Sitting foot: posture dependent changes of volume, edema and perfusion of the foot. A prospective interventional study with 27 volunteers.

Background: Sitting is known to be bad for your cardiovascular health. We furthermore hypothesized that sitting posture will reduce perfusion of the foot and increase edema, possibly predisposing to disease like osteochondritis.

Methods: We included 27 healthy volunteers and performed MRI measurements including arterial spin labelling (ASL) and intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) perfusion as well as short tau inversion recovery (STIR) edema measurement and 3D volumetry.

Ultra-marathon runners are different: investigations into pain tolerance and personality traits of participants of the TransEurope FootRace 2009.

Introduction: Susceptibility to pain varies among individuals and may predispose to a higher risk for pain disorders. Thus, it is of interest to investigate subjects who exhibit higher resistance to pain. We therefore tested pain tolerance and assessed personality traits of ultra-marathon athletes who are able to run 4487 km (2789 mi) over 64 days without resting days and compare the results to controls.

The foot in multistage ultra-marathon runners: experience in a cohort study of 22 participants of the Trans Europe Footrace Project with mobile MRI.

Objectives: 67 runners participated in the Trans Europe FootRace 2009 (TEFR09), a 4487 km (2789 mi) multistage ultra-marathon covering the south of Europe (Bari, Italy) to the North Cape. Reports on ultra-marathons are lacking, but the literature reports overuse injuries in athletes, especially to the Achilles tendon (AT), ankle or hind foot. Bone oedema may be related to exposure and is present in fatigue fractures.

Can computer-assisted surgery reduce the effective dose for spinal fusion and sacroiliac screw insertion?

Background: The increasing use of fluoroscopy-based surgical procedures and the associated exposure to radiation raise questions regarding potential risks for patients and operating room personnel. Computer-assisted technologies can help to reduce the emission of radiation; the effect on the patient's dose for the three-dimensional (3-D)-based technologies has not yet been evaluated.

Questions/purposes: We determined the effective and organ dose in dorsal spinal fusion and percutaneous transsacral screw stabilization during conventional fluoroscopy-assisted and computer-navigated procedures.

Recovery of whisking function promoted by manual stimulation of the vibrissal muscles after facial nerve injury requires insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1).

Recently, we showed that manual stimulation (MS) of denervated vibrissal muscles enhanced functional recovery following facial nerve cut and suture (FFA) by reducing poly-innervation at the neuro-muscular junctions (NMJ). Although the cellular correlates of poly-innervation are established, with terminal Schwann cells (TSC) processes attracting axon sprouts to "bridge" adjacent NMJ, molecular correlates are poorly understood. Since quantitative RT-PCR revealed a rapid increase of IGF-1 mRNA in denervated muscles, we examined the effect of daily MS for 2 months after FFA in IGF-1(+/-) heterozygous mice; controls were wild-type (WT) littermates including intact animals.

The migration of femoral components after total hip replacement surgery: accuracy and precision of software-aided measurements.

Objective: To assess the accuracy and precision of a software-aided system to measure migration of femoral components after total hip replacement (THR) on digitised radiographs.

Design And Patients: Subsidence and varus-valgus tilt of THR stems within the femur were measured on digitised anteroposterior pelvic radiographs. The measuring software (UMA, GEMED, Germany) relies on bony landmarks and comparability parameters of two consecutive radiographs.