Atlantoaxial Subluxation as the Initial Presentation of Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Case Report.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is known for its diverse manifestations, although atlantoaxial subluxation is a rare complication. This case report sheds light on the complexity of RA diagnosis, especially in the elderly, and emphasizes the significance of primary care in identifying atypical presentations. A 68-year-old male with a history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hypertension, prior traumatic neck spinal injury, and lumbosacral stenosis presented to a rural community hospital with neck pain, bilateral numbness, and arm weakness.

A Single Case Study Comparing High Tibial Osteotomy With Matrix-Associated Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation With Medial Collateral Ligament Release Treating Bilateral Severe Medial Knee Osteoarthritis.

Case: A 62-year-old woman with bilateral severe medial unicompartmental knee osteoarthritis underwent right high tibial osteotomy (HTO) at the age of 49 and left matrix-associated autologous chondrocyte implantation covering with periosteum (pMACI) with medial collateral ligament (MCL) release at age 52 years. At the 13-year follow-up, she could walk and trek with good clinical scores, had high patient satisfaction, and had cartilaginous reparative tissue seen at second-look arthroscopy in her left knee.

Conclusion: This case suggests that pMACI with MCL release might be a possible alternative to HTO in a varus knee undergoing cartilage replacement surgery when HTO is contraindicated.

Delayed gadolinium-enhanced MRI of cartilage and T2 mapping for evaluation of reparative cartilage-like tissue after autologous chondrocyte implantation associated with Atelocollagen-based scaffold in the knee.

Objective: To elucidate the quality of tissue-engineered cartilage after an autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) technique with Atelocollagen gel as a scaffold in the knee in the short- to midterm postoperatively, we assessed delayed gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of cartilage (dGEMRIC) and T2 mapping and clarified the relationship between T1 and T2 values and clinical results.

Materials And Methods: In this cross-sectional study, T1 and T2 mapping were performed on 11 knees of 8 patients (mean age at ACI, 37.2 years) with a 3.

Implantation of tissue-engineered cartilage-like tissue for the treatment for full-thickness cartilage defects of the knee.

Purpose: The purposes of this study were to evaluate early- to midterm clinical results after implantation of tissue-engineered cartilage-like tissue for the treatment for full-thickness cartilage defects of the knee and to identify the factors affecting the final clinical results.

Methods: Tissue-engineered cartilage-like tissue was prepared by culturing autologous chondrocytes in atelocollagen gel for 3-4 weeks. A total of 73 knees of 72 patients with full-thickness cartilage defects were implanted with this tissue-engineered cartilage-like tissue.

Evaluation of magnetic resonance imaging and clinical outcome after tissue-engineered cartilage implantation: prospective 6-year follow-up study.

Background: Autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) is an important procedure when repairing cartilage defects of the knee. We previously reported several basic studies on tissue-engineered cartilage, and conducted a multicenter clinical study in 2009. In this clinical study, we evaluated the patients' clinical scores and MRI findings before and after tissue-engineered cartilage implantation, and compared the data obtained at 1 year and approximately 6 years post-implantation.

Mechanisms for noncontact anterior cruciate ligament injuries: knee joint kinematics in 10 injury situations from female team handball and basketball.

Background: The mechanism for noncontact anterior cruciate ligament injury is still a matter of controversy. Video analysis of injury tapes is the only method available to extract biomechanical information from actual anterior cruciate ligament injury cases.

Purpose: This article describes 3-dimensional knee joint kinematics in anterior cruciate ligament injury situations using a model-based image-matching technique.

Self-assembled M24L48 polyhedra and their sharp structural switch upon subtle ligand variation.

Self-assembly is a powerful technique for the bottom-up construction of discrete, well-defined nanoscale structures. Large multicomponent systems (with more than 50 components) offer mechanistic insights into biological assembly but present daunting synthetic challenges. Here we report the self-assembly of giant M24L48 coordination spheres from 24 palladium ions (M) and 48 curved bridging ligands (L).

Acute osteomyelitis of the acetabulum induced by Staphylococcus capitis in a young athlete.

Acute hematogenous osteomyelitis (AHOM) of the acetabulum is a rare condition in children and usually caused by Staphylococcus aureus. We present an 11-year-old soccer athlete who suffered from acute osteomyelitis involving the acetabulum caused by S. capitis, a normal flora of the human skin but never reported in this condition.

Switchable trans-cis interconversion of an amphiphilic anthracene trimer.

Three anthracene rings connected by m-phenylene spacers with hydroxy groups generate isolable trans- and cis-atropisomers whose interconversion is solvent sensitive and can be activated at room temperature by an external stimulus (base).

Use of bisphosphonates for the treatment of stress fractures in athletes.

A literature review was performed to investigate the potential role of bisphosphonates for the treatment of stress fractures in athletes. Given the inhibitory action on osteoclast-mediated bone resorption, short-term suppression of bone remodeling using bisphosphonates could potentially treat stress fractures and prevent stress fractures from becoming regular fractures. To date, while there are some animal studies showing the scientific basis of bisphosphonates on stress fractures, there is still no conclusive evidence to prove any effect of bisphosphonates on stress fracture healing in humans.

Clinical application of scaffolds for cartilage tissue engineering.

The purpose of this paper is to review the basic science and clinical literature on scaffolds clinically available for the treatment of articular cartilage injuries. The use of tissue-engineered grafts based on scaffolds seems to be as effective as conventional ACI clinically. However, there is limited evidence that scaffold techniques result in homogeneous distribution of cells.

