Search for: rheumatoid arthritis methotrexate autoimmune disease biomarker gene expression GWAS HLA genes non-HLA genes
| ID | PMID | Title | PublicationDate | abstract |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8515375 | Rheumatoid arthritic foot. Two manifestations with case studies. | 1993 May | The authors review rheumatoid arthritis with focus on two pedal manifestations, rheumatoid nodules and digital deformities. The prevalence, presentation, and diagnostic features concerning these entities are discussed, and three case studies are presented. | |
| 1540043 | Increased DNA strand breaks in mononuclear cells from patients with rheumatoid arthritis. | 1992 Jan | Immune dysfunction is linked with lymphocyte DNA metabolism. In particular, DNA damage may impair lymphocyte function and induce increased cell turnover; such changes are of relevance to the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis. The rate of DNA unwinding in alkaline solution was used as a measure of the number of DNA strand breaks in mononuclear cells freshly isolated from peripheral blood. The rate of DNA unwinding was significantly increased in cells from patients with rheumatoid arthritis compared with those from healthy subjects and from patients with other autoimmune and connective tissue diseases. These findings support the hypothesis that DNA damage is increased in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and it is one factor contributing to immune dysfunction in this disease. | |
| 8836071 | Wrist arthrodesis in rheumatoid arthritis. A new technique using internal fixation. | 1996 Sep | Arthrodesis of the wrist is a standard operation which is indicated for severe rheumatoid arthritis in which destruction is too advanced for more conservative procedures, or after failure of previous surgery. We have developed an L-shaped plate designed for this purpose. It provides rigid internal fixation with the wrist in the neutral position and utilises bone grafts obtained from the distal ulna and the carpal bones. We have carried out 29 successful fusions between 1992 and 1995. In all 29 patients synovectomy and resection of the head of the ulna were performed; 11 also had reconstruction of ruptured extensor tendons. All the patients obtained bony union, pain relief and improved function. | |
| 7960328 | Pain and functional limitations in individuals with rheumatoid arthritis. | 1994 Mar | The focus of this investigation was to determine if health status variables such as pain and functional limitations are correlated with an individual's occupational profile (work, activities of daily living and leisure), and psychological adjustment (depression, anxiety and dissatisfaction with life). This study reports our findings for 143 individuals with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). It would appear from the results of this study that functional limitations have an even greater impact on individuals with RA than pain. This findings and its implications are discussed. | |
| 1364064 | [Rheumatoid arthritis in Morocco. Apropos of 404 observations]. | 1992 Dec | A retrospective study of 404 cases of rheumatoid arthritis seen in a department of internal medicine in Casablanca highlights a number of specific features of the disease in Morocco. Onset occurred early and mean age of patients was 34.4 years. Analysis of joint manifestations showed that the disease tended to be mild in the hips and perhaps in the cervical spine. Thirty-five percent of patients were Steinbrocker's class II and 25.5% had carpal bone fusion. Only 20 patients had severely erosive disease, which manifested as giant geodes in 8 cases and as main en lorgnette deformity in one case. Subcutaneous nodules (7.9%) and systemic visceral disorders were fairly infrequent. Only three cases of malignant rheumatoid arthritis were found. Gougerot-Sjögren syndrome was present in 13.6% of patients. Among comorbid conditions, thyroid gland diseases and tuberculosis were fairly common. Serologic tests were positive in 61.14% of cases, often in low titres. Gold salt therapy was well tolerated. No patients in this group had surgical treatment. These data suggest that in Morocco rheumatoid arthritis may be less aggressive than in Europe. | |
| 8035384 | Home exercise in rheumatoid arthritis functional class II: goal setting versus pain attent | 1994 Apr | OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of a 12-week home exercise and cognitive treatment program in functionally independent patients with rheumatoid arthritis. METHODS: Forty-two patients were assessed with the Arthritis Self-efficacy Scale, the Stanford Health Assessment Questionnaire, the Ritchie articular index, measurement of joint mobility, and registration of capacity and pain in functional tasks. The patients were then randomized to either a "goal-setting" subgroup, in which individual goals for the exercise were set and exercise encouraged despite pain, or to a "pain attention" subgroup, where advice to decrease exercise load in case of pain was given. All patients used the same home exercise program aiming at improved range of motion, muscle function and aerobic capacity. RESULTS: After the intervention period, exercise had conferred better self-efficacy for "other symptoms," increased capacity in most functional tasks, decreased activity induced pain, lowered Ritchie index, and increased joint mobility. Some improvements regarding pain were larger in the goal-setting subgroup. CONCLUSION: Home exercise influences self-efficacy for mood and fatigue, physical capacity, and pain. Additional cognitive treatment seems to positively influence the perception of pain. | |
