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| Greenwald M, et al. Arthritis Res Ther. 2014;16(5):415. |
| Tabalumab is a monoclonal antibody that neutralizes membrane-bound and soluble B-cell activating factor. In this study, no unexpected safety signals were observed, and B-cell reductions were consistent with previous findings....... |
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| Asiri A, et al. Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2014 Aug 4 [Epub ahead of print]. |
| Eighty-five patients were identified: 43 (50.6%) patients were on leflunomide alone and 42 (49.4%) patients were on combined leflunomide and methotrexate therapy. Thirty patients discontinued leflunomide mainly due to toxicity. Of the 55 patients who continued the drug, 38%, 48% and 56% achieved a ≥40% reduction of actively inflamed joint count at 3, 6 and 12 months, respectively....... |
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| Brito-Zerón P, et al. Autoimmun Rev. 2014 Aug 22 [Epub ahead of print]. |
| The mean age at diagnosis is approximately 60 years, and male: female ratio of 8:3. A cardinal feature of IgG4-RD is single or multiple organ swelling that often raises concern for malignancy. IgG4-RD should be suspected in patients presenting with unexplained enlargement or swelling of one or more organs. Presenting features vary substantially according to the specialty to which patients present first....... |
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| Ilowite NT, et al. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2014;66(9):2570–2579. |
| This study assessed the efficacy and safety of rilonacept, an interleukin-1 inhibitor, in systemic onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Study results showed that rilonacept is well -tolerated and efficacious in active systemic JIA....... |
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| Moroni G, et al. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2014;53(9):1570–1577. |
| Fifty-four patients with active LN received three methylprednisolone pulses for 3 consecutive days followed by oral prednisone and RTX 1 g at days 3 and 18 (17 patients) or MMF 22.5 g/day (17 patients) or six CYC pulses (0.5 g every fortnight) (20 patients). At 4 months, MMF, AZA or ciclosporin were associated to prednisone as a consolidation/maintenance therapy in all groups. The outcomes of the three groups were compared at 3 and 12 months and showed similar efficacy of rituximab as MMF and CYC pulses....... |
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| Cornec D, et al. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2014;53(9):1604–1607. |
| In this study, 101 patients with suspected SS seen at a single center in Brittany, France were evaluated by salivary gland ultrasonography (SGUS), with an SGUS echostructure score ≥2 was considered abnormal. This study showed that SGUS was 60% sensitive and 87.5% specific for SS. Adding the SGUS score to the ACR criteria increased sensitivity from 64.4 to 84.4%....... |
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| Fukae J, et al. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2014;53(9):1608–1612. |
| Rheumatoid arthritis patients with clinical low disease activity (CLDA) of >2 years (minimum 1 year of CLDA for study entry plus 1 year of observation) were analyzed. Quantitative synovial vascularity (SV) values were sequentially measured in each finger joint using power Doppler ultrasonography (0, 8, 20 and 52 weeks). Changes in radiological progression of MCP and PIP joints with positive SV were significantly greater than those in joints with negative SV....... |
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| Chung WS, et al. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2014;53(9):1639–1645. |
| In this study, 1895 SSc patients and 7580 control patients for ∼10 128 and 46 488 person-years, respectively, were included. The mean ages of the SSc and comparison cohorts were 50.3 and 49.9 years, respectively. After adjusting for age, sex and co-morbidities, the risks of DVT and PTE among the SSc patients were 10.5- and 7.00-fold higher than those of the control patients....... |
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| Ishizaki J, et al. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2014 Sep 2 [Epub ahead of print]. |
| In this study, 48 patients of lupus underwent renal biopsy without abnormal urinalysis or renal impairment at the time of biopsy. Lupus nephritis (LN) was histopathologically identified in 36 of 48 patients. According to the International Society of Nephrology/Renal Pathology Society classification, 72% of the silent lupus nephritis (SLN) patients were classified as having class I/II, with a further 17% having class III/IV. Bivariate analyses indicated low titers of CH50 and C3 and a high titer of anti-Sm antibody were identified as predictors of SLN....... |
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| Haugeberg G, et al. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2014;15:289. |
