Rheumatoid arthritis in Latin America: pharmacotherapy and clinical challenges.

Introduction: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) poses significant healthcare challenges in Latin America (LA) due to its high prevalence and unique healthcare dynamics. Despite global advancements, LA faces specific hurdles in effectively managing RA.

Areas Covered: This review examines RA epidemiology, treatment strategies, and clinical challenges in LA.

Predictors of first hospitalization due to disease activity and infections in systemic lupus erythematosus patients.

Objectives: To identify the predictive factors of first hospitalization and associated variables to the main causes of hospitalizations in lupus patients from a Latin American cohort.

Methods: The first hospitalization after entry into the cohort during these patients' follow-up due to either lupus disease activity and/or infection was examined. Clinical and therapeutic variables were those occurring prior to the first hospitalization.

Characteristics associated with 30-day post-stroke readmission within an academic urban hospital network.

Objectives: Hospital readmissions are associated with poor health outcomes including illness severity and medical complications. The objective of this study was to identify characteristics associated with 30-day post-stroke readmission in an academic urban hospital network.

Materials And Methods: We collected data on patients admitted with stroke from 2017 through 2022 who were readmitted within 30 days of discharge and compared them to a subset of non-readmitted stroke patients.

Differences between radiographic and non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis patients in a Mexican cohort.

To compare the demographic, clinical, and laboratory characteristics, disease onset, and clinical features of radiographic axial Spondyloarthritis (r-axSpA) and non-radiographic axial Spondyloarthritis (nr-axSpA) patients. All patients who attended outpatient spondylarthritis (SpA) clinics at Hospital General de Mexico and the Instituto Nacional de la Nutrición from 1998 to 2005 and met the rheumatologist diagnostic criteria for SpA were selected. Then the SpA patients were classified by European Spondyloarthropathy Study Group criteria (ESSG).

Corrigendum to "Laponite for biomedical applications: An ophthalmological perspective" [Mater. Today Bio (2024) 100935].

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.mtbio.

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Clay minerals have been applied in biomedicine for thousands of years. Laponite is a nanostructured synthetic clay with the capacity to retain and progressively release drugs. In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in Laponite application in various biomedical areas.

Clinical Diagnosis of Chikungunya Infection: An Essential Aid in a Primary Care Setting Where Serological Confirmation Is Not Available.

Background: Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) diagnosis has become a challenge for primary care physicians in areas where the Zika virus and/or Dengue virus are present. Case definitions for the three arboviral infections overlap.

Methods: A cross-sectional analysis was carried out.

Baricitinib for systemic lupus erythematosus: a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial (SLE-BRAVE-II).

Background: Baricitinib is an oral selective inhibitor of Janus kinase 1 and 2 approved for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, atopic dermatitis, and alopecia areata. In a 24-week phase 2 study in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), baricitinib 4 mg significantly improved SLE disease activity compared with placebo. In this Article, we report the evaluation of efficacy and safety of baricitinib in patients with SLE in a 52-week phase 3 study.

Neurologists' Evaluations of Experience and Effectiveness of Teleneurology Encounters.

To better understand neurologists' assessments of the experiences and effectiveness of teleneurology encounters. After completing an audio-video telehealth visit with verbally consenting patients, neurologists recorded their evaluations of the encounter. Data were analyzed using standard quantitative and qualitative techniques.

Controversies in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Are We Treating Our Patients Adequately?

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is characterized by great clinical heterogeneity. The objectives of its management are to make a timely diagnosis and to initiate treatment as promptly as possible so organ damage can be avoided while at the same time exposure to potentially toxic drugs is minimized so that its overall course and outcome improve. In reviewing the current literature, it became quite clear that there are specific topics in which controversies do exist.

Long-term corticosteroid-induced chronic glaucoma model produced by intracameral injection of dexamethasone-loaded PLGA microspheres.

Purpose: To evaluate a new chronic glaucoma model produced by intracameral injection of dexamethasone-loaded poly lactic-co-glycolic acid microspheres (Dex-PLGA-Ms) over six months.

Methods: Healthy rats received two injections (at baseline and Week 4) of Dex-PLGA-Ms into the anterior chamber of the right eye. Clinical signs and intraocular pressure (IOP) were weekly recorded.

Stromal cells of giant cell tumor of bone show primary cilia in giant cell tumor of bone.

Giant cell tumor of bone (GCTB) is a locally aggressive primary bone neoplasm composed by tumoral stromal cells (SCs) and a reactive component that consists of monocytic/histiocytic cells that give rise by fusion to osteoclast-like multinucleated cells. Recently, specific Histone 3.3 mutations have been demonstrated in SCs of GCTB.

Can presence of HLA type I and II alleles be associated with clinical spectrum of CHIKV infection?

Host immune response and virulence factors are key to disease susceptibility. However, there are no known association studies of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I and II alleles with chikungunya virus (CHIKV) infection in the Latin American population. Here, we aimed to identify HLA alleles present in patients with CHIKV infection versus healthy controls as well as the allelic association with the clinical spectrum of the disease.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on patients with rheumatic diseases in Latin America.

The objective of our study was to describe knowledge, attitudes and practices of Latin-American rheumatology patients regarding management and follow-up of their disease during COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional observational study was conducted using a digital anonymous survey. Rheumatic patients ≥ 18 years from non-English-speaking PANLAR countries were included.

Rheumatology Training in Latin America: A Collaborative Study by the Pan American League of Associations for Rheumatology.

Background/objective: Demand for rheumatology care has steadily increased in recent years. The number of specialists in this field, however, seems insufficient. No recent studies have diagnosed the attributes of rheumatology training in Latin America.

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Rheumatology Practice in Latin America.

Objective: To describe the effect of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on Latin American rheumatologists from a professional, economic, and occupational point of view.

Methods: We conducted an observational cross-sectional study using an online survey sent to rheumatologists of each non-English-speaking country member of the Pan American League of Rheumatology Associations (PANLAR). A specific questionnaire was developed.

Monitoring New Long-Lasting Intravitreal Formulation for Glaucoma with Vitreous Images Using Optical Coherence Tomography.

Intravitreal injection is the gold standard therapeutic option for posterior segment pathologies, and long-lasting release is necessary to avoid reinjections. There is no effective intravitreal treatment for glaucoma or other optic neuropathies in daily practice, nor is there a non-invasive method to monitor drug levels in the vitreous. Here we show that a glaucoma treatment combining a hypotensive and neuroprotective intravitreal formulation (IF) of brimonidine-Laponite (BRI/LAP) can be monitored non-invasively using vitreoretinal interface imaging captured with optical coherence tomography (OCT) over 24 weeks of follow-up.

A longitudinal multiethnic study of biomarkers in systemic lupus erythematosus: Launching the GLADEL 2.0 Study Group.

After more than 20 years of sustained work, the Latin American Group for the Study of Lupus (GLADEL) has made a significant number of contributions to the field of lupus, not only in the differential role that race/ethnicity plays in its course and outcome but also in several other studies including the beneficial effects of using antimalarials in lupus patients and the development of consensus guidelines for the treatment of lupus in our region. A new generation of "Lupus Investigators" in more than 40 centers throughout Latin America has been constituted in order to continue the legacy of the investigators of the original cohort and to launch a novel study of serum and urinary biomarkers in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. So far, we have recruited 807 patients and 631 controls from 42 Latin-American centers including 339 patients with SLE without renal involvement, 202 patients with SLE with prevalent but inactive renal disease, 176 patients with prevalent and active renal disease and 90 patients with incident lupus nephritis.