Treatment of knee osteoarthritis with autologous mesenchymal stem cells: a pilot study.

BACKGROUND: Osteoarthritis is the most prevalent joint disease and a frequent cause of joint pain, functional loss, and disability. Osteoarthritis often becomes chronic, and conventional treatments have demonstrated only modest clinical benefits without lesion reversal. Cell-based therapies have shown encouraging results in both animal studies and a few human case reports. We designed a pilot study to assess the feasibility and safety of osteoarthritis treatment with mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) in humans and to obtain early efficacy information for this treatment. METHODS: Twelve patients with chronic knee pain unresponsive to conservative treatments and radiologic evidence of osteoarthritis were treated with autologous expanded bone marrow MSCs by intra-articular injection (40×10 cells). Clinical outcomes were followed for 1 year and included evaluations of pain, disability, and quality of life. Articular cartilage quality was assessed by quantitative magnetic resonance imaging T2 mapping. RESULTS: Feasibility and safety were confirmed, and strong indications of clinical efficacy were identified. Patients exhibited rapid and progressive improvement of algofunctional indices that approached 65% to 78% by 1 year. This outcome compares favorably with the results of conventional treatments. Additionally, quantification of cartilage quality by T2 relaxation measurements demonstrated a highly significant decrease of poor cartilage areas (on average, 27%), with improvement of cartilage quality in 11 of the 12 patients. CONCLUSIONS: MSC therapy may be a valid alternative treatment for chronic knee osteoarthritis. The intervention is simple, does not require hospitalization or surgery, provides pain relief, and significantly improves cartilage quality.

Ten-year longitudinal study of gingival recession in dentists.

AIM: To assess the prevalence and progression/regression of gingival recession in a population sample with a high standard of oral hygiene and broad knowledge of the role of traumatic tooth brushing in the aetiology of gingival recession. MATERIAL & METHODS: Forty dental students in their final year at Dental School were examined for gingival recession in 1994 and 10 years later by the same examiner. Tooth brushing habits were ascertained in a questionnaire. Clinical parameters recorded for each recession were: recession height, probing depth, width of keratinized gingiva and bleeding on probing. Full-mouth plaque index was recorded using the modified Quigley & Hein index. RESULTS: The prevalence of gingival recession was 85% and did not change after 10 years. A total of 210 recessions found at the initial examination and 299 at the second were valid for longitudinal evaluation. Statistical differences between recessions at both examinations were found in several clinical parameters. Subjects had a significant increase in the plaque index at the second examination despite very few changes in their oral hygiene habits (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: In dentists, after 10 years, mean number of gingival recession per person and mean recession height increased while plaque control decreased.

Eating disorders in ballet dancing students: problems and risk factors.

OBJECTIVE: To study the prevalence of symptoms of eating disorders and risk eating behaviours and the relationship between life at a dance school and the risk of developing an eating disorder (ED) in an adolescent population of Spanish dance students. METHODS: Questionnaires were used to assess attitudes to eating, cultural influences on the body shape model, eating disorders (DSM-IV) and risk factors for eating disorders in 76 adolescent dance students (age 12-17 years) at the Barcelona Theatre Institute. Subjects were compared with a community sample of 453 female adolescents. To study the relationship between ED and characteristics of this particular school, an original questionnaire was administered to 105 students at the school aged from 12 to 21 years. RESULTS: The prevalence of eating disorders and several risk attitudes and behaviours were similar in the dance students and the female adolescents from the general population. Students at risk of eating disorders perceived greater pressure from coaches concerning eating, appearance, weight and artistic performance; they felt less satisfied with their weight and weighed themselves more often; they avoided performing so as not to exhibit their body in public, disliked comparing their body with their peers and believed that audiences paid a great deal of attention to their bodies. In contrast, Body Mass Index (BMI) had hardly any influence on these experiences. Depressive symptoms were associated almost exclusively with experience of stressors and aversive situations. CONCLUSIONS: Dance school students do not necessarily present a greater risk of ED than other girls of the same age. The risk of ED may be associated with greater pressure from coaches, with attitudes related to the ED itself, or with depressive symptoms, rather than with the BMI.

Eating disorders and body image in Spanish and Mexican female adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the prevalence of eating disorders (ED), socio-cultural risk factors, and body image characteristics in two populations of female adolescents, one Mexican and one Spanish, from similar socio-economic backgrounds. METHOD: A total of 467 Spanish and 329 Mexican girls aged from 11-12 to 17-18 years were assessed using the Eating Attitude Test-26 (EAT-26), the CETCA (Eating Disorders Assessment Questionnaire), the CIMEC (Questionnaire on Influences on Body Shape Model), and a survey of socio-demographic and risk factors produced for this study. RESULTS: One out of four subjects showed a significant risk of an eating disorder and 6-7% probably already had one. No significant differences were found between the two samples. Significant differences were found in risk behaviors: more Spanish girls reported body dissatisfaction and binging; more Mexican girls had a history of psychiatric and psychological treatment, pressure from parents and friends to lose weight, dieting, physical activity and vomiting to lose weight, and a history of greater weight loss. In both the groups around 50% of subjects wanted to increase the size of their breasts. However, significantly more Mexican girls desired thinner arms and narrower shoulders and back, and more Spanish girls wanted thinner hips, buttocks, and legs, parts of the body that many Mexicans wanted to increase. CONCLUSIONS: Risk behaviors and the ideal body models of these Spanish and Mexican adolescent girls varied significantly, indicating major socio-cultural differences. However, the prevalence of ED was similar. Further research should aim to clarify whether the similarities found between this Spanish sample and a Mexican sample taken from an upper-middle class urban environment, a minority that is unrepresentative of the general population, are also observed in samples from other sectors of Mexican society.

Erupción de la dentición permanente en un grupo de 1,123 niños y niñas catalanes / Eruption of the permanent teeth in a group of 1,123 catalan children

Objetivo. Determinar las edades medias de erupción de los dientes permanentes de nuestra muestra. Método. Se han estudiado 605 niños y 518 niñas de raza blanca y de edades comprendidas entre los 5 y los 14 años, todos residentes en la población de Tona (Osona, Catalunya). Las exploraciones se realizaron en las tres escuelas que hay en la población, siguiendo el método transversal. Los datos recogidos fueron: nombre y apellidos del niño explorado, fecha de nacimiento, sexo, peso, talla y odontograma de dentición permanente. Las estimaciones de las edades medias de erupción de cada diente se calcularon aplicando el método de Kärber. Resultados. Después de validar la muestra en cuanto a tamaño, edad, peso y talla, confirmamos que nos encontrábamos frente a un grupo homogéneo e igual al resto de los niños catalanes. Presentamos las tablas de las edades medias de erupción para cada diente permanente en los dos maxilares, para ambos sexos. Conclusiones. Los datos de peso y talla de la muestra estudiada no presentan diferencias significativas con las que aportó De la Puente. Se han confeccionado, por primera vez, las tablas de las edades de erupción de todos los dientes permanentes (exceptuando los terceros molares) para una muestra de niños y niñas catalanes (AU)