Aims. The development of lumbar lordosis has been traditionally examined using angular measurements of the spine to reflect its shape. While studies agree regarding the increase in the angles during growth, the growth rate is understudied, and sexual dimorphism is debated. In this study, we used a novel method to estimate the shape of the lumbar curve (LC) using the landmark-based geometric morphometric method to explore changes in LC during growth, examine the effect of size and sex on LC shape, and examine the associations between angular measurements and shape. Methods. The study population included 258 children aged between 0 and 20 years (divided into five age groups) who underwent a CT scan between the years 2009 and 2019. The landmark-based geometric morphometric method was used to capture the LC shape in a sagittal view. Additionally, the lordosis was measured via Cobb and sacral slope angles. Multivariate and univariate statistical analyses were carried out to examine differences in shape between males and females and between the age groups. Results. The overall shape of the LC overlapped between males and females in most age groups, except for the nine- to 12-year age group. However, size did not affect LC shape. LC shape changed significantly during growth from straight to curved, reaching its mature shape earlier in females. This corresponded with the results obtained by the lordosis and sacral slope angles. A significant positive correlation was found between the LC shape and angles, although the angles demonstrated poor distinction between age groups, as opposed to the LC shape. Conclusion. New insights into LC shape development were achieved using the geometric morphometric method. The LC shape was sex-independent in most age groups. However, the LC reached its mature shape earlier in females than males. The method and data of this study are beneficial for future studies examining aetiological factors for spinal pathologies and maldevelopment. Cite this article: Bone Joint Res 2025;14(1):58–68

The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the location of the insertion point of the AT into the posterior aspect of the calcaneus and the PF. Two hundred and two feet were evaluated from MRI scans. Ninety-seven women and one hundred and five men with a mean age of 40.15±18.58 were included in this study. Two independent investigators measured the horizontal distance from the most anterior point of the calcaneus to the most posterior part of the PF (A), including the horizontal length of the calcaneus (B). Moreover, distance between the most inferior point of the calcaneus and the most inferior part of the AT insertion into the calcaneus (C) and height of the posterior aspect of the calcaneus (D) were measured. Patients were divided into three groups based on age (I - patients younger than 18, II − 18–65, III - older than 65The all obtained mean values showed high sexual dimorphism between genders. However, when standardized ratios were compared, no statistically significant sexual differences were noted (p>0.05). Although previous studies have reported a correlation between the PF, age and gender, this correlation was not found in our study. Based on the obtained results, this study concludes that age and sex do not influence the morphology of the PF. However, aging strongly affects the location of the AT insertion point. Therefore, we believe this is the key factor which influence the relationship between the AT and PF

In total knee arthroplasty (TKA) the implant design is one key factor for a proper functional restoration of the diseased knee. Therefore, detailed knowledge on the shape (morphology) is essential to guide the design process. In literature, the morphology has been extensively studied revealing differences, e.g. between ethnicity and gender. However, it is still unclear in which way gender-specific morphological differences are sexual dimorphism or explained by differences in size. The aim of this study was to investigate the morphology of the distal femur under gender-specific aspects for a large group of patients. Statistical analysis was used to reveal significant differences and subsequent correlation analysis to normalise the morphology. A dataset of n=363 segmented distal femoral bone surface reconstructions (229 female, 134 male) were randomly collected from a database of patients which underwent TKA. In total, 34 morphological features (distances, angles), quantifying the distal femoral geometry, were determined full automatically. Subsequently, graphs and descriptive statistics were used to check normality and gender-specific differences were analysed by calculating the 95% confidence intervals for women and men separately. Finally, significant differences were normalised by dividing each feature by appropriate distance measurements and confidence intervals were recalculated. Looking at the confidence 95% intervals, 6 of 34 features did not show any significant differences between genders. Remarkably, this primarily involves angular (relative) features whereas distance (absolute) measurements were mostly gender dependent. Then, we normalised all distance measurements and radii according to their direction of measurement: Features defined in medial/lateral (ML) direction were divided by the overall ML width and those following the anterior/posterior direction were normalised based on the overall AP length. The results demonstrated that gender-specific differences mostly disappear by using an adequate normalisation term. In conclusion, implant sizes (femoral components) should not be linearly scaled according to one dimension. Instead, ML and AP directions should be regarded separately (non-isotropic scaling). Taking this into consideration, gender- specific differences might be neglected

Aims

Transcription factor nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) plays a major role in the pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory diseases in all organ systems. Despite its importance, NF-κB targeted drug therapy to mitigate chronic inflammation has had limited success in preclinical studies. We hypothesized that sex differences affect the response to NF-κB treatment during chronic inflammation in bone. This study investigated the therapeutic effects of NF-κB decoy oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN) during chronic inflammation in male and female mice.

Aims

Currently, the effect of drug treatment for osteoporosis is relatively poor, and the side effects are numerous and serious. Melatonin is a potential drug to improve bone mass in postmenopausal women. Unfortunately, the mechanism by which melatonin improves bone metabolism remains unclear. The aim of this study was to further investigate the potential mechanism of melatonin in the treatment of osteoporosis.