Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a lethal muscle disease caused by absence of the protein dystrophin, which acts as a structural link between the basal lamina and contractile machinery to stabilize muscle membranes in response to mechanical stress. In DMD, mechanical stress leads to exaggerated membrane injury and fiber breakdown, with fast fibers being the most susceptible to damage. A major contributor to this injury is muscle contraction, controlled by the motor protein myosin.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe migration of Pacific salmon is an important part of functioning freshwater ecosystems, but as populations have decreased and ecological conditions have changed, so have migration patterns. Understanding how the environment, and human impacts, change salmon migration behavior requires observing migration at small temporal and spatial scales across large geographic areas. Studying these detailed fish movements is particularly important for one threatened population of Chinook salmon in the Snake River of Idaho whose juvenile behavior may be rapidly evolving in response to dams and anthropogenic impacts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSagittal craniosynostosis (SC) is the most common type of premature suture fusion presenting in approximately 1 in every 5000 births with a 3:1 male:female ratio. The most common indication for surgery is the improvement of the cosmetic appearance of the skull, since a cranial deformation may have a significant psychosocial impact on affected patients. Relief from raised intracranial pressure is a further indication for surgery, although an increased intracranial pressure (ICP) can be demonstrated only in a minority of affected children at diagnosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFKnee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc
September 2009
Dislocation of the knee is a relatively rare injury with modern arthroscopic techniques, operative reconstruction has become the standard of care. The primary aim of this study was to prospectively follow a large, consecutive series of patients with knee dislocation to document associated injuries, surgical treatment, knee function, and knee osteoarthritis (OA) at a minimum of 2 years follow-up. Hundred and twenty-two consecutive patients with a traumatic knee dislocation (Schenck II-IV) were treated at the Oslo University Hospital, Ulleval, between May 1996 and December 2004.
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