Bone Abstracts

GH is an important anabolic hormone involved in the regulation of longitudinal bone growth. However, acromegaly patients have a higher prevalence of vertebral fractures despite normal bone mineral density (BMD), suggesting that GH overexpression has adverse effects on skeletal architecture and strength. We used giant bovine GH (bGH) transgenic mice to analyse the effects of high serum GH levels on BMD, architecture and mechanical strength. Five month-old hemizygous male bGH mi...

Introduction: Intracellular fat within muscle and visceral tissue has been suggested to adversely influence bone development.Design: We aimed to compare associations between intramuscular and subcutaneous fat and cortical bone outcomes in young adults, in cross-sectional analyses based on the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children.Method: Data were collected from a research clinic conducted at 17 years of age. Intramuscula...

Objective: The protein kinases, PKR, and PERK have been implicated in pro-inflammatory cytokine-mediated cartilage degradation in vitro and endoplasmic reticulum stress-induced arthritis respectively. The objective of this study was to establish whether loss of P58IPK, an inhibitor of PKR and PERK, results in a degenerative joint phenotype in vivo.Methods: Sections of knee joints from P58IPK-null and wild-type mice...

Background: Scoliosis is lateral curvature of the spine ≥10°, as measured on standing spinal radiographs. There are no published studies that have investigated determinants of scoliosis using a prospective cohort design, making the establishment of cause and effect difficult. Several large population-based cohorts exist throughout the world with a wide range of data already collected, and while spinal imaging with radiographs is not generally collected in these coho...

Background: Scoliosis is lateral curvature of the spine, and adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) accounts for the majority of cases of scoliosis. One potential determinant of scoliosis that is of great interest is bone size and density. However, there are no published studies that have investigated determinants of scoliosis using a prospective cohort design making the establishment of cause and effect difficult.Methods: This study was based on the Avon...

Participation in high impact sports during growth increases bone quality. Gymnasts have previously displayed increased bone mass and strength at both the upper and lower limbs compared with controls. However, it is not yet understood how bone microarchitecture is affected by gymnastics participation, and if this differs based on gymnastics discipline. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the influence of gymnastics discipline on bone microarchitecture in a...

Shwachman Diamond syndrome (SDS; MIM 260400) is a monogenic, autosomal recessive, pancreatic condition often accompanied by low bone mass and fracture. In SDS, as in cystic fibrosis, a low bone mass may be secondary to poor nutrition or chronic low-grade infection, but it has also been suggested there may be a primary bone phenotype. Paradoxically, recent studies in cell lines and in a mouse knockout for the SBDS gene, have suggested changes in important osteoclast gr...

Background: Treatments that result in greater increases in bone mass of normal quality by increasing bone formation rather than decreasing resorption are needed. Abaloparatide is a synthetic analog of PTHrP1-34 that has shown strong efficacy to increase bone mass and bone strength in animals. We conducted two phase 2 placebo-controlled studies both of which included abaloparatide 80 μg sc daily (ABL) in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. Study 1 also inclu...

Extreme high bone mass (HBM) may be monogenic (e.g. LRP5 mutations) or polygenic, due to variants in the same genes determining bone mineral density (BMD) as found in the general population. We aimed to determine how variation in established BMD loci, in different functional pathways, explains the HBM phenotype.241 unexplained HBM cases (lumbar spine(LS)1+total hip(TH) Z-scores≥+4.4) were recruited from 15 UK centres, by screening...

Objective: Nutritional rickets in Nigerian children is primarily due to dietary calcium deficiency and heals with calcium supplementation. Our aim was to determine the optimal dose of calcium for treatment of children with rickets due to dietary calcium deficiency.Methods: At the Jos University Teaching Hospital, 65 Nigerian children with radiographically-confirmed rickets were randomized to daily supplemental calcium intake of 500 mg (n=21), 10...