Degenerative inter-vertebral disc disease osteochondrosis intervertebralis in Europe: prevalence, geographic variation and radiological correlates in men and women aged 50 and over.

Objectives: To assess the prevalences across Europe of radiological indices of degenerative inter-vertebral disc disease (DDD); and to quantify their associations with, age, sex, physical anthropometry, areal BMD (aBMD) and change in aBMD with time.

Methods: In the population-based European Prospective Osteoporosis Study, 27 age-stratified samples of men and women from across the continent aged 50+ years had standardized lateral radiographs of the lumbar and thoracic spine to evaluate the severity of DDD, using the Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) scale. Measurements of anterior, mid-body and posterior vertebral heights on all assessed vertebrae from T4 to L4 were used to generate indices of end-plate curvature.

Vertebral Scheuermann's disease in Europe: prevalence, geographic variation and radiological correlates in men and women aged 50 and over.

Unlabelled: In 27 centres across Europe, the prevalence of deforming spinal Scheuermann's disease in age-stratified population-based samples of over 10,000 men and women aged 50+ averaged 8% in each sex, but was highly variable between centres. Low DXA BMD was un-associated with Scheuermann's, helping the differential diagnosis from osteoporosis.

Introduction: This study aims to assess the prevalence of Scheuermann's disease of the spine across Europe in men and women over 50 years of age, to quantitate its association with bone mineral density (BMD) and to assess its role as a confounder for the radiographic diagnosis of osteoporotic fracture.

Association of the X-chromosomal genes TIMP1 and IL9R with rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an inflammatory joint disease with features of an autoimmune disease with female predominance. Candidate genes located on the X-chromosome were selected for a family trio-based association study.

Methods: A total of 1452 individuals belonging to 3 different sample sets were genotyped for 16 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in 7 genes.

Testing for the association of the KIAA1109/Tenr/IL2/IL21 gene region with rheumatoid arthritis in a European family-based study.

Introduction: A candidate gene approach, in a large case-control association study in the Dutch population, has shown that a 480 kb block on chromosome 4q27 encompassing KIAA1109/Tenr/IL2/IL21 genes is associated with rheumatoid arthritis. Compared with case-control association studies, family-based studies have the added advantage of controlling potential differences in population structure. Therefore, our aim was to test this association in populations of European origin by using a family-based approach.

The history of osteoarthritis-osteoarthrosis.

The history of osteoarthritis-osteoarthrosis from antiquity to the present day is elaborated through historical accounts in the literature, paleopathological findings in skeletal remains, visual representations in artwork and new developments in pathophysiological concepts of the disease.

The ITGAV rs3738919-C allele is associated with rheumatoid arthritis in the European Caucasian population: a family-based study.

The integrin alpha(v)beta3, whose alpha(v) subunit is encoded by the ITGAV gene, plays a key role in angiogenesis. Hyperangiogenesis is involved in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and the ITGAV gene is located in 2q31, one of the suggested RA susceptibility loci. Our aim was to test the ITGAV gene for association and linkage to RA in a family-based study from the European Caucasian population.

Linkage proof for PTPN22, a rheumatoid arthritis susceptibility gene and a human autoimmunity gene.

The tyrosine phosphatase PTPN22 allele 1858T has been associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other autoimmune diseases. RA is the most frequent of those multifactorial diseases. The RA association was usually restricted to serum rheumatoid factor positive disease (RF+).

Strategies for prevention and treatment of osteoporosis at the primary, secondary, and tertiary level in Leuven, Belgium.

The first strategy to prevent osteoporosis is to detect patients at risk for osteoporosis in time before fracture occurs. The known risk factors for osteoporosis can be divided according to modifiable or not modifiable, and according to vertebral or proximal femur fracture site. The importance of accumulation of several risk factor for the incidence of fragility fractures in the population is stressed.

Xanthelasma and lipoma in Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.

The painting Mona Lisa in the Louvre, Paris, by Leonardo da Vinci (1503-1506), shows skin alterations at the inner end of the left upper eyelid similar to xanthelasma, and a swelling of the dorsum of the right hand suggestive of a subcutaneous lipoma. These findings in a 25-30 year old woman, who died at the age of 37, may be indicative of essential hyperlipidemia, a strong risk factor for ischemic heart disease in middle age. As far as is known, this portrait of Mona Lisa painted in 1506 is the first evidence that xanthelasma and lipoma were prevalent in the sixteenth century, long before the first description by Addison and Gall in 1851.

