selectively converting CO and H2 to gasoline product （isoparaffin and olefin） in one step still remains a great challenge. We demonstrate effective H-USY zeolite supported nano-cobalt bifunctional catalysts for this catalytic reaction, which are prepared by the novel physical sputtering process. Particles of the sputtered cobalt exist in nano-level and are well-dispersed on acid USY zeolite. Easy activation of the loaded nano-cobalt is also achieved in a low-temperature hydrogen reduction atmosphere. In the tandem catalytic reaction, the sputtered bifunctional Co/USY catalyst exhibits a much higher CO conversion and higher isoparaffin selectiv- ity than the conventional impregnated one. Compared with H-Mor, H-Beta and other zeolites supported catalysts, H-USY zeolite supported cobalt catalyst shows the clearest promotional effect on the activity of FischerTropsch synthesis. The described synthesis herein provides a new pathway to solve the problem caused by the strong metal-support interaction （MSI） in heterogeneous catalysis.