Biological markers associated osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is the most common degenerative joint disease that develops in the elderly. The worldwide prevalence continues to rise, leading to pain and disability in older ages. Osteoarthritis can be diagnosed by using plain film X-ray combined with clinical appearance and structural features. The imbalance between cartilage synthesis and degradation has been explained in the development of osteoarthritis, which is associated with chondrocyte death. There are many cytokines and biological markers related to the disease. The present review provides a background and discusses the known biological markers that are related to developing osteoarthritis. These include advance glycation end products, glutathione and glycosaminoglycans

Estimating the burden of antimicrobial resistance: a systematic literature review.

Background: Accurate estimates of the burden of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are needed to establish the magnitude of this global threat in terms of both health and cost, and to paramaterise cost-effectiveness evaluations of interventions aiming to tackle the problem. This review aimed to establish the alternative methodologies used in estimating AMR burden in order to appraise the current evidence base. Methods: MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, EconLit, PubMed and grey literature were searched. English language studies evaluating the impact of AMR (from any microbe) on patient, payer/provider and economic burden published between January 2013 and December 2015 were included. Independent screening of title/abstracts followed by full texts was performed using pre-specified criteria. A study quality score (from zero to one) was derived using Newcastle-Ottawa and Philips checklists. Extracted study data were used to compare study method and resulting burden estimate, according to perspective. Monetary costs were converted into 2013 USD. Results: Out of 5187 unique retrievals, 214 studies were included. One hundred eighty-seven studies estimated patient health, 75 studies estimated payer/provider and 11 studies estimated economic burden. 64% of included studies were single centre. The majority of studies estimating patient or provider/payer burden used regression techniques. 48% of studies estimating mortality burden found a significant impact from resistance, excess healthcare system costs ranged from non-significance to $1 billion per year, whilst economic burden ranged from$21,832 per case to over $3 trillion in GDP loss. Median quality scores (interquartile range) for patient, payer/provider and economic burden studies were 0.67 (0.56-0.67), 0.56 (0.46-0.67) and 0.53 (0.44-0.60) respectively. Conclusions: This study highlights what methodological assumptions and biases can occur dependent on chosen outcome and perspective. Currently, there is considerable variability in burden estimates, which can lead in-turn to inaccurate intervention evaluations and poor policy/investment decisions. Future research should utilise the recommendations presented in this review. Trial registration: This systematic review is registered with PROSPERO (PROSPERO CRD42016037510)

Major affective disorders in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease compared with other chronic respiratory diseases

Chaicharn Pothirat, Warawut Chaiwong, Nittaya Phetsuk, Sangnual Pisalthanapuna, Nonglak Chetsadaphan, Juthamas InchaiDivision of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Allergy, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, ThailanBackground: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) have significant impacts on quality of life including psychomotor domain.Purpose: To evaluate three major affective disorders in subjects with COPD compared with other CRDs and nonill population.Materials and methods: The Thai version of Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) was used as a diagnostic instrument for three major affective disorders (generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, and panic disorder) by face-to-face interview in assessing patients with CRDs [COPD, asthma, rhinasthma, all asthma (asthma and rhinasthma), and chronic rhinitis], and nonill subjects. Logistic regression analyses were used to determine the relation between major affective disorders and CRDs adjusting for age, sex, and disease severity.Results: Major affective disorders were more prevalent in CRDs than nonill groups (adjusted OR =2.6 [95% CI, 1.8-3.9], P<0.001). COPD patients had significantly more generalized anxiety and panic disorder (adjusted OR =4.0 [95% CI, 1.4-11.9], P=0.011, and 4.4 [95% CI, 1.1-18.1], P=0.038, respectively) but not major depressive disorder (adjusted OR =2.7 [95% CI, 0.8-9.0, P=0.105]) than nonill group. Comparing with all asthma, COPD patients had lower occurrence of major depressive and panic disorders (adjusted OR =0.1 [95% CI, 0.0-0.4], P=0.002, and 0.1 [95% CI, 0.0-0.9], P=0.043, respectively). There was no difference in major mood disorders in COPD, rhinasthma, and chronic rhinitis patients. Major affective disorders were not increased by disease severity in COPD.Conclusion: Major affective disorders were significantly higher in CRDs than nonill population. Generalized anxiety and panic disorders were significantly high in COPD patients. Moreover, major depressive and panic disorders in COPD were significantly lower than all asthma. The prevalence of major affective disorders may not be related to severity of COPD.Keywords: respiration disorders, asthma, airway obstruction, rhinitis, mood disorder

A comparative study of COPD burden between urban vs rural communities in northern Thailand

Chaicharn Pothirat, Warawut Chaiwong, Nittaya Phetsuk, Sangnual Pisalthanapuna, Nonglak Chetsadaphan, Juthamas Inchai Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Allergy, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand Background: COPD prevalence and consequent burden are expected to rapidly increase worldwide. Until now, there has been no community-based study of COPD in Thailand.Purpose: We aimed to compare the prevalence, clinical characteristics, disease severity, previous diagnosis, and management of COPD between urban and rural communities.Materials and methods: A population-based cross-sectional study was designed to compare COPD prevalence and burden in rural and urban communities in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand. The COPD subjects were diagnosed and severity categories assigned using Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) criteria. The prevalence between the groups was compared using risk regression analysis. Unpaired t-test and chi-square were used to compare differences between the groups.Results: There were 574 and 293 enrolled subjects with acceptable spirometry, in rural and urban communities respectively. The prevalence of COPD in general and COPD in females was higher in the rural group (6.8% vs 3.7% and 4.4% vs 0.9%, respectively) across all independent variables. However, after adjustment for age, sex, and smoking status, no significant differences were demonstrated. Although the pulmonary function and disease severity between the two groups were not significantly different, the tendency was more pronounced in the rural group (COPD stage III-IV: 65.0% vs 33.3%). Most of the COPD patients in both groups were underdiagnosed (80.0% vs 77.2%) and undertreated (85.0% vs 81.9%). None of the patients in the study had participated in exercise training programs.Conclusion: The prevalence of COPD in general and particularly COPD in females tended to be higher, with more severe disease in the rural community. However, both groups were similarly underdiagnosed and undertreated. Keywords: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, spirometry, prevalenc