Background: The description of Brucellosis arthritis feature with other findings is the main goal of this study. Methods and Materials: This is a 2 years descriptive and prospective study, which includes 40 patients who diagnosed as brucellosis and join involvement. Results: In this study, arthritis involvements were as follow: Sacroilitis (70%), Peripheral arthritis (15%), Sacroilitis and arthritis (12/5%) and Spondylitis (2/5%). The other finding of this study include: Range of age between 15-30 (80%), male to female ratio (5:1), rural to urban ratio (2: 1), fever more than 38 degree of Centigrade (60%), Normal CBC (90%), relative lymphocytosis (70%) , ESR more than 25 mm/ 1st hour (100%) , Wright titer 1:320 , and 2ME titer 1:160. With beginning of standard anti brucellosis regimen and supportive care, there was a 100% cure rate and no any sequel of arthritis. There was no relapse in next few months follow up of them. Conclusions: This study confirms previous findings, which indicate, Brucellosis arthritis have a good prognosis and outcome, without any sequel. So it seems that Brucellosis arthritis are rather inflammations than infection of joint (Septic arthritis).

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The joint vascular-α adrenoceptors change due to acute inflammation from a majority of α-2 to an equality of α -1 and α -2 receptors. This study was done to investigate the role of sympathetic nerves in nerve induced vasoconstriction and changes in joint vascular adrenoceptors due to chronic inflammation.METHODS: In 21 NZW rabbits, knee joint chronic inflammation was induced by Antigen Induced Arthritis (AIA) method. In experiment day, animals were anesthetized and the carotid artery was cannulated to record blood pressure and jugular vein for injection the anesthetic drugs. The medial belly of gastrocnemius muscle was removed to get access to posterior knee joint capsule and the blood flow was measured by laser flowmetry. FINDINGS: Electrical stimulation of PAN resulted in 25.6± 5.6 percent reduction of blood flow measured by laser Doppler flowmetry technique. The half of this response was blocked by prazosine (α1-agonists) and the other half by youhimbin (α 2- agonists) to11.8± 4.1 and 10.9±12.4 percent reduction, respectively but phentolamine completely blocked the constrictor response and reversed it to vasodilation (2.5± 2.1%). Close intra-arterial injection of different doses of α-agonists reduced the joint blood flow by the potency rank order of adrenaline> clonidine= phenylepherine, suggesting a balance between α 1 and α2 adrenoceptors. In previous studies, in normal and acutely inflamed knee joint, stimulation of PAN resulted in 36.5±4 and 9.9±2.25 percent reduction of blood flow, respectively that indicated acute inflammation reduces the role of sympathetic nerves in the regulation of knee joint blood flow.CONCLUSION: Overall this study showed a balance between α-adrenoceptor subtypes in the chronically inflamed knee joint blood vessels and compared to results of our pervious investigation on acutely inflamed of rabbit knee joint. The sympathetic vasoconstrictor response was mostly recovered without more alteration in α- adrenoceptor subtypes that happened in acute inflammation.

Background: Physicians are stili encountering untreatable diseases or even severe complications of current therapeutic approaches, thus the present study was achieved on rats to determine the efficacy of a spiritual healing on joint inflammation.Materials and methods: Sixteen rats entered this experimental study. They were assigned randomly to either the red or yellow groups. Spiritual healing was achieved by an expert physician.Having our rats anesthetized, chronic inflammation was introduced in right knee. Then the physician was asked God for healing. This approach was assessed by means of determining the rats' knee local temperature on days 1, 3, 7 and 14 as well as their knee diameter. Two-factor ANOVA was used for data analysis.Results: Alterations of joints' temperature and diameter were statistically significant between the two groups (p<0.05). Weight gain was differed significantly (p<0.001). Conclusion: Spiritual healing is accompanied by better improvement in joints' inflammation and also rats' weight gain. Further controlled trials are strongly recommended.

It has been shown that inflammation reduces the effectiveness of sympathetic nerves in the regulation of knee joint blood flow, and the joint vascular- ß adrenoceptors are changed due to acute inflammation from a majority of ß-1 to an equality of ß-1 and ß-2 receptors.. To investigate the role of sympathetic nerves in nerve induced vasoconstriction and changes in joint vascular ß-adrenoceptors due to chronic inflammation, in 21 NZW rabbits, chronic inflammation of the knee joint was induced by Antigen induced arthrtis method. In experiment day animals were anesthetized and the caudal femoral artery, a branch of tibial artery, was cannulated to inject the ß -agonists intra-arterially close to the joint. Posterior articular nerve (PAN) was dissected free for electrical stimulation. Electrical stimulation of PAN resulted in 18.1±6.2% reduction of blood flow measured by laser Doppler flowmetry technique. Phentolamine completely blocked the constrictor response and reversed it to vasodilation (+8±2.2 %). Propranolol (nonselective ß–adrenoceptor antagonist) completely blocked this vasodilation response and reverse it to a vasoconstriction. Atenolol (ß1 antagonist) nonsignificantly reduced the dilator response but ICI 118551 (ß2 antagonist ) reduced 50% of this response. Close intra-arterial injection of different doses of ß-agonists, Isoprenaline (nonselective ß agonist ), Dobutamine (ß1 agonist ) and Salbutamol (ß2 agonist) increased the joint blood flow by the potency rank order of “ Isoprenaline > Salbutamole >Dobutamine” .The isoprenaline dose response curve was shifted to the right by ß adrenoceptor antagonists by the potency rank order of propranolol> ICI> atenolol. Overall this study showed that ß2-adrenoceptor response is stronger and suggested that the shift from ß1- to ß2-adrenoceptor subtype started by acute inflammation continued in chronic inflammation and the sympathetic vasoconstrictor response was nearly recovered toward normal compared to acute inflammation.

