A Diagnostic Approach to Myelopathy Based on Prognostic Factors in Patients With Lower Extremity Symptoms.

Study Design: Case-control study.

Objective: We aimed to identify predictors for latent myelopathy and to develop a diagnostic protocol based on these factors.

Summary Of Background Data: There is no diagnostic protocol for latent myelopathy to avoid misdiagnosis in patients complaining only of lower extremity symptoms.

Attenuation of Post-Traumatic Osteoarthritis After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury Via Inhibition of Hedgehog Signaling.

We aimed to investigate whether post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA) progression is appropriately represented by a PTOA mouse model using a unique climbing cage to add mechanical loading after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) transection and to determine how Hedgehog signaling inhibition prevents PTOA progression by observing time-dependent morphological changes. This controlled laboratory study histologically compared mice with surgically-induced ACL transection (ACLT) and those with voluntary increased activity in a climbing cage from 1 week postoperatively (ACLT + climbing). We generated conditional knockout (cKO) mice with a deleted Smoothened (Smo) gene.

Treatment with once-weekly alendronate oral jelly compared with once-weekly alendronate oral tablet for Japanese patients with primary osteoporosis: An open-label, prospective, observational study.

Background And Aims: Clinical data regarding alendronate jelly are limited. We compared the efficacy and safety of once-weekly alendronate oral jelly with once-weekly alendronate tablet formulations in the context of primary osteoporosis.

Methods: In this 6-month, open-label, prospective, observational study, Japanese patients aged ≥60 years with primary osteoporosis were included from 14 primary care centres in Japan.

Industry-based retrospective cohort study of the risk of prostate cancer among rotating-shift workers.

Objectives: The risk of prostate cancer among shift workers was examined in the present industry-based retrospective cohort study.

Methods: The study was established based on a health-care database from a Japanese manufacturing corporation. Work schedules of 4995 male workers (mean age = 55.

Retrospective cohort study of the risk of obesity among shift workers: findings from the Industry-based Shift Workers' Health study, Japan.

Objectives: The authors investigated the effect of shift working on the risk of obesity using data from the Industry-based Shift Workers' Health (IbSH) study, a retrospective cohort study based on a health care database system belonging to a manufacturing corporation in Japan.

Methods: The study database contains data on annual health check-ups and work schedules for every worker in the corporation in Japan since 1981. Study subjects consisted of 9912 male employees (8892 daytime workers and 920 rotating three-shift workers; mean age at first check-up was 23.

Anxiety about starting three-shift work among female workers: findings from the Female Shift Workers' Health Study.

In 1999, the Japanese Law on Equal Employment Opportunity and Conditions was amended and the previous prohibition of the assignment of female workers to night work was abolished. Subsequently, the number of female shift workers has been increasing in Japan, necessitating greater attention to the health care of this population. The aim of the current study is to evaluate the relationship between anxiety expressed about starting three-shift work and background characteristics among female workers who were being assigned to three-shift work for the first time.

Flt-1 tyrosine kinase-deficient homozygous mice result in decreased trabecular bone volume with reduced osteogenic potential.

To clarify the role of Fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 (Flt-1) signaling in bone dynamics, we examined C57BL/6J mice, aged 6, 9 and 16 weeks, with disruption of the flt1 tyrosine kinase domain gene (flt1(TK-/-)) and compared with age-matched wild-type (flt1(TK+/+)) mice. Dynamic histomorphometric analysis confirmed a significant decrease in the values of mineralizing surface (MS/BS), mineral apposition rate (MAR), and bone formation rate (BFR/BS) in the trabecular bone of the proximal tibiae of flt1(TK-/-) mice compared with those in flt1(TK+/+) mice. The value of trabecular bone volume (BV/TV) was also significantly reduced in flt1(TK-/-) mice compared with that in flt1(TK+/+) mice.

Cyclooxygenase-2 selective inhibition suppresses restoration of tibial trabecular bone formation in association with restriction of osteoblast maturation in skeletal reloading after hindlimb elevation of mice.

To clarify the role of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) in acute recovery of trabecular bone in reloaded hindlimbs of tail-suspended mice, we administered a COX-2 selective inhibitor in the mice during the reloading period after unloading. Experiments were conducted on 140 male C57BL/6J mice (8 weeks old). They were divided into ground control (GC) and unloading by tail suspension (UL) groups.

Skeletal unloading alleviates the anabolic action of intermittent PTH(1-34) in mouse tibia in association with inhibition of PTH-induced increase in c-fos mRNA in bone marrow cells.

Unlabelled: We analyzed the effect of unloading by tail suspension on the anabolic action of intermittent PTH in the tibia of growing mice. Unloading alleviated the PTH-induced increase of bone formation and accelerated bone resorption, consequently reducing bone mass. Reduction of the PTH-induced anabolic actions on bone was associated with unloading, which was apparently related to suppression of c-fos mRNA expression in bone marrow.

Regulation of mineral-to-matrix ratio of lumbar trabecular bone in ovariectomized rats treated with risedronate in combination with or without vitamin K2.

The relationship between bone turnover and bone tissue and material properties was examined in ovariectomized (OVX) rats treated with risedronate in combination with or without vitamin K2. Seventy female rats, 18 weeks of age, were assigned to 7 groups (n=10): sham-operated + vehicle control; OVX + vehicle control; OVX + risedronate 0.1, 0.

Vascular endothelial growth factor is expressed along with its receptors during the healing process of bone and bone marrow after drill-hole injury in rats.

In this study, we investigated the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) mRNA along with its receptors in the healing process following rat femoral drill-hole injury. The cellular events involved in the differential expression of VEGF were studied by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, immunocytochemistry, and in situ hybridization. Abundant alkaline phosphatase-positive osteoprogenitor cells were present in the bone marrow cavity surrounding the wound region at day 3.

Effects of 1,25(OH)2D3 on turnover, mineralization, and strength of bone in growing rats with liver cirrhosis induced by administration of carbon tetrachloride.

To clarify the effects of 1 alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3) (1,25(OH)(2)D(3)) on bone growth, strength, and turnover in growing rats with liver cirrhosis induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl(4)) injection, groups of 4-week-old male Wistar rats (n = 10, each) were injected intraperitoneally with CCl(4) twice weekly for 7 weeks. One group was treated with the vehicle alone (Group 1). Three CCl(4)-injected groups were orally administered 1,25(OH)(2)D(3) at doses of 0, 0.