Advantages to interspace-level analyses over person-level analyses when studying relationships between lumbar spinal degeneration findings : a cross-sectional study.

Purpose: To examine associations between lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration (LDD) and type II Modic changes (MC) when retaining information at each interspace ("interspace-level analysis"), as compared to aggregating information across interspaces as is typically done in spine research ("person-level analysis"). The study compared results from (1) interspace-level analyses assuming a common relationship across interspaces (the "interspace-level, common-relationship" approach), (2) interspace-level analyses allowing for interspace-specific associations (an "interspace-level, interspace-specific" approach), and (3) a conventional person-level analytic approach.

Methods: Adults in primary care (n=147) received lumbar spine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and neuroradiologist-evaluated assessments of prevalent disc height narrowing (DHN), type II MC, and other LDD parameters.

A multi-trait approach identified 7 novel genes for back pain.

Introduction: Back pain (BP) is a complex heritable trait with an estimated heritability of 40% to 60%. Less than half of this can be explained by known genetic variants identified in genome-wide association studies.

Objectives: We applied a powerful multi-trait and gene-based approach to association analysis of BP to identify novel genes associated with BP.

Reverse-engineering the Venus figurines: An eco-life-course hypothesis for the aetiology of obesity in the Palaeolithic.

Evolutionary perspectives on obesity have been dominated by genetic frameworks, but plastic responses are also central to its aetiology. While often considered a relatively modern phenomenon, obesity was recorded during the Palaeolithic through small statuettes of the female form (Venus figurines). Even if the phenotype was rare, these statuettes indicate that some women achieved large body sizes during the last glacial maximum, a period of nutritional stress.

Reconsidering the Role of Radiotherapy for Inoperable Gastric Cancer: A Systematic Review of Gastric Radiotherapy Given With Definitive and Palliative Intent.

Aims: The role of radiotherapy (RT) for inoperable gastric cancer (IGC) is commonly low-dose, given reactively for symptoms (e.g. bleeding), in contrast to the oesophagus, where high quality evidence exists for higher doses of RT.