Ulnar Nerve Translocation Following a Routine Distal Radius Fracture.

A 35-year-old right hand dominant male sustained a high energy closed right distal radius fracture with associated generalized paresthesias. Following closed reduction, the patient was found to have an atypical low ulnar nerve palsy upon outpatient follow-up. After continued symptoms and an equivocal wrist MRI the patient underwent surgical exploration.

Role of Dynamic Stabilizers of the Elbow in Radiocapitellar Joint Alignment: A Prospective In Vivo Study.

Purpose: To investigate the effect of dynamic stabilizers of the elbow on radiocapitellar joint alignment, before and after the administration of regional anesthesia.

Methods: At a single institution, 14 patients were prospectively enrolled in a study using a within-subjects control design. Before performing a supraclavicular regional block, 10 fluoroscopic images (1 anteroposterior and 9 lateral views) of the elbow were obtained for each patient.

Zone 2 Flexor Tendon Repair Location and Risk of Catching on the A2 Pulley.

Purpose: To determine the region of the flexor digitorum profundus (FDP) and flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS) tendons in zone 2 that, when involved by a laceration repair, will reliably catch on the A2 pulley after surgery.

Methods: Using fresh-frozen cadavers (5 hands, 20 digits), excursions of the FDP and FDS tendons were measured in relation to the A2 pulley. The C1, A3, and C2 pulleys were resected.

CXCR4 Cardiac Specific Knockout Mice Develop a Progressive Cardiomyopathy.

Activation of multiple pathways is associated with cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure. We previously published that CXCR4 negatively regulates β-adrenergic receptor (β-AR) signaling and ultimately limits β-adrenergic diastolic (Ca) accumulation in cardiac myocytes. In isolated adult rat cardiac myocytes; CXCL12 treatment prevented isoproterenol-induced hypertrophy and interrupted the calcineurin/NFAT pathway.

A mouse model for fetal maternal stem cell transfer during ischemic cardiac injury.

Fetal cells enter the maternal circulation during pregnancies and can persist in blood and tissues for decades, creating a state of physiologic microchimerism. Microchimerism refers to acquisition of cells from another individual and can be due to bidirectional cell traffic between mother and fetus during pregnancy. Peripartum cardiomyopathy, a rare cardiac disorder associated with high mortality rates has the highest recovery rate amongst all etiologies of heart failure although the reason is unknown.

Fetal cells traffic to injured maternal myocardium and undergo cardiac differentiation.

Rationale: Fetal cells enter the maternal circulation during pregnancy and may persist in maternal tissue for decades as microchimeras.

Objective: Based on clinical observations of peripartum cardiomyopathy patients and the high rate of recovery they experience from heart failure, our objective was to determine whether fetal cells can migrate to the maternal heart and differentiate to cardiac cells.

Methods And Results: We report that fetal cells selectively home to injured maternal hearts and undergo differentiation into diverse cardiac lineages.

β2-Adrenergic receptor signaling in the cardiac myocyte is modulated by interactions with CXCR4.

Chemokines are small secreted proteins with chemoattractant properties that play a key role in inflammation, metastasis, and embryonic development. We previously demonstrated a nonchemotactic role for one such chemokine pair, stromal cell-derived factor-1α and its G-protein coupled receptor, CXCR4. Stromal cell-derived factor-1/CXCR4 are expressed on cardiac myocytes and have direct consequences on cardiac myocyte physiology by inhibiting contractility in response to the nonselective β-adrenergic receptor (βAR) agonist, isoproterenol.

Effects of CXCR4 gene transfer on cardiac function after ischemia-reperfusion injury.

Acute coronary occlusion is the leading cause of death in the Western world. There is an unmet need for the development of treatments to limit the extent of myocardial infarction (MI) during the acute phase of occlusion. Recently, investigators have focused on the use of a chemokine, CXCL12, the only identified ligand for CXCR4, as a new therapeutic modality to recruit stem cells to individuals suffering from MI.