RESUMO
Lateral wedges were originally proposed to manage medial compartment osteoarthritis of the knee but recent reviews suggest that lateral wedges do not affect disease progression. We performed a systematic review to analyse the recent literature and define how effective, if at all, lateral wedges are in the management of medial compartment osteoarthritis of the knee. The inclusion criteria were defined as any study published within the last decade, using a sample size of at least twenty patients, and investigating the effect of insoles or wedges on either unilateral or bilateral knee varus osteoarthritis. The standardised keyword term 'lateral*wedge*OR insole*OR orthotic* OR medial compartment OR varus OR osteoarthri* OR knee*' was used. We identified 10 studies that fitted our inclusion criteria. Although there is not enough evidence in the literature to prove that lateral wedge orthotics are an effective treatment for varus osteoarthritis of the knee, there is some evidence to suggest that they do have some symptomatic effect. Patients with early osteoarthritis and higher BMI may benefit to a greater extent than those with a greater extent of degenerative changes and lower BMI. The literature is unclear as to what the optimal duration for the use of lateral wedges is, but does support the prolonged use of the wedges as the benefits at one month are maintained at one year. Future studies should be randomised controlled trials with a large sample size with long follow-up, and use objective clinical, biomechanical and radiological outcome measures.
RESUMO
Renewed interest in the use of Metarhizium anisopliae and its toxins for insect control prompted the following safety assessment. A neutral extract (methylene chloride, pH 7.2), derived from M. anisopliae cultures, was evaluated for toxicity and mutagenicity using aquatic animal bioassays and the Ames test. The average LC50 of the neutral extract obtained in static, acute 96-h tests conducted with =24-h-old Mysidopsis bahia was 2.41 mg L-1. By partially purifying destruxins from the neutral extract, it was shown that destruxins alone were not responsible for the observed toxicity in mysids. The neutral extract was fetotoxic to developing grass shrimp, Palaemonetes pugio, and frog, Xenopus laevis, embryos; the LC50 values were 52 and 32 mg L-1, respectively. Eye spot abnormalities were observed in shrimp and frog embryos exposed to the neutral extract. In extract-exposed frog embryos, moderate to severe cranial, facial, and gut malformations were also observed. The neutral extract was toxic to juvenile mosquito fish, Gambusia affinis, at an LC50 value of 141 mg L-1. Adult female G. affinis surviving a 24-h exposure to 200 µg ml-1 of the neutral extract produced healthy broods. After 3 months, no mortalities or adverse effects were observed in adult G. affinis fed a diet partially composed of a freeze-dried M. anisopliae culture. The neutral extract did not show mutagenicity in the Ames test using strains TA98 and TA100 with and without metabolic activation by rat liver S9. Significant (p = 0.05) mortalities were obtained when embryos of grass shrimp and inland silverside fish, Menidia beryllina, were exposed to the same lot of M. anisopliae conidiospores. Exposure of frog embryos to M. anisopliae conidiospores did not cause significant (p > 0.05) mortalities or malformations.