Rheumatology

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

OBJECTIVES: Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is a large vessel vasculitis for which triggering factors remain unknown. Clonal hematopoiesis (CH) was associated with atherosclerosis through the induction of inflammation in myeloid cells, and data suggest that CH expansion and inflammation may support each other to induce a proinflammatory loop. Our objective was to describe the impact of JAK2p.V617F-mutated myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) on GCA and to screen MPN-free patients for CH mutations...

OBJECTIVE: To assess sex differences in disease activity parameters and health-related quality of life in Psoriatic arthritis (PsA), and to assess whether determinants associated with not reaching treatment target differed between men and women. METHODS: Routine practice data of 855 PsA patients, who were all tightly monitored and treated, was used. Sex differences including, but not limited to, Psoriatic Arthritis Disease Activity Score (PASDAS), skin/nail disease, SF12-PCS/MCS, and inflammatory back pain (IBP) were assessed...

OBJECTIVES: Efficacy evaluation of giant cell arteritis (GCA) treatment is primarily based on non-specific symptoms and laboratory markers. We aimed to assess the change in vascular inflammation in patients with large vessel (LV)-GCA under different treatments using [18F]FDG PET/CT. METHODS: Observational study on patients with new-onset, active LV-GCA starting treatment with either prednisolone monotherapy (PRED) or combination with methotrexate (MTX) or tocilizumab (TOC)...

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No abstract text is available yet for this article.

OBJECTIVE: To further characterize the effect of guselkumab, a selective interleukin-23p19-subunit inhibitor approved for psoriatic arthritis (PsA), on enthesitis and assess relationships between enthesitis resolution and patient status/outcomes. METHODS: Adults with active PsA despite standard therapies in the Phase-3 DISCOVER-1 and DISCOVER-2 studies were randomized 1:1:1 to guselkumab 100 mg every-4-weeks (Q4W); guselkumab 100 mg at Week0, Week4, Q8W; or placebo through Week20 followed by guselkumab 100 mg Q4W (Placebo→Q4W)...

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this investigation was to determine the prevalence of variant sacroiliac joint forms in symptomatic patients with mechanical joint disease (MJD) and axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) compared with control patients. METHOD: A total of 973 patients were included in this cross-sectional study (95 axSpA; 61 MJD; 817 controls); clinical diagnosis, age and gender were noted. An established scoring system was used to classify joint forms on computed tomography scans of the pelvis...

OBJECTIVES: The clinical parameter "morning stiffness" is widely used to assess the status of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but its accurate quantitative assessment in a clinical setting has not yet been successful. This lack of individual quantification limits both personalized medication and efficacy evaluation in the treatment of RA. METHODS: We have developed a novel technology to assess passive resistance of the metacarpophalangeal (MCP) III joint (stiffness) and its Passive Range of Motion (PRoM)...

OBJECTIVES: Gout, caused by chronic elevation of serum uric acid levels, is the commonest form of inflammatory arthritis. The causative effect of common and rare variants of ATP-binding cassette transporter G2 (ABCG2/BCRP) on gout risk has been studied, but, little attention has been paid to the effect of common (rs121907892, p. W258X) and rare variants of urate transporter 1 (URAT1/SLC22A12) on gout, despite dysfunctional variants of URAT1 having been identified as pathophysiological causes of renal hypouricemia...

OBJECTIVES: An increased risk of hematological malignancies (HM) has been reported in giant cell arteritis (GCA) patients. Our study aimed to investigate the incidence and the type of HM occurring in GCA. METHODS: All patients with GCA and HM living in Côte D'Or (France) were identified by crossing data from the RHEMCO (Registre des Hémopathies Malignes de Côte d'Or) and those having a positive temporal artery biopsy between 1st January 2001 and 31 December 2018...

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether SLE patients with inflammatory joint symptoms and ultrasound-synovitis/tenosyovitis achieve better clinical responses to glucocorticoid compared with patients with normal scans. Secondary objectives included identification of clinical features predicting ultrasound-synovitis/tenosynovitis. METHODS: In a longitudinal muticentre study, SLE patients with physician-diagnosed inflammatory joint pain received intramuscular methylprednisolone 120 mg once...

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BACKGROUND: Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is associated with bone erosion and inflammation-induced bone loss, which are mediated by osteoclasts and modulated by inflammatory cytokines. Apremilast (a selective phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor) is efficacious in PsA and acts by inhibiting cytokine production. However, there are no direct data informing whether and how apremilast affects osteoclast formation in humans. METHODS: Osteoclastogenic cytokine production by activated human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) was measured in the presence and absence of apremilast...

OBJECTIVES: Although neuropsychiatric involvement in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (NPSLE) is one of the most complex and troubling manifestations of the disease, validated outcome instruments to be used as sensitive endpoints in controlled clinical trials are lacking. We set out a systematic literature review (SLR) to identify outcome measurement instruments and domains used to assess NPSLE. METHODS: The Preferred Reporting Items for systematic reviews and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) guidelines were used...

OBJECTIVE: The Flare Assessment in Rheumatoid Arthritis (FLARE-RA) self-administered questionnaire aims to identify patients who had flare in the interval between 2 consultations. This study aimed to establish a threshold for FLARE-RA score to identify RA flare. METHODS: The Tocilizumab SubCutAneous (TOSCA) study evaluated the efficacy and safety of subcutaneous Tocilizumab (TCZ) to patients with active RA. Disease activity was assessed with the DAS28ESR at baseline and at week 2 (W2), W4, W12, and W24...

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness and tolerability between oral methotrexate (MTX) and subcutaneous MTX in a large group of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients in a real-life setting. METHODS: In this retrospective cohort study, adult patients with clinical diagnosis of RA who started MTX treatment (monotherapy or combined with hydroxychloroquine), either started with oral or subcutaneous MTX. The primary outcome was superiority testing of between group difference in change in DAS28CRP between baseline and 3-6 months, and subsequent non inferiority testing (NI margin 0...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.