Bone Abstracts

Objective: A retrospective review of bone morbidity in a contemporary cohort of boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) currently managed in a Scottish tertiary neuromuscular centre.Method: Clinical details and results of bone surveillance were obtained in 47 boys, aged 9 years (2–16). DXA bone mineral content (BMC) at total body (TB) and lumbar spine (LS) were adjusted for bone area. Fractures were classified based on radiological confirmation....

Several independent international studies have shown increased bone fracture rates in patients with hyponatremia (HN). A likely major contributor to this finding is gait instability and increased falls in HN patients. Studies in experimental animals have also demonstrated HN-induced bone loss, and analysis of human subjects in NHANES III showed a significantly increased odds ratio for osteoporosis by hip DXA in the HN subjects in this database. In vitro studies of the...

Selective p38α inhibitors have been found to prevent bone loss induced by estrogen deficiency but implicated mechanisms remained to be identified. The p38 MAPK pathway has been suggested to influence bone resorption at different regulatory levels. In osteoblasts, p38α has been reported to be involved in the production of osteoclastogenic interleukin 6 and Rankl in response to various bone-resorptive agents in vitro. Therefore, we investigated whether p38&#94...

Intermittent PTH administration (iPTH) increases bone mass in humans and animals. PTH exerts its effects by binding to PTH type 1 receptor (PTHR1) predominantly expressed in osteoblasts, resulting in activation of multiple downstream signaling pathways. In vitro investigations have suggested that p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling is an important mediator of PTH-induced osteoblast functions.To evaluate the contribution of p38a...

Background: Height is required for interpretation of bone mineral density in children and is often challenging in non-weight bearing children. Monitoring of linear growth in non-weight bearing children as part of assessment of bone health is also important.Objective: To investigate the feasibility of a novel method of using DXA images to measure height (Ht), sitting height (SH) and leg length (LL).Methods: Ht and SH were measured o...

A major limitation in the development of cellular therapies using human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) is cell survival post-transplantation. In this study, we challenged the current paradigm of hMSC survival, which assigned a pivotal role to oxygen, by testing the hypothesis that exogenous glucose may be key to hMSC survival. We demonstrated that hMSCs could endure sustained near-anoxia conditions only in the presence of glucose. In this in vitro cell model, the prot...

While the importance of interactions between bone and tumors is well-established, the mechanism by which the physical bone microenvironment regulates disease progression is limited by the lack of suitable in vitro models. We have designed 3D Tissue Engineered Constructs (TECs) using microCT imaging in tandem with inkjet 3D printing technology that recapitulate the mechanical and morphometric properties of trabecular bone. 3D-printed TECs exhibited no significant diffe...

It is well established that tumor expression of Gli2, a Hedgehog family transcription factor, contributes to tumor-induced bone disease. Our previous studies investigating genetic inhibition of Gli2 expression in tumor cells have shown promise for the development of therapeutics. While many groups have focused on developing upstream Hedgehog inhibitors for soft-tissue tumors that aberrantly express Gli proteins, we have previously demonstrated that the expression of Gli2 in tu...

Introduction: Hip fracture is a significant health problem with 25–30% occurring in men. Outcome differences between the genders have been documented, particularly mortality rates.Aim: To prospectively investigate outcomes of elderly hip fracture patients regarding mortality, recovery of function, quality of life, incidence of osteoporosis, osteoporosis knowledge, medication adherence, nutritional status and fear of falling.Me...

Background: The role of untrained observers in evaluating vertebrae height and therefore detection of vertebral fracture (VF) from spinal radiographs (SXR) and dual energy-absorptiometry (DXA) images in children with concerns about osteoporosis is currently unknown.Objective: To assess intra-observer agreement of morphometric measurements of vertebra height by an untrained observer using SXR and DXA in boys with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD).<p c...