Special Populations in Orthobiologics: Athletic, Elderly, and Pediatrics Populations.

This section is devoted to a review of the literature regarding the usage of orthobiologics in the special populations of elite athletes, the elderly, and pediatrics. The prospect of these regenerative options is encouraging to help provide alternative options that may enhance recovery and healing of acute and degenerative pathologic conditions. The goal is to provide the readers an overview of the existing literature highlighting areas with growing research and others that are still lacking.

Adaptive Cycling.

Adaptive athletes have globally embraced the sport of adaptive cycling, and participation is expanding rapidly on local, national, and international levels. With a diverse array of events supporting adaptive cyclist participation, there is a need to create more awareness about the history and classes of adaptive cycling, adaptive cycle technology, and injuries and medical concerns specific to this group of adaptive athletes. This communication aims to review the major aspects of adaptive cycling, from the technological aspects of both the cycles and adaptations of the athlete to injuries and medical concerns specific to adaptive cyclists.

Use of Platelet-Rich Plasma for the Treatment of Acetabular Labral Tear of the Hip: A Pilot Study.

Objective: This study aims to assess whether ultrasound-guided injection of platelet-rich plasma can safely and effectively treat symptoms associated with acetabular hip labral tears.

Design: Institutional review board approval was gained for a prospective study of eight patients (N = 8), who have previously failed conservative management, to receive ultrasound-guided injection of platelet-rich plasma at the site of hip labrum tear. We assessed pain reduction and functional ability at baseline and then 2, 6, and 8 wks after injection, using the visual analog scale and Harris Hip Score, respectively.

Adolescent Pitcher Recovery from Partial Ulnar Collateral Ligament Tear after Platelet-Rich Plasma.

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP), as a regenerative treatment for partial ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) tears, is validated to lead to faster clinical recovery and return to play in adult athletes. However, studies examining such a role of PRP in younger pediatric and adolescent athletes are scarce. A 14-year-old adolescent throwing athlete, a right-handed pitcher, presented with chronic right medial elbow pain discovered to be secondary to a partial UCL tear, as identified on both ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging.

Factors associated with outcome after superior hypogastric plexus neurolysis in cancer patients.

Objective: Superior hypogastric plexus neurolysis (SHP-N) has been shown in uncontrolled studies to provide intermediate-term benefit in a majority of patients with pain secondary to genitourinary, gynecologic, and colorectal cancers. The purpose of this is to determine factors associated with treatment outcome.

Materials And Methods: Patients who underwent SHP-N after a positive prognostic block were identified based on diagnostic classification and procedural codes from databases at 2 large teaching hospitals.

Differences in fat and muscle mass associated with a functional human polymorphism in a post-transcriptional BMP2 gene regulatory element.

A classic morphogen, bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2) regulates the differentiation of pluripotent mesenchymal cells. High BMP2 levels promote osteogenesis or chondrogenesis and low levels promote adipogenesis. BMP2 inhibits myogenesis.

Glycosylated foldamers to probe the carbohydrate-carbohydrate interaction.

The synthesis of a triglycosylated helical foldamer based on a combination of cyclopentyl- and pyrrolidinyl-based amino acids is described. This structure is stable in water, maintaining as it does a series of carbohydrate units in proximity to one another, and represents the basis of a new approach to the study of carbohydrate-carbohydrate interactions.

Nuclear factor-kappaB-dependent mechanisms in breast cancer cells regulate tumor burden and osteolysis in bone.

A central mediator of a wide host of target genes, the nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) family of transcription factors, has emerged as a molecular target in cancer and diseases associated with bone destruction. To evaluate how NF-kappaB signaling in tumor cells regulates processes associated with osteolytic bone tumor burden, we stably infected the bone-seeking MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell line with a dominant-negative mutant IkappaB that prevents phosphorylation of IkappaBalpha and associated nuclear translocation of NF-kappaB. Blockade of NF-kappaB signaling in MDA-MB-231 cells by the mutant IkappaB decreased in vitro cell proliferation, expression of the proinflammatory, bone-resorbing cytokine interleukin-6, and in vitro bone resorption by tumor/osteoclast cocultures while reciprocally up-regulating production of the proapoptotic enzyme caspase-3.

NFkappaB: a pivotal transcription factor in prostate cancer metastasis to bone.

Prostate cancers frequently metastasize to bone and this accounts for substantial morbidity. We investigated the potential role of the transcription factor NFkappaB as a central regulator of prostate cancer metastasis using the prostate adenocarcinoma cell line, PC-3, in a series of in vitro studies. Wild type PC-3 cells (PC-3.