Screening for musculoskeletal problems in children using a questionnaire

Background

On April 1, 2016, the Ministerial ordinance was enforced, and musculoskeletal examination of the extremities was made mandatory. From 2008, the University of us started musculoskeletal direct examination. To expand the examination, from 2016, we started to use the marksheet-type questionnaire. This study aimed to report the results of a musculoskeletal examination and investigate the association between musculoskeletal examination and age/gender and reports the reliability of the collected questionnaire data.

Can muscle weakness and disability influence the relationship between pain catastrophizing and pain worsening in patients with knee osteoarthritis? A cross-sectional study

ObjectiveTo verify if the relationship between pain catastrophizing and pain worsening would be mediated by muscle weakness and disability in patients with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study in a hospital out-patient setting. Convenience sampling was used with a total of 50 participants with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis. Pain and the activities of daily livings (ADL) were assessed using the Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) subscale. Pain catastrophizing was assessed using the Coping Strategy Questionnaire (CSQ) subscale. Muscle strength of knee extension and 30-s chair stand test (30CST) were also assessed. Path analysis was performed to test the hypothetical model. Goodness of fit of models were assessed by using statistical parameters such as the chi-square value, goodness of fit index (GFI), adjusted goodness of fit index (AGFI), comparative fit index (CFI), and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA).ResultsThe chi-square values were not significant (chi-square = 0.283, p = 0.594), and the indices of goodness of fit were high, implying a valid model (GFI = 1.000; AGFI = 0.997; CFI = 1.000; RMSEA = 0.000). Pain was influenced significantly by muscle strength and ADL; muscle strength was influenced significantly by ADL via 30CST; ADL was influenced by pain catastrophizing.ConclusionThe relationship between pain catastrophizing with pain worsening are mediated by muscle weakness and disability.     

Resetting of the arterial baroreflex increases orthostatic sympathetic activation and prevents postural hypotension in rabbits

Since humans are under ceaseless orthostatic stress, the mechanism to maintain arterial pressure (AP) under orthostatic stress against gravitational fluid shift is of great importance. We hypothesized that (1) orthostatic stress resets the arterial baroreflex control of sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) to a higher SNA, and (2) resetting of the arterial baroreflex contributes to preventing postural hypotension. Renal SNA and AP were recorded in eight anaesthetized, vagotomized and aortic-denervated rabbits. Isolated intracarotid sinus pressure (CSP) was increased stepwise from 40 to 160 mmHg with increments of 20 mmHg (60 s for each CSP level) while the animal was placed supine and at 60 deg upright tilt. Upright tilt shifted the CSP–SNA relationship (the baroreflex neural arc) to a higher SNA, shifted the SNA–AP relationship (the baroreflex peripheral arc) to a lower AP, and consequently moved the operating point to marked high SNA while maintaining AP. A simulation study suggests that resetting in the neural arc would double the orthostatic activation of SNA and increase the operating AP in upright tilt by 10 mmHg, compared with the absence of resetting. In addition, upright tilt did not change the CSP–AP relationship (the baroreflex total arc). A simulation study suggests that although a downward shift of the peripheral arc could shift the total arc downward, resetting in the neural arc would compensate this fall and prevent the total arc from shifting downward to a lower AP. In conclusion, upright tilt increases SNA by resetting the baroreflex neural arc. This resetting may compensate for the reduced pressor responses to SNA in the peripheral cardiovascular system and contribute to preventing postural hypotension.     

Combined aortic and mitral valve repair in active infective endocarditis

We describe a case of successful combined repair of the aortic and mitral valves for an indication of active infective endocarditis involving both valves. Mitral valve repair was achieved by vegetation debridement, fixation of the anterior mitral commissure, resection and suturing of the posterior mitral leaflet, and posterior annuloplasty with autologous pericardium. Aortic valve repair was achieved by vegetectomy and commissural plication. Postoperative clinical course was without signs of recurrent infection, and echocardiogram demonstrated mitral valve competence with trivial aortic regurgitation. We concluded that simultaneous valve repair is a viable option in the context of active endocarditis.     

Specifically associated PCR products probed by coincident detection of two-color cross-correlated fluorescence intensities in human gene polymorphisms of methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase at site C677T: a novel measurement approach without follow-up mathematical analysis

Whole blood samples of known methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) genotypes from 24 individuals were examined at site C677T. Their amplified DNA products were assessed by two-color fluorescence cross-correlation measurements and agarose gel electrophoresis/capillary gel electrophoresis. DNA subpopulations were identified which were not associated with the proper genotype by primer combinations and cycling conditions called multiplexes. We confirmed that DNA analysis by two-color fluorescence cross-correlation measurements allowed the detection of fluorescence signals specifically associated with the proper genotypes in a mixture of amplified nontarget DNA molecules without DNA sizing. The measurement approach does not require complex, follow-up mathematical analysis and is applicable to any single nucleotide polymorphisms. The simple immunogenetic model showed how the approach works to reveal specific DNA target by preventing detection of nontarget DNA. Under those experimental conditions, a new ultrasensitive, and specific method for clinical immunologists is born.     

Expression profiles of the duplicated matrix metalloproteinase-9 genes suggest their different roles in apoptosis of larval intestinal epithelial cells during Xenopus laevis metamorphosis.

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) play a pivotal role in development and/or pathogenesis through degrading extracellular matrix (ECM) components. We have previously shown that Xenopus MMP-9 gene is duplicated. To assess possible roles of MMP-9 and MMP-9TH in X. laevis intestinal remodeling, we here analyzed their expression profiles by in situ hybridization and show that their expression is transiently up-regulated during thyroid hormone-dependent metamorphosis. Of interest, MMP-9TH mRNA is strictly localized in the connective tissue and most highly expressed just beneath the larval epithelium that begins to undergo apoptosis. On the other hand, cells expressing MMP-9 mRNA become first detectable in the connective tissue and then, after the start of epithelial apoptosis, also in the larval epithelium. These results strongly suggest that MMP-9TH is responsible in the larval epithelial apoptosis through degrading ECM components in the basal lamina, whereas MMP-9 is involved in the removal of dying epithelial cells during amphibian intestinal remodeling.     

Loss of heterozygosity on chromosome 9q22.3 in microdissected basal cell carcinomas around the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Testing Site, Kazakhstan

A high incidence of skin cancers has been noted around the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Testing Site (SNTS) in Kazakhstan. Recently, basal cell carcinoma (BCC) susceptibility genes, human homolog of the Drosophila pathed gene (PTCH), and the xeroderma pigmentosa group A-complementing gene (XPA), have been cloned and localized on chromosome 9q22.3. To clarify the effect of low-dose irradiation on the occurrence of BCC, we used microdissection and polymerase chain reaction to identify loss of heterozygosity (LOH) at 9q22.3 using BCC samples obtained from this region. Ten Japanese samples were analyzed as controls. LOH with at least 1 marker was identified in 5 of 14 cases from around SNTS, whereas only 1 case with 1 marker was identified among the 10 Nagasaki cases. The total number of LOH alleles from SNTS (8 of 45) was significantly higher than the number from Nagasaki (1 of 26) (P = 0.03). The higher incidence of LOH on 9q22.3 in BCC from around SNTS suggests involvement of chronic low-dose irradiation by fallout from the test site as a factor in the cancers.