Barriers to and Facilitators for Finding and Keeping Competitive Employment: A Focus Group Study on Autistic Adults With and Without Paid Employment.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to gain more insight into barriers to and facilitators for finding and keeping competitive employment for autistic adults. Research questions were: (1) What barriers and facilitators do autistic adults report in finding and keeping competitive employment?; and (2) What are differences and similarities between autistic adults with and without paid employment regarding barriers and facilitators for sustainable employment?

Methods: Eight focus groups were conducted (N = 64 autistic adults). Four groups included only participants without paid employment (N = 24), and four groups consisted exclusively of participants with current paid employment (including part-time, N = 40).

Assessment of osteoarthritis candidate genes in a meta-analysis of nine genome-wide association studies.

Objective: To assess candidate genes for association with osteoarthritis (OA) and identify promising genetic factors and, secondarily, to assess the candidate gene approach in OA.

Methods: A total of 199 candidate genes for association with OA were identified using Human Genome Epidemiology (HuGE) Navigator. All of their single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with an allele frequency of >5% were assessed by fixed-effects meta-analysis of 9 genome-wide association studies (GWAS) that included 5,636 patients with knee OA and 16,972 control subjects and 4,349 patients with hip OA and 17,836 control subjects of European ancestry.

Finger length pattern as a biomarker for osteoarthritis and chronic joint pain: a population-based study and meta-analysis after systematic review.

Objective: Type 3 finger length pattern (longer fourth digit than second digit) is influenced by prenatal androgens and has been studied previously as a biomarker for sexually dimorphic traits. Because osteoarthritis (OA) and chronic pain are known to be sexually dimorphic traits, we evaluated the association between finger length pattern and OA and chronic joint pain.

Methods: This study was part of the Rotterdam Study, a prospective population-based cohort study.

A meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies identifies novel variants associated with osteoarthritis of the hip.

Objectives: Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritis with a clear genetic component. To identify novel loci associated with hip OA we performed a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on European subjects.

Methods: We performed a two-stage meta-analysis on more than 78,000 participants.

Factors for pain in patients with different grades of knee osteoarthritis.

Objective: Discordance between having pain and radiologic osteoarthritis (OA) is a well-established fact. It is suggested that this particularly applies to the less severe grades of OA. However, some people with a Kellgren/Lawrence (K/L) grade of 3 or 4 for OA are without pain.

Bone parameters across different types of hip osteoarthritis and their relationship to osteoporotic fracture risk.

Objective: The atrophic type of hip osteoarthritis (OA) is characterized by cartilage degradation without the formation of osteophytes. Individuals with atrophic OA have been less well studied, and it is unknown whether this OA type differs from the osteophytic types with regard to bone tissue. The purpose of this study was to examine bone mineral density (BMD), hip structural properties, and fracture risk in individuals with the atrophic type of OA as compared to those with the osteophytic types (normotrophic/hypertrophic) as well as individuals without OA.

Genome-wide association study meta-analysis of chronic widespread pain: evidence for involvement of the 5p15.2 region.

Background And Objectives: Chronic widespread pain (CWP) is a common disorder affecting ∼10% of the general population and has an estimated heritability of 48-52%. In the first large-scale genome-wide association study (GWAS) meta-analysis, we aimed to identify common genetic variants associated with CWP.

Methods: We conducted a GWAS meta-analysis in 1308 female CWP cases and 5791 controls of European descent, and replicated the effects of the genetic variants with suggestive evidence for association in 1480 CWP cases and 7989 controls.

Identification of new susceptibility loci for osteoarthritis (arcOGEN): a genome-wide association study.

Background: Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis worldwide and is a major cause of pain and disability in elderly people. The health economic burden of osteoarthritis is increasing commensurate with obesity prevalence and longevity. Osteoarthritis has a strong genetic component but the success of previous genetic studies has been restricted due to insufficient sample sizes and phenotype heterogeneity.

Association of atherosclerosis with presence and progression of osteoarthritis: the Rotterdam Study.

Objective: This study examined whether vascular alterations are associated with the presence and progression of osteoarthritis of the knee, the hip and the different hand joints in a large prospective cohort study.

