Treatment results of pathological fractures of the long bones: a retrospective analysis of 88 patients

Due to the advances in oncological therapy, the life expectancy of patients with malignant tumours and the incidence of pathological fractures have increased over the last decades. Pathological fractures of the long bones are common complications of metastatic disease; however, the outcome of different surgical techniques for the treatment of these fractures has not been clearly defined. The aim of this study was to evaluate differences in patient’s survival and postoperative complications after the treatment of pathological fractures of the long bones. Eighty-eight patients with 96 pathological fractures of the long bones were analysed retrospectively. Seventy-five patients with 83 fractures received surgical treatment. The operative treatments used were intramedullary fixation, gliding screws, plate osteosynthesis or arthroplasty. Five patients were still alive at the end of data collection at a median time of 42.5 months, and 16.2% survived 1 year, 7% 2 years and 4% more than 3 years postoperatively. All surgically treated patients had a reduction of local pain and were able to walk after the operation. The overall rate of complications was 8%. Early palliative treatment of pathological fractures of the long bones is indicated in most patients in the advanced stage of metastatic disease. The low complication rate, reduction of local pain and early mobilisation justify the surgical stabilisation of fractures in this cohort of patients

Comparison of morphological and molecular traits for species identification and taxonomic grouping of oncaeid copepods

The pelagic marine copepod family Oncaeidae is highly diversified (over 100 species worldwide) and includes a great number of sibling species, which are difficult to identify morphologically, because of their very small size (0.18–1.2 mm total length as adults). Global investigations of oncaeid biodiversity are severely hampered by insufficient taxonomic knowledge, in particular for species which have first been described from the European Mediterranean Sea (type locality). Many of these species have been reported as key taxa of small-sized copepod communities in very distant oceanic regions. However, due to the taxonomic uncertainties it cannot be excluded that at least some of these allegedly cosmopolitan species in reality represent a complex of distinct, yet closely related, species. To improve the basis for the identification of Oncaeidae of Mediterranean origin, new diagnostic characters in combination with traditional methods were applied in the present study. Copepods were sampled with fine nets of 0.1 mm mesh size down to a maximum depth of 1,000 m on a west-east-transect in the Mediterranean Sea. Oncaeid species and form variants were predefined morphologically and the genetic identity of the morphospecies was analysed by about 650 and 500 bp region of the mitochondrial COI and 12S srRNA gene sequence, respectively (barcoding). A total of 67 individuals from 24 oncaeid species and forms were successfully analysed, including 12 species and one form of Mediterranean origin. For Oncaeidae, the 12S amplification turned out to be more successful (23 species) than the COI amplification (13 species and 1 form). Together, the morphological and molecular results are discussed with respect to three topics: (1) confirmation of a genetic distinction of three Triconia species, which have been interpreted as sibling species by morphological characters, (2) genetic distance of species within the ovalis-complex of oncaeids and (3) the taxonomic status of two form variants of Oncaea mediterranea (Claus)

Cranial nerve growth in birds is preceded by cholinesterase expression during neural crest cell migration and the formation of an HNK-1 scaffold.

The expression of the neural crest cell (NCC) markers acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and the HNK-1-epitope is compared from the emigration of cephalic NCC until the formation of the cranial nerves V-X in chicken and quail hindbrain. We show that NCC transiently express acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity during their emigration; NCC migrate into butyrylcholinesterase (BChE)-positive areas of the cranial mesenchyme. Along these migratory tracks that foreshadow the course of later projecting cranial nerves, BChE increases strongly in cells that may represent immature Schwann cells. Both AChE and BChE, but not HNK-1, are expressed in the ectodermal placodes. In NCC, HNK-1 is expressed strongly only when they approach their destination sites. Their intense expression of HNK-1 then leads to the establishment of tunnel-shaped HNK-1 matrices, within which G4-positive cranial neurites begin to extend. We conclude that AChE and HNK-1 expression in cephalic NCC serve different functions, since AChE is related to their migration, and HNK-1 to their aggregation and the formation of an extracellular neurite scaffold