Racial differences in treatment among patients with acute headache evaluated in the emergency department and discharged home.

Background: Prior research has demonstrated the widespread presence of racial disparities in emergency department (ED) care and analgesia. We hypothesized that racial disparities continue to exist in ED analgesic prescribing patterns, time to analgesia, and time to provider in the treatment of headache.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of patients presenting to a large tertiary academic ED with chief complaint of headache.

A Cross-Sectional Study of Musculoskeletal Health Literacy in Patients With Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

Approximately 33% of Americans have inadequate health literacy, which is associated with infrequent use of preventative services, increased hospitalization and use of emergency care, and worse control of chronic diseases. In this study, the Literacy in Musculoskeletal Problems (LiMP) questionnaire was used to evaluate the prevalence of limited musculoskeletal literacy in patients undergoing carpal tunnel release (CTR), as these individuals may be at increased risk of inferior outcomes. This cross-sectional study included individuals older than or equal to 18 years of age who were scheduled for elective CTR.

The role of bone sialoprotein in the tendon-bone insertion.

Tendons/ligaments insert into bone via a transitional structure, the enthesis, which is susceptible to injury and difficult to repair. Fibrocartilaginous entheses contain fibrocartilage in their transitional zone, part of which is mineralized. Mineral-associated proteins within this zone have not been adequately characterized.

Injury response of geriatric mouse patellar tendons.

Injury adversely impacts the structure and mechanical properties of a tendon, thus causing pain and disability. Previously, we demonstrated that patellar tendons in mature (P150) and aged (P300) mice do not recover original functionality, even 6 weeks after injury, and that uninjured geriatric tendons (P570) are functionally inferior to uninjured mature tendons. In this study, we hypothesized that the repair response in injured geriatric mice would be further compromised, thus undermining patellar tendon function post-injury.

Efficacy of various analgesics on shoulder function and rotator cuff tendon-to-bone healing in a rat (Rattus norvegicus) model.

Although relief of postoperative pain is an imperative aspect of animal welfare, analgesics that do not interfere with the scientific goals of the study must be used. Here we compared the efficacy of different analgesic agents by using an established rat model of supraspinatus tendon healing and a novel gait-analysis system. We hypothesized that different analgesic agents would all provide pain relief in this model but would cause differences in tendon-to-bone healing and gait parameters.

Validation of an empirical damage model for aging and in vivo injury of the murine patellar tendon.

While useful models have been proposed to predict the mechanical impact of damage in tendon and other soft tissues, the applicability of these models for describing in vivo injury and age-related degeneration has not been investigated. Therefore, the objective of this study was to develop and validate a simple damage model to predict mechanical alterations in mouse patellar tendons after aging, injury, or healing. To characterize baseline properties, uninjured controls at age 150 days were cyclically loaded across three strain levels and five frequencies.

The injury response of aged tendons in the absence of biglycan and decorin.

Recent studies have demonstrated that the small leucine-rich proteoglycans (SLRPs) biglycan and decorin impact tendon development, aging and healing in mature mice. However, despite the increased risk of tendon injury in the elderly, the role of SLRPs in tendon repair has not been investigated in aged animals. Therefore, our objective was to elucidate the influences of bigylcan and decorin on tendon healing in aged mice to relate our findings to previous work in mature mice.

The tendon injury response is influenced by decorin and biglycan.

Defining the constituent regulatory molecules in tendon is critical to understanding the process of tendon repair and instructive to the development of novel treatment modalities. The purpose of this study is to define the structural, expressional, and mechanical changes in the tendon injury response, and elucidate the roles of two class I small leucine-rich proteoglycans (SLRPs). We utilized biglycan-null, decorin-null and wild type mice with an established patellar tendon injury model.

Decorin expression is important for age-related changes in tendon structure and mechanical properties.

The aging population is at an increased risk of tendon injury and tendinopathy. Elucidating the molecular basis of tendon aging is crucial to understanding the age-related changes in structure and function in this vulnerable tissue. In this study, the structural and functional features of tendon aging are investigated.