Radiographic assessment of distal femur cemented stems in tumor endoprostheses.

Background: Distal femoral endoprosthesis (DFE) has become the optimal method of reconstruction in the skeletally mature patients treated for malignant bone tumor. Albeit literature has reported wide range of aseptic loosening in cemented components (6-32%), few authors showed that cement was not detrimental to long-term success of primary distal femoral implants possibly relating to cementing technique.

Methods: A series of consecutive of DFE (MRS and GMRS, Styker Orthopaedics, Mahwah, NJ) was retrospectively reviewed for evidence of loosening on plain radiographs.

Acute exposure to streptozotocin but not human proinflammatory cytokines impairs neonatal porcine islet insulin secretion in vitro but not in vivo.

Background: Neonatal porcine islets (NPI) are a potentially useful source of beta cells for transplantation to treat type 1 diabetes mellitus. However, cytokine exposure following xenotransplantation is likely to prevent successful NPI xenograft survival. In this study, we examined the effects of human proinflammatory cytokines (IL-1 beta, IFN gamma, TNFalpha) on NPI function and cell death.