Impaired coagulation parameters in early RA are restored by effective antirheumatic therapy: a prospective pilot study.

Objectives: To assess the effect of treatment on haemostatic parameters in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: Patients with newly diagnosed RA started methotrexate and were randomised to additional conventional treatment, certolizumab pegol, abatacept or tocilizumab. Several biomarkers for haemostasis were analysed including parameters of the two global haemostatic assays-overall haemostatic potential (OHP) and endogenous thrombin potential (ETP), as well as single haemostatic factors-fibrinogen, prothrombin fragment 1+2 (F1+2), D-dimer, thrombin activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor (TAFI) and clot lysis time (CLT) in 24 patients at baseline, 12 and 24 weeks after the start of the treatment.

Pregnancy is associated with a simultaneous but independent increase in circulating CD177pos and immature low-density granulocytes.

The neutrophil marker CD177 (NB1, HNA-2a) is expressed by 0-100% of circulating neutrophils in any given donor, dividing neutrophils into two distinct subpopulations (CD177pos and CD177neg). High proportions of CD177pos blood neutrophils have been linked to both systemic infections and a range of inflammatory pathologies, but whether this is a cause or a consequence of disease is not known. Many conditions displaying elevated CD177pos neutrophil proportions are also accompanied by the presence of circulating low-density granulocytes (LDGs).

Gut microbiota markers in early childhood are linked to farm living, pets in household and allergy.

Background: Children growing up on farms or with pets have a lower risk of developing allergy, which may be linked to their gut microbiota development during infancy.

Methods: Children from the FARMFLORA birth cohort (N = 65), of whom 28 (43%) lived on a dairy farm and 40 (62%) had pets, provided fecal samples at intervals from 3 days to 18 months of age. Gut microbiota composition was characterized using quantitative microbial culture of various typical anaerobic and facultatively anaerobic bacteria, with colonization rate and population counts of bacterial groups determined at the genus or species level.

Circulating Adipokines and Response to Treatment in Patients With Early Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine if baseline adiponectin, leptin, and resistin levels are associated with response to antirheumatic treatment in early rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: This study included 341 participants of the Nordic Rheumatic Diseases Strategy Trials and Registries trial with untreated early RA, randomized at baseline into four treatment arms: methotrexate combined with (1) prednisolone, (2) certolizumab, (3) abatacept, or (4) tocilizumab. Follow-up was up to 48 weeks.

Circulating Baseline CXCR3Th2 and Th17 Cell Proportions Correlate With Trabecular Bone Loss After 48 Weeks of Biological Treatment in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Objective: The high prevalence of osteoporosis in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is due to inflammation that stimulates differentiation of osteoclasts, a process involving circulating monocytes and T cell-derived factors. The aim of this study was to evaluate relations between circulating monocytes, T cell subsets, and changes in bone characteristics before and after treatment with biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) in RA.

Methods: Thirty patients with untreated early RA who met the American College of Rheumatology/EULAR 2010 criteria were included.