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Background: The influence of total hip arthroplasty surgical approach on postoperative recovery is not well understood and often debated. This study compares anterior and posterior approach (PA) gait and patient-reported Hip Osteoarthritis Outcome scores (HOOS) in the early phases of recovery.Methods: A prospective study evaluated 20 control subjects, 35 direct anterior approach (DAA), and 34 PA total hip arthroplasty patients. Subjects were assessed preoperatively and at 1 and 4 months postoperatively with HOOS and smartphone gait assessments of gait speed, step length, cadence, step symmetry, and horizontal and vertical center of mass displacements.Results: The DAA and PA groups were not different in baseline HOOS or gait characteristics except for less horizontal center of mass displacement in the DAA group. At 1 month postoperatively, the DAA group had significantly faster gait speed at self-selected (P = .02) and fastest possible gait (P = .01) and longer step length at self-selected (P = .047) and fastest gait (P = .003) compared to the PA. At 4 months, there were no differences in DAA and PA gait measures. At 1 month postoperatively there were no significant differences in HOOS, but after 4 months HOOS were significantly higher in the DAA group.Conclusion: There were minimal differences between the two approaches in the recovery of gait mechanics with some gait parameters particularly gait speed and step length recovery favoring the DAA at 1 month postsurgery in this nonrandomized study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metastasis is the cause of more than 90% of all cancer deaths. Despite this fact, most anticancer therapeutics currently in clinical use have limited efficacy in treating established metastases. Here, we identify the endoplasmic reticulum chaperone protein, glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78), as a metastatic dependency in several highly metastatic cancer cell models. We find that GRP78 is consistently upregulated when highly metastatic cancer cells colonize the lung microenvironment and that mitigation of GRP78 upregulation via short hairpin RNA or treatment with the small molecule IT-139, which is currently under clinical investigation for the treatment of primary tumors, inhibits metastatic growth in the lung microenvironment. Inhibition of GRP78 upregulation and an associated reduction in metastatic potential have been shown in four highly metastatic cell line models: three human osteosarcomas and one murine mammary adenocarcinoma. Lastly, we show that downmodulation of GRP78 in highly metastatic cancer cells significantly increases median survival times in ourin vivo animal model of experimental metastasis. Collectively, our data indicate that GRP78 is an attractive target for the development of antimetastatic therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Submarine volcanic eruptions can result in both real and apparent changes in marine algal communities, e.g., increases in phytoplankton biomass and/or growth rates that can cover thousands of square kilometers. Satellite ocean color monitoring detects these changes as increases in chlorophyll and particulate backscattering. Detailed, high resolution analysis is needed to separate the optical effects of volcanic products from the response of the marine algal community. It is possible to calculate an index, which maps the magnitude of improbable change (relative to long term average conditions) following known volcanic eruptions by using low resolution, initial estimates of chlorophyll and backscatter along with an archived history of satellite data. We apply multivariate probability analysis to changes in global satellite ocean chlorophyll and particulate backscatter data to create a new metric for observing apparent biological responses to submarine eruptions. Several examples are shown, illustrating the sensitivity of our improbability mapping index to known submarine volcanic events, yielding a potentially robust method for the detection of new events in remote locations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]