Rheumatology international
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Hyperimmunoglobulinemia D/periodic fever syndrome is caused by recessively inherited mutations in the mevalonate kinase gene and is characterized by persistently high polyclonal serum IgD titre and recurrent febrile attacks. No conventional therapy exists for preventing the typical recurrent inflammatory picture of patients. ⋯ The clinical response under anakinra treatment was recorded through a standardized diary, whilst inflammation parameters were serially measured in comparison with the half-year before starting anakinra. Frequency and severity of fever attacks were totally reduced by anakinra and this is the first child demonstrating that symptoms of hyperimmunoglobulinemia D/periodic fever syndrome might be at least extenuated by anakinra, though not abolished.
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To examine the levels of antipolymer antibody (APA) in Korean female patients with fibromyalgia (FM) and to determine whether the levels of APA correlate with FM severity. Serum samples from patients with FM (n = 69), patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (n = 71), and controls (n = 75) were assayed for APA. All of the subjects were female, and the controls were age-matched healthy volunteers. ⋯ The APA level in FM patients was not correlated with age at diagnosis, age at symptom onset, disease duration, education, tender point counts and scores, FIQ, STAI, or BDI. The prevalence of APA in Korean FM patients was quite low. Owing to the low prevalence of APA in this study, the APA assay did not distinguish FM patients with severe symptoms from those with mild symptoms.
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Comparative Study
Comparison of splinting, splinting plus local steroid injection and open carpal tunnel release outcomes in idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome.
The objective of this study was to compare the short- and long-term efficacies of splinting (S), splinting plus local steroid injection (SLSI), and open carpal tunnel release (OCTR) in mild or moderate idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Patients with mild or moderate idiopathic CTS who experienced symptoms for over 6 months were included in the study. The patients were evaluated for the baseline and the third and sixth month scores after treatment. ⋯ In the second 3 months, while the clinical and EMG parameters began to deteriorate in S and SLSI group, OCTR group continued to improve, and BQ functional capacity score of OCTR group was statistically better than that in conservative methods (P = 0.03). S and SLSI treatments improved clinical and EMG parameters comparable to OCTR in short term. However, these beneficial effects were transient in the sixth month follow-up and OCTR was superior to conservative treatments.