Pharmaceutical-grade Chondroitin sulfate is as effective as celecoxib and superior to placebo in symptomatic knee osteoarthritis: the ChONdroitin versus CElecoxib versus Placebo Trial (CONCEPT).

Objectives: Chondroitin sulfate 800 mg/day (CS) pharmaceutical-grade in the management of symptomatic knee osteoarthritis consistent with the European Medicines Agency guideline.

Methods: A prospective, randomised, 6-month, 3-arm, double-blind, double-dummy, placebo and celecoxib (200 mg/day)-controlled trial assessing changes in pain on a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and in the Lequesne Index (LI) as coprimary endpoints. Minimal-Clinically Important Improvement (MCII), Patient-Acceptable Symptoms State (PASS) were used as secondary endpoints.

The Future Prevalence of Sarcopenia in Europe: A Claim for Public Health Action.

Sarcopenia is a major public health issue. To convince health policy makers of the emergency to invest in the sarcopenia field, it is of critical importance to produce reliable figures of the expected burden of sarcopenia in the coming years. Age- and gender-specific population projections were retrieved until 2045 from the Eurostat online database (28 European countries).

Surgical management of anterior cranial base fractures with cerebrospinal fluid fistulae: a single-institution experience.

Objective: The management of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) fistulae after anterior cranial base fracture remains a surgical challenge. We reviewed our results in the repair of CSF fistulae complicating multiple anterior cranial base fractures via a combined intracranial extradural and intradural approach and describe a treatment algorithm derived from this experience.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the files of 209 patients with an anterior cranial base fracture complicated by a CSF fistula who were admitted between 1980 and 2003 to Liège State University Hospital.

Acute traumatic central cord syndrome: magnetic resonance imaging and clinical observations.

Object: Acute traumatic central cord syndrome has been classically thought to be caused by a hemorrhage that primarily affects the central part of the spinal cord and that destroys the axons of the inner part of the corticospinal tract devoted to the motor control of the hands. Some authors, however, have proposed that its pathogenesis is based on the destruction of the motor neurons supplying the muscles of the hand. To test the validity of these two theories, the authors retrospectively studied the magnetic resonance (MR) images obtained in 18 cases of acute traumatic central cord syndrome (ATCCS) to assess the presence of intramedullary blood and to define the distribution of the abnormal signal intensities in the cervical spinal cord.

Lambotte syndrome: microcephaly, holoprosencephaly, intrauterine growth retardation, facial anomalies, and early lethality--a new sublethal multiple congenital anomaly/mental retardation syndrome in four sibs.

We report on an Arabic sibship originating from Morocco in which four children manifest an undiagnosed sublethal multiple congenital anomaly/mental retardation (MCA/MR) syndrome of intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR), microcephaly, large soft pinnae, telecanthus or true hypertelorism with squint, flat face, unusual hooked nose, very narrow mouth, retrognathia, and extremely severe neurologic impairment. One child was stillborn. Three others died in a cachectic state during their second year.

Trisomy 20q. A new case and further phenotypic delineation.

The present report concerns the clinical and cytogenetic findings in a liveborn girl with trisomy for the long arm of chromosome 20. She was the unbalanced product of a maternal t(18;20)(q23.2;q13.

Rieger anomaly and uveal coloboma with associated anomalies. Third observation of a rare oculo-palato-osseous syndrome--the Abruzzo-Erikson syndrome.

The authors report a girl with short stature, goniodysgenesis, bilateral iridochorio-retinal coloboma, associated with facial and acral anomalies, and borderline intelligence. Anterior chamber defect and face dysmorphism are in accordance with the diagnosis of Rieger syndrome. Some features are reminiscent of the CHARGE association.

Mosaicism of 46,XX/47,XX,+9/47,XX,+?mar in the same amniotic fluid with apparent loss of one cell line after delivery.

A 46,XX;47,XX,+9;47,XX,+?mar karyotype was detected in an amniotic fluid cell culture and confirmed in a subsequent fetal blood sample from a 40-year-old woman. After termination of the pregnancy, none of the 186 mitoses obtained from a second blood sample was trisomic for chromosome 9 (p less than 0.001).

Roberts-SC phocomelia syndrome with exencephaly.

We report a 18 weeks old fetus with the typical limb reduction anomalies of SC phocomelia syndrome, associated with exencephaly and unilateral anophthalmia, a feature previously reported in only 2 cases of severe Roberts syndrome. This observation brings another argument for lumping both diseases in a unique Roberts-SC phocomelia syndrome. Diagnosis was settled by the observation of premature centromeric splitting.

Nager acrofacial dysostosis with cleft lip.

We report a case of Nager acrofacial dysostosis, whose clinical examination disclosed some undescribed features, as a contribution to a better delineation of this syndrome. Previously unreported features include lobulated tongue, cleft lip and mental retardation. Fetal alcohol syndrome is discussed.

Chromosome 22 mosaic monosomy (46,XY/45,XY,-22).

A slightly dysmorphic and mentally defective child with mosaic monosomy 22 is reported. Chromosome 22 is absent in 10.5% of lymphocytes and 8.