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Objective: To compare the progression of biochemical biomarkers of osteoarthritis (OA), knee pain, and function between nonobese patients (NON), obese patients without depression (OBESE), and obese patients with comorbid depression (O + D)., Design: Utilizing the FNIH OA Biomarkers Consortium dataset, we categorized knee OA patients into NON, OBESE, and O + D groups based on body mass index and Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D) scores. Subjective symptoms (Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score Quality of Life subscale (KOOS QOL), Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) Pain and Physical Function scores, and the Short Form-12 (SF-12) Physical Component Score [PCS]) and objective measures of cartilage degradation and bone remodeling (urinary CTXII and CTXIα) were compared among groups at baseline and 2-year follow-up., Results: Of the 600 patients, 282 (47%) were NON, 285 (47.5%) OBESE, and 33 (5.5%) O + D. The O + D group had significantly worse pain and function both at baseline and 2-year follow-up ( P < 0.001 for all comparisons) as evidenced by self-reported measures on KOOS QOL, WOMAC Pain, WOMAC Physical Function, and SF-12 PCS. The O + D group also demonstrated significant increases in CTXII ( P = 0.01) and CTXIα ( P = 0.005), whereas the NON and OBESE groups did not., Conclusions: The combination of inferior knee pain, physical function, and significantly greater increases in biomarkers of cartilage degradation and bony remodelling suggest a more rapid progression for obese OA patients with comorbid depression. The link between systemic disease, inflammatory burden, and progressive cartilage degradation is in line with increasing concerns about a degenerative synovial environment in early osteoarthritic knees that progress to treatment failure with biologic restoration procedures.

Objective: The objective of this paper is to investigate the prevalence of reactivation of the human polyomavirus John Cunningham virus (JCV) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and its associated clinical manifestations., Methods: Sixty-one patients with SLE and 22 controls were enrolled. Urine JCV viral load was quantified by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Length variants of the VP1 gene were analyzed using capillary electrophoresis., Results: The prevalence of JCV viruria (63.9% vs. 18.2%, p < 0.001) and urine JCV viral load (2.92 ± 2.76 vs. 0.81 ± 1.85 copies/ml by log10 scale, p < 0.001) were significantly higher in patients with SLE compared with controls. JCV viruria (+) SLE patients had a higher occurrence of arthritis/arthralgia compared with JCV viruria (-) SLE patients (64.1% vs. 22.7%, p = 0.003). In SLE patients, the urine JCV viral load was significantly associated with the occurrence of arthritis/arthralgia. SLE patients with urine JCV viral load >10,000 copies/ml exhibited a 12.75-fold (95% confidence interval 2.88-56.40) risk in clinical arthritis/arthralgia, 18.90-fold (95% confidence interval 2.10-170.39) risk in persistent arthritis, and significantly greater number of length variants in the VP1 gene of JCV compared with JCV viruria (-) SLE patients., Conclusion: Reactivation of JCV in the urinary tract of SLE patients was very common. Both JCV viruria and urine JCV viral load were associated with the occurrence of arthritis/arthralgia in patients with SLE. High urine JCV viral load also was associated with the genetic variant in the VP1 gene., (© The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.)

Objective: The aims of this study were to identify groups of women in the late menopausal transition stage who experienced the same cluster of symptoms and to identify indicators that predicted membership in these distinct groups., Methods: The sample consisted of a subset of Seattle Midlife Women's Health Study participants who were in the late menopausal transition stage and provided self-report data on symptoms experienced between 1990 and 2005. Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to identify groups of women who experienced similar clusters of the following five symptoms: problem concentrating, hot flashes, joint ache, mood changes, and awakening at night. LCA with multivariate logistic regression was used to identify covariates that predicted membership in each group., Results: Four groups of women were identified: (1) low severity for all symptoms except for joint ache, which was moderate (65%); (2) high severity for all symptoms except for hot flashes, which was moderate (13%); (3) high severity for hot flashes, joint ache, and awakening at night (12%); and (4) high severity for problem concentrating and joint ache (10%). A clear delineation between groups based on individual characteristics was not fully elucidated., Conclusions: This analysis demonstrates that LCA may be useful to identify women who may experience poorer outcomes related to a higher propensity for severe symptoms. Shifting the focus from single symptoms to symptom clusters will aid in the identification of phenotypic profiles, thus facilitating symptom management strategies that can be tailored to meet the needs of individual women.

Borrelia burgdorferi specific DNA has been detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in different specimens of patients with Lyme disease (LD). The aim of the present study is to evaluate PCR-diagnostic of urine specimens regarding rheumatologic diagnosis of Lyme disease. Urine specimens of 77 patients (LD, n = 34; undifferentiated arthritis (UA), n = 25; arthralgia/myalgia (AM), n = 18) and 15 controls were investigated. Flagellin gene (60 specimens) or OspA-plasmid (32 specimens) were used as targets. Sensitivity of the flagellin-nested-PCR was 27%, by OspA-nested-PCR only one positive PCR result was found. Despite of low sensitivity PCR enabled the correct diagnosis of LD in two patients classified as UA. Therefore, PCR can give valuable hints in single cases if LD is clinically suspected.