Oxidative stress and some antioxidant parameters in postmenopausal osteoporotic women with fractures a case control study

Osteoporosis is a major metabolic bone disease that occurs primarily in women over the age of 50 year because of the loss of estrogen during menopause. Oxidative stress plays an important role in the pathogenesis of postmenopausal osteoporosis [PMO]. Antioxidants, by virtue of their ability to mitigate the damaging effects of reactive oxygen species [ROS], have generated interest in their use as chemopreventive agents. The aim of this study was to evaluate the plasma levels of two selected antioxidant defenses [vit C and superoxide dismutase SOD] in addition to Malondialdehyde [MDA] levels, the byproduct of lipid peroxidation as an indicator of oxidative stress in postmenopausal osteoporotic women in comparison with non osteoporotic. Postmenopausal osteoporotic [n=40] and non osteoporotic [n=20] women as a control group aged from 45 years and above were included. All studied women were subjected to full history taking, clinical examination, and bone mineral density [BMD] measurements of the proximal femur using dual energy x-ray absorptiometry [DXA] scan and plasma levels of vit C, SOD and MDA were measured in all studied subjects. The study showed that women with PMO had significantly lower levels of plasma vit C and SOD and higher MDA levels in comparison to non osteoporotic control group [p < 0.05]. A significant positive correlation [p < 0.01] was found between plasma levels of vitamin C [r = 0.91], SOD [r =0.65] and Femoral neck BMD while a significant but negative correlation was found [r = -0.85, p <0.01] between MDA and femoral neck BMD among the studied subjects. It could be concluded that oxidative stress and decreased antioxidant defenses have an important role in the pathogenesis of postmenopausal osteoporosis and MDA, the oxidative stress marker may be an important indicator for bone loss in postmenopausal women. Further studies need to be carried out to investigate the exact rote of antioxidants in osteoporosis and their promising use as chemopreventive agents

Treatment of femoral shaft fractures in children using single rush pins

Between January 2004 to February 2007, 23 children with closed femoral shaft fractures were admitted to Menoufiya university hospital and were treated by intramedullary fixation using single rush pin. The age of the children ranged from 5-13 years, with a mean age of 8.5 years. There were 16 boys [69.5%] and 7 girls [30.5%] with 12 fractures of the right femur [52.2%] and 10 fractures of the left femur [43.5%] and one bilateral [24 fractures]. All cases had open physes on radigraphs.13 fractures were in the middle third of the femur, 6 fractures were in the distal third of the femur and 5 fractures were in the proximal third of the femur. The objective of this study was to evaluate using single Rush pins for retrograde intramedullary fixation of femoral shaft fractures in children. It is a prospective study of 23 child [16-male, 7 females] one patient had bilateral fracture femur. All of them were treated by retrograde single intramedullary Rush pin fixation. All fractures showed appearance of bridging callus at average 5 weeks [range, 3-7 weeks]. All fractures showed appearance of bridging callus at average 6 weeks, and healed well within average 12 weeks. No incidence of nonunion was encountered in this study. Mild infection occurred in only one patient and was discovered 6 weeks postoperatively; the infection subsided after pin removal, debridment, and irrigation. Five cases had limited range of knee motion because of the prominent pins, the pins were removed after complete union of the fracture and complete range of motion was regained. Clinical assessment of the patients showed no limitation of hip or knee movement, no significant leg length discrepancy and no significant angulations were detected. Mild angulations were noted in 7 patients by follow up x-rays and remodeled completely Rush pin is a simple, minimally invasive, safe, effective, with no possibility of growth plate arrest, short operative time, cost effective, and avoid vascular compromise to femoral head