INVESTIGATIONS OF OSTEOARTHRITIS AND BONE LOSS

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Osteoarthritis and bone loss are the two principal age related changes of the human skeleton. Even though these changes are considered inherent to aging, they may result in incapacitating ailments. Bone loss and osteoarthritis are universal phenomena. The advanced cases of osteoarthritis (degenerative joint disease) produce severe restrictions of movement associated with pain. Advance bone loss may result in osteoporosis and frequent bone fractures. At some time during the fourth decade of life the human skeleton begins to lose bone. That is, bone mass decreases in relation to bone volume. In tabular bones, bone is resorbed from the endossteal surface. Because of the thinning of the cortical bone shell, bones lose their mechanical integrity and fracture more readily. The trabecular bone mass of the verteral column also decreases with age. The vertebral plates decrease in density, lose resistance to vertical compression stress and are more vulnerable to vertebral collapse. Most prominent are vertebral compression fractures and fractures of the femoral neck. The following skeletal sites are involved in the present study: hand-wrist, ulna and radius and vertebral column. This project deals with the epidemiological, genetic and longitudinal aspects of osteoarthritis and bone loss among (1) the participants of the Baltimore Longitudinal Study, (2) in a sample of normal children and adult Guamanians (Chamorros), (3) among patients afflicted with Amyotrohpic Lateral Sclerosis/Parkinsonism Dementia Complex of Guam, and (4) study of bone mineral density and effect of muscular activity on bone in rats.