Reconstruction of the medial patellofemoral ligament for patellar instability using a semitendinosus autograft

Between 1999 and 2001 thirty knees underwent a semitendinosus tendon plasty to recreate the medial patellofemoral ligament for recurrent patellar dislocation. The mean follow-up was 38 months. The mean improvement of the patellofemoral congruence angle after surgery was 14 +/- 7 degrees. All patients ended up with a full range of motion, except one patient, whose flexion was limited to 120 degrees due to superficial wound infections. Dislocation did not recur. According to the Larsen and Lauridsen outcome score the clinical results were excellent in 27 patients, good in 2 and fair in one. In conclusion this procedure is indicated for the chronic dislocation and cases of severe femoral dysplasia with marked laxity. The procedure assures the stabilisation of the patella, although it doesn't restore the patellofemoral congruence angle to normal values.     

Enhancement of the cell-killing effect of ultraviolet-C radiation by short-term exposure to a pulsed magnetic field

PURPOSE: To investigate whether low frequency pulsed magnetic field (PMF) exposures produce alterations in the cell killing induced by ultraviolet C (UVC) radiation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: MCF-7 breast cancer cells of exponentially growing cultures were exposed to PMF (25 Hz, 0.75 mT) and UVC (from 6.6 J/m2 to 59.4 J/m2) in two different protocols: (a) cells were exposed to PMF for 30 min and then exposed to UVC at different doses; (b) cells were exposed to PMF for 30 min. After 15 min of the PMF exposure they were exposed simultaneously to PMF+different doses of UVC. After an additional time of 72 h of incubation, viability was measured by the neutral red stain cytotoxicity test. RESULTS: Both exposure protocols produced a significant decrease in the post UVC survival at 13.2 J/m2 and 19.8 J/m2, as compared to controls. The simultaneous exposition of PMF and UVC produced an additional increment in cell killing at 26.4 J/m2, being the greater effects obtained for this second exposure protocol. CONCLUSIONS: Results of the present study show that PMF in combination with UVC have the ability to augment the cell killing effects of UVC radiation. In addition, the effects appear to be greater when PMF and UVC are applied at the same time.     

Genetic polymorphisms at 13 STR loci in autochthonous Basques from the province of Alava (Spain)

In this study, allelic frequencies of the CODIS core short tandem repeat (STR) loci were estimated in a population sample consisting in 101 unrelated healthy autochthonous individuals from the Basque province of Alava (Northern Spain). Frequency distributions for all 13 STR loci were obtained using the AmpFlSTR Profiler Plus and AmpFlSTR COfiler amplification kits. The allelic frequencies generated were employed to calculate genetic and forensic useful parameters.