Arthritis research & therapy
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Arthritis Res. Ther. · Aug 2015
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyA randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase III trial of duloxetine in Japanese fibromyalgia patients.
Fibromyalgia is characterized by widespread pain and is often accompanied by accessory symptoms. There are limited treatment options for this condition in Japan. Therefore, we conducted a phase III study to assess the efficacy and safety of duloxetine in Japanese patients with fibromyalgia. ⋯ Although the MMRM analysis did not demonstrate superiority of duloxetine over placebo, duloxetine treatment was associated with improved outcomes in secondary and post hoc analyses of the mean change in the BPI average pain score and most of the secondary outcomes, including analgesia and QoL. Duloxetine treatment was safe and well tolerated. These results suggest that duloxetine treatment could be associated with improvements in pain relief and QoL in Japanese patients with fibromyalgia.
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Arthritis Res. Ther. · Aug 2015
Plexin-D1/Semaphorin 3E pathway may contribute to dysregulation of vascular tone control and defective angiogenesis in systemic sclerosis.
The vascular and nervous systems have several anatomic and molecular mechanism similarities. Emerging evidence suggests that proteins involved in transmitting axonal guidance cues, including members of class III semaphorin (Sema3) family, play a critical role in blood vessel guidance during physiological and pathological vascular development. Sema3E is a natural antiangiogenic molecule that causes filopodial retraction in endothelial cells, inhibiting cell adhesion by disrupting integrin-mediated adhesive structures. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether in systemic sclerosis (SSc) Plexin-D1/Sema3E axis could be involved in the dysregulation of vascular tone control and angiogenesis. ⋯ Our findings suggest that Plexin-D1/Sema3E axis is triggered in SSc endothelium and may have a role in the dysregulation of angiogenesis and vascular tone control by inducing neuro-vascular mechanism alterations clinically evident in particular in the early disease phases.
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Arthritis Res. Ther. · Aug 2015
The effects of experimental knee pain on lower limb corticospinal and motor cortex excitability.
Notable weakness of the quadriceps muscles is typically observed as a consequence of knee joint arthritis, knee surgery and knee injury. This is partly due to ongoing neural inhibition that prevents the central nervous system from fully activating the quadriceps, a process known as arthrogenic muscle inhibition (AMI). To investigate the mechanisms underlying AMI, this study explored the effects of experimental knee pain on lower limb corticospinal and motor cortex excitability. ⋯ Quadriceps corticospinal excitability increases during experimental knee pain, providing no evidence for a supraspinal contribution to quadriceps AMI.