Ortho News

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Use of iPhone can improve acetabular cup orientation in total hip replacement

In a recent study, a novel system is described that uses both the camera and the accelerometer functions of the iPhone to improve the process of acetabular cup placement in total hip arthroplasty. The accelerometer function senses changes in movement has used in a number of other iPhone apps.). To further assist in achieving proper acetabular cup placement, a level indicator app and protractor app were downloaded to the iPhone and also effectively used. iMedicalApps

Savile Row Unicondylar Knee Implant for a Personalized Fit

While joint arthroplasty has become impressively advanced over the past few decades, the essence of the procedure still ultimately boils down to trial and error. Using pre-operative X-rays and intra-operative sizing guides, joint surgeons pick from a pre-set list of joint replacement “sizes.” Then, once the bone cuts have been made, temporary implants called “trials” are used to see how the fit is, and the best fit is selected. Rarely are these pre-determined sizes a perfect fit, but they are usually more than sufficient and function quite well. MedGadget

Apple Announces iBooks 2 – Huge Potential for Medical Educators and Med Students

Apple have announced an update to iBooks entitled ‘iBooks 2′ for the iPad. As we originally suspected in our first and second articles, Apple, working in partnership with Pearson, McGraw Hill, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, has decided to enter the interactive textbook market creating titles which will take advantage of the following features: iMedicalApps

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Inkling Webinar offers insights into the future of medical education and training

The webinar by Matt Macinnis, CEO and Founder of Inkling, shows his vision for the future of medical education through medical textbooks.

The webinar is a really informative, inspiring vision for the future of medical education through mobile technology. I would advise all those involved in medical education to take some time out of their day to watch this. Please note it is 38 minutes long but well worth the time for the in-depth discussion of Inkling as a medical education resource. iMedicalApps

New Ortho Research Tool: Markerless Motion Capture Offers A New Angle on Tennis Injuries

A new approach to motion capture technology is offering fresh insights into tennis injuries – and orthopedic injuries in general. NewsWise

Ortho Related?? Bad to the bone: facial structure predicts unethical behaviour.

Our results demonstrate that static physical attributes can indeed serve as reliable cues of immoral action, and provide additional support for the view that evolutionary forces shape ethical judgement and behaviour. Haselhuhn MP, Wong EM. Proc Biol Sci. 2012 Feb 7;279(1728):571-6. Epub 2011 Jul 6. PMID: 21733897 PDF

Twenty-One-Year Follow-Up of Supination-External Rotation Type II-IV (Orthopaedic Trauma Association Type B) Ankle Fractures: A Retrospective Cohort study.

The very long-term overall results of the stratified surgical treatment of SER Type II-IV ankle fractures is "excellent" or "good" in the majority of patients and therefore seems justified. Although additional soft tissue damage is unavoidable in case of operative treatment, it does not negatively affect outcome in the long term.

Donken CC, Verhofstad MH, Edwards MJ, van Laarhoven CJ. J Orthop Trauma. 2012 Dec 21. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 22198654

Reconstruction of Nonunion Tibial Fractures in War-Wounded Iraqi Civilians, 2006-2008: Better Late Than Never

Our study shows that patients with infected and uninfected injuries surgically treated in Amman achieved similar outcomes. Despite late presentation, our patients had a comparable outcome to other studies dealing with early reconstruction. Reconstruction for the infected group required longer treatment time. Fakri, Rasheed M; Al Ani, Ali M K; Rose, Angela M C; Alras, Majd S; Daumas, Laurent; Baron, Emmanuel MD; Khaddaj, Sinan; Hérard, Patrick. Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma: POST AUTHOR CORRECTIONS, 10 January 2012.

