Bone Abstracts

A 29 week pre-term female infant, Molly (not real name), was referred to our multi-disciplinary Metabolic Bone Disease Service at the age of 19 months, with a combined diagnosis of inherited osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) and cerebral palsy (CP) spastic quadriplegia, resulting from a intra-ventricular haemorrhage at 7 weeks-old.Diagnosis of OI was confirmed at birth following fractures. Molly was treated with IV Pamidronate from the age of 6 weeks at a loc...

Patients with moderate to severe osteogenesis imperfecta commonly have functional difficulties following fractures or surgery, which generally result in long periods of immobility. Patients quickly lose range of movement, muscle strength and conditioning, which impacts on daily living activities, mobility, self-confidence and motivation. It is natural for patients to become more dependent on their carers, some not returning to their previous level of independence, nor achievin...

Objective: Since depressive symptoms, which have been related to low bone quality in adulthood, may also be associated with suboptimal bone mineral accrual, we aim at quantify the association between depressive symptoms and bone mineral density (BMD) throughout adolescence.Methods: We analysed prospective data from 969 adolescents (56.2% girls) from a population-based cohort of urban adolescents, born in 1990, evaluated during the 2003/2004 and 2007/2008...

Introduction: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) counteract the decline of physiologic functions but their regenerative power decreases with age. In particular osteogenic differentiation capacity of MSCs has been shown to decrease with age thereby contributing to slowed down bone formation and osteoporosis. While much is known about cellular aging of MSCs, little is known about extrinsic factors influencing their functionality. Here we set out to identify circulating factors of the...

Aging is a complex process that results in the decline of physiologic functions due to accumulation of damage in cells and tissues. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) counteract this decline but their regeneration capacity decreases with age. In particular osteogenic differentiation potential of MSCs has been shown to decrease with age thereby contributing to slowed down bone formation and osteoporosis. While much is known about cellular aging of MSCs, little is known about factors...

Objectives: By prospectively evaluating a cohort of girls we aim to identify population patterns linking adipokines and bone turnover during early and late adolescence and to assess the associations of those patterns with forearm bone mineral density (BMD).Methods: The study was developed within a population-based cohort of urban adolescents born in 1990 and assembled in public and private schools of Porto, Portugal (EPITeen). We analysed prospective dat...

Children with cerebral palsy who are unable to walk independently are prone to lower limb muscle weakness which contributes to pain, deformity and functional loss. As a result of these motor difficulties the children are less physically active than their unimpaired peers and subsequently at greater risk of reduced bone density. This pilot study introduced a novel mobility device, running bikes, to a group of non-ambulant children with cerebral palsy to investigate if it was a ...

Trabecular bone score (TBS) extracts a texture parameter from pixel grey-level variations in DXA lumbar spine images. The TBS is claimed to be a measure of trabecular structure and was validated in an in-vitro study of vertebral bodies with micro-CT1. TBS has shown the potential for fracture pre-diction in adults2. However, data are sparse regarding the reliability and usefulness of TBS3 and the method has not previously been applied i...

The high prevalence of renal osteodystrophy (ROD) in pediatric renal transplant recipients has been linked to the duration on dialysis pre transplant, exposure to steroids, nutritional deficiencies, limitations in physical activity and ethnicity. The incomplete resolution of ROD in transplant recipients has been found to be associated persistent abnormalities in mineral metabolism associated with allograft dysfunction in the post transplant period.We hyp...

Objective: Over the last decade, there has been increasing scientific interest in vitamin D, and it is now advised that all pregnant women and infants should receive vitamin D supplementation. Despite of this, it is recognized that knowledge of vitamin D in the general public is limited. The internet is now an important source of health care information and analysis of internet search activity rates can provide information on disease epidemiology, health related behaviors and ...