Joints

Background "Turf toe" is a classical capsuloligamentous injury to the plantar surface of the metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joint of the great toe. The name is synonymous with injuries sustained on artificial turf or hard grounds. The classical injury pattern is a hyperdorsiflexion injury with an axial load. The outcomes of these injuries are unpredictable and there are no clear guidelines for the management of these injuries. These injuries are debilitating and can lead to long-term problems and inability to return to pre-injury activity level if missed...

In a depopulating society, it is difficult to ensure sufficient resources and finances for health and health care. Thus, effective management of the reform of the healthcare system by visualizing the quality, efficiency, and equity of health care is imperative. This article presents an overview of the studies conducted by my team in this area over the past 35 years, covering the following four sections: (1) visualization of healthcare system using individual-level data, (2) healthcare system at the organizational level, (3) healthcare system at the national and regional levels, and (4) creation of a social system for health...

Association testing has been widely used to study the relationship between genetic variants and phenotypes. Most association testing methods are genotype-based, i.e. first estimate genotype and then regress phenotype on estimated genotype and other variables. Directly testing methods based on next generation sequencing (NGS) data without genotype calling have been proposed and shown advantage over genotype-based methods in the scenarios when genotype calling is not accurate. NGS data-based single-variant testing have been proposed including our previously proposed single-variant testing method, i...

Angiopterisnodosipetiolata Ting Wang tris, H.F.Chen & Y.H.Yan, a new fern of Marattiaceae, is described and illustrated. Morphologically, A.nodosipetiolata is similar to A.chingii with more than one naked pulvinus on the stipe and numerous jointed hairs on the undersides of the mature pinnae. However, the pinnae of A.nodosipetiolata are lanceolate and can reach up to 4-6 pairs, whereas they are elliptic and occur in 2-3 pairs in A.chingii . Phylogenetic and genetic distance analysis, based on the plastid genomes, also indicates that A...

INTRODUCTION: Bone and Joint Infections (BJI) have high morbidity. Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has increased. Culture-based diagnosis has difficult to recovering fastidious bacteria and detecting polymicrobial infections, molecular methods offer a promising improvement for the diagnosis of BJI with reduced time to result. The aim of the study was to determine the correlation between culture results and the Biofire joint infection panel (BJIP) in a cohort of pediatric patients with BJI...

BACKGROUND: Accurate classification of breast nodules into benign and malignant types is critical for the successful treatment of breast cancer. Traditional methods rely on subjective interpretation, which can potentially lead to diagnostic errors. Artificial intelligence (AI)-based methods using the quantitative morphological analysis of ultrasound images have been explored for the automated and reliable classification of breast cancer. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of AI-based approaches for improving diagnostic accuracy and patient outcomes...

BACKGROUND: The newly defined angle, quadriceps-patella angle (QPA), reflects the combined force transmitted to the patella by the quadriceps muscles and patellar tendon. An increase in QPA may correlate with an increased force on the patella, which is significant in diagnosing patellofemoral instability and pain syndrome. In our study, we examined how various angles and pathologies vary depending on lateral patellar tilt angle (LPTA). QPA and patellar malalignment was investigated. Thus, the importance of understanding patellar malalignment and the research gap...

BACKGROUND: Anterior knee pain (AKP) is a common symptom of patellofemoral osteoarthritis (PFOA). There is limited prospective evidence supporting the relationships between patellofemoral maltracking parameters, AKP, and PFOA. Thus, this prospective cross-sectional study aimed to determine the association between quadriceps fat pad (QFP) edema and patellofemoral maltracking in patients with chronic AKP and to evaluate the feasibility and diagnostic performance of a PFOA assessment using fat fraction (FF) and T2* based on Q-Dixon...

The Korean Dementia Association (KDA) has been organizing biennial international academic conferences since 2019, with the International Conference of the KDA (IC-KDA) 2023 held in Busan under the theme 'Beyond Boundaries: Advancing Global Dementia Solutions.' The conference comprised 6 scientific sessions, 3 plenary lectures, and 4 luncheon symposiums, drawing 804 participants from 35 countries. Notably, a Korea-Taiwan Joint Symposium addressed insights into Alzheimer's disease (AD). Plenary lectures by renowned scholars explored topics such as microbiome-related AD pathogenesis, social cognition in neurodegenerative diseases, and genetic frontotemporal dementia (FTD)...

BACKGROUND: Insufficient occlusal support (IOS) frequently causes subchondral bone absorption in temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis, and the underlying mechanism requires further investigation. METHODS: An IOS model was established by abrading rat molars. Micro-computed tomography was used to evaluate subchondral bone changes. Osteoclastogenesis of synovium-derived macrophages (SDMs) was confirmed by TRAP staining. Cartilage-specific TNFα depletion was achieved by intra-articular injection of adeno-associated virus carrying shRNA against murine TNFα under control of collagen type II...

