Bone Abstracts

Bisphosphonates are the mainstay of medical therapy in the fracturing child with osteoporosis. The majority of the data in children pertains to i.v. pamidronate use in children and adolescents with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), where pamidronate has been associated with improvements in bone mineral density, cortical thickness, vertebral shape, pain, mobility and height.1 Side-effects of pamidronate including acute phase response to the initial dose and retardation o...

Low bone mass is common in thalassemia (Thal) and sickle cell disease (SCD). Bone pain is also reported, though its relationship to low bone mass has not been explored. The aims of this study were to determine the prevalence of vertebral height abnormalities (VHA) and evaluate the relationship between VHA, low bone mass and patient assessed pain in Thal and SCD. Data were collected from the Thalassemia Clinical Research Network Pain Survey study and CHRCO Clinical Bone Density...

Areal bone mineral density (aBMD) of the PA spine and proximal femur remained the gold standard for WHO classification of osteoporosis, fracture prediction and patient monitoring. Unfortunately, with age it is not infrequent to observe the presence of degenerative disease such as spinal osteoarthritis which would have a positive artifactual impact on aBMD which could lead to an erroneous interpretation. In a previous study it has been demonstrated that apparently such artifact...

Background: Rickets is a disorder of the growing child arising from impaired mineralisation of the growth plate and osteoid. The most common cause of NR in the UK is thought to be secondary to vitamin D deficiency [VDD; serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) <25 nmol/l], although in some African & South Asian countries dietary calcium deficiency (DCaD) by itself, or together with VDD is an important cause of NR (Ann Trop Paediatr. 2006;26:1–16). Currently, the data on ...

Introduction: Fracture healing is impaired in aged and osteoporotic patients. Because bone formation is tightly regulated by the mechanical conditions in the fracture gap and because suitable mechanical stimuli improve fracture healing (Claes et al. 1998), we investigated whether low-magnitude high-frequency vibration (LMHFV; Rubin et al. 2004) is able to improve delayed fracture healing induced by age and ovariectomy in mice.Sudy desig...

The childhood obesity is a global epidemic. Some studies with pre-pubertal children reported a positive relationship between fat mass and bone. However, there are no available data on the influence of the nutritional status on parameters of quantitative ultrasound (QUS). The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of nutritional status in bone mass assessed by QUS of proximal phalanges in girls. The bone mass parameter, amplitude dependent speed sound (AD-SoS) in meter...

Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is an immune-mediated chronic inflammatory disease of the liver of unknown origin, that suddenly appears in previously healthy, normally growing children. Standard therapy is long-term prednisone, aimed at avoiding progression to cirrhosis. Considering the inflammatory origin of the disease and the long-term steroid therapy, negative consequences for bone health can be expected, but no data on this complication have been published until now.<p cl...

We have shown previously that TSG–6 acts as an autocrine regulator of osteoclast activity in vitro, capable of inhibiting RANKL-mediated osteoclastic bone resorption with a similar potency to OPG1,2. Thus, the TSG–6 protein has the potential to be developed as a novel treatment for osteoporosis, which is associated with excessive bone loss3.The aim of this study was to determine the therapeutic potential of the is...

Background: Prader Willi syndrome (PWS) is a genetic disorder characterized by severe hypotonia in infancy, hypogonadism, dysmorphic features, early onset obesity and mild mental retardation.Although hip dysplasia occurs in 10–20% in patients with PWS, hip dislocation requiring surgery is seen rarely. To our knowledge, surgical treatment of hip dislocation in PWS has not been reported before.We present a case with PWS and hip ...

Background: Despite the large amount of studies published on the association of vitamin D deficiency with higher incidence of falls and fractures, the threshold for a sufficient serum 25(OH)D concentration remains subject to a considerable debate. There has also been no clear consensus on the assessment and treatment of vitamin D deficiency.Objective: To examine the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and/or insufficiency and its impact on calcium/phospha...