Does hip strength analysis explain the lower incidence of hip fracture in the People's Republic of China?

To explore whether there are ethnic differences in calculated hip strength that might explain the low incidence of hip fracture in China, we used Lunar DPX 'beta' version of hip strength analysis (HAS) and hip axis length (HAL) programs to compare hip geometry, calculated strength and densitometric values from Chinese subjects in Shenyang to those of Caucasian subjects in Oslo and Leuven participating in the European Prospective Osteoporosis Study (EPOS). Subjects were 210 Chinese and 403 Caucasian men and women aged 53-77 years. Parameters investigated included bone mineral density (BMD), bone mineral content (BMC), bone area (BA), cross-sectional moment of inertia (CSMI) and section modulus (both indicating strength and rigidity of the femoral neck), HAL, neck length (NL), neck diameter, tensile stress (Tstress) and compressive stress (Cstress) (indicating the stress in the femoral neck at its weakest cross section arising from walking or a standard fall, respectively), safety factor (SF, indicating the resistance to fracture for forces generated during walking) and fall index (FI, indicating the resistance to fracture from force generated during a fall in the greater trochanter).

Osteoarthritis and osteoporosis: clinical and research evidence of inverse relationship.

The etiology of osteoporosis (OP) and osteoarthritis (OA) is multifactorial: both constitutional and environmental factors, ranging from genetic susceptibility, endocrine and metabolic status, to mechanical and traumatic injury, are thought to be involved. When interpreting research data, one must bear in mind that pathophysiologic factors, especially in disorders associated with aging, must be regarded as either primary or secondary. Therefore, findings in end-stage pathology are not necessarily the evidence or explanation of the primary cause or event in the diseased tissue.

Determinants of the size of incident vertebral deformities in European men and women in the sixth to ninth decades of age: the European Prospective Osteoporosis Study (EPOS).

Unlabelled: More severe vertebral fractures have more personal impact. In the European Prospective Osteoporosis Study, more severe vertebral collapse was predictable from prior fracture characteristics. Subjects with bi-concave or crush fractures at baseline had a 2-fold increase in incident fracture size and thus increased risk of a disabling future fracture.

Influence of participation in high-impact sports during adolescence and adulthood on bone mineral density in middle-aged men: a 27-year follow-up study.

This study examined whether participation in high-impact sports during adolescence and adulthood contributes to bone health in males aged 40 years. Data were analyzed on 154 Belgian men aged 13 years at study onset in 1969 and aged 40 years at the end of the 27-year follow-up. In a second analysis, subjects were divided into three groups according to their sports participation history: participation during adolescence and adulthood in high-impact sports (HH; n=18), participation during adolescence in high-impact sports and during adulthood in nonimpact sports or no sports (HN; n=15), and participation during adolescence and adulthood in nonimpact sports or no sports (NN; n=14).

Determinants of incident vertebral fracture in men and women: results from the European Prospective Osteoporosis Study (EPOS).

The aim of this analysis was to determine the influence of lifestyle, anthropometric and reproductive factors on the subsequent risk of incident vertebral fracture in men and women aged 50-79 years. Subjects were recruited from population registers from 28 centers across Europe. At baseline, they completed an interviewer-administered questionnaire and had lateral thoraco-lumbar spine radiographs performed.

Falls explain between-center differences in the incidence of limb fracture across Europe.

There is important geographic variation in the occurrence of the major osteoporotic fractures across Europe. The aim of this study was to determine whether between-center variation in limb fracture rates across Europe could be explained by variation in the incidence of falls. Men and women, aged 50-79 years, were recruited from population-based registers in 30 European centers.

Musculoskeletal manifestations of benign and malignant tumors of bone.

Benign and malignant tumors of bone often have common musculoskeletal manifestations mimicking rheumatic disorders. The detection and resolution of mimicking symptoms require knowledge, skills, and a problem-solving attitude for musculoskeletal disorders. Before engaging in an extensive investigation, a careful history and full physical examination must be done.