| 1588756 | [Mutilans type of rheumatoid arthritis]. | 1992 Mar | In order to investigate the clinical and pathological features of arthritis mutilans, the clinical history, activity of inflammation, histological findings and treatment have been studied on the basis of follow-up of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with arthritis mutilans. A high incidence of arthritis mutilans was observed in rheumatoid patients who have a younger onset, longer history and higher activity of RA without specific pathophysiological features. Joint destruction may further progress in arthritis mutilans despite intensive treatment with disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), and multi-joint replacement may be required in the patients with this type of arthritis. | |
| 8493049 | Uncertainty and appraisal of uncertainty in women with rheumatoid arthritis. | 1993 Mar | This study examined relationships among length of illness, degree of uncertainty, and appraisal of uncertainty in women with rheumatoid arthritis. Twenty-three subjects completed the Mishel Uncertainty in Illness Scale and an Appraisal Scale. No association was found between length of illness and uncertainty or its appraisal, but uncertainty was significantly correlated with appraisal of uncertainty as danger. High uncertainty was predictive of appraisal of uncertainty as danger. Nurses who are aware of uncertainty experienced by their patients may be better able to recognize and support the individual's coping efforts. | |
| 8686464 | Shoulder destruction in rheumatoid arthritis. Classification and prognostic signs in 83 pa | 1996 Jun | We studied the natural course and the possibility of making prognoses about shoulder joint destructions in 83 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (166 shoulder joints). For this purpose, we used radiographic patterns and 2 indices (upward migration and medial displacement). The patterns of joint destruction were classified into 5 groups: 1) non-progressive type (n 74) with normal radiographs, only osteopenia or small erosions even after 15-20 years of RA; 2) erosive type (n 22) showing marginal erosions but no collapse; 3) collapse type (n 34) showing subchondral cysts, followed by collapse; 4) arthrosis-like type (n 12) showing arthrotic features; 5) mutilating type (n 14) showing mutilating bone destructions. From the radiographic findings and the 2 indices determined at 5-10 years, we could predict the prognosis of shoulder joint destruction after 15-20 years of RA. Our findings may be of value for selecting treatment, including surgery, for the rheumatoid shoulder. | |
| 8807374 | An epidemiological study of rheumatoid arthritis in a northern Ontario clinical practice: | 1996 Jul | This study was designed to investigate differences between cultural groupings in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The sample was made up of 235 individuals suffering from RA from four groupings: Canadian aboriginals, Finnish Canadians, Italian Canadians and other caucasian Canadians. The study was a retrospective chart analysis (non-randomly selected) designed to compare ethnic groupings on the following dimensions: demographic factors, clinical manifestations of RA, laboratory results, and drug therapy response. Results of the study support to some extent findings from previous research. Specifically, the following was found. The study showed a female to male predominance in sufferers of RA in all but one ethnic group. Canadian aboriginals tended to contract the disease much earlier in life than other ethnic groups. More Canadian aboriginals reported a family history of RA than other groupings. Only Canadian aboriginals and caucasian Canadians showed involvement of the C1-C2 joint with subluxation. Italian Canadians tended to have a higher mean haemoglobin than other groupings, while Canadian aboriginals tended to have a higher mean platelet count than other groupings, and an elevated anti-nuclear antibody count. While most of the drugs used to treat RA produced no significantly distinct reactions, the Italian and Canadian caucasian groups had the highest percentage of subjects with reactive dermatitis. | |
| 10150292 | Exercise for rheumatoid arthritis. | 1994 Nov | The approach to treating rheumatoid arthritis is changing. Greater emphasis on the exercise component of physical therapy can improve patients' muscle strength, endurance, and emotional well-being, and may even result in decreased joint inflammation. | |
| 8019792 | Changes of faecal flora in rheumatoid arthritis during fasting and one-year vegetarian die | 1994 Jul | The beneficial effect of a 1-yr vegetarian diet in RA has recently been demonstrated in a clinical trial. We have analysed stool samples of the 53 RA patients by using direct stool sample gas-liquid chromatography of bacterial cellular fatty acids. Based on repeated clinical assessments disease improvement indices were constructed for the patients. At each time point during the intervention period the patients in the diet group were then assigned either to a group with a high improvement index (HI) or a group with a low improvement index (LI). Significant alteration in the intestinal flora was observed when the patients changed from omnivorous to vegan diet. There was also a significant difference between the periods with vegan and lactovegetarian diets. The faecal flora from patients with HI and LI differed significantly from each other at 1 and 13 months during the diet. This finding of an association between intestinal flora and disease activity may have implications for our understanding of how diet can affect RA. | |
