Carpal tunnel syndrome associated with oral bisphosphonates. A population-based cohort study

© 2016 Carvajal et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Background: Bisphosphonates are widely used to prevent osteoporotic fractures. Some severe musculoskeletal reactions have been described with this medication; among them, some cases of carpal tunnel syndrome. Thus, the aim of this study was to explore whether bisphosphonates may be associated with this syndrome. Methods: A cohort study was conducted to compare exposed to unexposed women; the exposed group was that composed of women having received at least one prescription of an oral bisphosphonate. For the purpose, we used information from The Health Improvement Network (THIN) database. The outcome of interest was defined as those women diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome. A survival analysis was performed; the Cox proportional hazard model was used to calculate hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals, and to adjust for identified confounding variables. Results: Out of a sample of 59,475 women older than 51 years, 19,825 were treated with bisphosphonates during the period studied. No differences in age distribution or mean follow-up time were observed between the two groups in comparison. Overall, there were 572 women diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome, 242 (1.2%) in the group exposed to bisphosphonates, and 330 (0.8%) in the unexposed. An adjusted hazard ratio of developing carpal tunnel syndrome of 1.38 (95%CI, 1.15-1.64) was found for women exposed to bisphosphonates; no significant changes in the hazard ratios were found when considering different levels of bisphosphonate exposure

Las deformidades vertebrales a través de las artes plásticas

Si la medicina constituye el primero y más poderoso medio de intervención del hombre con respecto a su vulnerable naturaleza, el arte es también el primero y más poderoso instrumento que el hombre ha podido encontrar para expresar su propia condición. Con los años el hombre ha evolucionado, y con él la medicina y el arte. El arte trabaja sobre el mismo motivo que la medicina: el hombre. De ahí el extraordinario valor, desde el punto de vista ontológico, de muchas obras de arte, que jamás habrían sido realizadas si la enfermedad y el ejercicio del arte médico no les hubiera creado el tema; ya no tiene sentido la separación entre ciencias del espíritu y ciencias de la naturaleza para el mejor entendimiento del ser humano, porque lo correcto es considerar que los conocimientos médico-científicos y artístico-plásticos se unen en el hombre

Relación entre posición del cotilo no cementado y hallazgos radiológicos en las prótesis totales de cadera

Los autores presenta n un estudio sobre 229 cotilos no cementados par a determina r si la posición del cotilo, en base a los ángulos de anteversión e inclinación, influye en la aparición de signos radiológicos alrededor del acetábulo en las radiografías de control. En este trabajo s e comprueba que existen una s relaciones estadísticamente significativas entre los ángulos de inclinación y de anteversión con la presencia o ausencia de dichos signos radiológicos. Además, tras analizar los resultados, opinan que par a e l ángulo de anteversión la posición ideal sería de 10°. Por contra, par a el ángulo de inclinación no pueden dar un a cifra concluyente.I n this wor k th e author s revie w 22 9 cementless acetabula r compo - nents i n orde r t o verif y if cup's position , evaluate d b y th e anteversio n an d inclina - tio n angles, modifie s th e radiologica l image s i n th e acetabula r zon e i n th e contro l radiographics. T h e stud y demonstrate s a statisticall y significan t relatio n betwee n th e inclina - tio n an d anteversio n angle s an d th e presenc e o r no t o f suc h a radiologica l signs. Moreover , afte r analyzin g results, the y conside r tha t th e idea l anteversio n angl e ough t t o b e 10°. The y ca n no t determin e a n idea l valu e for th e inclinatio n angle

Camera calibration of long image sequences with the presence of occlusions

Camera calibration is a critical problem in applications such as augmented reality and image based model reconstruction. When constructing a 3D model of an object from an uncalibrated video sequence, large amounts of frames and self occlusions of parts of the object are common and difficult problems. In this paper we present a fast and robust algorithm that uses a divide and conquer strategy to split the video sequence into sub-sequences containing only the most relevant frames. Then a robust stratified linear based algorithm is able to calibrate each of the subsequences to a metric structure and finally the subsequences are merged together and a final non-linearoptimization refines the solution. Examples of real datareconstructions are presented.Postprint (author’s final draft

