Provision of pest alerts is associated with better farm performance in Africa.

Background: Crop pests cause substantial crop yield and economic losses, food insecurity, and negative impacts on human health and environment globally. Timely provision of pest risk alerts - that is, the optimum time to intervene against key pests before invasion or establishment - to smallholder farmers on pest management could improve farm performance. However, there is little quantitative evidence testing this hypothesis.

OLSIA: Open Lumbar Spine Image Analysis - A 3D Slicer Extension for Segmentation, Grading, and Intervertebral Disc Height Index with Multi-Dataset Validation.

Study Design: Retrospective and cross-sectional study.

Objective: The study aims to develop an open software for lumbar spine image analysis enabling no-code approach to lumbar spine segmentation, grading, and intervertebral disc height index (DHI) calculations with robust evaluation of the application on six external datasets from diverse geographical regions.

Summary Of Data: The datasets used include NFBC1966 (Finland), HKDDC (Hong Kong), TwinsUK (UK), CETIR (Spain), NCSD (Hungary), SPIDER (Netherlands), and Mendeley (global).

Common inflammatory proteins linking frailty and area-level deprivation as key drivers of cardiovascular risk in women.

Background: Chronic inflammation is linked to frailty and deprivation, both of which are comorbid with cardiovascular diseases (CVD). This study aims to identify inflammatory proteins associated with both socioeconomic deprivation and frailty, and assess their role in mediating cardiovascular risk in a large cohort with independent replication.

Methods: We included 2144 TwinsUK females aged 37-84 with concurrent measures of frailty (frailty index), index of multiple deprivation (IMD), cardiovascular risk (ASCVD score), and 74 proteins (Olink inflammation panel).

A genome-wide association study in 10,000 individuals links plasma N-glycome to liver disease and anti-inflammatory proteins.

More than a half of plasma proteins are N-glycosylated. Most of them are synthesized, glycosylated, and secreted to the bloodstream by liver and lymphoid tissues. While associations with N-glycosylation are implicated in the rising number of liver, cardiometabolic, and immune diseases, little is known about the genetic regulation of this process.

Genome-wide association study identifies novel genetic variants associated with widespread pain in the UK Biobank ( = 172,230).

Objectives: Widespread pain is a hallmark characteristic of fibromyalgia, commonly affecting older individuals. This study aimed to identify novel genetic variants associated with widespread pain by utilizing the extensive UK Biobank dataset.

Methods: We conducted a primary genome-wide association study (GWAS) using a novel definition of widespread pain, defined as pain experienced all over the body during the past month.

A comparison of approaches to studying relationships between lumbar spinal degeneration findings demonstrates advantages to interspace-level analyses over person-level analyses.

Purpose: To examine associations between lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration (LDD) and type II Modic changes (MC) when retaining information at each interspace ("interspace-level analysis"), as compared to aggregating information across interspaces as is typically done in spine research ("person-level analysis"). The study compared results from (1) interspace-level analyses assuming a common relationship across interspaces (the "interspace-level, common-relationship" approach), (2) interspace-level analyses allowing for interspace-specific associations (an "interspace-level, interspace-specific" approach), (3) and a conventional person-level analytic approach.

Methods: Adults in primary care (n = 147) received lumbar spine magnetic resonance imaging and neuroradiologist-evaluated assessments of prevalent disc height narrowing (DHN), type II MC, and other LDD parameters.

Does the addition of manual therapy to exercise therapy improve pain and disability outcomes in chronic low back pain: A systematic review.

Background: Low back pain (LBP) is a common musculoskeletal problem and the leading cause of disability worldwide. Manual therapy and exercise therapy are used by physiotherapists to treat LBP. The evidence base for exercise is strong, however less so for manual therapy.

Evidence for a Causal Association Between Human Cytomegalovirus Infection and Chronic Back Pain: A One-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study.

Background: Chronic back pain (CBP) is a major cause of disability globally. While its etiology is multifactorial, specific contributing genetic and environmental factors remain to be discovered. Paraspinal muscle fat has been shown in human and preclinical studies to be related to CBP.

A Genetic and Environmental Analysis of Inflammatory Factors in Chronic Widespread Pain Using the TwinsUK Cohort.

Chronic widespread musculoskeletal pain (CWP), a significant health issue affecting individuals and society, is often diagnosed as part of fibromyalgia but is not generally considered inflammatory. This study investigated the relationship between blood-based inflammatory factors and CWP in 904 individuals from the TwinsUK cohort. Participants, free of major inflammatory conditions, completed questionnaires to assess CWP.

Multifluid Metabolomics Identifies Novel Biomarkers for Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a complex disorder affecting 10% of the global population, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. By integrating multifluid metabolomics, we aimed to identify metabolite markers of IBS in a large population-based cohort. : We included individuals from TwinsUK with and without IBS, ascertained using the Rome III criteria, and analysed serum (232 cases, 1707 controls), urine (185 cases, 1341 controls), and stool (186 cases, 1284 controls) metabolites (Metabolon Inc.

Decomposing the genetic background of chronic back pain.

