Objectives: Thromboprophylaxis reduces the risk of surgery related deep venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. The classical anticoagulants (heparin and LWMH) were associated with systemic osteoporosis, poor bone healing and materials’ osseointegration. There is a lack of data concerning the effect of the new orally administered anticoagulants on osseointegration. The aim of this study is to investigate the possible effect of rivaroxaban, a direct anti-Xa factor, on osseointegration. Methods: Twenty eight white, male, Wistar rats were divided into two groups: Group A, study group (n=14) and group B, control group (n=14). In all animals under general anesthesia one screw was inserted on the right tibia. For twenty eight days the animals of group A received intraperitoneal rivaroxaban injections 5mgr/kgr every day. The animals of group B received intraperitoneal equal amount of normal saline injections. At the end of the four weeks all animals were sacrificed and their right tibias were excised and underwent the pull-out test. Results: The mean values of pull-out test were 92,10±19,12N for the control group and 95,46±21,02N for the study group. The statistical analysis using t-test showed no significant difference (p=0,665) for the pull-out test. Conclusions: These results indicate that Rivaroxaban hasn’t got any deleterious effect on the osseointegration of implants on rats.

CREST syndrome, a subtype of scleroderma and Primary Biliary Cholangitis, is an autoimmune disease where the immune system is causing a progressive slow damage to the bile ducts. We report the case of a 67-year-old female patient presenting symptoms indicative of CREST syndrome. During her hospitalization in the internal medicine clinic and after the appropriate imaging and laboratory investigation the diagnosis of CREST syndrome was confirmed, and she was also diagnosed with PBC. This case adds up to a list of literature sources and several case reports which indicate the association of PBC and CREST syndrome, including the accompanied clinical symptoms and musculoskeletal manifestations of the latter.

Paget’s disease of bone is characterized by the dysfunction of the bone architecture due to the extreme increase of the osteoclast and osteoblast activity which results in the production of pathological bone. The particular disease afflicts any skeleton bone. Its sources have not been specified yet. There is evidence for the existence of strong genetic background as well as the effect of environmental factors. The neurological complications are relatively rare and are related to the central and peripheral nervous system (headache, ataxia, vertigo, loss of hearing, smell etc.). In our case, we present a patient with vertigo as the first manifestation of Paget’s disease.

Frailty is a geriatric syndrome, which is characterized by the decline of the functions of older people systems, resulting in the exposure of one’s health at risk, disability and mortality. Older people lose their autonomy and independence, quality of life and their psychological state is decreased. Frailty is a syndrome with multiple manifestations and with no single feature being enough in its presentation, many signs and symptoms determinate it, which frame the "frailty clinical phenotype". The rates of frailty are constantly increasing, due to the increase of the aging population in Western countries. In Europe, these percentages are higher in the Mediterranean countries, on the contrary to the Nordic countries. For this reason it is important to prevent the syndrome and its effects, in order to improve the elderly population quality of life. The aim of this study is to review assessment tools for frailty, to flag consequences of this syndrome, to mention the epidemiological data in European community-dwelling population and mainly in European men, to accent the correlation between frailty and bone health and to report the treatment of frailty.

Paget’s disease of bone (PDB) is a focal remodeling disorder of unknown origin. Head bones are frequently involved and patients may suffer from deformities and specific symptoms, mainly headache, or neurological deficits, such as deafness. Several pathophysiological entities can give rise to headache in PDB patients. Clinical, laboratory, radiological and scintigraphic findings contribute to distinguish headache related to PDB from other causes of headache. Up to the present, treatment with intravenous zolendronic acid has been reported to improve symptoms of PDB and induce long-standing biochemical and scintigraphic remission. In this review, the main strands of literature about epidemiology, pathophysiology, clinical characteristics and treatment of PDB-related headache are drawn together.

Osteoporosis is a severe skeletal disease that leads to bone fractures, even disability, if it remains undetected. However, osteoporosis remains frequently unnoticed until a fracture occurs. It is possible for dental practitioners to screen patients at risk of osteoporosis and refer them for an osteoporosis evaluation. Screening can be achieved mainly through dental radiographs and especially panoramic x-rays, where several radiographic indices, such as Mandibular Cortical Width (MCW), Mandibular Cortical Index (MCI), Gonial Index (GI), Antigonial Index (AI), Panoramic Mandibular Index (PMI) and alveolar crest resorption degree (M/M ratio) can be assessed. Furthermore, patients with osteoporosis develop changes in the trabecular bone of their jaws and those alternations can be detected by dentists through periapical and panoramic x-rays. Moreover, periodontitis, which is a major reason for tooth loss, deteriorates when the patient also suffers from osteoporosis. Dentists can thus screen their patients who are possibly unaware of their osteoporosis, and refer them further for dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) examination. However, all the above indices are merely indicative of low skeletal bone mineral density and the dentist must always take into account the medical history and clinical risk factors of osteoporosis before further referring to an osteoporosis specialist

Obesity in elder women is a difficult problem for public health, as it is related to increased incidence of all-related injuries and fractures. The kind of fall-related fracture seems to relate to the distribution of body mass. A review of the literature was carried out based on systematic searches of electronic databases (PubMed/ Medline). The results of this mini-review did not support that obesity increases the risk of falls during post-menopause compared to normal weight women. However, there was a relation between obesity and site of fractures.

