Injury Patterns in Hip Hop Dancers.

Hip hop dance is becoming increasingly popular. It is performed in a variety of environments and can be fused with other dance styles. There is limited research on this dance demographic. The object of this study was to record and assess the injury patterns and diagnoses of hip hop dancers who presented to a dancer injury clinic at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH) in London over a 5-year period. Of the 800 patients who attended the clinic, 73 (28 males, 45 females) identified themselves as hip hop dancers. The mean age of these dancers was 26.1 years (± 6.59 years). The majority were professionals (49%) and the next largest group was students (31.5%). The most common site of injury was the knee (36%), followed by the lumbar spine (19%) and the foot and ankle (15%). The site of injury appeared to be influenced by the sub-style of hip hop the dancer performed. There were gender differences in knee injuries; male dancers predominantly sustained meniscal injuries (45%) and female dancers primarily sustained patellofemoral pain (60%). All lumbar disc injuries were at the L5/S1 level. These results are comparable to those of previous studies investigating injury in hip hop dancers. More research is needed to explore injury etiology, develop injury prevention measures, and increase awareness of the injury complexities in this dance population.

The complications of septic arthritis in the elderly.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: An epidemiological analysis of cases of spontaneous community acquired septic arthritis in an elderly population at a university teaching hospital. METHODS: Confirmed cases of spontaneous septic arthritis in the over-65 population were studied. Patients with prosthetic joint infections were excluded from the study. Analysed data included initial presenting complaint and clinical examination, hematological and microbiological tests together with ultimate patient outcome. RESULTS: There were 7 confirmed cases of spontaneous septic arthritis in the over 65 population in the past 6 months (2 hips, 5 knees). The mean age was 72.14 (range 65-82) with a mean length of stay of 49 days. Those with septic arthritis of the knee presented with swelling, pain and immobility. Hip cases presented with pain and immobility. All patients were systemically well at the time of presentation, with no other foci of infection detected after septic screening. All patients had confirmed aspirate and arthroscopic/arthrotomy infection. Staphylococcus aureus was isolated from 6 joint aspirations and Pseudomonas Aeruginosa from one patient. Complications of treatment included acute renal failure, cardio/respiratory failure, disseminated infection, and death (1 case). CONCLUSION: Septic arthritis must be considered as a differential diagnosis in all patients with joint pain, swelling and immobility. This diagnosis is not confined to the pediatric population. A background of degenerative disease and occult presentation in the elderly may delay diagnosis. Sepsis must be considered in the elderly with joint pathology, and treatment must be initiated in a prompt and aggressive manner, to prevent sequelae.

Selective photo-reduction of N-nitroamines combined with micellar electrokinetic chromatography and laser fluorimetric detection.

N-nitroso compounds (NOC) are potent carcinogens. Reliable methods for the analysis of volatile carcinogenic NOC are well established; however selective and sensitive methods for routine analysis of thermally unstable, ionic or non-volatile NOC are still needed. For this purpose, a method based on micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) with laser induced fluorescence (LIF) detection is described for the simultaneous determination of a broad range of N-nitroso compounds. In this procedure, the nitroso group is photolytically cleaved from the NOC to yield the corresponding amine. The amines are then derivatized with 7-chloro-4-nitrobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazole (NBD-Cl), identified and quantified using MEKC-LIF. For the standard mixture of NOC, this method has good sensitivity and a large dynamic range. The detection limit provided by the method is 9 ppb for N-nitrosopyrrolidine.