Clinicophotobiological Characterization of Photoaggravated Atopic Dermatitis.

Importance: Photoaggravated atopic dermatitis (PAD) is estimated to affect 1.4% to 16% of patients with AD but remains poorly characterized with limited published data.

Objective: To provide detailed clinical and photobiological characterization of PAD.

Polarisation-sensitive optical coherence tomography measurement of retardance in fibrosis, a non-invasive biomarker in patients with systemic sclerosis.

Polarisation-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) offers a novel, non-invasive method of assessing skin fibrosis in the multisystem disease systemic sclerosis (SSc) by measuring collagen retardance. This study aimed to assess retardance as a biomarker in SSc. Thirty-one patients with SSc and 27 healthy controls (HC) underwent PS-OCT imaging.

Comparison between low cost USB nailfold capillaroscopy and videocapillaroscopy: a pilot study.

Objectives: Universal serial bus (USB) microscopy (capillaroscopy) could provide all rheumatologists with an easy-to-use, low-cost tool to examine the nailfold capillaries to facilitate early diagnosis of SSc. The objectives of this pilot study were to examine the feasibility of acquiring and analysing images using USB microscopy and to compare results to videocapillaroscopy.

Methods: Videocapillaroscopy and USB microscope images were obtained from the right and left ring fingers of 20 patients with SSc and 20 healthy control subjects.

State-of-the-art technologies provide new insights linking skin and blood vessel abnormalities in SSc-related disorders.

Objective: A key unanswered question in systemic sclerosis (SSc) is how microvascular abnormality and fibrosis inter-relate. Our aim was to use state-of-the-art non-invasive imaging methods to gain new insights into pathophysiology, comparing patients with different subtypes of SSc, including early dcSSc, not only to healthy controls but also to patients with causes of Raynaud's phenomenon not progressing to fibrosis.

Methods: Laser Doppler imaging, nailfold capillaroscopy, spectroscopy, and ultrasound measured (respectively) perfusion, microvascular structure, oxygenation/oxidative stress, and skin thickening in the hands of 265 subjects: 31 patients with primary Raynaud's phenomenon (PRP), 35 with undifferentiated connective tissue disease (UCTD), 93 with limited cutaneous SSc (lcSSc), 46 with diffuse cutaneous SSc (dcSSc, including 27 'early') and 60 healthy controls.

A Multicenter Study of the Validity and Reliability of Responses to Hand Cold Challenge as Measured by Laser Speckle Contrast Imaging and Thermography: Outcome Measures for Systemic Sclerosis-Related Raynaud's Phenomenon.

Objective: Reliable and objective outcome measures to facilitate clinical trials of novel treatments for systemic sclerosis (SSc)-related Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) are badly needed. Laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) and thermography are noninvasive measures of perfusion that have shown excellent potential. This multicenter study was undertaken to determine the reliability and validity of a hand cold challenge protocol using LSCI, standard thermography, and low-cost cell phone/mobile phone thermography (henceforth referred to as mobile thermography) in patients with SSc-related RP.

Sun Exposure Behavior, Seasonal Vitamin D Deficiency, and Relationship to Bone Health in Adolescents.

Context: Vitamin D is essential for bone health in adolescence, when there is rapid bone mineral content accrual. Because cutaneous sun exposure provides vitamin D, there is no recommended oral intake for UK adolescents.

Objective: Our objective was to assess seasonal vitamin D status and its contributors in white Caucasian adolescents and examine bone health in those found deficient.

Synovial volume vs synovial measurements from dynamic contrast enhanced MRI as measures of response in osteoarthritis.

Objective: Synovium is increasingly a target of osteoarthritis (OA) treatment, yet its optimal measurement is unclear. Using dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE) MRI in knee OA patients before and after intraarticular steroid injection, we compared the responsiveness of static synovial volume measures to measures of dynamic changes in synovial enhancement, changes that are strongly related to synovial vascularity.

Methods: Ninety three patients underwent DCE-MRI before and 1-2 weeks after intra-articular injection of 80 mg methylprednisolone.

Synovial tissue volume: a treatment target in knee osteoarthritis (OA).

Background: Synovitis occurring frequently in osteoarthritis (OA) may be a targeted outcome. There are no data examining whether synovitis changes following intra-articular intervention.

