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The study found knee cartilage degenerated a lot slower in obese patients who lost over 10% of their body weight, especially in the weight-bearing regions of the joint.
Image credit: A. Gersing/UCSF

So says a study presented at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) meeting in Chicago, IL, on Monday.

The researchers investigated the link between different amounts of weight loss and the progression of knee cartilage degeneration - as shown on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans - in over 500 overweight and obese patients.

MSD (Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, New Jersey, USA), recently announced long-term tolerability and efficacy results from the open-label extension¹ of the GO-AHEAD study, a randomised, double-blind study on the effect of Simponi® (golimumab) in treating patients with active non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (nr-axial SpA).²

MSD also released data from the nr-axial SpA Disease Specific Programme (DSP),^3,4,5 a multi-national survey of patients and rheumatologists, funded by MSD, which highlights the burden of illness in patients with nr-axial SpA³, and the financial burden of this condition on employers and society due to productivity loss.⁴ The survey results also suggest a need for more consistent classification of nr-axial SpA.

While previous research has suggested that older adults may have a diminished capacity for experiencing pain relief, University of Florida researchers have found that with the correct dosage, electrical stimulation treatment can help ease back pain in older adults.

Neurobiological changes that happen with aging make it more difficult for older people to inhibit pain and experience relief. Electrical stimulation therapy could offer older adults with chronic pain an effective alternative to other treatments, including prescription painkillers, the UF researchers say.

The study is the first to compare response to transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation therapy, or TENS, across age groups.

A new study may alleviate concerns regarding increased cancer risk for patients undergoing spinal fusion surgery with recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein (rhBMP). The study appears in November 15 issue of Spine, published by Wolters Kluwer.

"Our study provides further evidence of rhBMP's efficacy as a fusion agent with no evidence of a significantly increased risk of cancer," write Dr. Gregory M. Malham of Epworth Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and colleagues. But they emphasize that additional, larger studies will be needed to definitively establish the safety and effectiveness of using rhBMP products to promote bone growth for spinal fusion surgery.

Joint inflammation (arthritis) is a common problem in medical practice and can be due to a variety of causes. Many types of inflammatory disorders affecting the joints belong to the diverse group of rheumatic diseases. The most common ones are rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis which frequently affect the joints of the hands. These joint diseases are chronic in nature and cannot be cured yet. However, an early diagnosis and thus early medical treatment tremendously improves long-term outcome. That is why experts working on the EC-funded project IACOBUS led by the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering IBMT are developing a finger scanner which in the future will allow arthritis of the hands to be diagnosed at a very early stage.

Introducing sit-to-stand workstations in the office significantly reduces sitting at work but can result in slight increases in sitting outside of working hours, new research reveals.

This so-called 'compensation effect' is one of the main findings to come out of a study into the benefits of using sit-to-stand workstations in the office to combat sedentary behaviour.

Led by researchers at Loughborough University with support from the Leicester-Loughborough Diet, Lifestyle and Physical Activity Biomedical Research Unit (BRU)¹, the study introduced specialist Ergotron sit-to-stand workstations to 40 male and female office workers.

Each participant wore a position sensor attached to the leg continuously for 24 hours a day, initially for a period of 14 days prior to the desk installation, as part of a baseline assessment.

Maternal bone density decreases after childbirth, but only among women who lactate for at least four months. The lactation period is unrelated to vitamin D status. A PhD thesis at Sahlgrenska Academy has explored the issue.

The most important role of vitamin D is to help maintain calcium homeostasis in the body. According to some hypotheses, there is a correlation between maternal vitamin D status and bone density during pregnancy and lactation. A recently completed PhD thesis at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, identified an association between lactation period and bone density, though unrelated to vitamin D status.

Patients with meniscus lesions benefit from a combination of sham surgery and physiotherapy just as much as from a real surgical procedure - this was the conclusion reached in the Finnish FIDELITY study published in 2013.

Ever since then, there has been considerable discussion about the benefits of meniscus surgery compared with physiotherapy. After all, about 300,000 meniscus procedures were performed in Germany in 2013.

The question is: Should the non-surgical approach be preferred over surgical treatment or are there still advantages offered by surgery.