No abstract

For nearly 500 years, scholars have argued about the origin and antiquity of syphilis. Did Columbus bring the disease from the New World to the Old World? Or did syphilis exist in the Old World before 1493? Here, we evaluate all 54 published reports of pre‐Columbian, Old World treponemal disease using a standardized, systematic approach. The certainty of diagnosis and dating of each case is considered, and novel information pertinent to the dating of these cases, including radiocarbon dates, is presented. Among the reports, we did not find a single case of Old World treponemal disease that has both a certain diagnosis and a secure pre‐Columbian date. We also demonstrate that many of the reports use nonspecific indicators to diagnose treponemal disease, do not provide adequate information about the methods used to date specimens, and do not include high‐quality photographs of the lesions of interest. Thus, despite an increasing number of published reports of pre‐Columbian treponemal infection, it appears that solid evidence supporting an Old World origin for the disease remains absent. Yrbk Phys Anthropol 54:99–133, 2011. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Using atom probe tomography, the partitioning of alloying elements between and in the alloy Ti metal-5553 (Ti-5Al-5Mo-5V-3Cr-0.5Fe) has been investigated as a function of heat-treatment. It has been shown that -solutionizing followed by step-quenching to a higher temperature (700 C) or slow-cooling leads to substantial partitioning of the alloying elements, including an enrichment of slow-diffusing Mo at the / interfaces. In contrast, it was found that the combination of -solutionizing, quenching to room temperature and aging at 400 C leads to rather limited partitioning of these alloying elements.

Purpose Metal-on-metal total disc replacement is a recent alternative treatment for degenerative disc disease. Wear and corrosion of these implants can lead to local and systemic transport of metal debris. This prospective longitudinal study examined the serum chromium and cobalt levels in 24 patients with cobalt-chromium alloy metal-onmetal lumbar disc replacements. Methods Serum was assayed for chromium (Cr) and cobalt (Co) using high-resolution inductively-coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. Detection limits were 0.015 ng/ mL for Cr and 0.04 ng/mL for Co. Results Median serum Co levels at pre-op, 3, 6, 12, 24, and 36-months post-op were 0.10, 1.03, 0.96, 0.98, 0.67, and 0.52 ng/mL, respectively. Median serum Cr levels were 0.06, 0.49, 0.65, 0.43, 0.52, and 0.50 ng/mL, respectively. Conclusion In general, these results indicated that serum Co and Cr levels are elevated at all postoperative time points and are of the same order of magnitude as those observed in well-functioning metal-on-metal surface replacements of the hip and in metal-on-metal total hip replacements at similar postoperative time points.

Purpose We evaluated the consequences of cobaltchromium alloy (CoCr) wear debris challenge in the perispine region to determine the inflammation and toxicity associated with submicron particulates of CoCr-alloy and nickel on the peri-spine. Methods The lumbar epidural spaces of (n = 50) New Zealand white rabbits were challenged with: 2.5 mg CoCr, 5.0 mg CoCr, 10.0 mg CoCr, a positive control (20.0 mg of nickel) and a negative control (ISOVUE-M-300). The CoCr-alloy and Ni particles had a mean diameter of 0.2 and 0.6 lm, respectively. Five rabbits per dose group were studied at 12 and 24 weeks. Local and distant tissues were analyzed histologically and quantitatively analyzed immunohistochemically (TNF-a and IL-6). Results Histologically, wear particles were observed in all animals. There was no evidence of toxicity or local irritation noted during macroscopic observations in any CoCr-dosed animals. However, Ni-treated control animals experienced bilateral hind leg paralysis and were euthanized at Day 2. Histopathology of the Ni particle-treated group revealed severe neuropathy. Quantitative immunohistochemistry demonstrated a CoCr-alloy dose-dependent increase in cytokines (IL-6, TNF-a, p \ 0.05) at 12 and 24 weeks. Conclusions Subtle peri-spine inflammation associated with CoCr-alloy implant particles was dose dependent and persistent. Neuropathy can be induced by highly reactive Ni particles. This suggests peri-spine challenge with CoCralloy implant debris (e.g., TDA) is consistent with past reports using titanium alloy particles, i.e., mild persistent inflammation.