Building a national joint replacement registry

Annie Hayashi

Can the United States find its way? Why doesn’t the United States have a national joint registry when other developed countries such as Sweden, Britain, and Australia have one? What are the benefits and risks of such a system? What role should the AAOS play in the formation of a joint registry? Joshua J. Jacobs, MD, chair of the AAOS Council on Research, Quality Assessment, and Technology and a member of the AAOS Now editorial board, discussed the establishment of a U.S.

Defining BMP action in cartilage

Eileen Norris

Drs. Lyons and Rosen win Ann Doner Vaughan Award Karen M. Lyons, PhD, and Vicki Rosen, PhD, have received the 2008 Kappa Delta Ann Doner Vaughan Award for their research and manuscript on “In Vivo Studies of BMP Pathway Activities in Chondrogenesis.” Their honor caps nearly two decades of efforts to better understand the underlying roles of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) action in cartilage, and also reveals previously undiscovered aspects of chondrocyte behavior in vivo.

Award recognizes cartilage breakdown discovery

Eileen Norris

Young Investigator Award goes to Chuanju Liu, PhD, and associates At the 2008 Annual Meeting, the Kappa Delta Young Investigator Award was presented to Chuanju Liu, PhD; Yi Luan, MD, PhD; Yan Zhang, MD, PhD; Ronald Damani Howel, research assistant; and Li Kong, MD, PhD—all from the NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases—for their manuscript, “Two Novel Cartilage-Degrading Metalloproteinases.”

Twin Spine Study wins Lanier Award

Eileen Norris

Findings support hereditary link in disk degeneration Michele C. Battié, PhD; Tapio Videman, MD, PhD; Jaakko Kaprio, MD, PhD; Laura E. Gibbons, PhD; Kevin Gill, MD; Janna Saarela, MD, PhD; and Leena Peltonen, MD, PhD, have received the 2008 Kappa Delta Elizabeth Winston Lanier Award for their manuscript on “The Foundation of a New Paradigm of Disk Degeneration: The Twin Spine Study.”

How two ‘Bettys’ started the Kappa Delta Awards

Annie Hayashi

From the Crippled Children’s Hospital to more than $1 million in grants How did a national women’s sorority come to establish an annual award to recognize achievements in orthopaedic research? It started with two women named Betty, both members of the Kappa Delta Sorority. Elizabeth Corbett Gilbert, the first Betty, was president of the National Kappa Delta Sorority in 1916.

The “E” in OREF

William P. Cooney III, MD

Education grants equip orthopaedic surgeons to excel Orthopaedic research has resulted in advancements such as total joint arthroplasty, innovative procedures for correcting cartilage injuries, and better bone grafting. Had the research stopped at the lab, however, the practice of orthopaedics would have remained stagnant.

MMTGs in a nutshell

Michael E. Trice, MD; William Bugbee, MD

Understanding minimally manipulated tissue grafts Tissue implants are rapidly gaining in popularity as a treatment for many orthopaedic surgical conditions. Orthopaedic surgeons need a fundamental understanding of the efficacy and safety of these products, as well as their characterization, origin, and processing. Tissue implants may be divided into two broad categories for classification purposes: cellular and structural.

Engineering the future of implants

Jennie McKee

Biomedical engineers explore implant advances “A principal strategy for reducing the osteolysis problem is to reduce its root cause: wear debris,” said Thomas D. Brown, PhD, director of the Orthopaedic Biomechanics Laboratory at the University of Iowa. “Mechanical implant design is a key consideration in that regard. Mechanical design issues are closely coupled with bearing surface material combinations, the menu of which has become ever more diverse.”

Pape wins OREF Clinical Research Award

Annie Hayashi

Changing strategies results in “damage-control orthopaedics” Hans-Christoph Pape, MD, has won the 2008 Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation (OREF) Clinical Research Award, for his study on “Effects of Changing Strategies of Fracture Fixation on Immunologic Changes and Systemic Complications after Multiple Trauma: Damage Control Orthopaedic Surgery.” Dr.