Snapping hip caused by a venous hemangioma of the gluteus maximus muscle: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Snapping hip, or coxa saltans, is defined as a clinical condition where a usually painful, audible snap occurs during hip flexion and extension. Its causes can be divided into external, internal or intra-articular origin. Accurate diagnosis is a prerequisite to successful treatment. We report a rare cause of snapping hip which is different from any previously reported cases.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 23-year-old man presented to us with right hip pain of more than 10 years duration. Atrophy of the right gluteus maximus with snapping and tenderness were also noted. The imaging study revealed a focal intramuscular lesion in the lateral portion of the right gluteus maximus muscle. Surgery was performed and pathological examination concluded this mass to be a venous hemangioma.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Intramuscular hemangioma, though rare, should be considered in the differential diagnosis of a snapping hip even though muscle fibrosis is most frequently encountered.</p

Nanoscale Visualization of Elastic Inhomogeneities at TiN Coatings Using Ultrasonic Force Microscopy

Ultrasonic force microscopy has been applied to the characterization of titanium nitride coatings deposited by physical vapor deposition dc magnetron sputtering on stainless steel substrates. The titanium nitride layers exhibit a rich variety of elastic contrast in the ultrasonic force microscopy images. Nanoscale inhomogeneities in stiffness on the titanium nitride films have been attributed to softer substoichiometric titanium nitride species and/or trapped subsurface gas. The results show that increasing the sputtering power at the Ti cathode increases the elastic homogeneity of the titanium nitride layers on the nanometer scale. Ultrasonic force microscopy elastic mapping on titanium nitride layers demonstrates the capability of the technique to provide information of high value for the engineering of improved coatings

Oscillatory surface rheotaxis of swimming E. coli bacteria

Bacterial contamination of biological conducts, catheters or water resources is a major threat to public health and can be amplified by the ability of bacteria to swim upstream. The mechanisms of this rheotaxis, the reorientation with respect to flow gradients, often in complex and confined environments, are still poorly understood. Here, we follow individual E. coli bacteria swimming at surfaces under shear flow with two complementary experimental assays, based on 3D Lagrangian tracking and fluorescent flagellar labelling and we develop a theoretical model for their rheotactic motion. Three transitions are identified with increasing shear rate: Above a first critical shear rate, bacteria shift to swimming upstream. After a second threshold, we report the discovery of an oscillatory rheotaxis. Beyond a third transition, we further observe coexistence of rheotaxis along the positive and negative vorticity directions. A full theoretical analysis explains these regimes and predicts the corresponding critical shear rates. The predicted transitions as well as the oscillation dynamics are in good agreement with experimental observations. Our results shed new light on bacterial transport and reveal new strategies for contamination prevention.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure

Search for Charged Higgs Bosons in e+e- Collisions at \sqrt{s} = 189 GeV

A search for pair-produced charged Higgs bosons is performed with the L3 detector at LEP using data collected at a centre-of-mass energy of 188.6 GeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 176.4 pb^-1. Higgs decays into a charm and a strange quark or into a tau lepton and its associated neutrino are considered. The observed events are consistent with the expectations from Standard Model background processes. A lower limit of 65.5 GeV on the charged Higgs mass is derived at 95 % confidence level, independent of the decay branching ratio Br(H^{+/-} -> tau nu)

Characterization of the Psychological, Physiological and EEG Profile of Acute Betel Quid Intoxication in Naïve Subjects

Betel quid use and abuse is wide spread in Asia but the physiological basis of intoxication and addiction are unknown. In subjects naïve to the habit of betel quid intoxication, the psychological and physiological profile of intoxication has never been reported. We compared the effect of chewing gum or chewing betel quid, and subsequent betel quid intoxication, on psychological assessment, prospective time interval estimation, numerical and character digit span, computerized 2 choice tests and mental tasks such as reading and mathematics with concurrent monitoring of ECG, EEG and face temperature in healthy, non-sleep deprived, male subjects naïve to the habit of chewing betel quid. Betel quid intoxication, dose dependently induced tachycardia (max 30 bpm) and elevated face temperature (0.7°C) (P<0.001) above the effects observed in response to chewing gum (max 12 bpm and 0.3°C) in 12 subjects. Gross behavioral indices of working memory such as numerical or character digit span in 8 subjects, or simple visual-motor performance such as reaction speed or accuracy in a two choice scenario in 8 subjects were not affected by betel quid intoxication. Betel quid intoxication strongly influenced the psychological aspects of perception such as slowing of the prospective perception of passage of a 1 minute time interval in 8 subjects (P<0.05) and perceived increased arousal (P<0.01) and perceived decreased ability to think (P<0.05) in 31 subjects. The EEG spectral profile recorded from mental states associated with open and closed eyes, and mental tasks such as reading and eyes closed mental arithmetic were significantly modified (P<0.05) relative to chewing gum by betel quid intoxication in 10 subjects. The prevalence of betel quid consumption across a range of social and work settings warrants greater investigation of this widespread but largely under researched drug

Hypoxia Inhibits Osteogenesis in Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells through Direct Regulation of RUNX2 by TWIST

