Iron Behaving Badly: Inappropriate Iron Chelation as a Major Contributor to the Aetiology of Vascular and Other Progressive Inflammatory and Degenerative Diseases

The production of peroxide and superoxide is an inevitable consequence of aerobic metabolism, and while these particular "reactive oxygen species" (ROSs) can exhibit a number of biological effects, they are not of themselves excessively reactive and thus they are not especially damaging at physiological concentrations. However, their reactions with poorly liganded iron species can lead to the catalytic production of the very reactive and dangerous hydroxyl radical, which is exceptionally damaging, and a major cause of chronic inflammation. We review the considerable and wide-ranging evidence for the involvement of this combination of (su)peroxide and poorly liganded iron in a large number of physiological and indeed pathological processes and inflammatory disorders, especially those involving the progressive degradation of cellular and organismal performance. These diseases share a great many similarities and thus might be considered to have a common cause (i.e. iron-catalysed free radical and especially hydroxyl radical generation). The studies reviewed include those focused on a series of cardiovascular, metabolic and neurological diseases, where iron can be found at the sites of plaques and lesions, as well as studies showing the significance of iron to aging and longevity. The effective chelation of iron by natural or synthetic ligands is thus of major physiological (and potentially therapeutic) importance. As systems properties, we need to recognise that physiological observables have multiple molecular causes, and studying them in isolation leads to inconsistent patterns of apparent causality when it is the simultaneous combination of multiple factors that is responsible. This explains, for instance, the decidedly mixed effects of antioxidants that have been observed, etc...Comment: 159 pages, including 9 Figs and 2184 reference

Anteversão do colo do fêmur: avaliação clínica versus radiológica Femoral neck anteversion: a clinical vs radiological evaluation

O objetivo deste trabalho foi o de verificar a correlação entre o ângulo de anteversão femoral medido radiograficamente e os valores das rotações dos quadris apresentados clinicamente. Para isso, foram estudados 64 quadris de 32 pessoas sem nenhuma patologia coxo-femoral prévia, avaliando-se suas rotações com o auxílio de um aparelho específico - o flexímetro - e radiografando os quadris dos pacientes de acordo com o método de Rippstein-Müller. Os resultados obtidos foram analisados estatisticamente, concluindo-se que não houve correlação estatisticamente significante e que, possivelmente, outros fatores, além da anteversão femoral, têm importância na determinação da amplitude das rotações do quadril.<br>The purpose of the present study was to verify the correlation between the femoral anteversion angle measured by biplanes radiography and the values of internal and external rotation of the hip obtained by clinical assessment. Sixty-four hips of 32 individuals with no previous coxofemoral pathologies were studied by taking their hip rotation values with a proper instrument - the fleximeter - and taking radiographic images using the Rippstein- Müller method. The results obtained were statistically analyzed and it was concluded that there was no statistically significant correlation and that it is possible that other factors, in addition to the femoral anteversion angle, may be important in determining the range of rotation of the hip joint