Bone Abstracts

Besides its well known effect on longitudinal bone growth, GH plays a role in the maintenance of adult bone mass. As aging progresses GH levels decline, bone mass decreases and mesenchymal precursors show a reduced osteogenic differentiation capacity resulting in an increase in bone marrow adipocytes. We investigated the effect of GH on MSC differentiation and the possible involvement of microRNA in this process. Human MSC derived from trabecular specimens, waste material of o...

Multiple myeloma is an incurable neoplastic disorder of plasma cells, which invade the bone marrow, secrete monoclonal immunoglobulins, and induce bone lesions, hypercalcemia, anemia and renal failure. The development of myeloma relies on vicious interactions with the bone microenvironment, a deeper knowledge of which is needed to identify prognostic markers and potential therapeutic targets. To achieve an unbiased, comprehensive assessment of the extracellular milieu of myelo...

Introduction: Currently, osteoporosis is mainly diagnosed through dual-enargy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). However, DXA cannot be used for early diagnoses through population mass screenings because of issues related to ionizing radiation employment. Aim of this study is to perform a preliminary clinical validation of a new ultrasound (US)-based method for vertebral densitometry.Methods: A total of 270 women were included in this study according to the fol...

Introduction: Recently reported high incidences of hip fractures emphasize the need of more effective methods for osteoporosis diagnosis, currently performed essentially by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) examinations of the proximal femur. However, high costs and radiation-related issues do not allow DXA employment for population mass screenings. Aim of this study is to carry out a preliminary clinical validation of a new ultrasound (US)-based method to perform femoral...

Introduction: Currently, the only available method to reliably predict osteoporotic fractures is represented by bone mineral density (BMD) measurements on proximal femur or spine, which require the use of X-rays. Aim of this study is to illustrate working principles and feasibility of a new ultrasound (US) method for bone densitometry and osteoporosis diagnosis applicable on both proximal femur and spine.Methods: A new fully automatic algorithm was devel...