Well-founded practice or personal preference: a comparison of established techniques for measuring ulnar variance in healthy children and adolescents.

Objectives: Ulnar variance is a clinical measure used to determine the relative difference in length between the radius and ulna. We aimed to examine consistency in ulnar variance measurements and normative data in children and adolescents using the perpendicular and the Hafner methods.

Methods: Two raters measured ulnar variance on hand radiographs of 350 healthy children.

Damage of the distal radial physis in young gymnasts: can three-dimensional assessment of physeal volume on MRI serve as a biomarker?

Objective: To explore the use of quantitative volume assessment to identify the presence and extent of stress-related changes of the distal radial physis in gymnasts with suspected physeal injury, asymptomatic gymnasts, and non-gymnasts.

Methods: Symptomatic gymnasts with clinically suspected distal radial physeal injury, asymptomatic gymnasts, and non-gymnasts (n = 69) were included and matched on skeletal age and sex. Volume measurements were performed on coronal water selective cartilage MRI images by creating three-dimensional physeal reconstructions semi-automatically using active-contour segmentation based on image-intensity thresholding.

A hidden mismatch between experiences of young athletes with overuse injuries of the wrist and sports physicians' perceptions: a focus group study.

Background: Although overuse wrist injuries can have serious consequences, young athletes often do not immediately report their injury to a physician. This qualitative study aimed to identify symptoms and limitations related to overuse wrist injuries that young athletes consider important and to compare those with sports physicians' opinions, in order to improve the diagnostic process for early identification of overuse wrist injuries.

Methods: Twenty-one athletes aged 13-25 years in wrist-loading sports (gymnastics, tennis, judo, field hockey, volleyball and rowing) with a (previous) overuse wrist injury were included.

Content validity of the SOS-WRIST questionnaire for timely identification of wrist overuse in young athletes.

: Young athletes do not always seek medical help for overuse wrist injuries, risking invalidating long-term consequences resulting from late diagnosis. This study aimed to develop a questionnaire to identify overuse wrist injuries in young athletes. : According to the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) criteria, items were collected from literature and 6 focus groups of sports physicians and of young athletes with (previous) overuse wrist injuries.

Health Effects of Wrist-Loading Sports During Youth: A Systematic Literature Review.

Background: The benefits and risks of performing popular wrist-loading sports at a young age have not been investigated systematically. We aimed to evaluate positive and negative long-term wrist-related health effects of sports performance requiring repetitive wrist loading during youth.

Methods: Six databases were searched for cohort and cross-sectional studies.

Systematic assessment of the growth plates of the wrist in young gymnasts: development and validation of the Amsterdam MRI assessment of the Physis (AMPHYS) protocol.

Objectives: To develop and validate a protocol for MRI assessment of the distal radial and ulnar periphyseal area in gymnasts and non-gymnasts.

Methods: Twenty-four gymnasts with wrist pain, 18 asymptomatic gymnasts and 24 non-gymnastic controls (33 girls) underwent MRI of the wrist on a 3T scanner. Sequences included coronal proton density-weighted images with and without fat saturation, and three-dimensional water-selective cartilage scan and T2 Dixon series.

Overuse wrist injuries in young athletes: What do sports physicians consider important signals and functional limitations?

This study's objective was to collect items from experienced sports physicians, relating to the presence and severity of overuse wrist injuries in young athletes, for developing a measurement instrument for signals of overuse wrist injury. Seven Dutch elite sports physicians involved in guidance and treatment of young athletes in wrist-loading sports (gymnastics, tennis, judo, field hockey, volleyball and rowing) participated in a focus group. They discussed signals and limitations related to overuse wrist injuries in young athletes.

Prevalence, incidence and risk factors for overuse injuries of the wrist in young athletes: a systematic review.

Background: Overuse wrist injuries can cause long-term symptoms in young athletes performing wrist-loading sports. Information on the prevalence, incidence and associated risk factors is required.

Purpose: We aimed to review the prevalence and incidence of overuse wrist injuries in young athletes and to identify associated risk factors.

Arthroscopic treatment of osteochondral defects of the talus: outcomes at eight to twenty years of follow-up.

Background: The primary aim of this study was to assess the long-term clinical and radiographic outcomes of arthroscopic debridement and bone marrow stimulation for talar osteochondral defects. The secondary aim was to identify prognostic factors that affect the long-term results.

Methods: Fifty (88%) of fifty-seven eligible patients with a primary osteochondral defect treated with arthroscopic debridement and bone marrow stimulation were evaluated after a mean follow-up of twelve years (range, eight to twenty years).

Diagnostic Values and Utility of Immunological, Morphological, and Molecular Methods for In Planta Detection of Phytophthora ramorum.

ABSTRACT In this study, six methods for the detection of Phytophthora ramorum in planta were compared using naturally infested rhododendron plant material. The methods included two immunological methods, one an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and the other using a lateral flow format (LFD). Three molecular tests based on the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using TaqMan chemistry also were assessed, including two assays designed for specific detection of P.

A Rapid Diagnostic Test to Distinguish Between American and European Populations of Phytophthora ramorum.