| 7779122 | A self-administered rheumatoid arthritis disease activity index (RADAI) for epidemiologic | 1995 Jun | OBJECTIVE: To examine the psychometric properties and construct validity of a self-administered Rheumatoid Arthritis Disease Activity Index (RADAI). METHODS: Five items of the Rapid Assessment of Disease Activity in Rheumatology (RADAR) questionnaire were aggregated into the RADAI and assessed for their factor loading, internal consistency, and construct validity. RESULTS: In 55 patients with RA, the RADAI had a high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.91) and correlated with physician's assessment of disease activity (r = 0.54, P < 0.01), the swollen joint count (r = 0.54, P < 0.01), and the C-reactive protein value (r = 0.43, P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: The RADAI is a highly reliable and valid self-administered measure of disease activity for clinical, health services, and epidemiologic research. Its sensitivity to change in longitudinal studies needs further study. | |
| 8776318 | A simple algorithm to predict the development of radiological erosions in patients with ea | 1996 Aug 24 | OBJECTIVE: To produce a practical algorithm to predict which patients with early rheumatoid arthritis will develop radiological erosions. DESIGN: Primary care based prospective cohort study. SETTING: All general practices in the Norwich Health Authority, Norfolk. SUBJECTS: 175 patients notified to the Norfolk Arthritis Register were visited by a metrologist soon after they had presented to their general practitioners with inflammatory polyarthritis, and again after a further 12 months. All the patients satisfied the American Rheumatism Association's 1987 criteria for rheumatoid arthritis and were seen by a metrologist within six months of the onset of symptoms. The study population was randomly split into a prediction sample (n = 105) for generating the algorithm and a validation sample (n = 70) for testing it. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Predictor variables measured at baseline included rheumatoid factor status, swelling of specific joint areas, duration of morning stiffness, nodules, disability score, age, sex, and disease duration when the patient first presented. The outcome variable was the presence of radiological erosions in the hands or feet, or both, after 12 months. RESULTS: A simple algorithm based on a combination of three variables--a positive rheumatoid factor test, swelling of at least two large joints, and a disease duration of more than three months--was best able to predict erosions. When the accuracy of this algorithm was tested with the validation sample, the erosion status of 79% of patients was predicted correctly. CONCLUSIONS: A simple algorithm based on three easily measured items of information can predict which patients are at high risk and which are at low risk of developing radiological erosions. | |
| 8399430 | Use of self-administered joint counts in the evaluation of rheumatoid arthritis patients. | 1993 Jun | The validity and reliability of self-administered joint counts are reported in a group of 32 rheumatoid arthritis patients being followed at a university-based practice located in the Southeast region of the United States, serving low to middle income urban and rural patients. Adequate inter-rater reliability among the patients' and the research assistant's joint counts was obtained for upper (r = 0.74), lower (r = 0.96), and upper and lower extremities (r = 0.89). Convergent validity correlations for pain, helplessness, and the Joint Alignment and Motion scale were found to be adequate. We conclude that rheumatoid arthritis patients can reliably assess their joint counts. Self joint counts along with other validated self-reports of health status may be applicable to busy outpatient settings, as well as in clinical research. | |
| 8864587 | Rheumatic aspects of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. | 1996 Jul | Infection with HIV-1 continues to provide important insights into autoimmunity and rheumatic diseases. Studies on the mechanisms of B cell hyperreactivity in HIV-infected persons suggest a primary role for B cell complement receptor engagement by circulating immune complexes in the production of autoantibodies. Delineation of the epitopes recognized by antiphospholipid antibodies induced by HIV-1 offers insight into the mechanism of thrombosis associated with antiphospholipid antibodies found in the rheumatic diseases. Several reports have documented the coexistence of rheumatoid arthritis and HIV-1 infection, emphasizing the importance of both T cell-dependent and -independent mechanisms in the pathogenesis and clinical manifestations of rheumatoid arthritis. The mechanisms of host-virus interactions leading to rheumatic disease continue to be studied in HIV-infected persons with diffuse infiltrative lymphocytosis syndrome, a disease in which host immunogenetics appear to be the determining factor, and in persons with polymyositis. In both diseases, tissue cell damage appears to be a consequence of the host immune response to viral proteins present within macrophages in the target tissues. Because similar mechanisms appear to be involved in polymyositis associated with HTLV-I (human T cell lymphoma virus type I) infection, studies into a primate model of polymyositis induced by HTLV-I may be particularly informative. The clinical management of HIV-associated arthritides remains difficult, likely reflecting the role of HIV-1 gene products in initiating or amplifying inflammatory joint disease. Two anti-inflammatory drugs frequently used to treat patients with rheumatic diseases, indomethacin and hydroxychloroquine, can directly inhibit HIV-1 replication and may provide a rational therapeutic approach in combination with conventional antiviral agents. | |
