Bone Abstracts

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) are systemic, immune-mediated diseases. RA’s main targets are the peripheral joints while AS has the axial skeleton and enthesis as the principal affected areas. RA is characterized by bone erosions and impaired repair whilst AS is typified by bone overgrowth. The causes for these differences are not yet understood; however we hypothesize that AS patients’ monocytes receive reduced osteoclastogenic stimuli and...

Introduction: Resistance to thyroid hormone (RTH) is a rare disease, characterized by elevated thyroid hormone and not suppressed TSH concentrations. In 85% of cases it is related to TRβ gene mutations.Objectives: To evaluate biochemical and densitometric features of 14 patients with RTH (RTHG: 7 females (4 children) and seven males (2 children)) in comparison to 24 control subjects (CG, 14 females (8 children) and 10 males (4 children)).<p clas...

Background: Morquio disease was described by the Uruguayan pediatrician Luis Morquio. It’s a congenital disease caused by a deficiency of the N-acetilgalactosamine 6 sulfatase (MPS IV A) or B galactosidase (MPS IV B) and his frequency is 1/100 000 live births Accumulation of mucopolysacharides in tissues results in short stature, skeletal anomalies (vertebral column deformities), loss of hearing, visual anomalies (corneal opacities), cardiac, hepatic and respirat...

Background: Achondroplasia is a genetic disorder wich affects bone growth leading to short stature. It occurs in 1 of every 25 000 live births and it is characteristized by short extremities, hyperlordosis, small hands and macrocephaly, with high forehead and saddle nose. Neurologic complications are due to narrowing of the vertebral foramen. Is transmitted as autosomal dominant and it is due to mutations of the FGFR3 gene witch codifies the fibroblastic receptor of G...

Background: Pseudohypoparathyroidism is characterized by a resistance to parathormone, with variable phenotypical and biochemical manifestations. With genetic disorder caused by heterozygous inactivating mutations in GNAS1, the gene encoding the alpha-chain of G(s), and is associated with short stature, obesity, brachydactyly, and sc ossifications. AHO patients with GNAS1 mutations on maternally inherited alleles also manifest resistance to multiple hormones (e.g. PTH, TSH, LH...

Introduction: Measures of physical function may be related to osteoporosis and fractures in older individuals and may thus be used in the identification of individuals at high fracture risk.Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate which measures of physical functioning are associated with bone quality and fracture incidence and whether gender-specific differences exist within these associations.Methods: We studied 1486 partici...

Background: 3M syndrome is a primordial growth disorder caused by mutations in CUL7, OBSL1 or CCDC8. Affected individuals have severe short stature for which growth hormone (GH) therapy may have a role1. We present a 10-year-old girl from Sri Lanka with 3M syndrome-2 due to a mutation in OBSL1 gene, with good short-term response to growth hormone therapy.Presenting Problem: The only child of second-degree consanguineous parents, both themselve...

There is a similarity of the mechanisms of physiological and pathological mineralization. Pathological calcification of soft tissues as the case of vascular calcification is characterized by the deposition of hydroxyapaptite induced by matrix vesicles at least in the initial stage as in the case of physiological calcification in skeletal tissues. Lipid metabolism is involved in the differentiation of smooth muscle cells and bone cells suggesting that phospholipases can modulat...

The Rickets is a disease which disturbs normal bone formation through different methods, like vitamin D deficiency, malabsorption, chronic renal disease, metaphisary dysplasia, low phosphorus and resistant rickets.The peak age at which rickets is most prevalent is usually 3–18 months, and the characteristic clinical features of this metabolic bone disease include enlargement of the epiphyses of the long bones and rib cage, bowing of the legs, bendin...

It is well known that thyroid hormone (TH) is essential for normal bone growth and development. However, the mechanisms by which TH regulates these processes are poorly understood. Recently, the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) was identified as a potent regulator of bone metabolism. In vivo studies by our group have shown that TH interacts with the SNS to regulate bone mass and structure, and that this interaction involves α2 adrenoceptor (α2-A...