Bone union of painful bipartite patella after treatment with low-intensity pulsed ultrasound: report of two cases.

We report two cases of painful bipartite patella in which bone union was achieved after treatment with low-intensity pulsed ultrasound. Both patients were 13-year-old males. Each received ultrasound (SAFHS, EXOGEN) for 20 min a day.

[The effect of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs on upper gastrointestinal disorders in orthopaedic patients].

We investigated the effect of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) on upper gastrointestinal(GI) disorders in orthopaedic patients. Among a total of 1,923 patients (946 men and 977 women, mean age: 53 years) who received NSAIDs, 486 patients (25%) experienced some adverse reactions including mild GI symptoms, 364 patients (19%) had gastric mucosal lesion, and 37 patients (2%) had gastric ulcer. The number of patients with upper GI disorders was significantly higher in patients aged 50 years or older, than those under 50 years.

Temporal change of joint position sense after posterior cruciate ligament reconstruction using multi-stranded hamstring tendons.

A total of 29 patients who had undergone posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) reconstruction using multi-stranded hamstring tendons were prospectively followed-up for joint stability and proprioceptive function at a minimum of 24 months after surgery. We measured temporal changes of the posterior laxity by stress radiography and the KT-2000 arthrometer, and we also measured joint position sense for an average of 42 months (range 24-78 months). In terms of results, improvement of joint stability was observed postoperatively and maintained over 2 years after PCL reconstruction, although posterior stability in the reconstructed knee was not identical to the contralateral normal knee.

Osteochondral lesion located at the lateral femoral condyle reconstructed by the transplantation of tissue-engineered cartilage in combination with a periosteum with bone block: a case report.

We report herein the successful treatment of a patient with an osteochondral defect extending to the edge of the lateral femoral condyle by transplantation of tissue-engineered cartilage made ex vivo using atelocollagen gel covered by periosteum with a bone block to reconstruct the normal contour of the femoral condyle.

Drilling from the intercondylar area for treatment of osteochondritis dissecans of the knee joint.

We demonstrate a new method in which a drilling is made from the intercondylar space, and its efficacy in treating osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) of the knee in skeletally immature patients with relatively stable lesions with an intact articular surface, in cases where there was failure of initial non-operative management. The lesions of 16 knees of 12 patients with OCD of the femoral condyles failed to heal by conservative treatment for more than 3 months (average 5-6 months) and thereafter were arthroscopically treated with drilling from not the transarticular but the intercondylar bare area without damaging the articular surface. Eight lesions involved the medial femoral condyle, and eight involved the lateral femoral condyle.

Results of rasping of meniscal tears with and without anterior cruciate ligament injury as evaluated by second-look arthroscopy.

Purpose: Meniscal rasping without suturing has been experimentally shown to stimulate vascular induction in tears in the avascular zone of menisci, resulting in meniscal healing. The goals of this study were to arthroscopically assess the results of meniscal rasping and analyze the factors affecting meniscal healing.

Type Of Study: Retrospective cohort study.

Effects of cell density on proliferation and matrix synthesis of chondrocytes embedded in atelocollagen gel.

The effects of cell density on the proliferation and chondroitin sulfate synthesis of chondrocytes embedded in Atelocollagen gel were examined. Chondrocytes of 21 10-week-old Japanese white rabbits isolated by collagenase digestion were embedded in Atelocollagen gel and cultured in Dulbecco's modified Eagles medium at cell densities of 2 x 105 cells/ml (105 group), 2 x 106 cells/ml (106 group), and 2 x 107 cells/ml (107 group) for 4 weeks. Chondrocytes in the 105 group gradually proliferated more than the other two groups.

Cryotherapy influences joint laxity and position sense of the healthy knee joint.

Objective: To investigate the influences of cryotherapy on the anteroposterior (AP) laxity and the joint position sense of the knee.

Design: Experimental.

Setting: University hospital in Japan.

Treatment of growth plate injury with autogenous chondrocytes: a study in rabbits.

We designed this study to investigate transplantation of autogenous chondrocytes cultured in atelocollagen gel to treat the injured growth plate. An experimental model of growth arrest was made by resecting the medial two thirds of the left proximal tibial physis in 8-10-week-old Japanese white rabbits. Autogenous chondrocytes, which had been harvested from cartilage of the knee joints, embedded in atelocollagen gel, and cultured for a week, were transplanted into the defect in the growth plate.

Mechanoreceptors in the anterior cruciate ligament contribute to the joint position sense.

We have investigated the correlation between the number of mechanoreceptors in anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) remnants and the joint position sense just before an ACL reconstruction in 29 patients. The number of mechanoreceptors was evaluated histologically, using the Gairns gold chloride method. Mechanoreceptors were also found in patients who had a long interval between injury and the operation.

Mechanical properties of newly developed loop ligament for connection between the EndoButton and hamstring tendons: comparison with Ethibond sutures and Endobutton tape.

A new artificial loop ligament (LL) without mechanical weak points, such as a knot, has been developed to connect the EndoButton and hamstring tendons for anterior or posterior cruciate ligament (CL) reconstruction. This study assessed the mechanical properties of the LL and sutures (No. 5 Ethibond thread, EndoButton tape) and those of the different CL constructs with these materials and fixation devices commonly used in CL reconstruction.