Novelties in measurement programs Speed of measurement by densitometric techniques in children is of great importance, because it is hard to keep children mo­tionless during the performance. However, utilization of speed­ing up measurement as fan beam technique has still some dis­advantages enforcing the needs of its further evaluation and cross-calibration. For accurate determination of bone [...]

The first generation of QUS systems characterized the bone tis­sue with the use of two relevant parameters: the speed of sound (SOS) and the attenuation of the signal [broadband ultra­sound attenuation (BUA)]. The amount of attenuation de­pends on the structure, the specific acoustic properties of the medium, and the wavelength the ultrasound signal used. In [...]

Introduction The clinical assessment of bone strength and fracture risk as well in children as in adults has always been a difficult chal­lenge for its practical solution. The reason for that seems to be matter of both – focus and target. The problem concerns not only how or how well to measure, but essentially what [...]

Infrared microspectroscopic analysis of bone tissue from ani­mal models and humans at equivalent anatomical locations gave great insight to the role of bone quality in determining bone strength. It became feasible to conclusively show differences in bone mineral maturity between normal and osteoporotic bone at equivalent anatomical locations. Even more revealing was the analysis of [...]

Molecular bonds are not stationary, but rather undergo motion such as twisting, bending, stretching, rotation and vibration. When irradiated with infrared radiation, these vibrational mo­tions absorb at specific wavelengths, characteristic of the over­all configuration of the atoms, and representative of specific functional groups. Moreover, through detailed analysis of the absorption wavelengths, information may be deduced [...]

Bone mineral is a poorly crystalline hydroxyapatite [Ca5(PO4)3OH] phase. Ion substitutions are abundant. For example, Na+1, and Mg+2 are substituting Ca+2 ions, HPO4-2 ions substituting the phosphate ions, Cl-1 and F-1 substituting OH-1, and CO3-2 sub­stituting for either phosphate or hydroxyl groups. Once mineral is deposited in bone by osteoblasts, it is not a static [...]

Bone Bone is a composite material, consisting mainly of mineral and collagen. In normal humans, cortical bone constitutes approxi­mately 80% of the human skeletal mass and trabecular bone approximately 20%. Bone surfaces may be undergoing forma­tion or resorption, or they may be inactive. These processes occur throughout life in both cortical and trabecular bone. Bone [...]