Four Weeks in a Single-Leg Weight-Bearing Hip Spica Cast is Sufficient Treatment for Isolated Femoral Shaft Fractures in Children Aged 1 to 3 Years.

Background: Hip spica casting regimens for the treatment of femoral shaft fractures in a pediatric population aged 1 to 3 years vary. Patient charts were reviewed to determine if there are any clinical differences between 3 and 4 weeks in an ambulatory single-leg hip spica (SLHS) cast versus 6 to 8 weeks in a standard double-leg, non-weight-bearing hip spica cast.

Methods: The medical records of 109 patients with femoral shaft fractures treated with a hip spica casting from January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2011 were examined.

Postoperative pain management after spinal fusion surgery: an analysis of the efficacy of continuous infusion of local anesthetics.

Spinal fusion surgery is a major surgery that results in severe postoperative pain, therefore pain reduction is a primary concern. New strategies for pain management are currently under investigation and include multimodal treatment. A 3-year retrospective analysis of patients with idiopathic scoliosis undergoing spinal fusion surgery was performed at our hospital, assessing patient pain scores, opioid use, and recovery.

An evaluation of supracondylar humerus fractures: is there a correlation between postponing treatment and the need for open surgical intervention?

Purpose: The goal of this study was to evaluate the treatment and recovery of patients treated for Gartland type III supracondylar humerus fractures in order to determine if postponing treatment leads to a higher rate of open surgical treatment or complications.

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted examining the medical records of children with Gartland type III supracondylar humerus fractures at our institution for a two-year period. The patients included in the study were treated with closed reduction and percutaneous pinning (CRPP) or open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF).

Intramedullary nails for pediatric diaphyseal femur fractures in older, heavier children: early results.

Purpose: A common treatment for pediatric femur fractures is intramedullary nail (IMN) insertion. Elastic stable intramedullary nails (ESINs) are often used for these procedures in heavier patients, but the potential for complications and malunion is greater. We describe here a rigid IMN specifically designed for adolescents, the adolescent lateral entry femoral nail (ALFN).

Ultrasound evaluation of ulnar nerve anatomy in the pediatric population.

Background: Ulnar nerve instability has been reported in up to 17% of children. Accurate assessment is important to achieve because of potential nerve complications that can arise from treatment of common pediatric fractures, including supracondylar humerus fractures. The objective of our study was to evaluate our ability to use ultrasonography to determine the extent of ulnar nerve dislocation in the normal pediatric population and to determine if there is a relationship between ulnar nerve instability and ligamentous laxity.

Analysis of autophagosome membrane cycling by fluorescence microscopy.

Autophagy is a physiological process functionally linked to cellular dynamics during starvation, cardiomyopathies, neurodegeneration, cellular immunity, and certain cancers. Although nearly 30 autophagy-related (ATG) genes have been identified and characterized, the molecular mechanisms of this process are only partially understood. One aspect of the pathway that has been intensely studied is the identity of the membrane source for newly formed autophagosomes.

A cycling protein complex required for selective autophagy.

Survival of environmental stress conditions requires the maintenance of cellular homeostasis. To preserve this balance, cells utilize a degradative mechanism known as autophagy. During this process, in response to starvation or other stresses, bulk cytoplasm is non-specifically sequestered within double-membrane vesicles and delivered to the lysosome/vacuole for subsequent degradation and recycling.

Recruitment of Atg9 to the preautophagosomal structure by Atg11 is essential for selective autophagy in budding yeast.

Autophagy is a conserved degradative pathway that is induced in response to various stress and developmental conditions in eukaryotic cells. It allows the elimination of cytosolic proteins and organelles in the lysosome/vacuole. In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the integral membrane protein Atg9 (autophagy-related protein 9) cycles between mitochondria and the preautophagosomal structure (PAS), the nucleating site for formation of the sequestering vesicle, suggesting a role in supplying membrane for vesicle formation and/or expansion during autophagy.

Atg27 is required for autophagy-dependent cycling of Atg9.

Autophagy is a catabolic pathway for the degradation of cytosolic proteins or organelles and is conserved among all eukaryotic cells. The hallmark of autophagy is the formation of double-membrane cytosolic vesicles, termed autophagosomes, which sequester cytoplasm; however, the mechanism of vesicle formation and the membrane source remain unclear. In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, selective autophagy mediates the delivery of specific cargos to the vacuole, the analog of the mammalian lysosome.

Atg17 regulates the magnitude of the autophagic response.

Autophagy is a catabolic process used by eukaryotic cells for the degradation and recycling of cytosolic proteins and excess or defective organelles. In yeast, autophagy is primarily a response to nutrient limitation, whereas in higher eukaryotes it also plays a role in developmental processes. Due to its essentially unlimited degradative capacity, it is critical that regulatory mechanisms are in place to modulate the timing and magnitude of the autophagic response.

Phosphorylation of the Ras-GRF1 exchange factor at Ser916/898 reveals activation of Ras signaling in the cerebral cortex.

The Ras-GRF1 exchange factor, which is regulated by increases in intracellular calcium and the release of G beta gamma subunits from heterotrimeric G proteins, plays a critical role in the activation of neuronal Ras. Activation of G protein-coupled receptors stimulates an increase in the phosphorylation of Ras-GRF1 at certain serine residues. The first of these sites to be identified, Ser(916) in the mouse sequence (equivalent to Ser(898) in the rat sequence), is required for full activation of the Ras exchange factor activity of Ras-GRF1 by muscarinic receptors.

Peroxisome senescence in human fibroblasts.

The molecular mechanisms of peroxisome biogenesis have begun to emerge; in contrast, relatively little is known about how the organelle functions as cells age. In this report, we characterize age-related changes in peroxisomes of human cells. We show that aging compromises peroxisomal targeting signal 1 (PTS1) protein import, affecting in particular the critical antioxidant enzyme catalase.