Medical News Today

Cayenne Medical, Inc., a privately held sports medicine company based in Scottsdale, announced the commercial launch of its CrossFix™ System for the repair of meniscal tears at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) annual meeting in Keystone, Colorado last week. The CrossFix™ system offers surgeons the benefits of both open suturing and arthroscopic meniscal repair.

An upcoming G&D paper reveals how two specific matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) proteins contribute to bone metastasis in advanced breast cancer - lending important new insight into the design of clinically useful small molecule inhibitors. The study was led by Dr. Yibin Kang in Princeton University in close collaboration with Dr. Joan Massagué at MSKCC and Dr. Michael Reiss at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey. It will be published online ahead of print at

According to the latest thinking, eating healthily and taking more exercise are not enough by themselves to combat the nation's rising obesity levels. Instead we need a better understanding of the issues underpinning compulsive eating so that psychological help can be successfully targeted.

An osteoporosis drug proven to save lives after hip fractures may do so by strengthening the body's immune system, according to geriatrics researchers at Duke University Medical Center. In 2007, Duke researchers reported a 28 percent reduction in death among patients who received zoledronic acid (Reclast) within 90 days of surgery for a hip fracture. Zoledronic acid is a yearly intravenous injection of bisphosphonate that inhibits the progression of bone loss.

Researchers at Rush University Medical Center are testing a novel regimen of hip-muscle exercises to decrease the load on the knee joints in patients with osteoarthritis. The goal is not only to relieve pain but also, possibly, to halt progression of the disease. "Each time you take a step, a load, or force, is placed on the knee joints.