Foot posture in people with medial compartment knee osteoarthritis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Foot posture has long been considered to contribute to the development of lower limb musculoskeletal conditions as it may alter the mechanical alignment and dynamic function of the lower limb. This study compared foot posture in people with and without medial compartment knee osteoarthritis (OA) using a range of clinical foot measures. The reliability of the foot measures was also assessed.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The foot posture of 32 patients with clinically and radiographically-confirmed OA predominantly in the medial compartment of the knee and 28 asymptomatic age-matched healthy controls was investigated using the foot posture index (FPI), vertical navicular height and drop, and the arch index. Independent t tests and effect size (Cohen's d) were used to investigate the differences between the groups in the foot posture measurements.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Significant differences were found between the control and the knee OA groups in relation to the FPI (1.35 ± 1.43 vs. 2.46 ± 2.18, p = 0.02; <it>d </it>= 0.61, medium effect size), navicular drop (0.02 ± 0.01 vs. 0.03 ± 0.01, p = 0.01; <it>d </it>= 1.02, large effect size) and the arch index (0.22 ± 0.04 vs. 0.26 ± 0.04, p = 0.04; <it>d </it>= 1.02, large effect size). No significant difference was found for vertical navicular height (0.24 ± 0.03 vs. 0.23 ± 0.03, p = 0.54; <it>d </it>= 0.04, negligible effect size).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>People with medial compartment knee OA exhibit a more pronated foot type compared to controls. It is therefore recommended that the assessment of patients with knee OA in clinical practice should include simple foot measures, and that the potential influence of foot structure and function on the efficacy of foot orthoses in the management of medial compartment knee OA be further investigated.</p

N-acetoxy-2-acetylaminofluorene modification of a deoxyoligonucleotide duplex.

The carcinogen N-acetoxy-2-acetylaminofluorene was reacted with d (CCACGCACC) to form a covalent adduct with attachment at the single guanine. The sample was purified, mixed 1:1 with d (GGTGCGTGG) and studied by thermal denaturation experiments. The Tm for the mixture was 35 +/- 3 degrees C, consistent with duplex formation. The method of continuous variation shows that the modified oligomer, d (CCACGAAFCACC), forms a 1:1 duplex with d (GGTGCGTGG). Circular dichroism spectra also indicate the formation of a duplex and suggest that the modified duplex has a left-handed conformation. Addition of the intercalating drug ethidium alters the CD spectrum of the modified duplex, resulting in a CD spectrum similar to that of ethidium bound to right-handed DNA

On the cooperative and noncooperative binding of ethidium to DNA.

The equilibrium binding of ethidium bromide to native DNAs and to poly(dG-dC) X poly(dG-dC) has been studied by both phase partition and direct spectrophotometric techniques. The binding isotherms obtained from both experimental techniques show that ethidium binds in a cooperative manner to E. coli DNA. On the other hand, no evidence of cooperative binding was observed in the binding isotherms obtained with calf thymus, C. perfringens, M. lysodeikticus, or poly(dG-dC) X (dG-dC) under the experimental conditions used (0.1 M NaCl)