Relationships Between Applied Mindfulness Practice, Chronic Pain, and Pain-Related Functioning in Veterans.

Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have been shown to improve chronic pain and associated conditions like depression, anxiety, and sleep disorders. However, there is limited research on how veterans with chronic pain apply mindfulness skills to manage pain in daily life. This cross-sectional study examined the association between applied mindfulness practice, pain, and several pain-related conditions among 1,737 veterans with chronic pain prior to enrollment in a trial of 2 MBIs.

Peak vertical ground reaction force used to identify sub-groups of individuals with differing biomechanical gait profiles post-anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.

Lesser peak vertical ground reaction force (vGRF) has been widely reported among individuals with anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR). Peak vGRF remains less than uninjured controls and relatively stable during the first year following ACLR. However, it is unknown whether there are subgroups of individuals exhibiting consistently greater peak vGRF in the first 6-months following ACLR and if individuals with consistently greater peak vGRF exhibit kinematic and kinetic gait differences compared to individuals with low vGRF.

Adaptations and early adoption of a family caregiver intervention in the Veterans Affairs Health Care System: A multimethod pragmatic approach for national scaling.

Objective: To examine the relationship between site-level adaptation and early adoption of Caregivers Finding Important Resources, Support, and Training (FIRST) training during national implementation across diverse Veteran Health Administration (VA) medical centers.

Data Sources And Study Setting: We enrolled and evaluated 25 VA medical centers (VAMCs). Along with administrative data on site characteristics, we examined site-reported data on adaptations and intervention adoption, defined as ≥4 training classes delivered to ≥5 caregivers at 6 months from April through October 2022.

The Flare-OA-16 questionnaire measuring flare in knee and hip osteoarthritis in the patient perspective: scale reduction and validation using a Rasch model.

Objectives: The recent Flare-OA questionnaire measuring flare in knee and hip osteoarthritis (OA) (19 items in 5 domains, numerical rating scale) showed good psychometric properties along with classical test theory. This study aimed to determine its scaling properties by Rasch analysis and to present evidence for a refined scalable version.

Study Design And Setting: The participants were 398 subjects (mean age 64 years [standard deviation = 8.

Building a composite score for patient self-report of flare in osteoarthritis: a comparison of methods with the Flare-OA-16 questionnaire.

Objectives: This study aims to compare methods of constructing a composite score for the Flare-OA-16 self-reported questionnaire.

Methods: Participants with knee and hip osteoarthritis (OA) completed a validated 16-item questionnaire assessing five domains of flare. Three estimation methods were compared: (i) second-order confirmatory factor analysis (CFA); (ii) logistic regression, according to the participant's self-report of flare (yes/no); and (iii) Rasch method, with weighted scores in each dimension.

People with short symptom duration of knee osteoarthritis benefit more from exercise therapy than people with longer symptom duration: An individual participant data meta-analysis from the OA trial bank.

Objective: To investigate whether duration of knee symptoms influenced the magnitude of the effect of exercise therapy compared to non-exercise control interventions on pain and physical function in people with knee osteoarthritis (OA).

Method: We undertook an individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis utilising IPD stored within the OA Trial Bank from randomised controlled trials (RCTs) comparing exercise to non-exercise control interventions among people with knee OA. IPD from RCTs were analysed to determine the treatment effect by considering both study-level and individual-level covariates in the multilevel regression model.

Gut Microbiome and Osteoarthritis: Insights From the Naturally Occurring Canine Model of Osteoarthritis.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to enhance the current knowledge of the relationship between the gut microbiome and osteoarthritis (OA) and associated pain using pet dogs as a clinically relevant translational model.

Methods: Fecal samples were collected from 93 owned pet dogs. Dogs were designated as either clinically healthy or OA pain using validated methods.

Email recruitment for chronic pain clinical trials: results from the LAMP trial.

Background: Recruitment for clinical trials and large-scale studies is challenging, especially for patients with complex conditions like chronic pain. Email recruitment has the potential to increase efficiency, to reduce costs, and to improve access for underrepresented patient populations. The objective of this study was to examine the effectiveness, efficiency, and equitability of email versus postal mail recruitment for the Learning to Apply Mindfulness to Pain (LAMP) study, a three-site clinical trial of mindfulness-based interventions for chronic pain.

Integrin signalling in joint development, homeostasis and osteoarthritis.

Integrins are key regulators of cell-matrix interactions during joint development and joint tissue homeostasis, as well as in the development of osteoarthritis (OA). The signalling cascades initiated by the interactions of integrins with a complex network of extracellular matrix (ECM) components and intracellular adaptor proteins orchestrate cellular responses necessary for maintaining joint tissue integrity. Dysregulated integrin signalling, triggered by matrix degradation products such as matrikines, disrupts this delicate balance, tipping the scales towards an environment conducive to OA pathogenesis.

