Assessing forefoot bursitis in rheumatoid arthritis: a comprehensive approach with ultrasound, MRI, and baropodometry.

Aim: In rheumatoid arthritis (RA), forefoot bursitis is prevalent, with limited studies comparing ultrasonography (US) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). This study aims to evaluate these bursae, providing a comparative analysis of US and MRI, and explore associations with demographic, disease-related factors, pain, clinical examination, and baropodometryin RA patients.

Material And Methods: Participants with RA were recruited from the day-hospital clinic.

Do ankle, hindfoot, and heel ultrasound findings predict the symptomatology and quality of life in rheumatoid arthritis patients?

To evaluate the ankle, hindfoot, and heel changes (determined by physical examination, ultrasound and baropodometry) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, to compare the findings with healthy subjects, and to analyze if these findings are associated with ankle pain and could affect the quality of life. We enrolled 35 rheumatoid arthritis patients and 35 healthy controls, and evaluated their ankles (tibiotalar joints, tendons), hindfeet (talonavicular, subtalar joints) and heels using clinical examination, DAS28-CRP, RAPID3 for the evaluation of functional status, quality of life in rheumatoid arthritis questionnaire, ultrasound, and baropodometry. The ultrasound inter-observer agreement was good for the subtalar joint, and very good for the other structures.

Knee osteoarthritis grading by resonant Raman and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) analysis of synovial fluid.

In this preliminary study on synovial fluid (SF), knee osteoarthritis (OA) grading of n = 23 patients was accomplished by combining two methods: resonant Raman spectroscopy, and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) of native proteins acquired with iodide-modified silver nanoparticles and a laser emitting at 633 nm. Based on principal component analysis-linear discriminant analysis (PCA-LDA), the SERS spectra of proteins enabled the classification of low-grade and high-grade OA groups with an accuracy of 91%. Resonant Raman spectra of SF, recorded with laser excitation at 532 nm, exhibited carotenoid-associated bands that were less intense in the case of high-grade knee OA patients.