Platelet-Rich Plasma or Hyaluronate in the Management of Osteochondral Lesions of the Talus

Osteochondral lesions of the ankle treated with intra-articular injections of PRP and HA resulted in a decrease in pain scores and an increase in function for at least 6 months, with minimal adverse events. Platelet-rich plasma treatment led to a significantly better outcome than HA. Omer Mei-Dan, Michael R. Carmont, Lior Laver, Gideon Mann, Nicola Maffulli, Meir Nyska. AJSM: Published online before print January 17, 2012. PDF

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

First step toward treatment for painful flat feet

Published today in the journal Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, the findings could eventually lead to new drug therapy for this and other common conditions affecting the tendons, such as Achilles tendonitis. MedicalXpress

Opioids erase memory traces of pain

A team of researchers at the MedUni Vienna's Department of Neurophysiology (Centre for Brain Research) has discovered a previously unknown effect of opioids: the study, which has now been published in Science and was led by Ruth Drdla-Schutting and Jürgen Sandkühler, shows that opioids not only temporarily relieve pain, but at the right dose can also erase memory traces of pain in the spinal cord and therefore eliminate a key cause of chronic pain. MedicalXpress

Broken arm? Brain shifts quickly when using a sling or cast

Using a sling or cast after injuring an arm may cause your brain to shift quickly to adjust, according to a study published in the January 17, 2012, print issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study found increases in the size of brain areas that were compensating for the injured side, and decreases in areas that were not being used due to the cast or sling. MedicalXpress

Effects of limb immobilization on brain plasticity. PDF

Explore JoVE: New method of infant pain assessment from Oxford published in JoVE

Recently, the accuracy of current methods of pain assessment in babies have been called into question. New research from London-area hospitals and the University of Oxford measures brain activity in infants to better understand their pain response.

Because a poor understanding of pain in infants can lead to severe health consequences, Slater and her colleagues decided to publish in JoVE, the first and only peer-reviewed video journal indexed in PubMed and MEDLINE. The video-article makes it easier for other researchers and clinicians to learn this method.

Journal of Visualized Experiments

Monday, January 16, 2012

Ultra short telomeres linked to osteoarthritis

Telomeres, the very ends of chromosomes, become shorter as we age. When a cell divides it first duplicates its DNA and, because the DNA replication machinery fails to get all the way to the end, with each successive cell division a little bit more is missed. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Arthritis Research & Therapy shows that cells from osteoarthritic knees have abnormally shortened telomeres and that the percentage of cells with ultra short telomeres increases the closer to the damaged region within the joint. Eurekalert!

AAOS News

AAOS Releases TO on MoM Hip Implants

Leukocyte Esterase Reagent Strips Help Diagnose PJI

Keeping Up with Orthopaedic Apps

Thursday, January 12, 2012

The Journal of Hand Surgery: articles in press

Cellular Apoptosis and Proliferation in the Middle and Late Intrasynovial Tendon Healing Periods. Original Research Article. In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 29 December 201; Ya Fang Wu, You Lang Zhou, Wei Feng Mao, Bella Avanessian, Paul Y. Liu, Jin Bo Tang PDF

Surgical Repair of Multiple Pulley Injuries—Evaluation of a New Combined Pulley Repair. Original Research Article. In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 29 December 2011; V. Schöffl, T. Küpper, J. Hartmann, I. Schöffl PDF

The Use of Integra in Hand and Upper Extremity Surgery. Original Research Article. In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 29 December 2011; Marco Rizzo PDF

Intraosseous Pseudotumor of the Distal Radius in a Patient With Hemophilia: Case Report. In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 29 December 2011 Jason S. Pruzansky, Marvin S. Gilbert, Roberto A. Garcia, Richard S. Gilbert PDF

JRRD Releases Volume 48, Issue 10 (open access)

This multi-topic issue contains 11 articles describing research in the areas of prosthetics, postdeployment reintegration, activity-promoting gaming systems, step activity monitoring, and repeated concussions in veterans. JJRD

'Open-source' robotic surgery platform going to top medical research labs

Robotics experts at the University of California, Santa Cruz and the University of Washington (UW) have completed a set of seven advanced robotic surgery systems for use by major medical research laboratories throughout the United States. After a round of final tests, five of the systems will be shipped to medical robotics researchers at Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Nebraska, UC Berkeley, and UCLA, while the other two systems will remain at UC Santa Cruz and UW. Eurekalert!

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