Response eQTLs, chromatin accessibility, and 3D chromatin structure in chondrocytes provide mechanistic insight into osteoarthritis risk.

Osteoarthritis (OA) poses a significant healthcare burden with limited treatment options. While genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified over 100 OA-associated loci, translating these findings into therapeutic targets remains challenging. Integrating expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL), 3D chromatin structure, and other genomic approaches with OA GWAS data offers a promising approach to elucidate disease mechanisms; however, comprehensive eQTL maps in OA-relevant tissues and conditions remain scarce.

Incidence and Progression of Foot Osteoarthritis in a Longitudinal Cohort: The Johnston County Osteoarthritis Project.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to examine the incidence and progression of foot osteoarthritis (OA), as well as associated factors, in a community-based cohort.

Methods: Baseline (2013-2015) and follow-up (2016-2018) foot radiographs were available for 541 participants (71% women, mean age 69 years; 35% black, 53% with obesity). The LaTrobe Foot Atlas was used to examine osteophytes (OPs, score 0-3) and joint space narrowing (JSN, score 0-3) at 5 joint sites.

Diminished vibration perception and greater pressure pain sensitivity are associated with worse knee osteoarthritis outcomes across sex and race.

Objective: To examine associations of vibration sensitivity and pressure pain sensitivity with knee osteoarthritis (OA) outcomes across sex and race, which may relate to known sex and race disparities in clinical outcomes.

Design: Data were from the 2013-2015 visit of the Johnston County Osteoarthritis Project. Exposures were vibration perception threshold (VPT) measured at the bilateral medial femoral condyle (MFC) and first metatarsophalangeal joint (MTP), and pressure pain threshold (PPT) measured at the bilateral upper trapezius.

Mariner: explore the Hi-Cs.

Motivation: 3D chromatin structure plays an important role in regulating gene expression and alterations to this structure can result in developmental abnormalities and disease. While genomic approaches like Hi-C and Micro-C can provide valuable insights in 3D chromatin architecture, the resulting datasets are extremely large and difficult to manipulate.

Results: Here, we present mariner, a rapid and memory efficient tool to extract, aggregate, and plot data from Hi-C matrices within the R/Bioconductor environment.

Depression and Time to Knee Arthroplasty Among Adults Who Have Knee Osteoarthritis.

Background: Depression is common in osteoarthritis (OA) and is associated with poor outcomes following total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Depression can increase pain sensitivity and may be related to an increased likelihood of TKA.

Methods: Nationally distributed electronic health record data from 2010 to 2018 were used to identify eligible patients (n = 9,466) who had knee OA and were 45 to 80 years of age.

Occupational tasks associated with shoulder pain and upper extremity disability: a cross-sectional study in the Johnston County Osteoarthritis Project.

Background: Shoulder pain is a leading cause of disability. Occupations requiring high upper extremity demands may put workers at greater risk of shoulder injury and resulting pain. We examined associations of occupation with shoulder pain and upper extremity disability in the Johnston County Osteoarthritis Project.

Cohort profile: Worldwide Collaboration on OsteoArthritis prediCtion for the Hip (World COACH) - an international consortium of prospective cohort studies with individual participant data on hip osteoarthritis.

Purpose: Hip osteoarthritis (OA) is a major cause of pain and disability worldwide. Lack of effective therapies may reflect poor knowledge on its aetiology and risk factors, and result in the management of end-stage hip OA with costly joint replacement. The Worldwide Collaboration on OsteoArthritis prediCtion for the Hip (World COACH) consortium was established to pool and harmonise individual participant data from prospective cohort studies.

Recommendations for physical activity and exercise in persons living with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE): consensus by an international task force.

Objective: This international task force aimed to provide healthcare professionals and persons living with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with consensus-based recommendations for physical activity and exercise in SLE.

Methods: Based on evidence from a systematic literature review and expert opinion, 3 overarching principles and 15 recommendations were agreed on by Delphi consensus.

Results: The overarching principles highlight the importance of shared decision-making and the need to explain the benefits of physical activity to persons living with SLE and other healthcare providers.

Budget impact of the Walk With Ease program for knee osteoarthritis.

Objective: Walk With Ease (WWE) is an effective low-cost walking program. We estimated the budget impact of implementing WWE in persons with knee osteoarthritis (OA) as a measure of affordability that can inform payers' funding decisions.

Methods: We estimated changes in two-year healthcare costs with and without WWE.