Methods: In this population-based study involving participants aged 55 years and older (Rotterdam Study I), men (n=2372) and women (n=3278) were analysed separately. x-Rays of the knee, hip and hand were scored using the Kellgren and Lawrence score for osteoarthritis at baseline, after 6.

A variant in MCF2L is associated with osteoarthritis.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a prevalent, heritable degenerative joint disease with a substantial public health impact. We used a 1000-Genomes-Project-based imputation in a genome-wide association scan for osteoarthritis (3177 OA cases and 4894 controls) to detect a previously unidentified risk locus. We discovered a small disease-associated set of variants on chromosome 13.

Common genetic variation in the Estrogen Receptor Beta (ESR2) gene and osteoarthritis: results of a meta-analysis.

Background: The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between common genetic variation of the ESR2 gene and osteoarthritis.

Methods: In the discovery study, the Rotterdam Study-I, 7 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were genotyped and tested for association with hip (284 cases, 2772 controls), knee (665 cases, 2075 controls), and hand OA (874 cases, 2184 controls) using an additive model. In the replication stage one SNP (rs1256031) was tested in an additional 2080 hip, 1318 knee and 557 hand OA cases and 4001, 2631 and 1699 controls respectively.

Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies confirms a susceptibility locus for knee osteoarthritis on chromosome 7q22.

Objectives: Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most prevalent form of arthritis and accounts for substantial morbidity and disability, particularly in older people. It is characterised by changes in joint structure, including degeneration of the articular cartilage, and its aetiology is multifactorial with a strong postulated genetic component.

Methods: A meta-analysis was performed of four genome-wide association (GWA) studies of 2371 cases of knee OA and 35 909 controls in Caucasian populations.

Serum C reactive protein levels and genetic variation in the CRP gene are not associated with the prevalence, incidence or progression of osteoarthritis independent of body mass index.

Objective: To study the relationship between serum C reactive protein (CRP) levels, genetic variation in the CRP gene and the prevalence, incidence and progression of radiographic osteoarthritis (ROA) in the Rotterdam Study-I (RS-I). A systematic review of studies assessing the relationship between osteoarthritis (OA) and CRP levels was also performed.

Methods: The association between CRP levels and genetic variation in the CRP gene and ROA was examined in 861 patients with hand OA, 718 with knee OA, 349 with hip OA and 2806 controls in the RS-I using one-way analysis of covariance and logistic regression, respectively.

A genome-wide association study identifies an osteoarthritis susceptibility locus on chromosome 7q22.

Objective: To identify novel genes involved in osteoarthritis (OA), by means of a genome-wide association study.

Methods: We tested 500,510 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 1,341 Dutch Caucasian OA cases and 3,496 Dutch Caucasian controls. SNPs associated with at least 2 OA phenotypes were analyzed in 14,938 OA cases and approximately 39,000 controls.

Variation at the ANP32A gene is associated with risk of hip osteoarthritis in women.

Objective: The ANP32A gene encodes a tumor suppressor molecule that plays a regulatory role in apoptosis and interferes with canonical Wnt signaling in vitro. We undertook this study to test whether genetic variation at ANP32A was associated with osteoarthritis (OA) in women.

Methods: Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the ANP32A gene were genotyped in 438 control women, 425 women with total knee replacements (TKRs), and 537 women with total hip replacements (THRs) from the Nottingham case-control study as well as in 820 women from the population-based Chingford Study cohort for whom hip and knee radiographs were available.

Large-scale analysis of association between GDF5 and FRZB variants and osteoarthritis of the hip, knee, and hand.

Objective: GDF5 and FRZB have been proposed as genetic loci conferring susceptibility to osteoarthritis (OA); however, the results of several studies investigating the association of OA with the rs143383 polymorphism of the GDF5 gene or the rs7775 and rs288326 polymorphisms of the FRZB gene have been conflicting or inconclusive. To examine these associations, we performed a large-scale meta-analysis of individual-level data.

Methods: Fourteen teams contributed data on polymorphisms and knee, hip, and hand OA.