Treatment of a femoral shaft fracture in a patient with congenital hip disease: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>We present a rare case of two concomitant morbidities treated in one operation. To our knowledge, this is the first report of its kind in the literature.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 57-year-old Greek woman was admitted to the emergency department having sustained a spiral mid-shaft femoral fracture. She also suffered from an ipsilateral hip congenital dysplasia with ankylosed hip joint due to severe arthritis. She was treated with a total hip arthroplasty using a long stem performing as an intramedullary nail.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We undertook a complex operative treatment of both co-morbidities in a one stage procedure with a satisfactory clinical result.</p

An ex vivo tissue model of cartilage degradation suggests that cartilage state can be determined from secreted key protein patterns

The pathophysiology of osteoarthritis (OA) involves dysregulation of anabolic and catabolic processes associated with a broad panel of proteins that ultimately lead to cartilage degradation. An increased understanding about these protein interactions with systematic in vitro analyses may give new ideas regarding candidates for treatment of OA related cartilage degradation. Therefore, an ex vivo tissue model of cartilage degradation was established by culturing tissue explants with bacterial collagenase II. Responses of healthy and degrading cartilage were analyzed through protein abundance in tissue supernatant with a 26-multiplex protein profiling assay, after exposing the samples to a panel of 55 protein stimulations present in synovial joints of OA patients. Multivariate data analysis including exhaustive pairwise variable subset selection identified the most outstanding changes in measured protein secretions. MMP9 response to stimulation was outstandingly low in degrading cartilage and there were several protein pairs like IFNG and MMP9 that can be used for successful discrimination between degrading and healthy samples. The discovered changes in protein responses seem promising for accurate detection of degrading cartilage. The ex vivo model seems interesting for drug discovery projects related to cartilage degradation, for example when trying to uncover the unknown interactions between secreted proteins in healthy and degrading tissues

COMBSecretomics : a pragmatic methodological framework for higher-order drug combination analysis using secretomics

Multi drug treatments are increasingly used in the clinic to combat complex and co-occurring diseases. However, most drug combination discovery efforts today are mainly focused on anticancer therapy and rarely examine the potential of using more than two drugs simultaneously. Moreover, there is currently no reported methodology for performing second- and higher-order drug combination analysis of secretomic patterns, meaning protein concentration profiles released by the cells. Here, we introduce COMBSecretomics (https://github.com/EffieChantzi/COMBSecretomics.git), the first pragmatic methodological framework designed to search exhaustively for second- and higher-order mixtures of candidate treatments that can modify, or even reverse malfunctioning secretomic patterns of human cells. This framework comes with two novel model-free combination analysis methods; a tailor-made generalization of the highest single agent principle and a data mining approach based on top-down hierarchical clustering. Quality control procedures to eliminate outliers and non-parametric statistics to quantify uncertainty in the results obtained are also included. COMBSecretomics is based on a standardized reproducible format and could be employed with any experimental platform that provides the required protein release data. Its practical use and functionality are demonstrated by means of a proof-of-principle pharmacological study related to cartilage degradation. COMBSecretomics is the first methodological framework reported to enable secretome-related second- and higher-order drug combination analysis. It could be used in drug discovery and development projects, clinical practice, as well as basic biological understanding of the largely unexplored changes in cell-cell communication that occurs due to disease and/or associated pharmacological treatment conditions

Eight- to Ten-Year Clinical and Radiographic Outcome of a Porous Tantalum Monoblock Acetabular Component

In a prospective study, the authors used a porous tantalum monoblock acetabular component for primary total hip arthroplasty between November 1997 and June 1999. A total of 156 consecutive primary total hip arthroplasty were done in 143 patients younger than 75 years. A total of 151 hips had a follow-up time from 8 to 10 years. The average preoperative total Harris hip score of 44.0 +/- 13.8 increased to 97.0 +/- 6.2 at the latest follow-Lip. The average preoperative Oxford hip score of 43.3 +/- 6.5 improved to 13.9 +/- 2.3 at the latest follow-up. Radiographic evaluation including the Ein-Bild-Rontgen-Analyse (EBRA) digital system showed no radiographic evidence of gross polyethylene wear, progressive radiolucencies, osteolytic lesions, acetabular fracture, or component Subsidence. There were 7 (4.5%) postoperative complications all unrelated to the acetabular component

Association of Polymorphisms in the Promoter Region of NOS2A Gene with Primary Knee Osteoarthritis in the Greek Population

Introduction A new emerging role of nitric oxide (NO) in the aetiology of osteoarthritis (OA) has been reported. Inducible NO synthase (iNOS), produced by chondrocytes, is the major source of NO in the osteoarthritic cartilage. The aim of this study is to evaluate the potential association between the -1173C/T (rs9282799), -1026 C/A (rs 2779249) and -954G/C (rs1800482) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the promoter of the iNOS gene (NOS2A) and the incidence of knee OA in Greek population. Methods Ninety-six patients with primary knee OA were included in the study along with 44 controls. Genotypes were identified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and DNA sequencing techniques. Allelic and genotypic frequencies were compared between patients and controls. Results None of the -1173C/T, -1026 C/A and -954G/C SNPs were detected in the studied population, either in patients or controls. However, another SNP was identified at the site -1056 at the promoter region, where the initial G allele was substituted by the T allele. Interestingly, the TT genotype was completely absent in controls, but was detected in six patients with a 6.2% observed frequency. The difference between patients and controls was not statistically significant (p-value = 0.18). In male OA patients, the observed frequency of the TT genotype was higher (28.6%) in comparison to the 0% of the male controls (p-value = 0.1). The frequency of the G allele was 0.82 in controls and 0.78 in OA patients (p-value = 0.53). Conclusions The present study demonstrates that the 954G/C, -1026C/A, -1056G/T and - 1173C/T SNPs of the NOS2A gene are not a risk factor for primary knee OA in Greek population. Moreover, 954G/C, -1026C/A and -1173C/T are rare, if not completely absent, in the Greek population. Additional research is mandatory in order to investigate the association of these SNPs with OA in different ethnic populations

Nerve injuries in total hip arthroplasty with a mini invasive anterior approach

Minimal invasive techniques in total hip arthroplasty (THA) have become increasingly popular during recent years. Despite much debate over the outcome of several minimal invasive techniques, complications arising from the use of anterior minimally invasive surgery (AMIS) for THA on a traction table are not well documented. Our study aims to focus on nerve damage during the AMIS procedure and the possible explanations of these injuries