Bone Abstracts

Hypogonadism is common in cardiac transplant (CTX) patients and exerts negative effects on bone but also on libido and quality of life.We investigated whether testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) has any positive effects on bone mass, fracture incidence, and quality of sex life when administered in addition to ibandronate (IBN) in hypogonadal CTX recipients. 52 male patients entered the study and received IBN (quarterly 2 μg i.v.). 60% of the pati...

RANKL, the receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa B ligand, is an essential factor for the formation of mature osteoclasts. Together with its receptor RANK and its antagonist Osteoprotegerin (OPG) RANKL is a key regulator in bone metabolism1. RANKL is a membrane-bound protein that can be segregated to a soluble form (sRANKL), whereas only the latter has been reported to be bioactive2. Due to its low circulating levels and the nature of the analyte bin...

Aims: To review changes in the advice regarding vitamin D deficiency in the UK and compare these with other national guidance.Methods: All Vitamin D guidance in the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health 2003 guide (Medicines for Children) and in the eight editions since the British National Formulary for Children (BNFc) was first published in 2005 was reviewed.Results: Dosage and indications of prevalence are shown in the T...

Activin is a known physiologic regulator of bone metabolism. Ovariectomy-induced osteopenia has been shown to be attenuated by injection of the activin type IIA decoy receptor (ActRIIA-Fc). However, immobilization-induced osteopenia is driven by different pathways than ovariectomy-induced osteopenia, and the role of activin in immobilization-induced osteopenia has not yet been elucidated.The purpose of the study was to investigate the possible attenuatio...

Introduction: Mortality after hip fracture is increased. However, only a few studies have explored for predictors beyond gender and age. Thus our aim was to study risk factors associated with increased mortality in hip fracture patients.Methods: Hip fracture patients (>50 years) admitted to a county hospital in 2004–2005 were consecutively invited for assessment at the hospital osteoporosis centre. A broad spectre of data was collected. Standard...

Objective: Biochemical assessment of teenage patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS).Methods: Blood sampling from 120 patients with AIS aged 12–17 years. The patients all had significant scoliosis and blood samples were taken a few days or weeks before they underwent scoliosis surgery. Serum 25-hydroxy-vitamin D (25-OHD), calcium, phosphate, alkaline phosphatase and parathyroid hormone (PTH) were measured. Patients with a 25-OHD level be...

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Children with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) still suffer from frequent fractures, despite bisphosphonate treatment. Thus new therapeutic approaches are needed. Sclerostin is a protein that is thought to inhibit bone formation. Treatment with sclerostin antibodies (SclAB) increases bone mass in animal models and in clinical trials and may be a rational therapy for OI as well.Transgenic (TgOI) Col1a1Jrt/+ mice were gene...

Tumors contain a small population of cancer stem cells (CSC) proposed to be responsible for tumor maintenance and relapse. Aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH1) activity has been used as a functional stem cell marker to isolate CSCs in different cancer types. This study used the Aldefluor assay and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis to isolate ALDH1high cells from five human sarcoma cell lines and one primary chordoma cell line. ALDH1high cell...

Chordomas are rare, low to intermediate grade malignant bone tumors of the axial skeleton. Current treatment options are limited to surgical procedures as chordomas are largely resistant to conventional radiation and chemotherapy. Cell lines are valuable tools to explore molecular mechanisms involved in tumorigenesis and they have a fundamental impact on the development of new anticancer agents. We established a novel chordoma cell-line, MUG-Chor1, from a recurrent morphologic...