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Musculoskeletal complications following COVID-19 infection or because of its medications had been reported in the literature. Here, we report on seven hips in four patients who presented with osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) after having COVID-19 infection, and their treatment regimen included glucocorticoid. Four patients presented to us complaining of hip pain (bilateral in three patients and unilateral in one), all reported being diagnosed as having COVID-19 infection, and their line of management included corticosteroid intake for various durations. The diagnosis was confirmed by plain hip radiographs and magnetic resonance imaging. The disease was in the early stages in all patients without femoral head collapse. Thus, all hips were treated by core decompression. ONFH is a real concern in patients who have COVID-19 infection, especially when corticosteroids are administered as part of their management. A follow-up and screening strategy should be established for patients who had COVID-19 infection to detect the early development of hip osteonecrosis.

The functioning of the mathematical model for the regulation of agonistic antagonistic couples (MRCAA) is first recalled: it intends to simulate normal and pathological states concerning some biological (im)balances, just as a control method allowing to reestablish the balances, if necessary. Using the MRCAA in the frame of AA networks, it was permitted to obtain strange attractors (SA). By approaching in that manner the problem of chaotic dynamics, we may understand that SA have important characteristics other than their aperiodicity. Their topology in the phase-space has equally to be considered. The position of a SA in the phase-space allows us to simulate the functioning of a biological system; if this does not correspond to the physiological position, we consider it as an imbalanced SA. Therefore, SA could take the place in biological modelling of limit-cycles, which were perhaps an approximation of these SA. Then, the problem of correction of these imbalances should be considered. Using the mathematical model of AA networks, it was possible to propose an outline as yet theoretical of this problem: how can we model imbalanced SA, then how can the balance be restored from a method already used in the correction of imbalanced limit-cycles? By this technique, SA have also became quasi-periodic attractors, but this was not the result which was particularly wished.

This paper mainly concerns chaotic dynamics (CD) and the problems elicited by the control of corresponding systems. However, given that we will use a general model (or a model of function in the sense proposed by Rosen), i.e., the “model for the regulation of agonistic antagonistic couples” (MRAAC), it has seemed firstly necessary to recall the structure of this model and also to establish a comparison between the results of computer simulations with this model and the results of the control in concrete systems (bipolar or paradoxically unilateral therapies in bio-medicine).

Background: The purpose of this meta-analysis is to provide an evidence-based overview of the effectiveness of corticosteroid injection for the treatment of stenosing tenosynovitis (trigger digits). We have analysed only randomised control trials (RCTs) which compared the effectiveness of corticosteroid injections with control injections.

Methods: The Cochrane Library, PubMed, Medline, Web of Science and Scopus were searched to identify relevant studies. The keywords for search in the database were (‘stenosing tenosynovitis’ OR ‘trigger finger’) AND injections. After screening titles and abstracts of these studies, full-text articles of studies that fulfilled the selection criteria were obtained. For the meta-analysis, we determined the pooled mean failure rate, odds ratio (OR), relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the risk of failure rate between the corticosteroid injection group and the control group through the random-effects model.

Results: Six RCTs were found that involved 368 participants. The corticosteroid injection group included 190 patients and 178 patients were included in the control group. The pooled estimate of successful treatment in the corticosteroid injections group was 63.68 ± 5.32% and that in the control group was 27.53 ± 11.52%. The pooled RR of treatment failure between the corticosteroid injection group and the control group was 0.49 (95% CI 0.40–0.60). The pooled OR of treatment failure between the corticosteroid injection group and the control group was 0.18 (95% CI 0.08–0.44). All the included studies reported either mild or no complications with corticosteroids or placebo injections.

Conclusions: In the treatment of stenosing tenosynovitis, the corticosteroid injections have better outcomes compared to the control injections and this meta-analysis provides significant evidence of the effectiveness of corticosteroid injection for stenosing tenosynovitis with minimal adverse effects.

Level of Evidence: Level II (Therapeutic)

Processing of information into long-term storage (consolidation of memory) and the retrieval of processed knowledge is not independent of the physiological state of animal and man. The neuroendocrine system which is composed of central nervous and peripheral components i.e., peptidergic neurons and forming of membrane-active steroids in the brain, on the one hand, and releasing hormones into the circulation, on the other hand, is the primary messenger of bodily states. The neuroendocrine system is a rapidly responding one to environmental changes and, in turn, assures optimal conditions for processing information into long-term storage. Retrieval of knowledge is then affected either by pro-active influence of neuroendocrine principles during learning and consolidation or by a simple presence (tonic actions) during retrieval. These general conclusions can be drawn from studies devoted to the mnemonic effects of circulating adreno-sympathetic catecholamines epinephrine and norepinephrine, adrenal corticosteroids and (neuro) peptide vasopressin. The action of these hormones is of central nervous nature via direct or indirect mechanisms involving the central nucleus of the amygdala and the hippocampus as major targets.