ABSTRACT A new devastating disease in the United States, commonly known as Sudden Oak Death, is caused by Phytophthora ramorum. This pathogen, which previously was described attacking species of Rhododendron and Viburnum in Germany and the Netherlands, has established itself in forests on the central coast of California and is killing scores of native oak trees (Lithocarpus densiflora, Quercus agrifolia, Q. kelloggii, and Q.

First Report of the Dagger Nematode Xiphinema rivesi, a Member of the X. americanum Group, from Slovenia.

The dagger nematode, Xiphinema rivesi Dalmasso, is a virus-transmitting plant-parasitic nematode described from France (2) and also reported from Germany, Portugal, and Spain. While this species is only known from a few local sites within Europe, it is widespread in North America and also present in Peru and Pakistan (3). X.

A signal transduction system that responds to extracellular iron.

Iron is essential for all organisms but can be toxic in excess. Iron homeostasis is typically regulated by cytoplasmic iron binding proteins, but here we describe a signal transduction system (PmrA/PmrB) that responds to extracytoplasmic ferric iron. Iron promoted transcription of PmrA-activated genes and resistance to the antibiotic polymyxin in Salmonella.

A small protein that mediates the activation of a two-component system by another two-component system.

The PmrA-PmrB two-component system of Salmonella enterica controls resistance to the peptide antibiotic polymyxin B and to several antimicrobial proteins from human neutrophils. Transcription of PmrA-activated genes is induced by high iron, but can also be promoted by growth in low magnesium in a process that requires another two-component system, PhoP-PhoQ. Here, we define the genetic basis for the interaction between the PhoP-PhoQ and PmrA-PmrB systems.

Generalized mycobacterium genavense infection in HIV-infected patients: detection of the mycobacterium in hospital tap water.

We describe 3 HIV-infected patients with disseminated M. genavense infection. The use of corticosteroids possibly favoured colonization and dissemination of atypical mycobacteria in these patients with low CD4 cell counts and may have masked symptoms of infection.

Clinical utility of the polymerase chain reaction in the diagnosis of extrapulmonary tuberculosis.

This study examines the diagnostic utility of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in 156 patients (five human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) seropositive) suspected of extrapulmonary tuberculosis. The results of PCR in 226 samples from 11 different sites were compared with the results of microscopy and culture. Positive culture results were predicted in 86% of samples by PCR but in only 31% by microscopy.

Multiplex PCR assay for immediate identification of the infecting species in patients with mycobacterial disease.

Rapid identification of infecting mycobacterial species enables appropriate medical care decisions to be made. Our aim was to demonstrate the clinical usefulness of the multiplex PCR assay, a test based on PCR, which permits direct identification of 12 mycobacterial species in clinical specimens. A total of 259 specimens from 177 patients who had clinical symptoms of mycobacterial disease but for whom there were difficulties in diagnosis were tested.

PCR detection of mycobacteraemia in tanzanian patients with extrapulmonary tuberculosis.

In 191 Tanzanian patients admitted to hospital with suspected extrapulmonary tuberculosis (TB), TB was diagnosed in 158 patients; the remaining 33 patients had neither microbiological nor clinical evidence of TB. Mycobacterium tuberculosis was detected in the blood of 25 patients, in 92% by a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique and in 52% by culture of buffy coat cells. The presence of mycobacterial DNA or Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria in peripheral blood (positive culture) was significantly associated with HIV infection; it was detected in 22 (21.

Microwell hybridization assay for detection of PCR products from Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and the recombinant Mycobacterium smegmatis strain 1008 used as an internal control.

A microwell hybridization assay was developed for the detection of the PCR products from both Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex bacteria and the recombinant Mycobacterium smegmatis strain 1008 that is used as an internal control to monitor inhibition in the PCR based on the M. tuberculosis complex-specific insertion sequence IS6110. The test is based on specific detection with digoxigenin-labeled oligonucleotide probes of biotinylated PCR products which are captured in a microtiter plate coated with streptavidin.

The potential contribution of the polymerase chain reaction to the diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis.

Objective: To examine diagnostic utility of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in tuberculous meningitis (TBM).

Design: Comparison study.

Setting: Referral center for tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and research laboratory in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Early diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis by polymerase chain reaction.

Background: Rapid detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is of vital importance for patients with tuberculous meningitis. We evaluated an improved polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique for rapid and specific identification of M tuberculosis in CSF.

Methods: The technique was used on CSF samples from 42 patients (3 of whom were human immunodeficiency virus seropositive) with clinical symptoms, signs and laboratory findings suggestive of tuberculous meningitis.

PCR assay based on DNA coding for 16S rRNA for detection and identification of mycobacteria in clinical samples.

A PCR and a reverse cross blot hybridization assay were developed for the detection and identification of mycobacteria in clinical samples. The PCR amplifies a part of the DNA coding for 16S rRNA with a set of primers that is specific for the genus Mycobacterium and that flanks species-specific sequences within the genes coding for 16S rRNA. The PCR product is analyzed in a reverse cross blot hybridization assay with probes specific for M.