Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis of the Pediatric Thoracic Spine with Development of Neurological Compromise: A Case Report.

Case: This report describes a 7-year-old girl with Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) of the thoracic spine who developed neurological deterioration during nonsurgical management. She was treated with decompression and instrumented fusion followed by chemotherapy, recovered completely after surgery, and was doing well at 6-year follow-up.

Conclusions: The best treatment of LCH of the spine is not clear, but in the setting of neurologic compromise after failing conservative management, surgical decompression with adjuvant chemotherapy should be considered.

Effect of Ultrasound Frequency and Treatment Duration on Antibiotic Elution from Polymethylmethacrylate Bone Cement.

Introduction: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of ultrasound frequency and treatment duration on antibiotic-impregnated polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) antibiotic elution rates and mechanical strength.

Methods: Two batches of PMMA were prepared: one with five grams of vancomycin powder and one without. Each batch was divided into two frequency groups: kHz and MHz.

Antibiotic Elution and Mechanical Strength of PMMA Bone Cement Loaded With Borate Bioactive Glass.

Local delivery of antibiotics using bone cement as the delivery vehicle is an established method of managing implant-associated orthopedic infections. Various fillers have been added to cement to increase antibiotic elution, but they often do so at the expense of strength. This study evaluated the effect of adding a borate bioactive glass, previously shown to promote bone formation, on vancomycin elution from PMMA bone cement.

Thermoresponsive Nanocomposite Hydrogels: Transparency, Rapid Deswelling and Cell Release.

Thermal modulation reversibly switches poly(-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) hydrogels between a water-swollen and a deswollen state which is useful for a variety of biomedical applications. The utility and efficiency of PNIPAAm hydrogels requires tailoring their rate of deswelling/reswelling, mechanical properties and/or optical clarity. In the current work, we prepared novel thermoresponsive nanocomposite hydrogels comprised of a PNIPAAm hydrogel matrix and polysiloxane colloidal nanoparticles (~54 nm ave.