Objective(s): This study was undertaken to determine the role of computed tomography (CT)-based methodology to segment the SI joint and quantify the metabolic activity using positron emission tomography (PET). We measured tracer uptake in the right and left SI joints independently to look for differences between the two sides. Further, we correlated tracer uptake with BMI and studied the inter-observer variation with regard to estimated tracer uptake in the SI joints. Methods: In this retrospective study, a total of 103 subjects (48 females, 55 males) from the CAMONA study database collected 2012-2016 at Odense University Hospital in Denmark were included. Mean age was 48± 14. 59 years, mean BMI was 26. 68± 4. 31 kg/m2. The SI joints were segmented on fused PET/CT images using a 3D growing algorithm with adjustable upper and lower Hounsfield Units (HU) thresholds. The metabolic activities on the two sides were correlated with BMI. Results: For FDG, we found a higher average SUVmean on the right side (right: 1. 3± 0. 33, left: 1. 13± 0. 30; P<0. 0001). Similarly, for NaF, the uptake was higher on the right side (right: 5. 9± 1. 29, left: 4. 27± 1. 23; P<0. 0001). Positive correlations were present between BMI and FDG uptake (P<0. 01) as well as NaF uptake (P<0. 01). Conclusion: The PET-based molecular imaging probes along with the CT-based segmentation techniques revealed a significant difference in the metabolic activity between the two SI joints with higher inflammation and reactive bone formation on the right side. FDG and NaF uptakes correlated significantly and positively with BMI.

Introduction: Knee Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most important etiologies of pain and disability among adults. The effects of pulsed Ultrasound (US) on pain reduction and joint function have been proven, but its role on joint friction and inflammatory mediators is still unclear. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the effects of US on knee joint friction and inflammation in non-traumatic experimental knee OA. Materials and Methods: Forty-eight guinea pigs were randomly assigned into four groups: OA+US, OA+US sham, 30 days after OA induction (OA30), and normal control (n=12 for each group). OA was induced by intra-articular injection of 3 mg/kg of Mono-Iodoacetate (MIA) in the animal’, s left knee. Joint circumstance and weight of the animals were measured at baseline, before (i. e., after 30 days of MIA injection), and after US treatment. Joint friction was evaluated by a pendulum friction tester system. Cytokine levels, including Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF)-α,and Interleukin (IL)-1β, , were measured by the ELISA method. The Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated to study the relationships between friction and inflammation variables. Results: Joint circumference was increased in the OA30 group. Joint friction variables, including exponential curve fitting, cycle number, and friction coefficient, were significantly better in the US group (P<0. 05). TNF-α,and IL-1β,cytokine levels were significantly lower in the US group. A significant positive correlation was observed between joint friction indices and TNF-α,and IL-1β,cytokine levels (P<0. 05). Conclusion: US was an effective approach for reducing joint friction and inflammation in OA30. Moreover, the relationship between knee joint friction and inflammation could help us better understand the etiology, mechanism, and treatment strategies of this disease.

Background. The temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is the most commonly used joint in the human body. Recent studies have shown pathologic relationships between inflammation, diabetes, and musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). Chewing disorder is a significant sign of dysfunction in the masticatory system. This study investigated dietary pattern changes in response to TMJ inflammation in diabetic rats. Methods. This experimental study was carried out on 30 male rats. The rats were fed concentrated 20-mg dietary tablets. Complete Freund’s adjuvant (CFA) was used to induce TMJ inflammation and streptozotocin (STZ) was used to induce diabetes. The animals were randomly divided into three groups (n=10), including group I (CFA+STZ), group II (healthy rats+CFA), and group III (healthy rats, no injection). Parameters such as overall food intake, food intake duration, food intake frequency, and the interval between meals were recorded in a checklist and analyzed by Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests (P<0. 05). Results. The results showed no significant difference between groups in overall food intake and food intake frequency on days 0 and 1, but this difference was significant from day 2 to day 7. Regarding the time and end of food intake, there was a significant difference between the three groups from day 1 to day 7, but this difference was not significant on day zero. Conclusion. Dietary pattern changes were similar in the diabetic TMJ inflammation and TMJ inflammation groups. These changes can be used as a behavioral marker for TMJ inflammation in rats.