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Background: Foot involvement in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients has been reported to severely affect functional capacity and quality of life. We aimed to determine the impact of midfoot and hindfoot involvement on functional disability in Korean patients with RA.Methods: We evaluated the RA involvement and deformity of three regions of the foot (forefoot, midfoot and hindfoot) and ankle using conventional radiography in Korean patients with RA. We compared the clinical features between RA patients with and without foot or ankle involvement. Using multivariable logistic regression analyses, the impact of midfoot or hindfoot involvement on functional disability in RA patients was evaluated.Results: Overall, 120 patients with a median age of 48.0 [interquartile range (IQR), 37-56] years and median disease duration of 58.0 (IQR, 10-89) months were included. The prevalence of foot or ankle RA involvement was 74 (61.7%). The number of patients with forefoot, midfoot, hindfoot and ankle involvement was 32 (43.2%), 24 (32.4%), 46 (62.2%) and 4 (5.4%), respectively. Compared to patients without foot or ankle involvement those with such involvement had greater disease activity and functional disability, more of them were treated with biologic agents, and they had a lower health-related quality of life. After adjusting for potential confounders, hindfoot involvement was associated with a higher degree of functional disability. However, walking difficulty was more associated with midfoot involvement rather than with involvement in other regions.Conclusions: In Korean patients with RA, hindfoot involvement is associated with functional disability and midfoot involvement affects walking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the quadriceps and hamstring muscle strength and hamstring-to-quadriceps (HQ) ratio, as well as the relationships of these parameters with dynamic balance, in patients with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture. Materials and Methods: We compared 25 patients diagnosed with chronic unilateral ACL tears and 25 age-matched healthy volunteers. The maximal torque of the quadriceps and hamstring and dynamic balance were measured. Results: Although the isokinetic maximal peak torques were about 50% lower in the quadriceps (57%, p<0.001) and hamstring (56%, p=0.001) muscles in the chronic ACL tear group than in the control group, their HQ ratios were similar (56%±17% vs. 58%±6%, p=0.591). HQ ratio was significantly correlated with anterior-posterior stability index (r=-0.511, p=0.021) and overall stability index (r=-0.476, p=0.034) in control group, but these correlations were not observed in chronic ACL tear group. Conclusions: Thigh muscle strength was about 50% lower in the chronic ACL tear group than in the control group, but the HQ ratio was similar. The dynamic balance of the knee was not influenced by thigh muscle strength but was influenced by HQ ratio in healthy young individuals. However, HQ ratio was not correlated with dynamic knee balance in chronic ACL tear patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Growing recognition of paracrine mechanisms in stem cell plasticity has resulted in considerable interest in stem cell-derived secretome. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) preconditioning on the composition and hepatic regenerative activity of adipose-derived stem cell (ASC) secretome. Methods: Conditioned medium (CM) and LPS-CM were obtained after culturing human ASCs without or with low-dose LPS (0.5 ng/mL) for 24 hours. Untreated and thioacetamide-treated mouse AML12 hepatocytes were incubated for 24 hours with the control medium, LPS (0.5 ng/mL), CM, and LPS-CM and then cell viabilities were compared. CM and LPS-CM were also intravenously administered to partially hepatectomized mice, and their effects on liver regeneration were assessed by using liver weight measurements, immunohistochemistry, and Western blotting. Results: In the in vitro experiments, LPS preconditioning of ASCs enhanced the mRNA expression levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-a), hepatocyte growth factor, and vascular endothelial growth factor, which evoke inflammatory response or liver regeneration. LPS-CM significantly promoted thioacetamidedamaged AML12 cell viability compared with CM-incubated cells and the control cells (77%, 69%, and 65% P <0.05). In the in vivo experiment, LPS-CM infusion into the partially hepatectomized mice significantly reduced serum IL-6 and TNF-a levels compared with the other groups (P <0.05) on days 1 and 2 after partial hepatectomy. Moreover, LPS-CM infusion enhanced liver regeneration (based on the liver weight changes at day 7 after partial hepatectomy, 3.73% versus 3.22% in the CM group; P <0.05) and significantly reduced the elevated serum levels of aspartate transaminase and alanine transaminase (at day 1, P <0.05). Conclusions: Our results suggest that LPS preconditioning effectively stimulates ASCs to produce the secretome beneficial to hepatic regeneration. Thus, optimizing ASC secretome profile by LPS preconditioning could be a promising approach to treat liver diseases by using stem cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]