Nets' Williams Faces Surgery On Right Foot

Nets backup point guard Marcus Williams will undergo surgery Monday for a broken bone in his right foot and likely miss the start of the season.

"It'll be right around six weeks. So generally, we'll say six to eight," Nets president Rod Thorn told the Newark Star-Ledger Friday.

Williams was a second-team All-Rookie pick last season after being drafted out of UConn.

Source: http://www.courant.com/sports/basketball/hc-nbaup0929.artsep29,0,3862302.story

Quincey out with broken hand

September 28, Detroit News: There's one fewer candidate to win a roster spot on the Red Wings defense. Kyle Quincey was walking around the locker room Friday with a cast on his left hand, the result of a broken bone suffered during intra-squad scrimmages back in Traverse City earlier in the month.

Quincey tried to play through the injury, but it was getting too difficult. Quincey went for X-rays Friday morning and the break was confirmed.

"I knew something was wrong with it," said Quincey, who could be out for up to three weeks. "I couldn't shoot or pass the puck in the games I was playing. I was trying to play well defensively and do what I could to make the lineup."

With Quincey out, the competition for the final spot on defense is between Brent Sopel, Derek Meech and Jonathan Ericsson. Meech is out of minor league options, and the Wings don't want to lose him on waivers to another team for nothing.

Sopel is in camp on a tryout and offers the Wings NHL experience. Ericsson is a top prospect who has developed rapidly.

The CBA states that Quincey must stay with the Wings until he's healthy, and while he will be placed on the IR, he will both continue to draw his NHL salary, and will recuperate under the care of the Wings' doctors.

Source: http://blog.mlive.com/snapshots/2007/09/quincey_out_with_broken_hand.html

Bones, fractures and sprains

Fractures and dislocations, but especially fractures, can be missed at any age but this is more likely in children or old people

Fractures and dislocations, but especially fractures, can be missed at any age but this is more likely in children or old people.

Children most often break their arms, legs or collarbones � a fractured collarbone is obvious but needs complex treatment. A child’s broken bone is usually detected because of greater pain than expected from the accident. The child is reluctant to move the limb or to allow it to be touched. Tenderness and pain on pressure is greatest at the fracture site.

A patient shouldn’t be moved if damage to the spine, whether back or neck, is a possibility, but otherwise immobilise the limb and take the child to hospital.

A fracture resulting in displacement or malalignment of the bone makes diagnosis obvious. There will often be swelling over the site, with bruising. If it is a comminuted fracture (where the bone is broken into more than two pieces), deformity and swelling are likely to be greater.

A simple fracture is one where there is a clean break and the overlying skin and tissue are not torn. An open fracture leaves the site of the bone exposed to infection.

A green-stick fracture in children is where the bone is bent and cracked, like a bent green branch, rather than snapped.

The object of any treatment is to restore mobility and prevent lasting deformity or damage to a joint adjacent to the fracture. Children’s bones heal more quickly than adult ones.

In the elderly, bones are fragile from osteoporosis, and failing eyesight and balance is poor so that spines and hips are frequently fractured. Careful examination of older people reveals that around a fifth have had compression fractures of a spinal vertebra that has collapsed. If the fracture has left the spine unstable or pressing on the spinal cord or nerves, urgent treatment may be necessary.

Hip fractures are sometimes initially undetected � with tragic results. Older people who fall should have hip joints tested. If the thigh bone has been fractured without initial displacement, the angle at which the ankle is held when lying flat provides the clue.

Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/our_experts/article2530086.ece

Healing Old Broken Bones without Operations

Cartilage, even if it is old, promotes inosculation of broken old bones. Specialists of the Chelyabinsk State Institute of Laser Surgery (Russian Academy of Medical Sciences) and the St. Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology (North-West Branch, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences) have developed a treatment for fractures.

The aging organism’s metabolism differs from the one in young days. Young bones are constantly renewed: old cells die off and they are replaced by new ones. These processes are slower in old bone tissue, therefore, if the bone breaks it is difficult to repair – the restorative potential is not as good as it was before. And bone strength is different as there are less mineral salts in aging bones.

Russian researchers have investigated methods of healing bones without extensive operations, long-term bone fixation or expensive stimulating drugs, using tests on animal subjects.

The experiments involved eighteen rabbits aged five to six years, divided into two groups. Researchers took part of the cranium parietal bone and ablated it under anaesthetic, observing how the hole on the bone healed up. In one group, the cartilage was placed into the wound, with the other group had the wound covered by a skin flap.

Researchers found that separated cartilage fragments in the bone gradually join with trabeculas of bone and pull collagen fibers with young fibroblasts towards them. Three weeks after the operation, a callus was formed and new blood vessels actively grew, with the wound healed by the end of the fourth week, with young conjunctive tissue beginning to ossify. As for the reference group animals, their bones did not heal by this stage. Researchers concluded that osteoplasty using the patient’s own cartilage stimulates the healing process of old bone fibres knitting together.

Source: http://www.azom.com/details.asp?newsID=10056

Motorbike crash puts Clooney back in ER

GEORGE Clooney has made an unwelcome real-life return to ER after being involved, along with his girlfriend, in a motorbike smash.

The Hollywood heartthrob was taken to hospital after being involved in a collision with a car in New Jersey.

The actor, 46, and his partner Sarah Larson, who was a pillion passenger, suffered broken bones in the accident. The Ocean's 13 star had a broken rib and cuts, while Larson, 28, broke her foot.

They were treated in hospital on Friday and later released, Clooney's spokesman Stan Rosenfield said. He added: "He's doing fine. He has a broken rib, it's very painful and it'll take a long time to heal." He confirmed the pair were both wearing helmets.

According to Weehawken Police Sergeant Sean Kelly, the accident occurred at 3.30pm on the narrow Boulevard East, when Clooney tried to pass a 1999 Mazda that was allegedly attempting a right-hand turn from the left lane.

The car driver, 27-year-old Albert Sciancaledore, told police Clooney was hastily passing cars in the right lane, while the actor said the other driver accelerated to pass him to make the turn.

"The car signalled left. George was riding to the right," Rosenfield said. "The driver decided to make an abrupt right turn and clipped George." No charges have yet been made but the accident remains under investigation.

"It's a he-said, she-said, right now but you can't pass on the right in Weehawken or anywhere in Jersey," Kelly said.

Clooney, an avid biker, was treated for a hairline fracture of a rib and "road rash" at Palisades Medical Centre in North Bergen, New Jersey. Larson was taken away by ambulance but Clooney was able to leave the scene on his Harley-Davidson.

As well as having a broken foot, Larson suffered from cuts and scratches to her face. The couple were released shortly after being treated.

David Sciumbata, 32, witnessed the accident, which took place outside his home. "I thought he looked like George Clooney and the girl was very pretty, so it figured. She seemed really hurt and had a cut on her face.

"He was saying, 'It'll be all right. Don't move.' He seems to really care about her."

Sciumbata said they rode a rented light-blue Harley-Davidson that his neighbour, musician Jerry Zaslavsky, stored for Clooney after the accident.

This article: http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1521152007