| In this study, 92 RA patients were included, with baseline mean age (SD) of 50.9 (13.3) years and symptom duration of 12.4 (6.7) months, 62% were women and 66.3% were RF-positive. In the first 2 years, use of biologic DMARDs was 18.5%, synthetic DMARDs 91.3% and prednisolone 62.0%; whereas, the figures for the subsequent 8 years were 62.6%, 89.2% and 51.4%, respectively....... |
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| Mustonen P, et al. Lupus. 2014 Aug 27 [Epub ahead of print]. |
| In this study, a total of 119 aPL carriers were followed for mean of 9.1 years. Thirty-six of 119 (30%) were either double- or triple-positive, 56% single lupus anticoagulant (LA)-positive, and 8% and 5% single anticardiolipin antibodies (aCL)- and anti-β2glycoprotein I antibodies (aβ2GPI)-positive, respectively. This study shows that double or triple positivity for aPL is a risk factor for future thrombotic events, especially in individuals with an underlying autoimmune disease....... |
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| Bezati E, et al. Lupus. 2014 Aug 19 [Epub ahead of print]. |
| In this study, ellipsometry and atomic force microscopy (AFM) studies were considered to measure the effect of quinine on dissociation of anti-β2-glycoprotein I (anti-β2GPI) immune complexes. The study showed that quinine desorbed pre-formed β2GPI–aPL immunoglobulin (Ig)G complexes from phospholipid bilayers at significantly lower molar concentrations than HCQ and also inhibited the formation of immune complexes with a higher efficacy than HCQ at equivalent drug concentrations. The results suggest that the quinoline core of the molecule is a critical domain for this activity....... |
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| Samson M, et al. Autoimmun Rev. 2014 Aug 19 [Epub ahead of print]. |
| Patients with eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Churg–Strauss) (EGPA), non-HBV polyarteritis nodosa (PAN) or microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) without Five-Factor Score -defined (FFS=0), poor-prognosis factors were included in two prospective randomized-controlled trials and were initially treated with corticosteroids (CSs) alone. The study included 193 patients (75 EGPA, 61 MPA and 57 PAN). Mean±SD follow-up was 97.6±39.6 months....... |
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| Ruhdorfer A, et al. Arthritis Care Res. 2014;66:1344–1353. |
| Isometric extensor and flexor strength was analysed in 3809 OA participants. Isometric strength measurements were stratified by radiographic disease status (K/L grades 0, 1, 2, 3/4) and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities OA index (WOMAC). Isometric muscle strength was significantly lower in the symptomatic knee when compared to asymptomatic knee. It did not depend on the K/L scoring. This study has important implications in that it stresses the importance of quick pain relief followed by good early physiotherapy to reduce quadriceps wasting and weakness....... |
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| Dalbeth N, et al. Ann Rheum Dis. 2014;73:1598–1600. |
| Recently, ultrasonography (US) and dual energy computed tomography (DECT) have been able to detect asymptomatic uric acid crystal deposition. This may help study the natural history of disease and the potential for early intervention. The current staging clinical staging system for gout does not capture important aspects of pathological basis of the disease. This interesting article proposes a new staging system based on AHA heart failure staging system, which not only will help in delineating the natural history of the disease, but also help design important therapeutic studies....... |
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| Dennis G Jr, et al. Arthritis Res Ther. 2014;16(2):R90. |
| The authors in this study analyzed synovial tissue samples from two RA cohorts of 49 and 20 patients using a combination of global gene expression, histologic and cellular analyses. They documented evidence for four major phenotypes of RA synovium—lymphoid, myeloid, low inflammatory and fibroid—each with distinct underlying gene expression signatures....... |
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| Weitoft T, et al. Arthritis Res Ther. 2014;16(3):R129. |
| In this study, 121 RA patients with synovitis of the knee were treated with intra-articular injections of 20 mg triamcinolone hexacetonide. They were followed for 6 months and the rate of clinical relapse was studied. During the observation period, 48 knees were relapsed (40%). Non-responders had more radiographic joint damage than responders, and the pre-treatment vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) level in synovial fluid was significantly higher in non-responders....... |
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| Valentini G, et al. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2014 Feb 10. |
| This study demonstrates faster progression of SSc in autoantibody-positive patients, particularly in those with preclinical internal organ involvement at baseline, than in autoantibody-negative patients....... |
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