Both vitamin D and collagen have roles in osteocartilaginous homeostasis. We evaluated the association between the circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) type I and II collagen degradation products (CTx-I, and CTx-II), and four vitamin D receptor gene (VDR) polymorphisms, in Italian males affected by low back pain (LBP) due to herniation/discopathy and/or vertebral osteochondrosis. FokI, Bsm...

Cycling is recognised as a sport in which there is a high incidence of poor bone health. Sweat calcium losses may contribute to this. PURPOSE To examine whether a calcium-rich pre-exercise meal attenuates exercise-induced perturbations of bone calcium homeostasis caused by maintenance of sweat calcium losses. METHODS Using a randomized, counterbalanced crossover design, 32 well-trained fema...

BACKGROUND This cross-sectional study was performed to determine the reference ranges for two bone turnover markers--aminoterminal propeptide of type I collagen (P1NP) and C-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen (beta-CrossLaps, beta-CTX)--in normal postmenopausal Spanish women as determined in serum by automated methods. METHODS A community-based population of 1080 healthy postmenopausal w...

Examination of relationships between systemic markers and functional measures of arterial structure and function may assist in determining alternative indices of vascular regulation and designing and evaluating interventions to improve arterial structure and function. Twenty young healthy individuals, 20 older healthy men, and 26 individuals with coronary artery disease (CAD), comprising a spec...

BACKGROUND Osteoarthritis (OA) involves changes in both bone and cartilage. These processes might be associated under some circumstances. This study investigated correlations between bone and cartilage degradation in patients with OA as a function of sex, Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) score, Body Mass Index (BMI), oral salmon calcitonin (sCT) treatment and diurnal variation. METHODS This study was a...

CONTEXT Reference intervals for bone turnover markers (BTMs) and relationships between BTM and fracture risk in older men are not well characterized. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this article was to determine the reference intervals for serum total osteocalcin (tOC), undercarboxylated osteocalcin (ucOC), N-terminal propeptide of type I collagen (PINP), and collagen type I C-terminal cross-linked ...

Background  Recent investigations show that both proliferation and secretion of macromolecules by cells can be regulated by low level laser therapy (LLLT). The aim of this study was to determine whether LLLT could induce a bio-stimulatory effects on human gingival fibroblasts (HGF3-PI 53). Therefore, the effect of laser irradiation on human gingival cell proliferation and collagen type I gene ...