Cancer may accelerate locomotive syndrome and deteriorate quality of life: a single-centre cross-sectional study of locomotive syndrome in cancer patients.

Background: Thanks to recent advancement in cancer treatment, an increasing number of cancer patients are expected to live longer with cancer. The ambulatory ability is essential for cancer patients to spend their own independent lives, but locomotive syndrome (LS), a condition of reduced mobility due to impairment of locomotive organs, in cancer patients has been seldom examined.

Methods: This was a single-institutional cross-sectional study.

Involvement of orthopaedic surgeons for cancer patients in orthopaedic training facilities certified by the Japanese Orthopaedic Association - A nationwide survey.

Background: In order to improve cancer care in Japan further, it is now required for orthopaedic surgeons to get actively involved in managing locomotive organs such as bones, muscles and nerves in cancer patients. In 2018, the Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) conducted a questionnaire survey to investigate the current status of cancer treatment at the orthopaedic training facilities certified by the JOA. We analyzed the results of that questionnaire survey, focusing on the data from the core hospitals for cancer care (designated cancer hospitals), to clarify the involvement of orthopaedic surgeons in cancer treatment.

Accuracy and reliability of a smartphone application for measuring the knee joint angle.

[Purpose] Recently, a photo-based smartphone application for angle measurement-"Grid line imaging application Professional"-was developed to evaluate joint disease treatments. The aim of this study was to determine the accuracy and reliability of the application. [Participants and Methods] We measured the knee joint of a mannequin using an application and a universal goniometer.

Three-Dimensional Motion Analysis of Lumbopelvic Rhythm During Trunk Extension.

Hip-spine coordination, known as the lumbopelvic rhythm, can be expressed as the lumbar-hip ratio. The lumbopelvic rhythm and lumbar-hip ratio can be used to assess lower limb function. We clarified the lumbopelvic rhythm and lumbar-hip ratio during trunk extension.

Mortality-Reducing Effect of Rehabilitation for COPD: Observational Propensity-Matched Cohort Study Using a Nationwide Database.

Background: In the course of therapy of patients with COPD, non-pharmacologic treatment, such as rehabilitation, plays an important role. Although some studies have provided concrete evidence of the effectiveness of rehabilitation in improving functional outcomes in subjects with COPD, evidence of its mortality-reducing effect has been insufficient. In the present study, we examined whether rehabilitation had positive effects on in-hospital mortality of subjects with COPD.

Three-dimensional motion analysis of lumbopelvic rhythm during lateral trunk bending.

[Purpose] To examine the variations in the lumbopelvic rhythm and lumbar-hip ratio in the frontal plane. [Subjects and Methods] Markers were placed on the T10 and T12 spinous processes, bilateral paravertebral muscles at the T11 level, the pelvis, and the femur. Lumbar spine and hip angles were measured during lateral trunk bending using three-dimensional motion analysis.

Neck range of motion measurements using a new three-dimensional motion analysis system: validity and repeatability.

Purpose: Neck movement is important for many activities of daily living (ADL). Neck disorders, such as cervical spondylosis and whiplash can limit neck movement and ADL. The cervical range of motion (CROM) device has been recently used to measure neck range of motion (ROM); however, this measurement includes trunk motion, and therefore does not represent a pure neck ROM measurement.

Education and related support from medical specialists for Japanese patients with major skeletal dysplasias.

Background: Skeletal dysplasias manifest various clinical symptoms. Age at onset, severity, and progression of symptoms differ even among individuals with the same diagnosis. Though necessary support in education is presumed to differ among patients with different disorders, few articles report on education in patients with skeletal dysplasias.

Novel 3-dimensional motion analysis method for measuring the lumbar spine range of motion: repeatability and reliability compared with an electrogoniometer.

Study Design: Repeatability and reliability for measuring methods for real-time lumbar range of motion.

Objective: We established a novel set of marker positions for 3-dimensional motion analysis (VICON system) to determine lumbar spine range of motion (LROM) and lumbar motion precisely; we compared the repeatability and reliability of VICON system with those of an electrogoniometer.