BACKGROUND: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common joint disease, and existing drugs cannot cure OA, so there is an urgent need to identify new targets. Mitophagy plays an important role in OA; however, the role of mitophagy in the OA immune system is not yet clear. METHODS: In this study, differential analysis and enrichment analysis were used to identify mitophagy-related genes (MRGs) with differential expression in OA and the functional pathways involved in OA. Subsequently, two machine learning methods, RF and LASSO, were used to screen MRGs with diagnostic value and construct nomograms...

BACKGROUND: Stifle osteoarthritis (OA) lesions are most common in the medial femorotibial (MFT) compartment. Their characterisation and mapping will inform equine veterinarians towards an accurate diagnosis of OA. OBJECTIVES: Investigate and map micro-CT (μCT) changes in the hyaline articular cartilage (HAC) in the medial femoral condyle (MFC) and medial tibial plateau (MTP). STUDY DESIGN: Ex vivo cadaveric. METHODS: Stifles (n = 7 OA and 17 control [CO]) were retrieved from a tissue bank...

OBJECTIVES: This study aims to investigate the use of high-frequency sonography as a tool for detecting inflammatory and destructive changes in the hand and foot joints of patients with early and long-term RA. METHODS: This study employs a prospective cohort design involving 162 patients diagnosed with Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who meet the American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism (ACR/EULAR) classification criteria. Patients were divided into two groups based on disease duration: Group 1 (n = 74) included patients with a disease duration of up to 2 years, or early РА (ERA;), Group 2 (n = 88) consisted of patients with a disease duration exceeding 2 years, or long-term persistent РА (LtRA)...

BACKGROUND: Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) comprises a whole spectrum of chronic arthritis starting before 16 years of age. The study aims to explore the clinical and demographic descriptors, treatment, and disease progression of enthesitis-related arthritis (ERA) in comparison with juvenile-onset spondyloarthritis (SpA). METHODS: Cross-sectional analysis of consecutive patients in two dedicated clinics, with a single visit and retrospective case-notes review...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the variations in clinical effectiveness among patients diagnosed with knee osteoarthritis who underwent intra-articular administration of platelet-rich plasma using single, triple, or quintuple injections. METHODS: One hundred twenty patients with grade I-III knee osteoarthritis were randomly assigned to three groups: PRP1 group, who received a single injection of platelet-rich plasma; PRP3 group, who received three PRP injections one week apart; PRP5 group, who received five PRP injections one week apart...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of concentrated growth factor (CGF) combined with sodium hyaluronate (SH) on temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis (TMJOA). METHODS: Sixty patients with TMJOA who were diagnosed by cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) between March 2020 and March 2023 at the Stomatological Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University were randomly divided into a control group (n = 30) and an experimental group (n = 30). The patients in the experimental group were treated with CGF + SH, and those in the control group were treated with SH only...

BACKGROUND: To strengthen palliative care for children in the Nordic countries, an updated status of current needs, resources, clinical services, education, and research is necessary to align and consolidate future research. A Nordic research collaboration initiative for children with palliative care needs was assembled in 2023. Building on this initiative, this paper presents an overview of pediatric palliative care (PPC) in the Nordic countries' (a) population characteristics, (b) care models and setting of care, (c) education and training, and (d) research...

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the presence of preoperative subchondral bone marrow oedema (SBME) is associated with inferior outcomes after lateral unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (LUKA). STUDY DESIGN: Descriptive study. Place and Duration of the Study: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Chongqing Orthopaedic Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chongqing, China, from January 2019 to June 2022. METHODOLOGY: Data on patients treated with LUKA were obtained from the Medical Registry Database...

The purpose of this meta-analysis was to conduct a comparative analysis of clinical scores and complication rates among patients experiencing recurrent patellar dislocation who underwent medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL) reconstruction using both single and double tunnel techniques. A comprehensive search was conducted across electronic databases including PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and Google Scholar to retrieve articles relevant to MPFL reconstruction utilising the tunnel technique...

Cobalamin (vitamin B12 , herein referred to as B12 ) is an essential cofactor for most marine prokaryotes and eukaryotes1,2 . Synthesized by a limited number of prokaryotes, its scarcity affects microbial interactions and community dynamics2-4 . Here we show that two bacterial B12 auxotrophs can salvage different B12 building blocks and cooperate to synthesize B12 . A Colwellia sp. synthesizes and releases the activated lower ligand α-ribazole, which is used by another B12 auxotroph, a Roseovarius sp...