Arthritis and rheumatism
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Arthritis and rheumatism · Jul 2012
Association of industry funding with the outcome and quality of randomized controlled trials of drug therapy for rheumatoid arthritis.
To assess the association of industry funding with the characteristics, outcome, and reported quality of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of drug therapy for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). ⋯ Industry funding was not associated with a higher likelihood of positive outcomes of published RCTs of drug therapy for RA, and industry-funded RCTs performed significantly better than non-industry-funded RCTs in terms of reporting the use of some key methodologic quality measures.
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Arthritis and rheumatism · Jul 2012
Associations of varus thrust and alignment with pain in knee osteoarthritis.
To investigate associations of varus thrust and varus static alignment with pain in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA). ⋯ In patients with knee OA, varus thrust, and possibly varus static alignment, were associated with pain, specifically during weight-bearing activities. Treatment of varus thrust (e.g., via bracing or gait modification) may lead to improvement of symptoms.
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Arthritis and rheumatism · Jul 2012
Comparative StudyInterferon-γ release assay versus tuberculin skin test prior to treatment with golimumab, a human anti-tumor necrosis factor antibody, in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, or ankylosing spondylitis.
To evaluate the performance of an interferon-γ release assay (IGRA) versus the standard tuberculin skin test (TST) as a screening tool for latent tuberculosis (TB) infection prior to the initiation of anti-tumor necrosis factor therapy in patients with autoimmune inflammatory diseases. ⋯ In the absence of a true gold standard test for latent TB infection, results of this comparison of IGRA and TST in a large cohort of patients with rheumatic diseases suggest that the IGRA provides greater specificity and possibly greater sensitivity than the TST.
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Arthritis and rheumatism · Jul 2012
Neuroplasticity of sensory and sympathetic nerve fibers in a mouse model of a painful arthritic joint.
Many forms of arthritis are accompanied by significant chronic joint pain. This study was undertaken to investigate whether there is significant sprouting of sensory and sympathetic nerve fibers in the painful arthritic knee joint and whether nerve growth factor (NGF) drives this pathologic reorganization. ⋯ These findings demonstrate that ectopic sprouting of sensory and sympathetic nerve fibers occurs in the painful arthritic joint and may be involved in the generation and maintenance of arthritic pain.