Chronic back pain (CBP) is a disabling condition with a lifetime prevalence of 40% and a substantial socioeconomic burden. Because of the high heterogeneity of CBP, subphenotyping may help to improve prediction and support personalized treatment of CBP. To investigate CBP subphenotypes, we decomposed its genetic background into a shared one common to other chronic pain conditions (back, neck, hip, knee, stomach, and head pain) and unshared genetic background specific to CBP.

A large hypothesis-free proteomics study investigating serum inflammatory markers as biomarkers of dry eye disease.

Purpose: To test the association between serum inflammatory markers and dry eye disease (DED) using a hypothesis-free proteomic approach in a population-based cohort.

Methods: A total of 2602 unselected community-based participants (mean age 61.5 (range 21-92 years), 94.

Advantages to interspace-level analyses over person-level analyses when studying relationships between lumbar spinal degeneration findings : a cross-sectional study.

Purpose: To examine associations between lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration (LDD) and type II Modic changes (MC) when retaining information at each interspace ("interspace-level analysis"), as compared to aggregating information across interspaces as is typically done in spine research ("person-level analysis") . The study compared results from (1) interspace-level analyses assuming a common relationship across interspaces (the "interspace-level, common-relationship" approach), (2) interspace-level analyses allowing for interspace-specific associations (an "interspace-level, interspace-specific" approach), and (3) a conventional person-level analytic approach.

Methods: Adults in primary care (n=147) received lumbar spine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and neuroradiologist-evaluated assessments of prevalent disc height narrowing (DHN), type II MC, and other LDD parameters.

A multi-trait approach identified 7 novel genes for back pain.

Introduction: Back pain (BP) is a complex heritable trait with an estimated heritability of 40% to 60%. Less than half of this can be explained by known genetic variants identified in genome-wide association studies.

Objectives: We applied a powerful multi-trait and gene-based approach to association analysis of BP to identify novel genes associated with BP.

Quantitative sensory testing and chronic pain syndromes: a cross-sectional study from TwinsUK.

Objective: The chronic pain syndromes (CPS) include syndromes such as chronic widespread pain (CWP), dry eye disease (DED) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Highly prevalent and lacking pathognomonic biomarkers, the CPS are known to cluster in individuals in part due to their genetic overlap, but patient diagnosis can be difficult. The success of quantitative sensory testing (QST) and inflammatory biomarkers as phenotyping tools in conditions such as painful neuropathies warrant their investigation in CPS.

No evidence for causal effects of C-reactive protein (CRP) on chronic pain conditions: a Mendelian randomization study.

Objective: We conducted a Mendelian randomization (MR) study to examine causal associations of C-reactive protein (CRP) with (1) spinal pain; (2) extent of multisite chronic pain; and (3) chronic widespread musculoskeletal pain.

Design: Two-sample MR study.

Setting/subjects: We used summary statistics from publicly available genome-wide association studies (GWAS) conducted in multiple cohorts and biobanks.

The association of lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration with low back pain is modified by underlying genetic propensity to pain.

Background Context: Associations between magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-detected lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration (LDD) and LBP are often of modest magnitude. This association may be larger in specific patient subgroups.

Purpose: To examine whether the association between LDD and LBP is modified by underlying genetic predispositions to pain.

Glycoprotein Acetyls Is a Novel Biomarker Predicting Cardiovascular Complications in Rheumatoid Arthritis.

The relationship between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and early onset atherosclerosis is well depicted, each with an important inflammatory component. Glycoprotein acetyls (GlycA), a novel biomarker of inflammation, may play a role in the manifestation of these two inflammatory conditions. The present study examined a potential mediating role of GlycA within the RA-atherosclerosis relationship to determine whether it accounts for the excess risk of cardiovascular disease over that posed by lipid risk factors.

GlycA and CRP Are Genetically Correlated: Insight into the Genetic Architecture of Inflammageing.

Inflammageing is a condition of perpetual low-grade inflammation induced by ageing. Inflammageing may be predicted by the C-reactive protein (CRP) or by a recently described biomarker which measures N-glycosylated side chains of the carbohydrate component of several acute-phase proteins known as GlycA. The objective of this study was to examine in depth the genetic relationships between CRP and GlycA as well as between each of them and other selected cytokines, which may shed light on the mechanisms of inflammageing.

No evidence of association between either Modic change or disc degeneration and five circulating inflammatory proteins.

Introduction: Intervertebral disc degeneration and Modic change are the main spinal structural changes associated with chronic low back pain (LBP). Both conditions are thought to manifest local inflammation and if inflammatory proteins translocate to the blood circulation could be detected systemically. The work here assesses whether the presence of disc degeneration is associated with detectable blood level changes of five inflammatory markers and whether chronic LBP is associated with these changes.

Discovery of circulating blood biomarkers in patients with and without Modic changes of the lumbar spine: a preliminary analysis.

Purpose: The following study aimed to determine the existence of blood biomarkers in symptomatic patients with or without lumbar Modic changes (MC).

Methods: A cross-sectional sub-analyses of a prospective cohort was performed. Fasting blood samples were collected from patients with and without lumbar MC who had undergone spinal fusion or microdiscectomy.