International journal of rheumatic diseases
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Chronic low back pain is an important health problem Sri Lankan males. ⋯ Posture, exercise, family history, level of education, consumption of animal proteins and consumption of alcohol had significant associations with low back pain. Most risk factors were similar to other countries. However, being marginally over weight and smoking regularly were not significantly associated with low back pain.
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Several studies have reported STAT4 polymorphism is strongly associated with increased susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, a study from China showed no association between STAT4 and RA susceptibility in a Chinese Han subpopulation. Since the northern Hans are known to be genetically different from the southern Hans, the aim of this study was to investigate the association of STAT4 polymorphism with RA in a large cohort of a northern Chinese Han subpopulation. ⋯ STAT4 rs7574865 is significantly associated with RA susceptibility in northern Chinese Han subpopulations. The genetic differences of Han subpopulations should be considered when genetic susceptibility for diseases is studied.
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Recent studies report that cardiovascular mortality is more common in patients with spondyloarthropathy (SpA) compared with the normal population. In this study, we aimed to determine left ventricular systolic and diastolic functions using tissue Doppler echocardiography (TDE) in addition to conventional methods in undifferentiated SpA (uSpA) patients. ⋯ In this study we determined that left ventricular systolic function is preserved in patients with uSpA. Although frequency of diastolic dysfunction was similar in both groups, deterioration of some diastolic parameters in the uSpA group might be considered for possible cardiac involvement in patients with uSpA.