Bone Abstracts

South African studies indicated that urban Black and White women have similar bone turnover. However, urban Black women had low bone mass and greater exposure to lifestyle risk factors for bone disease. The purpose of this prospective study was to assess changes in bone turnover, parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels, bone health (forearm, hip and lumbar spine bone mineral density) in urban black South African women over 3 years. Black, urban postmenopausal women (n=144, &...

The mature human skeleton is a metabolically active organ that is continuously resorbed and rebuilt by osteoclasts and osteoblasts. Dietary supplementation of selected long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFAs) has shown effects on bone turnover. Most research on LCPUFAs has been done using commercially available cell lines and further clarification of the cellular effects on models relevant to humans is required. After ethical approval, peripheral blood was collected fr...

Osteoclasts are produced by fusion of pre-osteoclasts derived from stem cells of the monocyte/macrophage lineage in the presence of receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL) produced by osteoblasts. The phytoestrogens; genistein and daidzein, which are isoflavones found in Leguminosae such as soybeans, are currently being investigated for prevention of postmenopausal osteoporosis. Some polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have been shown to exert a bone protectiv...

Rooibos (Aspalathus linearis) tea is a refreshing and caffeine-free tea indigenous to the Western Cape regions of South Africa. This tea, which is rich in polyphenols and antioxidants, has shown many beneficial effects in health, however, its anti-osteoclastogenic potential remains unexplored. In this study, the in vitro effects of an aqueous extract of fermented rooibos tea were examined on osteoclast formation and bone resorption in RAW264.7 murine macropha...

Objective: To assess whether hand-wrist dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) can replace radiographs for bone age assessment using the Greulich & Pyle (G&P) and/or Tanner & Whitehouse (TW3) methods.Methodology: Purposive sampling was used to include a total of 20 patients identified from an Endocrine Clinic; two males and two females from each of 5 age groups (<5; 5 to 7; 8 to 10; 11 to 13; 14 to 16 years). Bone age as determined from D...

Purpose: We aimed to assess observer reliability and diagnostic accuracy in children, of a semi-automated 6-point technique developed for vertebral fracture diagnosis in adults, which records percentage loss of vertebral body height.Methods: Reading 137 spine radiographs of children and adolescents, diagnostic accuracy (sensitivity, specificity and 95% confidence interval) calculations of five observers’ for SpineAnalyzer were calculated. Comparison...

Breast to bone metastasis is a common incurable event during breast cancer progression. Identifying the molecular mechanisms at play is vital for the development of new therapies. Matrix metalloproteinases, such as MMP-2, are overexpressed in the bone metastatic microenvironment. Genetic ablation of MMP-2 demonstrated its importance of in driving osteolytic bone metastatic breast cancer and support the rationale for the development of a highly specific MMP-2 inhibitor for the ...

Objective: According to National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF) guidelines, treatment is recommended for osteoporotic patients and patients with osteopenia and high fracture probability (FRAX with BMD over 3% for hip and/or over 20% for other fractures). In this study, a pocket size pulse-echo (PE) ultrasound (US) device and FRAX with BMI is used in treatment pathway analysis and compared to NOF guidelines.Materials and methods: Elderly Caucasian woman (<...

Results of epidemiological studies indicate that paracetamol use may be a risk factor for fracture. The exact mechanism of paracetamol action remains unclear, but it is known to inhibit COX-2. Orchidectomy-induced androgen deficiency was reported to increase COX-2 expression and prostanoid release in rats. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of paracetamol on bone mechanical properties in rats with normal androgen levels and with androgen deficiency indu...

Muscle and loading force application alters bone structure and increases bone mineral density (BMD), particularly during growth. However, bone microarchitectural texture, as assessed by the trabecular bone score (TBS), changes during growth is unknown. We hypothesized that TBS would be positively correlated with growth and higher in growing girls participating in regular physical exercise.68 girls (mean age 12±0.3 years; BMI 18±2.8 kg/m2</...