1,721,012 research outputs found
Cardiorespiratory function and NT-PROBNP levels before and during exercise in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis
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Early rheumatoid arthritis (ERA) differs from long-standing RA (LSRA) in circulating B cell subsets. Changes according to disease activity under conventional therapy
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Sixth-month remission as a predictor for twelve-month remission in polymyalgia rheumatica
Full text linkObjectives: To investigate clinical and laboratory prognostic factors of remission after one year of follow-up in patients with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) treated with low-dose prednisone.
Methods: In this observational study, in a monocentric Italian Rheumatology Unit, we enrolled eighty-one consecutive PMR patients. Clinical and laboratory tests were performed every 3 months. Clinical remission was defined as the lack of symptoms, while laboratory remission was defined as erythrocyte sedimentation rate ≤40 mm/h and C-reactive protein (CRP) ≤0.5 mg/dl.
Results: Thirty-eight patients reached complete (clinical and laboratory) remission after 12 months of follow-up. A significant lower percentage of complete remission was seen in female gender compared to male (33.9 % vs. 78.2%, p=0.0001) at univariate analysis. No significant differences were found at baseline according to response to therapy during follow-up, while CRP values at the sixth month were significantly lower in patients who reached complete remission after one year (median: 0.4 mg/dl vs. 1 mg/dl, p=0.017). CRP<0.5 mg/dl at 6 months was independently associated with complete remission at 12 months in the multivariate analysis.
Conclusions: The sixth month of therapy is a target for the management of PMR because it can help to identify patients at greater risk of exacerbations, who may benefit from a tighter follow-up and more aggressive therapeutic strategy. Higher CRP values at 6 months appear to be associated with a higher risk of longer steroid therapy
FUNZIONE CARDIORESPIRATORIA, ARTERIAL STIFFNESS E LIVELLI DI NT-PRO BNP IN PAZIENTI AFFETTI DA ARTRITE REUMATOIDE ALL’ESORDIO
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Serum zinc and copper in active rheumatoid arthritis: correlation with interleukin 1 beta and tumour necrosis factor alpha
No full textSerum zinc and copper levels and serum interleukin 1 beta (IL1 beta) and tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha) levels were evaluated in 57 female patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) to investigate a possible role of IL1 beta and TNF alpha on zinc and copper homeostasis in RA. Serum zinc levels were significantly lower and serum copper levels significantly higher in RA patients when compared with osteoarthritis or asymmetrical psoriatic oligoarthritis patients and with normal controls. No differences were observed in serum IgM rheumatoid factor positive and serum IgM rheumatoid factor negative patients as regards serum zinc and copper concentration. In RA patients the erythrocyte sedimentation rate and acute-phase proteins correlated negatively with serum zinc and positively with serum copper. IL1 beta and TNF alpha were found to correlate negatively with zinc and positively with copper in RA patients. Lower levels of zinc may be due to an accumulation of zinc-containing proteins in the liver and in the inflamed joints in RA. Elevated serum copper levels seem to be linked to the increased synthesis of ceruloplasmin by the liver
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