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is known to be an important risk factor for accidental, low-energy falls especially among elder individuals. The high incidence of falls is a major cause of morbidity and mortality with a substantial annual cost. Patients suffering from CKD are more prone to fall and develop fractures than the general population. Multiple risk factors have been identified and analyzed in order to explain this fact, such as drug combination, diabetes mellitus, orthostatic hypotension, vitamin D deficiency, sarcopenia and anemia, all very common in CKD. In this mini review of published evidence, we tried to search and present a complete aspect of the problem called ‘Falls in Chronic Kidney Disease’, focusing especially on the risk factors, discussing each one separately and its association with low- energy falls. Concluding, we discuss potential therapies and treatment goals based on the pathophysiology of CKD and accidental falls and propose new fields of investigation.

Objective: Malnutrition is a common problem in hip fracture patients. The prevalence of malnutrition and available nutritional markers for use for nutritional assessment in this population group was investigated. Methods: This is a case control study including 214 patients with a hip fracture from “KAT” Hospital in Athens, Greece, and 108 controls from three Elderly Open Protection Centers. Main outcome measures were anthropometric [Body Mass Index (BMI), triceps skinfold thickness (TST) and mid-arm muscle circumference (MAMC)] and biochemical parameters (serum albumin and serum cholesterol). Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) was used for malnutrition assessment. Results: Based on MNA score only, we found 19.5 % vs. 0.9% malnourished, 54.6% vs. 32.4% at risk and 25.9% vs. 66.7% well-nourished, in hip fracture group and controls, respectively. All anthropometric parameters of malnutrition were significantly lower in the hip fracture patients compared to controls (p value<0.05). Serum albumin and serum-cholesterol levels correlated negatively significantly with s-CRP levels (R2=0.247, p<0.001 and R2=0.06, p<0.001, respectively) in the hip fracture group. Conclusions: Hip fracture patients are often malnourished. MNA application may be helpful in identifying malnourished hip fracture patients. Moreover, serum cholesterol may be a useful marker of malnutrition in hip fracture patients.

Osteoarthritis is the most common, incurable joint disease. The rapid pace of the disease has adverse consequences in the quality of patient’s life, while affecting healthcare systems. The research interest is focused on cost-effective and without side-effects methods to reduce the symptoms and improve the quality of life. Several dietary factors have been linked to the health of cartilage tissue, inflammatory processes and the progress of osteoarthritis. Mediterranean diet (MD) is a dietary pattern that was adopted by people living around the Mediterranean sea. This term first appeared in 1950, by Ancel Keys. It’s characterized by high consumption of vegetables, unprocessed grains, fruits, legumes, seeds, modest consumption of fish and poultry and olive oil is the principal fat source. Emerged data emphasize the beneficial effects of MD against chronic inflammation, metabolic complications and chronic diseases. There are few studies investigating the effect of MD against osteoarthritis, but apparent evidence is encouraging, this highlights the need for further research of the relationship between MD and osteoarthritis. The purpose

This article presents a review of the main causes of falls among hospitalized patients, a global, cost-effective phenomenon with many complications for patients and institutions alike, with the objective of looking into fall prevention. Reviewing articles from various databases we look into data from articles with positive outcomes, published in English. Following an analysis of the main factors of in-hospital falls -intrinsic, extrinsic and exposure to risk-, we present a concise analysis of the existing fall prevention studies, focusing on the most popular risk assessing tools which seem to lead to the best results when used in combination with an integral approach from and proper communication between the patient, the family, the institution and the health-care teams.

Sarcopenia is a combination of a progressive and generalized loss of skeletal muscle mass and muscle strength or physical performance, with high risk of adverse outcomes such as physical disability, poor quality of life and death. It mainly affects older people, aged 60-70 years. The development of sarcopenia is multifactor. The first step towards the management of sarcopenia is the proper and professional diagnosis. According to EWGSOP the diagnosis of sarcopenia depends on the presence of low muscle mass (LMM) plus low muscle strength (LMS) or low physical performance (LPP). Although it is difficult to establish its prevalence, the higher prevalence is observed in hospitalized elderly patients. It has direct and indirect impact on public health, which are difficult to be measured due to numerous negative outcomes of sarcopenia.

