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Background. To investigate the relationship between hemagglutinin-inhibition (HI) antibody levels to the risk of influenza disease, we conducted a correlate of protection analysis using pooled data from previously published randomized trials.Methods. Data on the occurrence of laboratory-confirmed influenza and HI levels pre- and postvaccination were analyzed from 4 datasets: 3 datasets included subjects aged <65 years who received inactivated trivalent influenza vaccine (TIV) or placebo, and 1 dataset included subjects aged ≥65 years who received AS03-adjuvanted TIV (AS03-TIV) or TIV. A logistic model was used to evaluate the relationship between the postvaccination titer of A/H3N2 HI antibodies and occurrence of A/H3N2 disease. We then built a receiver-operating characteristic curve to identify a potential cutoff titer between protection and no protection.Results. The baseline odds ratio of A/H3N2 disease was higher for subjects aged ≥65 years than <65 years and higher in seasons of strong epidemic intensity than moderate or low intensity. Including age and epidemic intensity as covariates, a 4-fold increase in titer was associated with a 2-fold decrease in the risk of A/H3N2 disease.Conclusions. The modeling exercise confirmed a relationship between A/H3N2 disease and HI responses, but it did not allow an evaluation of the predictive power of the HI response.

Objective. Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the leading causes of disability within the adult population. Currently, its diagnosis is mainly based on clinical examination and standard radiography. To date, there is no way to detect the disease at a molecular level, before the appearance of structural changes and symptoms. So an attractive alternative for monitoring OA is the measurement of biochemical markers in blood, urine, or synovial fluid, which could reflect metabolic changes in joint tissue and therefore disease onset and progression. Animal models are relevant to investigate the early stage of OA and metabolic changes occurring in joint tissues. The goal of this narrative review is to summarize the scientific data available in the literature on soluble biomarkers in animal models of OA. Design. A literature search was conducted using the PubMed/ Medline and Scopus databases between February 1995 and December 2015. All original articles, systematic and narrative reviews published in French or in English were considered. Results. We summarized the data of 69 studies and proposed a classification scheme for OA biomarkers in animal studies, largely inspired by the BIPEDS classification. Conclusions. Studies about biomarkers and animal models indicate that some markers could be valuable to monitor OA progression and assess therapeutic response in some animal models.

BackgroundChanges of serum concentrations of glycated, oxidized, and nitrated amino acids and hydroxyproline and anticyclic citrullinated peptide antibody status combined by machine learning techniques in algorithms have recently been found to provide improved diagnosis and typing of early-stage arthritis of the knee, including osteoarthritis (OA), in patients. The association of glycated, oxidized, and nitrated amino acids released from the joint with development and progression of knee OA is unknown. We studied this in an OA animal model as well as interleukin-1β-activated human chondrocytes in vitro and translated key findings to patients with OA.MethodsSixty male 3-week-old Dunkin-Hartley guinea pigs were studied. Separate groups of 12 animals were killed at age 4, 12, 20, 28 and 36 weeks, and histological severity of knee OA was evaluated, and cartilage rheological properties were assessed. Human chondrocytes cultured in multilayers were treated for 10 days with interleukin-1β. Human patients with early and advanced OA and healthy controls were recruited, blood samples were collected, and serum or plasma was prepared. Serum, plasma, and culture medium were analyzed for glycated, oxidized, and nitrated amino acids.ResultsSeverity of OA increased progressively in guinea pigs with age. Glycated, oxidized, and nitrated amino acids were increased markedly at week 36, with glucosepane and dityrosine increasing progressively from weeks 20 and 28, respectively. Glucosepane correlated positively with OA histological severity (r = 0.58, p < 0.0001) and instantaneous modulus (r = 0.52–0.56; p < 0.0001), oxidation free adducts correlated positively with OA severity (p < 0.0009–0.0062), and hydroxyproline correlated positively with cartilage thickness (p < 0.0003–0.003). Interleukin-1β increased the release of glycated and nitrated amino acids from chondrocytes in vitro. In clinical translation, plasma glucosepane was increased 38% in early-stage OA (p < 0.05) and sixfold in patients with advanced OA (p < 0.001) compared with healthy controls.ConclusionsThese studies further advance the prospective role of glycated, oxidized, and nitrated amino acids as serum biomarkers in diagnostic algorithms for early-stage detection of OA and other arthritic disease. Plasma glucosepane, reported here for the first time to our knowledge, may improve early-stage diagnosis and progression of clinical OA.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13075-018-1636-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Introduction/Objectives: Therapeutic Patient Education (TPE) is now part of the new medical landscape, including for the prevention and treatment of diabetes and obesity. While some countries, such as France, have decided to give priority to TPE in public health policy by means of legal recognition, no such framework has been developed in Belgium. The purpose of this article is to describe the actual TPE practices of health professionals (HP) in this environment.Methods: 82 face-to-face interviews (20 GPs and 62 hospital healthcare professionals) were conducted according to a semi-structured interview guide developed from the French Health Authority guidelines. Qualitative content analysis was performed on the data collected.Results/Discussion: For the majority of respondents, TPE is limited to brief information about the disease, its risk factors and complications. This representation of TPE determines the practical modalities of the educational activity right from the educational diagnosis. The possibilities for developing the patient’s capacities are limited. Practices reflect a lack of pedagogical structuring and do not correspond to a real multidisciplinary approach.Conclusion: Healthcare professionals must develop a clear vision of the implications of the concept of TPE and must therefore receive adequate training to ensure good quality development and implementation.

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Purpose: In animal models, the severity of cartilage damage is assessed by histological scores evaluating the structure, the proteoglycan content, the integrity of the tidemark, the cellularity, and osteophytes. In parallel to these histological analyzes, we studied the mechanical properties of cartilage at different stages of disease progression in the Dunkin-Hartley guinea pigs. We also correlated the severity of histological lesions with the mechanical properties of cartilage. Methods: Sixty, male, 3-week-old Dunkin-Hartley guinea pigs from Charles River Laboratories (Paris, France) were used. Guinea pigs were randomized into 5 groups of 12 guinea pigs. At 4-week-old and every 8 weeks until week 36, twelve Hartley guinea pigs were sacrificed. Histological severity of the lesion was evaluated using OARSI score and mechanical properties of cartilage were assessed by the MACH-1 technology (Biomomentum, Canada). To do this, the tibial plateaus and femoral condyles of 60 guinea pigs were taken. An indentation protocol and measurement automated thickness was applied to cover the entire articular surface. The Young modulus (measure of the stiffness of the cartilage) and the thickness were calculated using the Mach-1 Analysis software. Results: Histological assessment of cartilage lesions showed that guinea pigs spontaneously developed severe knee osteoarthritis. In all animals, the global histological score increased significantly with age until week 28 (p < 0.0001 between week 4 and 28) and then stabilized (between weeks 28 and 36).The cartilage thickness gradually decreased until week 20 and then remained stable between weeks 28 and 36. A significantly positive correlation was observed between the global OARSI histological score and the young modulus (condyle: r ¼ 0.566, p < 0.0001; tibial plateau: r ¼ 0.442, p < 0.0012). Significant differences in thickness and young modulus between groups over time were observed.Abstracts / Osteoarthritis and Cartilage 25 (2017) S76eS444 S314