Spinal ultrasound to quantify in-brace correction before nighttime brace fabrication in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.

Purpose: Initial in-brace curve correction is an important predictor of brace treatment success in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). After brace measurement and fabrication, in-brace correction is sometimes not perfect and needs further optimization. Ideally, in-brace correction is known before fabrication without using ionizing radiation.

Genetic determination of fragile-site expression.

To explore genetic effects on the expression of chromosomal fragile sites in vitro, we studied the expression of common fragile sites (c-fra) in cultured lymphocytes of a human chimera (Chi46,XX/46,XY). Since the two cell lines in the chimera share the same environment in vitro and in vivo on cell culture preceding chromosome analysis, differences in the expression of c-fra must be due to genetic factors. The peripheral lymphocytes were cultured in medium 199 and in medium RPMI 1640 with and without aphidicolin.