YKL-40, a chitinase-3-like protein 1 (CHI3L1) or human cartilage glycoprotein 39 (HC gp-39), is expressed and secreted by various cell-types including macrophages, chondrocytes, fibroblast-like synovial cells and vascular smooth muscle cells. Its biological function is not well elucidated, but it is speculated to have some connection with inflammatory reactions and autoimmune diseases. Although having important biological roles in autoimmunity, there were only attempts to elucidate relationships of YKL-40 with a single or couple of diseases in the literature. Therefore, in order to analyze the relationship between YKL-40 and the overall diseases, we reviewed 51 articles that discussed the association of YKL-40 with rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, systemic lupus erythematosus, Behçet disease and inflammatory bowel disease. Several studies showed that YKL-40 could be assumed as a marker for disease diagnosis, prognosis, disease activity and severity. It is also shown to be involved in response to disease treatment. However, other studies showed controversial results particularly in the case of Behçet disease activity. Therefore, further studies are needed to elucidate the exact role of YKL-40 in autoimmunity and to investigate its potential in therapeutics.

Background and Aims: Although gout is one of the most common rheumatic diseases, world data are lacking because most studies have focused on industrialized countries. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the global burden of gout and its associations with the year of diagnosis, age, geographical region, sociodemographic status and various further risk factors. Methods:Retrospective data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) were used, initially collected between 1990 and 2019. Raw numbers and agestandardized rates (per 100,000 persons) of prevalence, incidence and years lived

The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) is a compass that navigates researchers and clinicians in discovering the latest knowledge and the current status of health for populations and countries worldwide. The GBD helps to present various methods in evaluating health-related quality of life and assess the health burden, economic burden, years of life lost, and healthy life-years lost from each disease. Beforehand, the details and development status of the dataset need to be identified, and the advantages and disadvantages of each research methodology should be analyzed. The aim of this paper is to help readers comprehend the above basic knowledge of GBD above a certain level. This paper also exemplifies some recent studies to help readers who yearn to understand in detail the latest research using GBD.

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