The loads on skeleton control bone turnover, rates of adapted remodeling and influence growth. Mechanical stimulus detected by osteocytes, is derived from muscle contraction or gravity forces. It is difficult to separate the effect of gravity from muscle contractions at bone mass. A great number of studies show that muscle contractions are present, significant and able to represent the large majority which causes the adaptive bone responses

Objectives: Determine the influence of muscle mass, muscle strength, physical performance, nutritional status and certain comorbidities on the four years mortality risk of hospitalized geriatric patients. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: During hospitalization of the included geriatric patients, the determinants of sarcopenia and nutritional status were obtained. Participants: A total of 302 patients hospitalized at the geriatric department of the Saint-Elisabeth hospital in Antwerp (Belgium) from 01/08/2012 until 31/01/2013. Measurements: Muscle mass was measured using a CT scan. The muscle strength was obtained by measuring the handgrip strength using a Jamar dynamometer. The physical performance was measured by performing the SPPB. The nutritional status was surveyed by using the MNA-SF. Comorbidities were obtained through medical records. Results: The variables gender (HR= 0.609; 95% CI 0.442-0.838), nutritional status (HR= 2.953; 95% CI 1.924-4.531), muscle mass (HR= 0.443; 95% CI 0.251-0.780), muscle strength (HR= 0.215; CI 95% 0.079-0.587), physical performance (HR= 0.407; 95% CI 0.237-0.702) and heart failure (HR= 1.440; 95% CI 1.022-2.029) have been shown to be significant. Conclusion: The determinants gender, nutritional status and physical performance have the greatest prognostic value.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine whether the risk of falls could be reduced among patients in our ward using the standing test for imbalance and disequilibrium (SIDE). Methods: The study participants were 97 inpatients (24 men, 73 women; mean age, 81.9±9.0 years) who had been diagnosed with spinal compression or hip or other fractures in a ward for community-based integrated care in Japan. The participants took part in six daily 40-min rehabilitation training sessions per week. We investigated patient data obtained from medical records, including duration of stay in the ward, discharge destination, and SIDE level at admission and discharge. We compared indices at admission and discharge using Fisher’s exact test (P<0.05). Results: The mean duration of stay was 38.5±15.9 days, and 83.5% of the patients were discharged home. Significant increases in SIDE levels were observed at discharge compared with admission (P<0.001). Conclusions: The results of the present study suggest that exercises in the ward reduce the risk of falls.

Objective: A study to retrospectively assess the decision to implement treatment for osteoporosis based on Greek version of FRAX tool. Methods: The study population was 1000 postmenopausal women aged 45 or above, excluding those with medical conditions demanding specific osteoporosis management. Data were collected regarding their medical history and additionally, risk factors incorporated in FRAX questionnaire. FRAX score was estimated at the time of the anti-osteoporotic treatment initiation. Results: The mean age of the study sample was 58.5±8.79 years. 46.8% of the participating osteopenic women had initiated treatment for osteoporosis at their first consultation while the 80.6% met the current national intervention threshold of FRAX tool. Conclusion: Stemming from our results there is an indication that women who are borderline eligible for treatment and seek consultation for osteoporosis are likely to be given treatment regardless of the potential benefit. One cannot ignore the fact that a clinician’s good clinical judgment is of the utmost importance and under no circumstances can be replaced by any prognostic assessment tool.

The present article is an opinion paper referring to adult scoliosis, sarcopenia and their relation. There is a presentation of adult scoliosis and sarcopenia as a whole including their classifications, aetiopathogenesis, clinical picture and evaluation, therapy options and complications, risk factors and consequences. The most important part is how sarcopenia and adult scoliosis can coexist and how this relation can lead to secondary problems for the patient as falls. Treatment options, for the elimination of all the above pathological conditions, are introduced in order to improve patient’s life and his ADL.

Osteomyelitis is an inflammation process of bone caused by a pathogenic microorganism and associated by edema, thrombosis of small vessels and eventually bone necrosis. Infection of bone occurs as a consequence of hematogenous dissemination of bacteria, invasion from a contiguous focuw of infection and skin breakdown. We report a case of lower limbs osteomyelitis due to Nocardia spp in a 68 years old man with Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis (GPA) during his treatment of underlying vasculitis. This case indicates considering rare pathogens in immunosuppressed patients.

Falls among elderly are a common and major public health problem. Even though most falls do not lead to injury, they threaten the independence of older people causing functional decline in activities of daily living (ADLs) with substantial socioeconomic consequences. According to current literature several risk factors have been identified. Falls rarely have a single cause and the majority of them are due to a complex interaction of the age-related changes, the underlying medical condition and the medications. Some medications due to their side effects are usually called fall-risk-increasing drugs (FRIDs). We conducted a retrospective, multicentre, observational chart review study of elderly aged over 60, which aims to reveal any correlation between specific groups of medications given for the most common diseases, and falls in elderly. The sample consists of 827 participants. The data were collected by using a medication logbook which includes information about sex, age, residency, underlying diseases and the corresponding medications, incidents of fall during the last 2 years and possible fracture as a consequence of the fall.