Parental ACE exposures can negatively impact child development in multiple domains, including problem solving, communication, personal-social, and motor skills. Research is needed to elucidate the psychosocial and biological mechanisms of intergenerational risk. This research has implications for the value of parental ACE screening in the context of pediatric primary care.

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Sixty-nine patients with congenital abnormality of the femur were reviewed. Their manifestation of femoral dysplasia ranged from an intact femur approximately 60 per cent of the length of the normal leg to a subtotal absence of the femur in which only the femoral condyles remained, often with a congenital fusion of the knee joint. Two groups were defined: Group I consisted of those with congenital hypoplastic femur in which the hip and knee could be made functional and where, in some patients at least, leg equalisation was possible; Group II consisted of those with true proximal focal femoral deficiency where the hip joint was never normal and the kneejoint was always useless. The patients in each group were examined and evaluated with respect to clinical signs, surgical procedures performed, and prosthetic requirements and function. A protocol of treatment for both groups is suggested.

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Recently, gender-specific designs of total knee replacement have been developed to accommodate anatomical differences between males and females. We examined a group of male and female distal femora matched for age and height, to determine if there was a difference in the aspect ratio (mediolateral distance versus anteroposterior distance) and the height of the anterior flange between the genders. The Hamann-Todd Collection provided 1207 skeletally mature cadaver femora. The femoral length, the anteroposterior height, height of the lateral and medial flanges and the mediolateral width were measured in all the specimens. The mechanical axis of the femur, the cut articular width and the aspect ratio were assessed. Statistical analysis of the effect of gender upon the aspect ratio and the lateral and medial flanges was undertaken, controlling for age, height and race. The mean aspect ratio of male femora was 1.21 (SD 0.07) and of female femora it was 1.16 (SD 0.06) (p < 0.001). There was no significant difference between male and female specimens in the mean size of the lateral flange (6.57 mm (SD 2.57) and 7.02 mm (SD 2.36), respectively; p = 0.099) or of the medial flange (3.03 mm (SD 2.47) and 3.56 mm (SD 2.32), respectively; p = 0.67). Future work in the design of knee prostheses should take into account the overall variability of the anatomy of the distal femur.

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Rotator cuff injuries are common in both young and elderly patients. Despite improvements in instrumentation and surgical techniques, the failure rates following tendon reconstruction remain unacceptably high. To improve outcomes, graft patches have been developed to provide mechanical strength and to furnish a scaffold for biologic growth across the delicate tendon-bone junction. Although no patch effectively re-creates the structured, highly organized system of prenatal tendon development, augmenting rotator cuff repair may help restore native tendon-to-bone attachment while reproducing the mechanical and biologic properties of native tendon. An understanding of biologically and synthetically derived grafts, along with knowledge of the preliminary data available regarding their combined use with growth factors and stem cells, is needed to improve management and treatment outcomes. The current literature has not been consistent in showing patch augmentation to be beneficial over traditional repair, but novel scaffolding materials may help facilitate rotator cuff tendon repair that is histologically and biomechanically comparable to native tendon.

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