Phlebotomy: a treatment of ischaemic necrosis of the femoral head? Analysis of a hypothesis.

The treatment of non-traumatic ischaemic osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) remains problematical and there is evidently scope to seek for a medical treatment of this disease which often leads to a surgical procedure for hip prosthesis. If we exclude the context of hemoglobin disorders, necrosis appears mainly in adults, when their limb bones contain a fatty marrow. Investigations such as intramedullary pressure measurement and transosseous phlebography suggest a disorder of the intraosseous blood circulation.

Interaction between the transcription factor SPBP and the positive cofactor RNF4. An interplay between protein binding zinc fingers.

The activator of stromelysin 1 gene transcription, SPBP, interacts with the RING finger protein RNF4. Both proteins are ubiquitously expressed and localized in the nucleus. RNF4 facilitates accumulation of specific SPBP-DNA complexes in vitro and acts as a positive cofactor in SPBP-mediated transactivation.

Acute neck pain and fever as the first manifestation of chondrocalcinosis with calcification of the transverse ligament of the atlas. Five case-reports with a literature review.

We report five cases of acute neck pain with fever in patients with diffuse articular chondrocalcinosis and computed tomography evidence of calcification of the transverse ligament of the atlas. A review of the relevant literature illustrated the high frequency of this condition, the variability of clinical presentations ranging from episodes of acute neck pain with fever to compression of the proximal spinal cord, the value of computed tomography for determining the site of the calcific deposits and assessing the lesions, and the possibility of deposition of both calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate and hydroxyapatite crystals in the same patient.