Meniscus matching: evaluation of direct anatomical, indirect radiographic, and photographic methods in 10 cadaver knees.

Introduction: When performing meniscus transplantation, allograft size must be carefully matched to the host knee anatomy. The radiographic method devised by Pollard et al. is the current reference standard for meniscus size matching.

Rotator cuff repair.

Rotator cuff surgery is developing at a fast pace, with progress in arthroscopic techniques driving much of its advance. Overall, functional outcomes are satisfactory. Tendon healing, however, is inconsistently obtained.

Pulmonary function and sleep-related breathing disorders in severely obese children.

Background & Aims: To evaluate the frequency of pulmonary function and sleep-breathing disorders in severely obese children and to search for their association with obesity phenotypes.

Methods: Sleep studies and spirometry were performed for 54 severely obese children.

Results: Upper airway resistances (RAWs) were increased with RAW>200% and forced 25s expiratory volume<80% in 83% and 60% of individuals, respectively.

Characteristics of patients with spinal tuberculosis in a French teaching hospital.

Objective: To investigate the characteristics of patients managed for spinal tuberculosis at the rheumatology department of the Tours Teaching Hospital, France, between 1986 and 2003.

Methods: Retrospective chart review. The incidence, epidemiology, clinical features, imaging study findings, and diagnostic procedures were recorded.

Psoriatic arthritis.

Psoriatic arthritis exhibits specific characteristics that create challenges for physicians attempting to manage the disease. Active research has produced new knowledge in the fields of epidemiology, diagnostic criteria, evaluation tools, outcome prediction, and treatment. Biotherapies have been introduced for psoriatic arthritis, creating a need for a reappraisal of evaluation tools, outcome prediction, and parameters reflecting treatment effects.

Naturalistic survey on nonsteroidal antiinflammatory treatment in patients with musculoskeletal pain.

Objective And Methods: To evaluate patients' opinions about the gastrointestinal safety and areas for improvement of conventional nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug (NSAID) therapy for musculoskeletal pain, the Louis Harris Institute conducted a survey in 401 patients selected in France using a quota sampling method.

Results: Three hundred and five patients (76%) described their pain as incapacitating. Nearly, one-third of the patients (125/401, 31%) reported gastrointestinal side effects, which prompted endoscopy in 24 (24/125, 20%) and gastroprotective drug treatment (usually by a proton pump inhibitor) in 100 (100/125, 82%).

Presence of increased stiffness of the common carotid artery and endothelial dysfunction in severely obese children: a prospective study.

Background: Epidemiological studies suggest that obesity-induced atherosclerosis may start in childhood, but this process has never been demonstrated. We looked for arterial changes and investigated their relation to cardiovascular risk factors in obese children.

Methods: Non-invasive ultrasonographic measurements were made in 48 severely obese children and 27 controls to investigate arterial mechanics and endothelial function.

Destructive hip disease complicating traumatic paraplegia.

Recent progress in the management of spinal cord injury has provided longer survivals, and as a result the incidence of secondary bone and joint disorders has increased. Joint lesions due to syringomyelia complicating a cervical spinal cord injury are the most common of these disorders. We report a case of destructive hip disease 7 years after an injury responsible for complete paraplegia with sensory loss.

Monostotic fibrous dysplasia of the lumbar spine.

Monostotic fibrous dysplasia is exceedingly rare. We report a case in a 61-year-old woman with a history of recurrent low back pain and sciatica since 35 years of age. While walking, she suddenly experienced pain in her right thigh.

Cervical spine involvement in psoriatic arthritis.

Unlabelled: The clinical and radiographic manifestations of cervical spine involvement in psoriatic arthritis remain incompletely described. Only one case-control study has been reported.

Objective: To conduct a case-control study of the clinical and radiographic manifestations of cervical spine involvement in psoriatic arthritis.

Can an anomalous lumbo-sacral or lumbo-iliac articulation cause low back pain? A retrospective study of 12 cases.

Unlabelled: Although anomalous lumbo-sacral articulations are present in 5 to 7% of the population at large, their clinical relevance remains a matter of debate. Articulation between the L5 transverse process and the sacrum or ilium has been implicated as a cause of low back pain.

Objective: To define symptoms and effects of steroid injections in patients with an articulation between a L5 transverse process and the sacrum or ilium.

Low back pain: risk factors for chronicity.

The burden of low back pain disability has increased steadily over the last few decades in western countries. The high social and economic cost of low back pain is related to the minority of individuals who lose more than six months from work. Although the risk factors for low back pain have been well delineated, methodologic obstacles have hindered the collection of information on factors associated with a chronic course.

Infectious discitis diagnostic contribution of laboratory tests and percutaneous discovertebral biopsy.

Clinical and laboratory findings in 120 patients with suspected discitis (loss of disk height and erosions of the vertebral endplates on plain radiographs) were reviewed and compared with percutaneous discovertebral biopsy results. Patients were categorized into three groups based on whether the symptoms developed after an invasive procedure (Group I), during septicemia (Group II), or spontaneously (Group III). Group II patients were more likely to have fever and had higher mean erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein values.

Resting energy expenditure and food-induced thermogenesis in obese children.

Nineteen overweight girls 14.54 +/- 0.38 years of age were studied.