| 7656463 | Antibodies against dietary antigens in rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with fasting | 1995 Mar | OBJECTIVE: To compare serum antibody activity against dietary antigens in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and healthy controls, and to examine whether anti-food antibody activity fluctuated with disease activity during a trial of fasting followed by a one-year vegetarian diet. METHODS: Serum IgG, IgA and IgM antibody activity against several food antigens was measured by an enzyme immunoassay. Abnormally high antibody activity was defined as values above the 90th percentile of the measurements in 30 healthy controls. Serum IgE antibody activity was measured by a radioallergosorbent test. RESULTS: During the trial 10 of 27 patients suspected that certain food items aggravated their arthritis symptoms. Elevated antibody activity against one or more of the dietary antigens was found in all RA patients, but these measurements could not be used to predict which food would aggravate the symptoms. Elevated IgG and IgA antibody activity against alpha-lactalbumin was found in a significantly larger number of RA patients than in controls. With the exception of one patient, there was no concordance between the clinical course and antibody activity against the various dietary antigens. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that a systemic humoral immune response against food items is probably not involved in the pathogenesis of RA. | |
| 1489765 | Psychological factors, immunologic activation, and disease activity in rheumatoid arthriti | 1992 Dec | The purpose of this study was to use structural equation modeling techniques to examine potential interrelationships among psychological factors, immunologic activation, and disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The subjects were 80 male patients with a diagnosis of classic or definite RA. Measures included the Beck Depression Inventory, the Arthritis Helplessness Index, and the Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales (AIMS) pain score. Joint counts and immunophenotypic analyses of peripheral blood lymphocytes also were collected. Path analysis showed that percentage of HLA-DR+ cells in the peripheral blood and helplessness were related to join count. In addition, joint count had an effect upon depression. Depression had an effect upon pain, but there was no reciprocal effect of pain upon depression. This study describes a preliminary path model of interrelationships among psychological factors, immunologic activation, and disease activity in RA. | |
| 8450189 | The correlation between humor and the chronic pain of arthritis. | 1993 Mar | The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between chronic pain and a healthy sense of humor in individuals with rheumatoid arthritis. It was hypothesized that women with a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis who scored higher on the sense of humor scales would have a lower score on the pain scale. Likewise, if a lower score was obtained on the humor scales, it was expected that the subject would have a higher pain score. The sample population consisted of 30 women from the Northeast section of the United States, randomly chosen, between the ages of 33 and 66 years, diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. The results of this study showed a significant positive correlation (r = .31, p < .01) between humor and pain, which was contrary to the stated hypothesis. Findings also showed that, except for age, there were no significant relationships between the demographic data and the subjects' perception of pain or humor. It was found that age was negatively correlated with both humor and pain. Possible reasons for the findings are discussed, and nurses are encouraged to consider all the functions of humor in working with patients. | |
| 9174397 | The features of rheumatoid arthritis in the patients above the age of 60. | 1996 Nov | Fifty-seven patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), who were divided into 2 groups: below 50 and above the age of 60 with the disease onset at the age of 24 to 81 were analyzed. They were treated in the Clinic for Rheumatology between 1985 and 1995. All the patients fulfilled the American Rheumatism Association (ARA) criteria for RA from 1988. The aim of the study was to reveal any specific qualities of RA with the onset at the age above 60 and to compare them with the specific qualities in younger patients in order to come to certain conclusions useful for diagnosis and the treatment. The investigations revealed significant differences in articular and systemic manifestations in the patients with the late onset of RA. The disease onset was often acute, with monoarthritis of the large joints, high erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), increased level of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and with slow and incomplete remissions. The effect of nonsteroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID-s) was poorer, followed by more frequent adverse effects in the group of patients above 60 than in the younger patients. The administration of gold and D-penicillamine showed no effect in the elderly, and the cytostatic treatment was not also indicated. The complications and relapses occurred more frequently, and remissions were shorter compared to those in the younger patient group. |