Life Spine R Announces FDA Clearance Of DYNA-LINK R Spinal System And PRESIDIO TM Spinal Plating System
Life Spine announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given 510(k) marketing clearance to both the DYNA-LINK Spinal System and the PRESIDIO Spinal Plating System. The DYNA-LINK system features a next-generation stand-alone device that accommodates both fixed and variable angle screws. The PRESIDIO system is a thoracolumbar plating system that features multiple types of low-profile implants. Both offerings incorporate an innovative, zero-step locking mechanism and utilize comprehensive instrumentation designed to reduce surgical steps and intra-operative complexity. Michael S. Butler, Life Spine's president and CEO stated, "These two approvals are a testament to our commitment to rapidly achieving regulatory approval while at the same time introducing best-in-class products.
Barefoot Running May Be Better For Feet, Joints By Avoiding Heel-Strike
An international team of researchers suggests that running barefoot may be better for the feet and joints of the lower limbs because they found people who run barefoot or in minimal shoes strike their foot on the ground in such a way that they have almost no impact collision due to "heel-strike", unlike people who run in modern running shoes where the impact of the more prevalent heel-strike can be the equivalent of landing with two to three times of one's body weight. Dr Daniel E. Lieberman, a professor in Harvard University's new department of human evolutionary biology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, and colleagues, have written a paper about their findings the 28 January online issue of Nature.
Extremity War Injuries Symposium Seeks To Improve Patient Care For Wounded Warriors
Since the beginning of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, there have been nearly 36, 000 battle- injured warriors, of which approximately 82 percent suffer extremity trauma. Many of these injuries are complicated by the effects of improvised explosive devices which cause injury patterns distinct from civilian trauma. Traditional wound-management guidelines simply fall short. In an effort to address the increasing number and severity of extremity war injuries among the nation's warriors serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), the Society of Military Orthopaedic Surgeons (SOMOS), the Orthopaedic Trauma Association (OTA), and the Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS) will bring together the nation's top civilian and military orthopaedic trauma surgeons and researchers for a two-day symposium January 27 - 29 to discuss barriers of return of function and duty and develop treatment principles.
Sinai Hospital Team Treats Haitians Transported To The Dominican Republic
A team from Sinai Hospital's Rubin Institute for Advanced Orthopedics recently arrived in the Dominican Republic to treat Haitians injured in the earthquake. Team members include Shawn Standard, M.D., a pediatric orthopedic surgeon, Marie Gdalevitch, M.D., an orthopedic fellow and James Pepple, M.D., an anesthesiologist. This team is treating severely injured Haitians who have been transported out of field hospitals in Haiti to the more sophisticated CURE International Hospital in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The Sinai team has already operated on a 22-year-old woman who has pelvic and foot fractures and is battling infection in her amputated fingers.
Pfizer And Auxilium Announce Commencement Of European Regulatory Review Of XIAFLEXTM For The Treatment Of Dupuytren's Contracture
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) and Auxilium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AUXL) announced that Pfizer received notification from the European Medicines Agency that the Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) for XIAFLEX™ (collagenase clostridium histolyticum), a novel, first-in-class, biologic for the treatment of Dupuytren's contracture (a condition resulting in the contracture of the fingers into the palm), has completed the validation phase successfully. As a result, the scientific/technical review procedure commenced on 21 January 2010. "We are pleased to partner with Auxilium to bring forward what potentially could be the first approved pharmaceutical treatment option for patients suffering with Dupuytren's contracture, a condition which can significantly impact patients' ability to perform everyday tasks with their hands and therefore impacts quality of life, " said Michael Berelowitz, M.
What Is Rickets? What Causes Rickets?
Rickets is a disorder that affects children, causing poor development of the bones in the skeleton. It is usually caused by an extreme and prolonged vitamin D deficiency. The term rickets comes from the Old English word "wrickken", meaning to twist or bend. Rickets was common during Victorian times, but nowadays the condition is rare. Rickets in adults is known as osteomalacia or soft bones. According to Medilexicon's medical dictionary : Rickets is "A disease attributable to vitamin D deficiency, and characterized by overproduction and deficient calcification of osteoid tissue, with associated skeletal deformities, disturbances in growth, hypocalcemia, and sometimes tetany;
Using Zebrafish As A Novel Platform For Drug Development
By combining the tools of medicinal chemistry and zebrafish biology, a team of Vanderbilt investigators has identified compounds that may offer therapeutic leads for bone-related diseases and cancer. The findings, reported in ACS Chemical Biology, support using zebrafish as a novel platform for drug development. In 2007, Charles Hong, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues described using fish embryos to screen for compounds that interfere with signaling pathways involved in early development - pathways known to play roles in a variety of disease processes. They discovered the compound "dorsomorphin" and demonstrated that it blocked BMP (bone morphogenetic protein) signaling, which has been implicated in anemia, inflammatory responses and bone-related disorders.
New Gene Discovered For Recessive Form Of Brittle Bone Disease
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions have discovered the third in a sequence of genes that accounts for previously unexplained forms of osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), a genetic condition that weakens bones, results in frequent fractures and is sometimes fatal. The newly identified gene contains the information needed to make the protein Cyclophilin B. This protein is part of a complex of three proteins that modifies collagen, folding it into a precise molecular configuration, before it is secreted from cells. Collagen functions as molecular scaffolding that holds together bone, tendons, skin and other tissues. Most types of osteogenesis imperfecta result from a dominant mutation in collagen itself, requiring only one copy of the mutated gene to bring about the disorder.
Hospital For Special Surgery Orthopedic Trauma Team On The Ground In Haiti
A team of anesthesiologists, nurses and orthopedic trauma surgeons from Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan headed for Haiti on Friday and have been performing surgery and tending to those impacted by the earthquake ever since. Led by David L. Helfet, M.D., and Dean G. Lorich, M.D., and including physicians from NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, the team has been working round the clock at Hopital de la Communaute Haitienne in Port-au-Prince suburb of Petion-Ville and have already performed more than 50 surgical procedures. With air transport provided by global medical device company Synthes and surgical supplies donated by Synthes, Hospital for Special Surgery and NewYork-Presbyterian, the team is working under extremely rudimentary conditions with limited security.
Scoliosis In Teenagers: To Brace Or Not To Brace Is Still A Question
The use of braces to correct excessive curvature of the spine, or scoliosis, in adolescents is still an area of controversy and is likely to remain that way until there is better evidence, concludes a new review of published research. Although some evidence points toward a benefit from using braces, research has failed to prove definitively that they work. Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis curvature of the spine in which the cause is unknown affects about 1 percent to 12 percent of the general population. Scoliosis is much more common in girls and is more likely to be severe in girls. About 10 percent of children and teenagers who have scoliosis will require treatment, based on the severity of the spinal curvature.