Arthritis and rheumatism
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Arthritis and rheumatism · Jun 2007
Schmorl's nodes: common, highly heritable, and related to lumbar disc disease.
Schmorl's nodes (SN) are common, but little is known of their relationship with degenerative change and back pain or genetic and environmental factors influencing their expression. We studied healthy female twin volunteers to determine the prevalence and clinical features associated with SN. ⋯ SN are common in middle-aged women and are strongly genetically determined. They are associated with lumbar degenerative change, which is a risk factor for back pain, but are not themselves an independent risk factor for back pain.
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Arthritis and rheumatism · Jun 2007
Early aggressive care and delayed recovery from whiplash: isolated finding or reproducible result?
To test the reproducibility of the finding that early intensive care for whiplash injuries is associated with delayed recovery. ⋯ The observation that intensive health care utilization early after a whiplash injury is associated with slower recovery was reproduced in an independent cohort of patients. The results add to the body of evidence suggesting that early aggressive treatment of whiplash injuries does not promote faster recovery. In particular, the combination of chiropractic and general practitioner care significantly reduces the rate of recovery.
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Arthritis and rheumatism · Jun 2007
Joint proprioception, muscle strength, and functional ability in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee.
To test the hypotheses that poor knee joint proprioception is related to limitations in functional ability, and poor proprioception aggravates the impact of muscle weakness on limitations in functional ability in osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. ⋯ Patients with poor proprioception show more limitation in functional ability, but this relationship is rather weak. In patients with poor proprioception, muscle weakness has a stronger impact on limitations in functional ability than in patients with accurate proprioception.
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Arthritis and rheumatism · Jun 2007
Interleukin-18 induces angiogenic factors in rheumatoid arthritis synovial tissue fibroblasts via distinct signaling pathways.
Interleukin-18 (IL-18) is a proinflammatory cytokine implicated in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This study was undertaken to examine the role of IL-18 in up-regulating secretion of the angiogenic factors stromal cell-derived factor 1alpha (SDF-1alpha)/CXCL12, monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1)/CCL2, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in RA synovial tissue (ST) fibroblasts, and the underlying signaling mechanisms involved. ⋯ These data support the notion that IL-18 has a unique role in inducing the secretion of angiogenic SDF-1alpha/CXCL12, MCP-1/CCL2, and VEGF in RA ST fibroblasts, via distinct signaling intermediates.