Autofuser

A recombinant Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell clone, S1, stably expressing human insulin-like growth factor binding protein-1 (hIGFBP-1), was treated with polyethylene glycol (PEG), resulting in cell fusion, in order to further enhance the protein expression by increasing the gene copy number and/or the amount of organelles important to the protein expression/-secretion. Both the fused cell line, Peg1, and its mother cell line, S1, were adapted to serum-free growth in suspension and were characterised with respect to growth and productivity...

OBJECT: Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a genetic condition that frequently results in spinal sagittal plane deformity of thoracolumbar or cervicothoracic junctions. Generally, a combination of osteotomy and spinal fixation is used to treat severe cases. Although surgical techniques for traumatic injury across the cervicothoracic junction have been well characterized in clinical and biomechanical literature, the specific model of instrumented opening wedge osteotomy in autofused AS has not been studied biomechanically...

STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective case review of skeletally immature patients treated with growing rods. Patients received an average of 9.6 years follow-up care. OBJECTIVE: (1) to identify the rate of autofusion in the growing spine with the use of growing rods; (2) to quantify how much correction can be attained with definitive instrumented fusion after long-term treatment with growing rods; and (3) to describe the extent of Smith-Petersen osteotomies required to gain correction of an autofused spine following growing rod treatment...

The mechanisms controlling the formation and maintenance of neuronal trees are poorly understood. We examined the dynamic development of two arborized mechanoreceptor neurons (PVDs) required for reception of strong mechanical stimuli in Caenorhabditis elegans. The PVDs elaborated dendritic trees comprising structural units we call "menorahs." We studied how the number, structure, and function of menorahs were maintained. EFF-1, an essential protein mediating cell fusion, acted autonomously in the PVDs to trim developing menorahs...

We report a rare case of an 8-year-old girl who presented with a giant cauliflower-like autofused pedunculated osteochondroma arising from spinous processes of the second to sixth cervical vertebrae. She was successfully treated by enbloc excision without any recurrence.

There is a high risk of cervical osteomyelitis in intravenous drug abusers due to the use of jugular veins for administration of drugs. Here described is a case of rapid vertebral body destruction at two levels leading to a progressive kyphotic deformity followed by autofusion, secondary to cervical osteomyelitis. The case report goes on to hypothesise about the unique manner of progression of untreated cervical osteomyelitis with a rapid onset of kyphotic deformity and associated severe bone destruction in an intravenous drug abuser...

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STUDY DESIGN: A case report of two siblings (ages 14 and 17 years) with central core disease and prior malignant hyperthermia successfully treated with spinal fusion surgery for severe kyphoscoliosis. OBJECTIVES: Our objectives were as follows: to describe the previously unreported findings of posterior element autofusion and ligamentum flavum ossification; to increase surgeon awareness to the nature of this condition and associated findings; and to prepare the surgeons for the possibility of autofusion and the required surgical modifications, including extensive osteotomies at the time of spinal fusion surgery to achieve correction based on these findings...

To evaluate the rationale of spontaneous spine fusion after a spinal injury, the authors conducted an experimental study that consisted of three types of controlled injuries to a rabbit spine model. The first was injury to the intervertebral disk (type I injury). The second was injury of the intervertebral disk along with injury to one of the adjacent vertebral end plates (type II). In type III injury, both the opposing end plates were injured along with the intervertebral disk. In 38 rabbits, a total of 82 injuries of these three types were inflicted...

Seven patients with third-degree burns of > 70% of their body had autofusions of 19 proximal interphalangeal joints. In 13 of the joints there was fixed deformity of > 60 degrees. In addition to these deformities, each of the patients had deformities due to burns in the axilla and elbows bilaterally. There was only one independently functional hand and in that hand no proximal interphalangeal joint deformity was > 40 degrees. Two patients were totally dependent because of either bilateral involvement or infectious complications of the burn itself...

Sixty-one patients with closed cervical spinal cord injury were cared for within a defined protocol and followed for at least 1 year. Neurological recovery and healing of spinal structures were evaluated at intervals. Forty-three patients were managed without surgical intervention at the site of spine trauma, and the incidence of spontaneous fusion ("autofusion") was noted. Surgical fusion was performed on 17 patients, mainly to restore spinal stability and alignment. One patient underwent laminectomy without fusion...

Reports in the literature have questioned the practice of using Harrington distraction rods spanning unfused spinal segments for internal fixation of the fractured thoracolumbar spine. However, the long-term incidence of facet joint osteoarthritis has not been reported. This is the report on a retrospective analysis of 20 of these patients with an average follow-up period of 8.0 years. Eighty-five percent of the patients received a classification of good to excellent regarding back pain and 90% returned to their preinjury occupation...

Normal human colon mucosa cells and cells obtained from histologically normal tissues near that cancer were fused with human colon cancer cells. Resultant hybrid populations of normal and malignant cell fusions behaved as nonmalignant cells in culture, were unable to grow in soft agar, did not express tumor-associated antigens, and were nontumorigenic in nude mice. Autofusion of the cancer cell population led to a phenotype intermediate between normal and malignant cells. That is, the cultures had a much lower plating efficiency in soft agar, and the tumors had a longer latency and slower growth rate in nude mice...

Open reduction and internal fixation was performed on 50 displaced acetabular fractures in 49 patients by nine different attending surgeons over a 10-year period. At an average follow-up of 38 months, poor results were noted clinically in 38% and radiographically in 40%. The incidence of short- and long-term complications was greater than in other studies. Particularly distressing was the 58% incidence of heterotopic ossification (HO). Twenty-four percent had grade III or IV; five hips were autofused and the remainder had 40-60% loss of motion...