J Rheumatol
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To assess the prevalence of fibromyalgia (FM) and chronic widespread pain (CWP) in a population based cohort of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). ⋯ The prevalences of FM and CWP in patients with IBD were similar to those of the general population. There were no differences in prevalence of FM and CWP between UC and CD. Chronic idiopathic inflammation of the intestine does not appear to predispose to chronic widespread pain.
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To investigate the effect of in vivo treatment with methotrexate (MTX) on the regulation of ex vivo interleukin 10 (IL-10) production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) derived from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). ⋯ Enhanced ex vivo LPS induced IL-10 production by PBMC of patients with RA is associated with a favorable therapeutic response to MTX treatment, whereas reduced production coincides more closely with disease deterioration or insufficient response. This may reflect both disease outcome upon treatment and/or the mode of the antiinflammatory action of MTX in RA. Because the LPS--but not the PHA--induced ex vivo IL-10 production by PBMC was stimulated by MTX in vivo, monocytes seem to be the prominent target cells for this drug mediated antiinflammatory cytokine regulation.