Relación entre la orientación del cotilo y los cambios radiológicos evolutivos tras prótesis total de cadera tipo Charnley-Müller

Los autores realizan un estudio retrospectivo de 87 cotilos cementados, para averiguar si la posición del implante determina alteraciones radiológicas alrededor de este cotilo en la evolución de la prótesis total de cadera. Se valoraron una serie de parámetros radiológicos: protusión acetabular del cotilo, osteoporosis regional periacetabular, presencia de imágenes quísticas alrededor del acetábulo, presencia de esclerosis subcondral, calcificaciones yuxtacotiloideas y migración vertical del cotilo. Estos parámetros se relacionaron con los ángulos de inclinación y anteversión del cotilo. En los resultados obtenidos, destaca la relación estadísticamente significativa entre la posición del cotilo con la presencia de protusión acetabular, imágenes quísticas y osteoporosis regional y esclerosis subcondral periacetabulares. La posición «idónea» para este cotilo cementado parece ser de 35° a 45° el ángulo de inclinación y de 15° el ángulo de anteversiónEighty-seven cemented total hip prothesis were retrospectively reviewed in order to ascertain whether the position of the acetabular implant induces radiographic changes around the cup during follow-up. Several radiographic parameters were evaluated: acetabular protrusión of the cup, periacetabular local osteoporosis, cystic images, subchondral sclerosis, presence of calcifications around the cup and vertical displacement of the cup. These findings were correlated with the inclination and anteversion angles of the cup. A statistically significant correlation was found between the position of the cup the following parameters: degree of acetabular protrusion, presence of cystic images, local osteoporosis and periacetabular subchondral sclerosis. The ideal position of the cemented cup results to be of 35-45° inclination angle and 15° anteversion angle

Exogenous Small Ruminant Betaretrovirus Envelope Protein Is Detected in Draining Lymph Nodes in Contagious Respiratory Tumors of Sheep and Goats

Contagious respiratory tumors of sheep and goats are epithelial neoplasms of the lung and nasal cavities. They are associated with oncogenic betaretroviruses known as jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus and enzootic nasal tumor retrovirus of sheep and goats. We investigated the presence of the envelope protein (ENV) of these retroviruses in retropharyngeal and mediastinal lymph nodes using a specific monoclonal antibody by immunohistochemistry methods, single-labeled or combined with ovine B or T lymphocytes or macrophage cell markers. Samples of lymph nodes, fixed in formalin and zinc fixative, were obtained from paraffin-embedded material. Four groups of samples were used: 24 natural cases of ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma (OPA), 13 of enzootic nasal adenocarcinoma of sheep (ENAS), 19 of enzootic nasal adenocarcinoma of goats (ENAG), and 14 control samples. ENV was detected by single labeling in cortical lymphoid follicles. Six of 24 OPA samples were positive and only in those from sheep with extensive neoplasia. Immunolabeling was detected in 5/13 ENAS and 10/19 ENAG samples. Positive labeling was found either in the intercellular spaces, membranes, or cytoplasm of cells in follicles. Control samples were not correspondingly labeled. Double immunohistochemistry demonstrated co-labeling of ENV and CD21 (B cells and follicular dendritic cells) in all samples, CD14 (macrophage) in OPA samples, and Pax-5 (B cells) in ENAG samples, but not with CD8 or CD4 (T lymphocytes). These results demonstrate the presence of betaretrovirus ENV proteins in nontumor cells in regional lymph nodes in sheep and goats with contagious respiratory tumors

