A surface topography analysis of the curling stone curl mechanism.

The curling motion of the curling stone on ice is well-known: if a small clockwise rotational velocity is imposed to the stone when it is released, in addition to the linear propagation velocity, the stone will curl to the right. A similar curl to the left is obtained by counter-clockwise rotation. This effect is widely used in the game to reach spots behind the already thrown stones, and the rotation also causes the stone to propagate in a more predictable fashion.

Prevalence of vertebral compression fractures and associated factors in children and adolescents with severe juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

Objective: Vertebral fractures occur in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), but data on their frequency and causes are scarce. Our cross-sectional study evaluated prevalence of compression fractures and associated factors in a high-risk pediatric population with severe JIA.

Methods: Children and adolescents with a history of treatment-resistant polyarticular-course JIA for ≥ 5 years or systemic arthritis for ≥ 3 years were recruited.

Aggressive combination drug therapy in very early polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (ACUTE-JIA): a multicentre randomised open-label clinical trial.

Objectives: In juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), the efficacy of very early disease-modifying drug therapy, synthetic or biological, is not well known. Three alternative strategies were compared for treating recent-onset polyarticular JIA.

Methods: In a 54-week multicentre open-label clinical trial, 60 disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD)-naive patients aged 4-15 years were randomly assigned into three treatment arms.

Intra-articular corticoid injection induces circulating glucocorticoid bioactivity and systemic immune activation in juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

Objective: To study the systemic effects of intra-articular (IA) glucocorticoid (GC) injections in juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA).

Methods: The study group comprised 21 JIA patients being treated with IA methylprednisolone [MP (n = 15) or MP plus triamcinolone hexacetonide (THA) (n = 6)] prescribed on clinical indications. The systemic effect of MP was assessed by measuring circulating glucocorticoid bioactivity (GBA) with a recombinant cell transactivation assay 7 and 24 h after the IA injections, and after 2 months.