[The evolution of AO/ASIF views on fracture treatment].

The evolution of AO/ASIF views on fracture treatment, which has occured within last 50 years, is described in the present paper. In that time AO principles has been changed from mechanical approach to fracture care to methods considering first of all the biological aspects of injury. It has been manifested in invention of new implants of lower affect on bone tissue and emphasizing of soft tissue and atraumatic surgery technique importance.

Gene therapy in cancer.

Genetics have and will continue to have a strong and often controversial impact on our lives. Since the first human gene therapy in 1989, data from some 400 officially approved trials have been reported; only a handful appears promising. Of course, one must discern between gene replacements that correct inherited genetic disorders for life and the specific replacement of mutant genes that initiate or maintain the malignant phenotype with a correct gene copy.

Raloxifene: another selective estrogen modulator.

The role of estrogens as one of the prime stimulators of tumor cell proliferation is well recognized; efforts to interfere with the initiation and promotion of breast and other cancers by endocrine manipulation have a long and successful past. The benzothiophene derivate Raloxifene is a relatively recent newcomer into a heterogeneous family of compounds loosely called antiestrogens, which implies their ability to act as antagonists to estrogen effects via competitive binding to various steroid receptors. This is a reductionist explanation, since their action is colorful and varied; they interact with lipid transduction cascades, covalently bind to DNA and to different proteins and regulate growth factors and the expression of various genes, such as erB2, mdr1 and p53; they complex with E-cadherin/catenin and are thus able to induce apoptosis, actively or indirectly.

Functional outcome after tibial tubercle transfer for the painful patella alta.

Twenty-five patients with painful patella alta without symptomatic subluxation were identified in a prospective database. All patients had a distal tibial tubercle transfer and preoperative knee arthroscopy. The mean postoperative followup was 2.