Osteoartropatía hipertrófica pulmonar asociada a megaesófago en un perro

La osteoartropatía hipertrófica pulmonar (OHP) es una enfermedad de escasa presentación en la clínica rutinaria canina, secundaria a patologías intratorácicas crónicas, con lesiones que ocupan un cierto volumen intratorácico (neoplasias, abscesos, etc.), y que se caracteriza por la presencia de neoformaciones óseas en el periostio de los huesos de las extremidades. En el presente artículo se describe un caso clínico de osteoartropatía hipertrófica pulmonar (clínica, radiología, analítica sanguínea y urinaria, necropsia y estudios histopatológicos), asociada a un megaesófago, condición no descrita en la bibliografía consultada sobre la OHP canina.Hypertrophic pulmonary osteoarthropathy (HPO) is a rare clinical disease in the dog, secondary to spaceoccuping masses inside the thoracic cavity (neoplasms, abcesses, etc.) and it's characterized by neoformation of periosteal bone affecting mainly the distallimbs. The authors review the physiopathology of the disease and describe one clinical case of hypertrophic pulmonary osteoarthropathy (clinical state, radiology, blood and urine analysis, necropsy results and histologic conclusions) associated with megaesofagus, condition not yet described associated to HPO

EphA2-induced angiogenesis in ewing sarcoma cells works through bFGF production and is dependent on Caveolin-1

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.-- et al.Angiogenesis is the result of the combined activity of the tumor microenvironment and signaling molecules. The angiogenic switch is represented as an imbalance between pro- and anti-angiogenic factors and is a rate-limiting step in the development of tumors. Eph receptor tyrosine kinases and their membrane-anchored ligands, known as ephrins, constitute the largest receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) subfamily and are considered a major family of pro-angiogenic RTKs. Ewing sarcoma (EWS) is a highly aggressive bone and soft tissue tumor affecting children and young adults. As other solid tumors, EWS are reliant on a functional vascular network for the delivery of nutrients and oxygen and for the removal of waste. Based on the biological roles of EphA2 in promoting angiogenesis, we explored the functional role of this receptor and its relationship with caveolin-1 (CAV1) in EWS angiogenesis. We demonstrated that lack of CAV1 results in a significant reduction in micro vascular density (MVD) on 3 different in vivo models. In vitro, this phenomenon correlated with inactivation of EphA2 receptor, lack of AKT response and downregulation of bFGF. We also demonstrated that secreted bFGF from EWS cells acted as chemoattractant for endothelial cells. Furthermore, interaction between EphA2 and CAV1 was necessary for the right localization and signaling of the receptor to produce bFGF through AKT and promote migration of endothelial cells. Finally, introduction of a dominant-negative form of EphA2 into EWS cells mostly reproduced the effects occurred by CAV1 silencing, strongly suggesting that the axis EphA2-CAV1 participates in the promotion of endothelial cell migration toward the tumors favoring EWS angiogenesis.This work was funded by the Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias-ISCIII-FEDER (CP06/00151; PI080259; PI110038; PI110018; RD09/0076/00028; RD06/0020/0059; RD06/0020/1038). LLT is funded by the Comissionat per a Universitats i Recerca (CUR) from Departament d’Innovació, Universitats i Empresa (DIUE) de la Generalitat de Catalunya i del Fons Social Europeu.Peer Reviewe

Feasible Use of Recycled Concrete Aggregates with Alumina Waste in Road Construction

The management of different industrial by-products, such as recycled aggregates from construction and demolition waste and alumina by-products, as well as the reduction of landfill deposits by incorporating these products in a second life cycle, were the focus of this work. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the technical viability of using these waste and by-product as a material for road pavement base layers. For this purpose, a real-scale application was carried out, and the behavior of three types of materials, applied on a section of an experimental road under real vehicle traffic conditions, was studied and compared. Three materials were used in these sections applied in the road sub-bases. First, a control material composed of a type of artificial gravel was used to be compared with the rest of materials; the second material was composed of recycled aggregates, and the third was composed of a mix of recycled aggregates and alumina waste. The results concluded that the effectiveness of the sections built using recycled aggregates and alumina waste was very positive and similar those constructed using natural aggregates