Search results for "Rheumatoid"
showing 10 items of 259 documents
Application of 1H NMR-based serum metabolomic studies for monitoring female patients with rheumatoid arthritis
2015
AbstractRheumatoid arthritis is a chronic autoimmune-based inflammatory disease that leads to progressive joint degeneration, disability, and an increased risk of cardiovascular complications, which is the main cause of mortality in this population of patients. Although several biomarkers are routinely used in the management of rheumatoid arthritis, there is a high demand for novel biomarkers to further improve the early diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis, stratification of patients, and the prediction of a better response to a specific therapy.In this study, the metabolomics approach was used to provide relevant biomarkers to improve diagnostic accuracy, define prognosis and predict and mon…
Safety of anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha therapy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and chronic hepatitis C virus infection.
2008
The prevalence of concurrent rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is probably underestimated because of the increasing spread of this virus worldwide, especially in developing countries. In these patients, anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha (anti-TNF-alpha) therapy may aggravate hepatitis and increase viremia. We evaluated the safety of these treatments, which remain controversial.Thirty-one HCV-positive patients (23 women, 8 men, mean age 59+/-13 yrs, mean disease duration 13+/-11.5 SD yrs) with active RA [Disease Activity Score 28 (DAS28)3.2] unresponsive to conventional therapies were treated with TNF-alpha blockers (infliximab 11, etanercept 17, adalimumab 3) at…
[Prevalence of pericardial effusion in subjects with rheumatoid arthritis: an echocardiographic study].
1994
We used echocardiography to determine the prevalence of pericardial effusion in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients without cardiac systems and compared our results to those obtained in a control group of age-matched subjects. Thirty-six patients with RA (6 men, 30 women; mean age 51 +/- 11 years) were selected from a patient population in treatment at our outpatient Rheumatology Clinic. None of the patients had any symptoms of cardiac disease, and all patients with signs and/or systems of extracardiac disease were excluded from the study. The control group consisted of 60 volunteers (mean age 51 +/- 12 years) randomly selected from a larger group of subjects with neither symptoms, signs and…
Long-term anti-tumour necrosis factor therapy reverses the progression of carotid intima–media thickness in female patients with active rheumatoid ar…
2009
The objective of the study is to evaluate the effect of TNF inhibition on carotid thickness over a 2-year period. 144 women with RA diagnosed according to ACR criteria, without clinical evidence of cardiac and/or vascular disease were enrolled and compared with 78 matched controls. All patients received methotrexate (15–20 mg weekly) for 3 months. Responders (n = 79) continued to be treated with methotrexate, non-responders (n = 40) moved to methotrexate plus a TNF alpha antagonist. Echosonographic studies of carotids were obtained before and after 2-year follow-up. A significant decrease of ca-IMT was observed in anti-TNF-treated patients (P < 0.001); on the other hand, no significant vari…
Evaluation of the Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales (AIMS2) in Finnish patients with rheumatoid arthritis
2003
Objective: To evaluate the validity and reliability of the Finnish version of the Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales (AIMS2) in Finnish patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).Methods: The reliability of the Finnish AIMS2 (Finn‐AIMS2) questionnaire was assessed by test–retest procedure and internal consistency of health‐status scales. Construct validity was assessed by factor analysis, and convergent validity by correlation coefficients, with several disease activity and functional status variables.Results: Internal consistency was 0.79–0.89 and test–retest reliability 0.72–0.97. Factor analysis identified three factors: physical, psychosocial, and pain. There were strong correlations betw…
Microproteinuria as an index of initial renal lesion in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
1990
Our investigation included 20 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and a negative routine (albustix) proteinuria test, and 20 healthy controls. The albustix test was compared with a method based on multifractional Cellogel RS electrophoresis of urinary proteins. The albustix test was found to be not reliable in patients with RA. Microproteinuria was in fact detected by the electrophoresis method in 12 out of 20 RA patients. Eleven patients showed glomerular type proteinuria (which was "selective" in 5 patients and "non-selective" in 6 patients), and 1 patient showed mixed type proteinuria. Electrophoresis failed to show microproteinuria in the controls. The high sensitivity, easy handling and…
A 588-gene microarray analysis of the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of spondyloarthropathy patients
2002
OBJECTIVES: To identify genes which are more highly expressed in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of patients with spondyloarthropathy (SpA), rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA), in comparison to normal subjects. METHODS: A 588-gene microarray was used as a screening tool to select a panel of such genes from PBMC of these subjects and of normal subjects. Results were then validated by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). RESULTS: The following genes were more highly expressed in arthritis patients than in normal subjects: macrophage differentiation marker MNDA (myeloid nuclear differentiation antigen), MRP8 and MRP14 (migratory inhibitor…
Stability of the upper neck during isometric neck exercises in rheumatoid arthritis patients with atlantoaxial disorders.
2008
To study the effect of isometric neck strength exercises on upper cervical stability in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).Twenty patients with a mean (SD) age of 58 (9) years and duration of RA of 27 (10) years volunteered for the study. Lateral radiographs of the cervical spine were taken to measure the current atlantoaxial distance (AAD) in flexion and extension. Maximal isometric neck flexion and extension strength values were measured by a dynamometer. Thereafter, AADs were measured from radiographs taken at 80-90% resistance of maximal strength.According to the full flexion radiographs at baseline, the patients were classified into three groups: eight patients without anterior at…
Downregulation of miRNA17-92 cluster marks Vγ9Vδ2 T cells from patients with rheumatoid arthritis
2018
Abstract Background We aimed to evaluate the phenotype, function, and microRNA (miRNA)17–92 cluster expression in Vγ9Vδ2 T-cell subsets and the correlation with immune response in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. Methods Peripheral blood from 10 early RA untreated patients and 10 healthy donors (HD) was obtained. Polyclonal Vγ9Vδ2 T-cell lines were generated and analysed by flow cytometry. Analysis of miRNA17–92 cluster expression was performed by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and expression of mRNA target genes was also studied. Results A remarkable change in the distribution of Vγ9Vδ2 T-cell functional subsets was observed in the peripheral blood of RA patients compared…
Thyroid-associated orbitopathy is linked to gastrointestinal autoimmunity
2014
Summary Common autoimmune disorders tend to co-exist in the same subjects and cluster in families. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of autoimmune co-morbidity in patients with autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) with and without thyroid-associated orbitopathy (TAO). This was a cross-sectional study conducted at an academic tertiary referral centre. Of 1310 patients with AITD [n = 777 or 59% with Graves' disease (GD) and n = 533, 41% with Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT)] followed at a specialized joint thyroid–eye out-patient clinic, 176 (13·4%) had an adult type of the autoimmune polyglandular syndrome, 129 (9·8%) type 1 diabetes, 111 (8·5%) coeliac disease, 60 (4·6%) …