No abstract

Objective. To compare measures of body fat and lean mass and the prevalence of abnormal body composition phenotypes (sarcopenia, overfat, and sarcopenic obesity) in men and women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) versus matched controls, and to explore the disease-related predictors of abnormal body composition in patients with RA. Methods. A total of 189 men and women with RA and 189 age-, sex-, and race-matched non-RA controls underwent dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry for measurement of total and regional body fat and lean mass. Continuous and categorical measures of body composition were compared between RA and control subjects by sex and according to categories of body mass index (BMI). Within the group of RA patients, demographic, lifestyle, and RA disease and treatment characteristics were compared for RA patients with healthy body composition versus those with abnormal body composition phenotypes. Results. Compared with non-RA controls, RA status was significantly associated with greater odds of sarcopenia, overfat, and sarcopenic obesity in women, but not in men. Relative differences in body composition phenotypes between RA and control subjects were greatest for patients in the normal weight BMI category (<25 kg/m 2 ). Among RA characteristics, increasing joint deformity, self-reported disability scores, C-reactive protein levels, rheumatoid factor seropositivity, and a lack of current treatment with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs were significantly associated with abnormal body composition. Conclusion. Abnormal body composition phenotypes are overrepresented in patients with RA, particularly in those in the normal weight BMI range. RA-associated disease and treatment characteristics contribute to this increase in abnormal body composition.

Asymptomatic PAD is common and is independently associated with impaired lower extremity functioning. In addition to preventing cardiovascular morbidity and death, further study is warranted to identify effective interventions to improve functioning among the growing number of men and women with asymptomatic PAD.

Background The Drug Burden Index (DBI), a measure of exposure to anticholinergic and sedative medications, has been independently associated with physical and cognitive function in a cross-sectional analysis of community dwelling older persons participating in the Health, Aging and Body Composition (Health ABC) study. Here we evaluate the association between DBI and functional outcomes in Health ABC participants over five years. Methods DBI was calculated at years 1 (baseline), 3 and 5 and a measure of the area under the curve for DBI (AUCDB) over the whole study period was devised and calculated. Physical performance was measured using the short physical performance battery (SPPB), usual gait speed, and grip strength. The association of DBI at each time point and AUCDB with year 6 function was analyzed in data from participants with longitudinal functional measures, controlling for socio-demographics, co-morbidities and baseline function. Results Higher DBI at years 1, 3 and 5 was consistently associated with poorer function at year 6. On multivariate analysis, a one unit increase in AUCDB predicted decreases in SPPB score of 0.08 (p = 0.01), gait speed of 0.01 m/s (p=0.004), and grip strength of 0.27 kg (p=0.004) at year 6. Conclusion Increasing exposure to medication with anticholinergic and sedative effects, measured with DBI, is associated with lower objective physical function over five years in community dwelling older people.

Widespread musculoskeletal pain is frequent among community-dwelling older women with disability and appears to predict the progression of disability. Efforts to better understand the cause of this pain and its treatment might reduce the overall burden of disability.

Background Registry studies have suggested improvements in door-to-balloon times, but a national assessment of the trends in door-to-balloon times is lacking. Moreover, we do not know if improvements in door-to-balloon times were shared equally among patient and hospital groups. Methods and Results This analysis includes all patients reported by hospitals to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for inclusion in the time to percutaneous coronary intervention acute myocardial infarction-8 (AMI-8) inpatient measure from January 1, 2005 through September 30, 2010. For each calendar year, we summarized the characteristics of patients reported for the measure including the number and percentage in each group as well as the median time to primary percutaneous coronary intervention, and the percentage with time to primary percutaneous coronary intervention within 75 minutes and within 90 minutes. Door-to-balloon time declined from a median of 96 minutes in the year ending December 31, 2005 to a median of 64 minutes in the three quarters ending September 30, 2010. There were corresponding increases in the percentage of patients who had times <90 minutes (44.2% to 91.4%) and <75 minutes (27.3% to 70.4%). The declines in median times were greatest among groups that had the highest median times during the first period: Patients >75 years of age (median decline 38 minutes); women (35 minutes); and African Americans (42 minutes). Conclusion National progress has been achieved in the treatment of patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction who undergo primary percutaneous coronary intervention.

These preliminary findings suggest an inverse relationship between T and sIL-6r. Longitudinal studies are needed to establish the causality of this association.

We describe a method for automated detection of radiographic Osteoarthritis (OA) in knee X-ray images. The detection is based on the Kellgren-Lawrence classification grades, which correspond to the different stages of OA severity. The classifier was built using manually classified X-rays, representing the first four KL grades (normal, doubtful, minimal and moderate). Image analysis is performed by first identifying a set of image content descriptors and image transforms that are informative for the detection of OA in the X-rays, and assigning weights to these image features using Fisher scores. Then, a simple weighted nearest neighbor rule is used in order to predict the KL grade to which a given test X-ray sample belongs. The dataset used in the experiment contained 350 X-ray images classified manually by their KL grades. Experimental results show that moderate OA (KL grade 3) and minimal OA (KL grade 2) can be differentiated from normal cases with accuracy of 91.5% and 80.4%, respectively. Doubtful OA (KL grade 1) was detected automatically with a much lower accuracy of 57%. The source code developed and used in this study is available for free download at www.openmicroscopy.org.