Summary Of Background Data: The assessment of the LROM using x-ray is still one of the most precise methods, despite the radiation exposure.

Two-dimensional video gait analyses in patients with congenital insensitivity to pain.

Purpose: To clarify the features of gait in patients with congenital insensitivity to pain (CIP) by analyzing the video-recorded gait.

Methods: Eleven patients with the diagnosis of hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathy (HSAN) type 4 or 5 and 15 healthy participants were enrolled in this study. Gait was analyzed using two-dimensional (2D) digital video and video analysis software.

A genome-wide sib-pair linkage analysis of ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament of the spine.

Ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament of the spine (OPLL) is a common musculoskeletal disease among people after middle age. The OPLL presents with serious neurological abnormalities due to compression of the spinal cord and nerve roots. The OPLL is caused by genetic and environment factors; however, its etiology and pathogenesis still remain to be elucidated.

β-catenin regulates parathyroid hormone/parathyroid hormone-related protein receptor signals and chondrocyte hypertrophy through binding to the intracellular C-terminal region of the receptor.

Objective: To investigate the underlying mechanisms of action and functional relevance of β-catenin in chondrocytes, by examining the role of β-catenin as a novel protein that interacts with the intracellular C-terminal portion of the parathyroid hormone (PTH)/PTH-related protein (PTHrP) receptor type 1 (PTHR-1).

Methods: The β-catenin-PTHR-1 binding region was determined with deletion and mutagenesis analyses of the PTHR1 C-terminus, using a mammalian two-hybrid assay. Physical interactions between these 2 molecules were examined with an in situ proximity ligation assay and immunostaining.

G alpha(q) signal in osteoblasts is inhibitory to the osteoanabolic action of parathyroid hormone.

This study examined the role of the Gα(q) signal constituted by Gα(q) and Gα(11) (encoded by Gnα(q) and Gnα(11), respectively), a major intracellular pathway of parathyroid hormone (PTH), in the PTH osteoanabolic action by the gain- and loss-of-function analyses. Transgenic mice with osteoblast-specific overexpression of the constitutively active Gnα(q) gene under the control of 2.3-kb type I collagen α1 chain (Col1a1) promoter exhibited osteopenia with decreased bone formation parameters and did not respond to the daily PTH treatment.

[Cytokines in bone diseases. Genetic defects of PTH/PTHrP receptor in chondrodysplasia].

Parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) signaling plays important roles in regulating the differentiation of chondrocytes in endochondral bone development. PTHrP signaling functions as an inhibitory effect on chondrocyte hypertrophy which is a terminal stage of differentiation at a growth plate. Mutations of the PTH÷PTHrP receptor have been identified in Jansen metaphyseal chondrodysplasia, Blomstrand's lethal chondrodysplasia, and enchondromatosis.

Antiapoptotic molecule Bcl-2 is essential for the anabolic activity of parathyroid hormone in bone.

The antiapoptotic molecule Bcl-2 inhibits apoptosis by preventing cytochrome c release from mitochondria. Although several studies have indicated the importance of Bcl-2 in maintaining skeletal integrity, the detailed cellular and molecular mechanisms remain elusive. Since Bcl-2(-/-) mice die before six weeks of age on account of renal failure and cannot be compared to adult wild-type mice, we generated Bcl-2(-/-)Bim(+/-) mice, in which a single Bim allele was inactivated, and compared them with their Bcl-2(+/-)Bim(+/-) littermates.

Akt1 in murine chondrocytes controls cartilage calcification during endochondral ossification under physiologic and pathologic conditions.

Objective: To examine the role of the phosphoinositide-dependent serine/threonine protein kinase Akt1 in chondrocytes during endochondral ossification.

Methods: Skeletal phenotypes of homozygous Akt1-deficient (Akt1(-/-)) mice and their wild-type littermates were compared in radiologic and histologic analyses. An experimental osteoarthritis (OA) model was created by surgically inducing instability in the knee joints of mice.

