Human and natural controls of the variation in aboveground tree biomass in African dry tropical forests.

Understanding the anthropogenic and natural controls that affect the patterns, distribution, and dynamics of terrestrial carbon is crucial to meeting climate change mitigation objectives. We assessed the human and natural controls over aboveground tree biomass density in African dry tropical forests, using Zambia's first nationwide forest inventory. We identified predictors that best explain the variation in biomass density, contrasted anthropogenic and natural sites at different spatial scales, and compared sites with different stand structure characteristics and species composition.

History of knee injury and MRI-assessed knee structures in middle- and older-aged adults: a cross-sectional study.

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to describe the associations between history of knee injury and knee structure using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This study included two population-based samples: the Tasmanian Older Adult Cohort (TASOAC) study (n = 430; mean age, 63.0 years; range, 51-79 years; 51 % female) and the Offspring study (n = 372; mean age, 45.

Association between hip and knee cartilage measured using radiographs and magnetic resonance imaging: the Tasmanian Older Adult Cohort Study.

Objective: Cartilage loss is a key pathological feature of OA and can be assessed indirectly using radiography or directly through MRI. A number of cross-sectional studies have suggested that primary generalized osteoarthritis (PGOA) may be a distinct disease, but despite the high frequency of involvement of the hip and the knee joints in OA, very few studies have looked at the radiographic association between these two joints, and none has done so using MRI. The aim of this study was to examine the association of hip and knee cartilage measured by both radiography and MRI.

Bone marrow lesions in people with knee osteoarthritis predict progression of disease and joint replacement: a longitudinal study.

Objectives: The presence of bone marrow lesions (BMLs) has been linked to pain and progression of knee OA. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between BMLs and longitudinal change in tibial cartilage volume and risk of knee joint replacement in subjects with knee OA.

Methods: One hundred and nine men and women with symptomatic knee OA were recruited.

Patient characteristics and costs of severe sepsis and septic shock in Quebec.

Background: We investigated the cost of health care resources for the treatment of severe sepsis and/or septic shock patients.

Materials And Methods: One hundred retrospective chart abstractions from patients with severe sepsis or septic shock were included. The average cost, per episode, through day 28, as well as an analysis of a patient subset through 1 year was calculated.