Arthritis and rheumatism
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Arthritis and rheumatism · Mar 2008
Does tumor necrosis factor alpha inhibition promote or prevent heart failure in patients with rheumatoid arthritis?
To determine the hazard risk of developing or worsening heart failure in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients treated with tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha) inhibitors. ⋯ The findings of this study indicate that TNFalpha inhibitor treatment that effectively reduces the inflammatory activity of RA is more likely to be beneficial than harmful with regard to the risk of heart failure, especially if there is no concomitant therapy with glucocorticoids or cyclooxygenase 2 inhibitors. Furthermore, the data suggest that TNFalpha inhibition does not increase the risk of worsening of prevalent heart failure.
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Arthritis and rheumatism · Mar 2008
Association of IRF5 polymorphisms with systemic lupus erythematosus in a Japanese population: support for a crucial role of intron 1 polymorphisms.
To determine whether the IRF5 gene, which encodes interferon regulatory factor 5, is associated with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in a Japanese population. ⋯ IRF5 was found to be associated with SLE in Asian populations. Intron 1 SNPs, rather than exon 6 and 3'-untranslated region polymorphisms, appeared to play a crucial role.
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Arthritis and rheumatism · Feb 2008
Quality of life in systemic sclerosis: psychometric properties of the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule II.
To determine the validity of the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule II (WHODAS II) in systemic sclerosis (SSc). ⋯ The WHODAS II had good psychometric properties in patients with SSc and should be considered a valid measure of health-related quality of life in SSc.
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Arthritis and rheumatism · Feb 2008
Multicenter StudyThe HLA-DRB1 shared epitope is associated with susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis in African Americans through European genetic admixture.
To determine whether shared epitope (SE)-containing HLA-DRB1 alleles are associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in African Americans and whether their presence is associated with higher degrees of global (genome-wide) genetic admixture from the European population. ⋯ HLA-DRB1 alleles containing the SE are strongly associated with susceptibility to RA in African Americans. The absolute contribution is less than that reported in RA among populations of European ancestry, in which approximately 50-70% of patients have at least 1 SE allele. As in Europeans with RA, the SE association was strongest in the subset of African American patients with anti-CCP antibodies. The finding of a higher degree of European ancestry among African Americans with SE alleles suggests that a genetic risk factor for RA was introduced into the African American population through admixture, thus making these individuals more susceptible to subsequent environmental or unknown factors that trigger the disease.
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Arthritis and rheumatism · Feb 2008
Randomized Controlled TrialA six-month randomized controlled trial of exercise and pyridostigmine in the treatment of fibromyalgia.
A subset of fibromyalgia (FM) patients have a dysfunctional hypothalamic-pituitary-insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) axis, as evidenced by low serum levels of IGF-1 and a reduced growth hormone (GH) response to physiologic stimuli. There is evidence that pyridostigmine (PYD) improves the acute response of GH to exercise in FM patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of 6 months of PYD and group exercise on FM symptoms. ⋯ Neither the combination of PYD plus supervised exercise nor either treatment alone yielded improvement in most FM symptoms. However, PYD did improve anxiety and sleep, and exercise improved fatigue and fitness. We speculate that PYD may have improved vagal tone, thus benefiting sleep and anxiety; this notion warrants further study.