The effect of autoclaving on the mechanical properties of bank bovine bone.

Xenologous bone grafts are frequently used in modern orthopaedic surgery. There is a risk of infection associated with the transmission of diseases among different species for these types of grafts. As for bovine bone grafts in recent times attention has been paid to the diffusion in various countries of the European Economic Community of "bovine spongiform encephalopathy"; this pertains to the same group of encephalopathies as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease which strikes humans and has a lethal outcome.

Seckel's syndrome: presentation of one case associated with Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease.

The authors present the case of one patient affected with Seckel's syndrome which came to their observation as a result of pain in the hip with limping, diagnosed after Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease. There seems to be an accidental relationship between the two diseases, although Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease is frequently described in all cases of endocrinous dwarfism.

[Apophysis detachment in adolescents].

The authors present a review of 37 patients (mean age 15 years), treated in our Institute from 1974 to 1984 for an apophysis detachment. The lesions were mainly due to indirect trauma. The results verify that a complete functional activity may be achieved also by an incomplete reduction of bone fragments and that conservative treatment is sufficient for almost all patients.