Update on the epidemiology, risk factors and disease outcomes of osteoarthritis.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most frequent form of arthritis and a leading cause of pain and disability worldwide. OA can affect any synovial joint, although the hip, knee, hand, foot and spine are the most commonly affected sites. Knowledge about the occurrence and risk factors for OA is important to define the clinical and public health burden of the disease to understand mechanisms of disease occurrence and may also help to inform the development of population-wide prevention strategies.

Brief Report: Synovial Fluid White Blood Cell Count in Knee Osteoarthritis: Association With Structural Findings and Treatment Response.

Objective: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a disease with a significant inflammatory component. The aim of this analysis was to determine the relationship between synovial fluid (SF) white blood cell (WBC) count and 2 parameters: disease severity and the reduction in knee pain after intraarticular (IA) steroid injection.

Methods: Subjects with painful knee OA were recruited for participation in an open-label study of IA steroid therapy.

Low vitamin D and the risk of developing chronic widespread pain: results from the European male ageing study.

Background: The association between low levels of vitamin D and the occurrence of chronic widespread pain (CWP) remains unclear. The aim of our analysis was to determine the relationship between low vitamin D levels and the risk of developing CWP in a population sample of middle age and elderly men.

Methods: Three thousand three hundred sixty nine men aged 40-79 were recruited from 8 European centres for a longitudinal study of male ageing, the European Male Ageing Study.

Functional interaction between sequestosome-1/p62 and autophagy-linked FYVE-containing protein WDFY3 in human osteoclasts.

Paget's disease of bone (PDB) is a late-onset disorder characterised by focal areas of increased bone resorption, with osteoclasts that are increased in size, multinuclearity, number and activity. PDB-causing missense and nonsense variants in the gene encoding Sequestosome-1/p62 (SQSTM1) have been identified, all of which cluster in and around the ubiquitin-associated (UBA) domain of the protein. SQSTM1 is ubiquitously expressed and there is, as yet, no clear reason why these mutations only appear to cause an osteoclast-related phenotype.

Avoiding perforations in endodontics.

While it will be impossible to eliminate all iatrogenic errors in endodontics, by focusing on key areas during the endodontic process, we can reduce the potential for problems for ourselves and our patients.