Bone loss induced by hypoxia is associated with various pathophysiological conditions, however, little is known about the effects of hypoxia and related signaling pathways on osteoblast differentiation and bone formation. Because bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) survive under hypoxic conditions and readily differentiate into osteoblasts by standard induction protocols, they are a good in vitro model to study the effects of hypoxia on osteoblast differentiation.Using human MSCs, we discovered TWIST, a downstream target of HIF-1α, was induced under hypoxia and acted as a transcription repressor of RUNX2 through binding to the E-box located on the promoter of type 1 RUNX2. Suppression of type 1 RUNX2 by TWIST under hypoxia further inhibited the expression of BMP2, type 2 RUNX2 and downstream targets of RUNX2 in MSCs.Our findings point to the important role of hypoxia-mediated signalling in osteogenic differentiation in MSCs through direct regulation of RUNX2 by TWIST, and provide a method for modifying MSC osteogenesis upon application of these cells in fracture healing and bone reconstruction

A Conserved Behavioral State Barrier Impedes Transitions between Anesthetic-Induced Unconsciousness and Wakefulness: Evidence for Neural Inertia

One major unanswered question in neuroscience is how the brain transitions between conscious and unconscious states. General anesthetics offer a controllable means to study these transitions. Induction of anesthesia is commonly attributed to drug-induced global modulation of neuronal function, while emergence from anesthesia has been thought to occur passively, paralleling elimination of the anesthetic from its sites in the central nervous system (CNS). If this were true, then CNS anesthetic concentrations on induction and emergence would be indistinguishable. By generating anesthetic dose-response data in both insects and mammals, we demonstrate that the forward and reverse paths through which anesthetic-induced unconsciousness arises and dissipates are not identical. Instead they exhibit hysteresis that is not fully explained by pharmacokinetics as previously thought. Single gene mutations that affect sleep-wake states are shown to collapse or widen anesthetic hysteresis without obvious confounding effects on volatile anesthetic uptake, distribution, or metabolism. We propose a fundamental and biologically conserved concept of neural inertia, a tendency of the CNS to resist behavioral state transitions between conscious and unconscious states. We demonstrate that such a barrier separates wakeful and anesthetized states for multiple anesthetics in both flies and mice, and argue that it contributes to the hysteresis observed when the brain transitions between conscious and unconscious states

Gene-Gene and Gene-Environmental Interactions of Childhood Asthma: A Multifactor Dimension Reduction Approach

Background: The importance of gene-gene and gene-environment interactions on asthma is well documented in literature, but a systematic analysis on the interaction between various genetic and environmental factors is still lacking. Methodology/Principal Findings: We conducted a population-based, case-control study comprised of seventh-grade children from 14 Taiwanese communities. A total of 235 asthmatic cases and 1,310 non-asthmatic controls were selected for DNA collection and genotyping. We examined the gene-gene and gene-environment interactions between 17 singlenucleotide polymorphisms in antioxidative, inflammatory and obesity-related genes, and childhood asthma. Environmental exposures and disease status were obtained from parental questionnaires. The model-free and non-parametrical multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR) method was used for the analysis. A three-way gene-gene interaction was elucidated between the gene coding glutathione S-transferase P (GSTP1), the gene coding interleukin-4 receptor alpha chain (IL4Ra) and the gene coding insulin induced gene 2 (INSIG2) on the risk of lifetime asthma. The testing-balanced accuracy on asthma was 57.83 % with a cross-validation consistency of 10 out of 10. The interaction of preterm birth and indoor dampness had the highest training-balanced accuracy at 59.09%. Indoor dampness also interacted with many genes, including IL13, beta-2 adrenergic receptor (ADRB2), signal transducer and activator of transcription 6 (STAT6). We also used likelihood ratio tests for interaction and chi-square tests to validate our results and all tests showed statistical significance

The Oldest Case of Decapitation in the New World (Lapa do Santo, East-Central Brazil)

We present here evidence for an early Holocene case of decapitation in the New World (Burial 26), found in the rock shelter of Lapa do Santo in 2007. Lapa do Santo is an archaeological site located in the Lagoa Santa karst in east-central Brazil with evidence of human occupation dating as far back as 11.7-12.7 cal kyBP (95.4% interval). An ultra-filtered AMS age determination on a fragment of the sphenoid provided an age range of 9.1-9.4 cal kyBP (95.4% interval) for Burial 26. The interment was composed of an articulated cranium, mandible and first six cervical vertebrae. Cut marks with a v-shaped profile were observed in the mandible and sixth cervical vertebra. The right hand was amputated and laid over the left side of the face with distal phalanges pointing to the chin and the left hand was amputated and laid over the right side of the face with distal phalanges pointing to the forehead. Strontium analysis comparing Burial 26's isotopic signature to other specimens from Lapa do Santo suggests this was a local member of the group. Therefore, we suggest a ritualized decapitation instead of trophy-taking, testifying for the sophistication of mortuary rituals among hunter-gatherers in the Americas during the early Archaic period. In the apparent absence of wealth goods or elaborated architecture, Lapa do Santo's inhabitants seemed to use the human body to express their cosmological principles regarding death