Mechanisms underlying catabolic and anabolic functions of parathyroid hormone on bone by combination of culture systems of mouse cells.

Since bone resorption and formation by continuous and intermittent parathyroid hormone (PTH) treatments involve various types of cells in bone, this study examined the underlying mechanism by combining culture systems using mouse primary calvarial osteoblasts and bone marrow cells. The PTH/PTHrP receptor (PTH1R) expression and the cAMP accumulation in response to PTH were increased in accordance with the differentiation of osteoblasts. Osteoclast formation was strongly induced by continuous PTH treatment in the monolayer co-culture of osteoblasts and bone marrow cells, which was associated with RANKL expression in differentiated osteoblasts.

Screening of chondrogenic factors with a real-time fluorescence-monitoring cell line ATDC5-C2ER: identification of sorting nexin 19 as a novel factor.

Objective: To establish a cell culture system for noninvasive and real-time monitoring of chondrogenic differentiation in order to screen for chondrogenic factors.

Methods: The optimum reporter construct transfected into chondrogenic ATDC5 cells was selected by a luciferase reporter assay and fluorescence analysis during cultures with insulin. The established cell line was validated according to its fluorescence following stimulation with SOX proteins, bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2), or transforming growth factor beta (TGFbeta) and was compared with the level of messenger RNA for COL2A1 as well as with the degree of Alcian blue staining.

Identification of the core element responsive to runt-related transcription factor 2 in the promoter of human type X collagen gene.

Objective: Type X collagen and runt-related transcription factor 2 (RUNX-2) are known to be important for chondrocyte hypertrophy during skeletal growth and repair and development of osteoarthritis (OA) in mice. Aiming at clinical application, this study was undertaken to investigate transcriptional regulation of human type X collagen by RUNX-2 in human cells.

Methods: Localization of type X collagen and RUNX-2 was determined by immunohistochemistry, and their functional interaction was examined in cultured mouse chondrogenic ATDC-5 cells.

[Optimization of signaling pathways for bone regeneration].

We have developed an ES cell-based monitoring system for osteogenic differentiation and identified a potent combination of osteogenic genes. ES cells were isolated from mice carrying a transgene expressing GFP driven by the 2.3 kb fragment of rat type I collagen alpha1 promoter.

Kruppel-like factor 5 causes cartilage degradation through transactivation of matrix metalloproteinase 9.

Although degradation of cartilage matrix has been suggested to be a rate-limiting step for endochondral ossification during skeletal development, little is known about the transcriptional regulation. This study investigated the involvement of KLF5 (Krüppel-like factor 5), an Sp/KLF family member, in the skeletal development. KLF5 was expressed in chondrocytes and osteoblasts but not in osteoclasts.

Phosphorylation of GSK-3beta by cGMP-dependent protein kinase II promotes hypertrophic differentiation of murine chondrocytes.

cGMP-dependent protein kinase II (cGKII; encoded by PRKG2) is a serine/threonine kinase that is critical for skeletal growth in mammals; in mice, cGKII deficiency results in dwarfism. Using radiographic analysis, we determined that this growth defect was a consequence of an elongated growth plate and impaired chondrocyte hypertrophy. To investigate the mechanism of cGKII-mediated chondrocyte hypertrophy, we performed a kinase substrate array and identified glycogen synthase kinase-3beta (GSK-3beta; encoded by Gsk3b) as a principal phosphorylation target of cGKII.

[Involvement of insulin and IGF-1 signaling molecules in bone metabolism].

Insulin and IGF-1 signaling is the most important factors in diabetes, but is also important regulators in bone metabolism. Insulin and IGF-1 have anabolic effects on osteoblasts in vitro and an association of diabetes with abnormal bone metabolism has been reported. Insulin receptor substrates (IRS), which is a main target molecule of insulin/IGF-1 receptor signaling, have been shown to play important roles in maintaining normal bone turn-over by skeletal analysis of IRS-1 and -2 knock-out mice.