Methods: Persons aged 40 years and older with painful knee OA participated in an open label trial of intra-articular steroid therapy.

A randomised trial of a brace for patellofemoral osteoarthritis targeting knee pain and bone marrow lesions.

Objective: Braces used to treat (PF) osteoarthritis (OA) may reduce contact stress across the PF joint. We hypothesised that in PF OA, braces would decrease knee pain and shrink PF bone marrow lesions (BMLs).

Methods: Eligible subjects had painful PF OA.

Sunlight exposure behaviour and vitamin D status in photosensitive patients: longitudinal comparative study with healthy individuals at U.K. latitude.

Background: Low vitamin D status is prevalent in wintertime in populations at northerly latitudes. Photosensitive patients are advised to practise sun avoidance, but their sunlight exposure levels, photoprotective measures and resulting vitamin D status are unknown.

Objectives: To examine seasonal vitamin D status in photosensitive patients relative to healthy individuals and to assess quantitatively behavioural and demographic contributors.

An observational study to assess the association between osteoporosis and periodontal disease.

Background: There is evidence to suggest osteoporosis may result in premature tooth loss. The pathology behind this relationship is poorly understood. A correlation with osteoporosis and greater susceptibility to periodontal disease has been suggested.

Tooth loss and osteoporosis: to assess the association between osteoporosis status and tooth number.

Background: Osteopenia and osteoporosis are conditions characterised by a reduction in bone mineral density. There is contradictory evidence whether osteoporotic patients have greater tooth loss than non-osteoporotic patients.

Objective: To investigate the association between tooth number and osteoporotic status, taking into account the effect of other confounding variables such as age, smoking status, alcohol consumption and the use of hormone replacement therapy.

Do patients with osteoporosis have an increased prevalence of periodontal disease? A cross-sectional study.

Unlabelled: The study examined if women with osteoporosis were at increased risk of periodontal disease. Three hundred eighty females aged 45-65 years with recent dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans of the spine and proximal femur agreed to a dental examination. No association was established between the presence of severe periodontal disease and osteoporosis.

Bone marrow lesions in knee osteoarthritis change in 6-12 weeks.

Objectives: Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is thought to be a slowly evolving disease with glacial changes in cartilage morphology necessitating trials of potential treatments lasting 1-2 years with evidence that over 6 months change in cartilage is not detectable. In contrast to cartilage, bone has the capacity to adapt rapidly, such as after fracture. We tested whether bone marrow lesions (BMLs) change in volume in 6 and 12 weeks, suggesting they may provide evidence of short term fluctuations of joint damage.

The relationship between the OSTEODENT index and hip fracture risk assessment using FRAX.

Objectives: The OSTEODENT index is a predicted probability of osteoporosis derived from a combination of an automated analysis of a dental panoramic radiograph and clinical information. This index has been proposed as a suitable case-finding tool for identification of subjects with osteoporosis in primary dental care; however, no data exist on the relationship between OSTEODENT index and fracture risk. The aims of this study were to assess the relationship between the OSTEODENT index and hip fracture risk as determined by FRAX and to compare the performance of the OSTEODENT index and FRAX (without femoral BMD data), in determining the need for intervention as recommended in UK national treatment guidance.

Prediction of osteoporosis with dental radiographs and age.

Objectives: In this study age and the trabecular pattern present on dental radiographs were used to predict the presence of osteoporosis. The objective was to evaluate the contribution of the trabecular pattern to the prediction.

Methods: In this project, 671 women between 45 and 71 years of age were recruited.

Is self-reported alcohol consumption associated with osteoporotic mandibular bone loss in women?

The aim of this study was to determine whether alcohol consumption would predict mandibular bone quality and quantity in a large European female population. In total, 672 middle-aged and elderly women (45-70 yr of age; standard deviation = 6) were recruited in the study. Alcohol consumption was recorded through a self-reported questionnaire.

The impact of accurate positioning on measurements made by peripheral QCT in the distal radius.

Summary: Data from pQCT sections at the forearm were examined to assess the impact of positioning on measurements. Two thousand five hundred fifty one scans were analysed. The results showed 25% of scans were not performed in the same anatomical location at follow-up when one section was scanned.