Effect of real-time biofeedback on peak knee adduction moment in patients with medial knee osteoarthritis: Is direct feedback effective?

Background: Gait modifications can reduce the knee adduction moment, a representation of knee loading. Reduced loading may help to slow progression of medial knee osteoarthritis. We aimed to investigate the response of patients with medial knee osteoarthritis to direct feedback on the knee adduction moment as a method for modifying the gait pattern, before and after training with specific gait modifications.

Cohort Profile: Cohort Hip and Cohort Knee (CHECK) study.

The Cohort Hip and Cohort Knee (CHECK) study included participants with early symptomatic osteoarthritis (OA) of the hip or knee and evaluated clinical, radiographic and biochemical variables in order to establish the course, prognosis and underlying mechanisms of early symptomatic osteoarthritis. A total of 1002 participants aged 45-65 years, with symptomatic OA characterized by pain of knee and/ or hip, entered the cohort in the period October 2002 to September 2005. They were included at or within 6 months of their first visit to the general practitioner for these symptoms.

Reproducibility of performance measures of physical function based on the BASFI, in ankylosing spondylitis.

Objective: To establish the test-retest reproducibility of performance measures of physical function based on the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI) questionnaire in patients with AS.

Methods: Data were obtained from 65 AS patients. They were tested on two occasions by one assessor with a 1-week interval.

First rehabilitation consultation in patients of non-native origin: factors that lead to tension in the patient-physician interaction.

Purpose: To explore which factors lead to tension in the patient-physician interaction in the first consultation by rehabilitation physicians of patients with chronic non-specific low back pain of Turkish and Moroccan origin.

Method: In-depth semi-structured, face to face interviews were conducted with 12 patients of Moroccan and Turkish origin and four native Dutch rehabilitation physicians. Interviews were transcribed and/or summarised.

Higher dropout rate in non-native patients than in native patients in rehabilitation in The Netherlands.

Dropout from a rehabilitation programme often occurs in patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain of non-native origin. However, the exact dropout rate is not known. The objective of this study was to determine the difference in dropout rate between native and non-native patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain participating in a rehabilitation programme in The Netherlands.

Reproducibility of plantar pressure measurements in patients with chronic arthritis: a comparison of one-step, two-step, and three-step protocols and an estimate of the number of measurements required.

Background: Plantar pressure measurement may be a helpful evaluation tool in patients with foot complaints. Determination of dynamic pressure distribution under the foot may give information regarding gait, progress of disorders, and the effect of treatment. However, for these measurements to have clinical application, reproducibility, consistency, and accuracy must be ascertained.

Quality of life assessment: a comparison of four questionnaires: for measuring improvements after total hip replacement.

Three experimental questionnaires were compared with the Influence of Rheumatic Diseases on Health and Lifestyle (IRGL) questionnaire, a Dutch version of the Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales. Sixty-two patients with osteoarthritis (OA) and 35 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), all of whom underwent hip arthroplasty, completed the study. Results showed that visual analogue scales for pain, stiffness, fatigue, and anxiety were strongly correlated with a number of the IRGL scales.

Effects of total hip replacement on quality of life in patients with osteoarthritis and in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

The effects of total hip replacement (THR) on quality of life were investigated in 62 patients with osteoarthrosis (OA) and 35 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Patients eligible for a first hip joint replacement were enrolled consecutively and examined at home before the operation and 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery. The IRGL (Influence of Rheumatic Diseases on Health and Lifestyle), a Dutch version of the AIMS (Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales), was used to operationalize quality of life in a questionnaire.

Modulation of proteoglycan composition in cultured anatomically intact joint cartilage by cyclic loads of various magnitudes.

The anatomically intact articular cartilage (area approximately 2.5 cm2) of 6-month-old bovine sesamoid bones was cyclically (0.3 Hz) loaded with 0, 5, 25 and 50 kg in vitro for 7 days.

Effect of temperature on the metabolism of proteoglycans in explants of bovine articular cartilage.

The turnover of proteoglycans in bovine articular cartilage was determined in explant cultures, maintained at 32 degrees C or 37 degrees C. Both the rate of proteoglycan synthesis and the release of newly synthesized proteoglycans were decreased in cultures incubated at 32 degrees C compared to 37 degrees C. At both temperatures the newly synthesized proteoglycans were similar in hydrodynamic size and chain length of the glycosaminoglycans.

Nutritional habits of patients suffering from seropositive rheumatoid arthritis: a screening of 93 Dutch patients.

Although the nutritional status of patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis is considered to be poor and inversely related to disease activity, information on nutritional habits of these patients is scanty. Dietary habits of 93 patients suffering from active seropositive rheumatoid arthritis, functional class 2 or 3, confirmed by an interview with a dietician (dietary history method), revealed a significant gap between energy, carbohydrate, and fat intakes and recommended amounts, adjusted for age, sex, body weight and physical activity.

Effect of nalidixic acid, pipemidic acid and cinoxacin on chondrocyte metabolism in explants of articular cartilage.

Explants of immature bovine articular cartilage were exposed to nalidixic acid, pipemidic acid and cinoxacin at one and ten times the human therapeutic plasma level for 7 days. Only nalidixic acid had significant effects on the chondrocyte metabolism. 20 micrograms/ml nalidixic acid caused an increase of 35S-sulfate incorporation into glycosaminoglycans at day 7.

Effect of sulfate concentration on glycosaminoglycan synthesis in explant cultures of bovine articular cartilage.

The effects of the sulfate- and FCS concentration on the rate of synthesis and the biochemical properties of glycosaminoglycans, synthesized in bovine articular cartilage in vitro, were studied. 20% FCS in the culture medium stimulated the rate of synthesis. In media without FCS, the rate of synthesis decends from day 0 on.

Influence of cartilage proteoglycans on type II collagen fibrillogenesis.

The effects of various proteoglycan samples, isolated from human articular cartilage of different ages, on the rate of the lateral growth phase of the fibril formation of collagen type II were studied by turbidimetry. In general, proteoglycan aggregates accelerate fibrillogenesis, whereas non-aggregating proteoglycans retard this process. The only exception were non-aggregating proteoglycans from very young cartilage, which stimulated the fibril formation strongly.