Reliability of a radiation-free, noninvasive and computer-assisted assessment of the spine in children with cerebral palsy.

Purpose: The radiation-free, noninvasive and computer-assisted Spinal Mouse (SM) is a reliable and valid measuring instrument for functional analysis of the pediatric spine. The aim of this study was to examine the intra-rater reliability of the SM measurements in children with cerebral palsy (CP) and to investigate differences after a 1 week of the rehabilitation program.

Methods: A total of 168 SM investigations in the sagittal plane and frontal plane at three measurement times from a sample of 28 children (n = 10 girls, age 9.

Detection of annexin A8 antibodies in serum of patients with antiphospholipid syndrome.

Introduction: Antibodies specific for annexin A8 (AnxA8) have not been investigated in patients suffering from antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) yet. The aim of this study was to compare the presence of AnxA8 antibodies in serum of APS patients with that of age-matched healthy controls and to investigate whether AnxA8 antibodies are potential biomarkers for APS.

Materials And Methods: We enrolled 22 APS patients and 22 healthy controls in this case-control study.

Identification of antibodies against extracellular matrix proteins in human osteoarthritis.

We investigated the presence of autoantibodies against the extracellular matrix proteins thrombospondin-4 (TSP-4), cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP), C-type lectin domain family 3 member A (CLEC3A), collagen II, collagen VI, matrilin-3, and fibrillin-2 in the serum of osteoarthritis (OA) patients. We compared those results with the presence of such antibodies in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and in healthy donors (HD). Our study examines whether antibodies against extracellular proteins can be used as potential biomarkers to support the clinical diagnosis of OA.

COMP does not directly modify the expression of genes involved in cartilage homeostasis in contrast to several other cartilage matrix proteins.

Objective: We investigated whether COMP may modify cartilage metabolism and play a role as an endogenous disease aggravating factor in OA.

Materials And Methods: Full-length and momomeric COMP was recombinantly expressed in human embryonic kidney cells and purified it via affinity chromatography. Purified COMP was used to stimulate either primary human chondrocytes or cartilage explants.