Bone Abstracts

Background: Systemic alterations in Runx2 expression have been shown to affect flat and long bone formation differently: Inactivating mutations cause low-turnover bone disease and patent fontanels in cleidocranial dysplasia, while overexpressing mutations cause metaphyseal dysplasia with maxillary hypoplasia and brachydactyly. The two conditions have inverse skeletal phenotypes. We know of no descriptions of these disorders in a patient without duplications or mutations of Run...

Background: Spondylometaphyseal dysplasias (SMDs) comprise a diverse group of skeletal dysplasias and often manifest as short stature, growth-plate irregularities, and vertebral anomalies. One such condition is SMD with ‘corner fractures’ (OMIM #184255). These individuals generally show development of coxa vara, scoliosis and triangular ossification centers at the edges of metaphyses that simulate fractures.Presenting problem: To date only 16 p...

Osteoclast (OC)-mediated bone destruction is a key feature of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In RA synovial tissue a reduced density of catecholaminergic nerve fibres has been observed. Studies on sweat gland innervation proved that catecholaminergic fibres have the ability to undergo a phenotypic transition to cholinergic nerves. The sympathetic neurotransmitters norepinephrine (NE), acetylcholine (ACh), and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) affect osteoclastogenesis oppositely...

Background and objective: Targeting bone and cartilage includes approaches using tetracyclines, peptide conjugates, as well as anionic moieties like bisphosphonates. However, the selective targeting of the different compartments still remains a challenge. In previous studies native and demineralized ovine bone was used to analyze the affinity of polyanions derived from dendritic polyglycerol (dPG) toward hydroxyapatite and collagen. Whereas the neutral polymer did not show any...

Benign jaw tumors including ossifying fibroma (OF) can be often incidentally diagnosed due to their slow-growing and painless characteristics. In cases of massive growing jaw tumors, it can result in deformity of teeth, infection and intracranial complications. Depending on the location of tumor lesion, it may not completely resected and recur after the primary operation, which may require subsequent operations.Molecular mechanisms and the etiology of th...

Objective: Bone adapts to mechanical stimuli by increasing its mass and changing geometry; muscles are the stimulators for this change as they induce forces through contractions. Thus, bone strength is driven by muscle function. Research has shown that muscle mass and muscle function may not be proportional and hence analysing muscle function becomes of crucial importance. Here we propose to establish gender specific paediatric reference data for muscle function parameters ass...

The first step to getting started as a post-doc is finding an appealing post-doc position. Be proactive and begin the search and application process early. One of the most critical aspects to think about is the research area. It should be something that excites you and something where you can imagine to work in for the next couple of years. Once you have decided on a research area, you can start thinking about choosing an adviser. The adviser has great power to help build a ca...

Objectives: To ascertain if parents and consultants at secondary care level hospitals felt there were areas that the Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS), working with children and families with Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI) could improve upon within their service, and to gain feedback on the current service provided.Methods: A SurveyMonkey© questionnaire was created through the audit team at Great Ormond Street Hospital and the Paediatric Ost...

Prolyl hydroxylase 2 (PHD2) regulates hypoxia-inducible factor α (HIFα) transcription factors and thus, erythropoietin (EPO) production. Under normoxic conditions, HIFα is constantly inactivated through hydroxylation by PHD2. Due to the embryonic lethality of PHD2 knock-out mice, its precise role in erythropoiesis and tissue homeostasis has long remained unknown. Recently, we generated a conditional knock-out (cKO) mouse lacking PHD2 in EPO-producing cells. Thes...

Type 2 diabetes mellitus impairs bone quality and increases fracture risk. We showed that diabetic ZDF rats have low bone mass due to impaired osteoblastogenesis, which can be partially reversed with an intermittent parathyroid hormone 1–84 (PTH) therapy. It remains unclear, why PTH treatment does not fully restore osteoblast (OB) function in diabetic conditions. Here, we tested if high glucose (HG) conditions lead to a partial PTH resistance in osteoblasts. Pre-osteoblas...