• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.363-368
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• 2000

The purposes of the study was to examine changes in thickness and strength of the rat femur after administration of sodium fluoride in the drinking water. 48 female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 4 groups, and they were supplied with 0(control), 1, 5 and 50 ppm of fluoride in the drinking water ad libitum for 6 weeks. Rats were killed and both sides of femur were dissected. Bone strength was measured as the stress of failure of femur at the middle point and femoral neck with Instron. Histologic slides were prepared from the femur shaft with routine processing of fixing, demineralizing, embedding and HE staining. Thickness and area of cortical bone and medullary cavity were measured by using Camera Lucida and Image Analyzer. All the collected data were analyzed with one-way ANOVA, Duncan's multiple range test for post-hoc tests and ANCOVA using the SAS 6.12 package at the level of 0.05. Bone strength increased significantly in the animals given 1 and 5 ppm of fluoride in the water, as compared to the control group. There were significant decreases of stress at fracture in 50 ppmF group compared to the 1 and 5 ppmF groups. The similar trends of bone strength at the femoral neck fracture test, but there were no statistical significances. Cortical bone thickness and area of the femur increased in the 1 and 5 ppmF groups compared to the control. However, the thickness of 50 ppmF group also decreased significantly as compared to 1 and 5 ppmF groups. On the other hand, medullary thickness and area increased in all fluoride groups than control group. All of the findings presented support the conclusion that, low fluoride dosage used in water fluoridation could increase the bone strength and might have preventive effect on femur fracture.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.246-251
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• 2007

Osteoporosis is a common metabolic bone disease characterized by low bone mineral density (BMD) with an increased risk of fracture. Low bone mass results from an imbalance between bone formation by osteoblasts and bone resorption by osteoclasts. Microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) plays a critical role in osteoclast development and thus is an important candidate gene affecting bone turnover and BMD. In order to investigate the genetic effects of MITF variations on osteoporosis, we directly sequenced the MITF gene in 24 Koreans, and identified fifteen sequence variants. Two polymorphisms (+227719C > T and +228953A > G) were selected based on their allele frequencies, and then genotyped in a larger number of postmenopausal women (n = 560). Areal BMD ($g/cm^2$) of the anterior-posterior lumbar spine and the non-dominant proximal femur was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. We found that the MITF + 227719C > T polymorphism was significantly associated with low BMD of the trochanter (p = 0.005-0.006) and total femur (p = 0.02-0.03) (codominant and dominant models), while there was no association with BMD of the lumbar spine. The MITF+228953A > G polymorphism was also associated with low BMD of the femoral shaft (p = 0.05) in the recessive model. Haplotype analysis showed that haplotype 3 of the MITF gene (MITF-ht3) was associated with low BMD of the trochanter (p = 0.03-0.05) and total femur (p = 0.05) (dominant and codominant models). Our results suggest that MITF variants may play a role in the decreased BMD of the proximal femur in postmenopausal women.

• The Journal of the Korean bone and joint tumor society
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.80-86
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• 2010

Purpose: The skeleton is commonly affected by metastatic cancer. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the results of treating metastatic pathologic fractures in lower extremities using locking plates. Materials and Methods: Between 2004 and 2010, we evaluated 12 patients (13 cases) of metastatic pathologic fractures in lower extremities, treated with the locking plate. Mean patient age was 62.2 years (range, 50-81 years), the locations of the fractures were; proximal femur in 2 cases, femoral mid-shaft in 3, distal femur in 3, proximal tibia in 4, and distal tibia in 1 case. The interval to wheelchair ambulation, pain relief and complications were evaluated. Additionally, we assessed operation time and postoperative blood loss. Results: Mean time from operation to wheelchair ambulation was 3.2 days (range, 1-6 days). Mean VAS scores improved from a preoperative score of 8.1 points (range, 7-9 points) to a score of 2.7 points (range, 2-4 points) at 1 week postoperatively. No early complications associated with surgery were encountered. Mean operation time was 88.4 minutes (range, 70-105 minutes), and mean postoperative blood loss was 246.5 ml (range, 130-320 ml). Conclusion: Internal fixation of metastatic pathologic fractures using a locking plate in the lower extremity can be an effective treatment option in the meta- or diaphyseal area of long bones with massive bony destruction or poor bone stock by offering early ambulation, pain relief and low postoperative complications.