Voltage-gated sodium (Nav) channels sense membrane potential and drive cellular electrical activity. The deathstalker scorpion α-toxin LqhαIT exerts a strong action potential prolonging effect on Nav channels. To elucidate the mechanism of action of LqhαIT, we determined a 3.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe therapeutic alliance has been consistently found to be a robust predictor of therapeutic outcome across various modalities of psychotherapy. Alliance ruptures are thought to occur commonly within each therapeutic dyad and, if left unresolved, are associated with premature termination and worsened psychotherapy outcome. Research efforts have identified V-shaped shifts in the alliance, characterized by a high-low-high pattern of postsession alliance scores, as a meaningful method of operationalizing rupture-repair episodes, but these efforts rarely evaluate the within-session process of the identified sessions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Potential hepatotoxicity associated with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) requires laboratory monitoring. In patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or psoriatic arthritis (PsA), the incidence of elevated alanine aminotransferase/aspartate aminotransferase (ALT/AST) enzymes associated with methotrexate (MTX), leflunomide (LEF) and MTX+LEF versus other DMARDs was examined.
Methods: Patients with RA and PsA enrolled in the Consortium of Rheumatology Researchers of North America (CORRONA) initiating DMARDs were identified.
Objective: Patients with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) commonly have nail involvement. There is no validated psoriatic nail assessment tool. Recently, investigators developed the Nail Psoriasis Severity Index (NAPSI).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNail involvement is common in patients with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, affecting 80%-90% of patients at some time. It also has significant effects on quality of life. Psoriatic nail disease can be refractory to treatment, and different features may respond variably to different therapies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClin Exp Rheumatol
January 2006
Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA) is a common condition that significantly impacts affected patients. The introduction of novel therapeutic agents for PsA has generated considerable interest in both clinical trials and in clinical care. Thus, there is a great need for standardized outcome measures to assess the activity of disease and the response to therapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Immune Based Ther Vaccines
September 2005
Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a chronic inflammatory arthropathy characterized by the association of arthritis and psoriasis. PsA runs a variable course, from mild synovitis to severe, progressive, erosive arthropathy. The pathogenesis of PsA involves alteration in the components of the immune response, although the exact cause of PsA is unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPsoriatic arthritis (PsA) is an important condition that significantly impacts affected patients. The introduction of novel therapeutic agents for PsA has generated great interest in clinical trials as well as in clinical care. Therefore, there is a great need for standardized outcome measures that can accurately assess the activity of disease and response to therapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Cavitron ultrasonic surgical aspirator was used for cytoreduction in ten patients with intra-abdominal malignancy (nine ovarian and one fallopian tube). The mean age was 65 years, and eight patients had stage IIIC disease. Standard surgical techniques were used to resect the adnexa, uterus, and omentum.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe kinetic interaction between salicylate and naproxen was investigated in 25 rheumatoid arthritis patients. Kinetic interactions were tested in serum after patients had been on each drug regimen for 1 month. Salicylate decreased serum naproxen concentration from 89.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAfter one to 2 weeks of 45 mg/kg/day choline magnesium trisalicylate (CMT) in 2 divided doses, 51 of 71 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (72%) had observed steady state serum salicylate concentrations between 150 and 300 mg/l (mean salicylate: 213 +/- 10 mg/l), although 17 later required dose adjustment. CMT dosing was changed in 37 cases by using the formula: dosing rate = total clearance X concentration. The expected and observed concentrations were not different (p = 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrevious studies of combinations of nonsteroidal drugs used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have yielded conflicting results. We used standard methods to measure disease activity and high pressure liquid chromatography to measure plasma drug concentrations. We used doses of choline magnesium trisalicylate, adjusted to achieve therapeutic serum salicylate concentrations, and naproxen in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled cross-over study of full dose trisalicylate (CMT), full dose naproxen (N), full dose of both (CMT-N), and half dose of both (cmt-n) to examine their relative efficacy and toxicity in treating RA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe effects of the lysosomotropic weak bases chloroquine, ammonium chloride, and amantadine as well as dansylcadaverine (an inhibitor of receptor mediated endocytosis) on the replication of Sindbis virus in tissue-cultured cells was examined. Chloroquine had no effect on the expression of virus-induced homologous interference. None of these drugs significantly affected the ability of a complex of a cell and single virion to form an infectious center.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSalicylate availability from salsalate (SSA) and aspirin (ASA) was examined in six rheumatoid arthritis patients in a multiple-dose double-blind crossover study. Doses contained equimolar amounts of salicylic acid. After initial ASA treatment to achieve therapeutic salicylate levels (150 to 300 micrograms/ml) the patients received equimolar doses of SSA or ASA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe describe a 25-year-old male with juvenile onset diabetes mellitus who developed severe pseudomembranous enterocolitis with intractable diarrhea for which he was maintained on total parenteral nutrition. Subsequently, he developed clinical signs and typical radiological manifestations of hypertrophic osteoarthropathy (HOA) associated with hemolytic anemia, proteinuria and immunoglobulin deficiency. Immune complexes were not detected in either sera and synovial fluid.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhen the total daily drug dose was individualized to produce a steady-state serum salicylate concentration between 20 and 35 mg/dl, clinically acceptable fluctuations of serum concentrations occurred during both twice daily and three times daily administration. In 6 rheumatoid arthritis patients receiving choline magnesium trisalicylate, mean steady-state serum levels were the same, and the ranges of hourly mean concentrations during 8 and 12 hour dosage intervals were 19 to 27 mg/dl and 17 to 30 mg/dl, respectively. Changing the dosing interval from 8 to 12 hours required a 50% increase in the fractional doses, but resulted in an increase of only 3 mg/dl in mean peak concentration and a ddecrease of 1 mg/dl in mean minimum concentration.
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