Predictive factors of effective tibial nerve release in tarsal tunnel syndrome.

Background: Factors that may affect surgical decompression results in tarsal tunnel syndrome are not known.

Methods: A retrospective single-center study included patients who had undergone surgical tibial nerve release. The effectiveness of decompression was evaluated according to whether the patient would or would not be willing to undergo another surgical procedure in similar preoperative circumstances.

Evaluation of bone quality with trabecular bone score in active spondyloarthritis.

Objective: Many patients with spondyloarthritis (SpA) are at risk of fracture due to bone fragility, whereas their bone mineral density (BMD) is not significantly diminished. Other tools, such as trabecular bone score (TBS), evaluating other characteristics of bone tissue are therefore necessary in order to evaluate bone changes in these patients. Therefore we evaluated TBS as a bone quality marker, in a cohort of patients with SpA and investigated which clinical and biological factors were correlated with TBS values.

Remaining local subclinical joint inflammation is associated with deteriorated metacarpeal head bone microarchitecture in rheumatoid arthritis patients low disease activity.

Objectives: Bone alterations at the subchondral level during rheumatoid arthritis (RA) remain under investigation. It remains unknown whether subchondral bone damage might still occur in RA patients in clinical remission, which could then infer suggesting that even minor subclinical inflammatory changes in the joint can induce local bone loss.

Methods: Thirty-two RA patients treated with biological disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) with low disease activity since at least 6 months and having erosion on the second or third metacarpeal head were enrolled in this pilot cross-sectional study.

Rheumatoid arthritis treated with tocilizumab in two patients with complicated chronic liver disease with portal hypertension.

Erosive, active rheumatoid arthritis inpatients with portal hypertension combining esophageal varices and ascites complicating chronic liver disease poses serious management problems. Current literature does not provide any valid therapeutic management. We report the case of a woman and a man aged 52 and 66 years respectively having this combination of pathologies.

Methotrexate Reduced TNF Bioactivity in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients Treated with Infliximab.

To evaluate methotrexate effect on tumor necrosis factor (TNF) alpha bioactivity during infliximab (IFX) therapy in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and to correlate TNF bioactivity with antibody towards IFX (ATI) development and RA clinical response. Thirty-nine active women RA patients despite conventional synthetic disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (csDMARDs) requiring IFX therapy were enrolled, and clinical data and blood samples were recorded at baseline (W0) and at 6 weeks (W6), W22, and W54 of IFX treatment. TNF bioactivity as well as IFX trough and ATI concentrations were assessed on blood samples.

Multireader assessment as an alternative to reference assessment to improve the detection of radiographic progression in a large longitudinal cohort of rheumatoid arthritis (ESPOIR).

Introduction: Structural damage progression is a major outcome in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Its evaluation and follow-up in trials should involve radiographic scoring by 1 or 2 readers (reference assessment), which is challenging in large longitudinal cohorts with multiple assessments.

Objectives: To compare the reproducibility of multireader and reference assessment to improve the feasibility of detecting radiographic progression in a large cohort of patients with early arthritis (ESPOIR).

High prevalence of dementia in women with osteoporosis.

Introduction: Alzheimer's disease or other Dementias (ADD) and postmenopausal osteoporosis are two major public health problems with a huge impact on mortality. Here, we examined the prevalence of ADD in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis, monitored within a dedicated fracture liaison service.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional observational study in a population of 2041 women, visiting the university hospital of Saint-Etienne for a peripheral fragility fracture.

Could biomarkers of bone, cartilage or synovium turnover be used for relapse prediction in rheumatoid arthritis patients?

Objective: The aim of this review is to clarify the usefulness of bone, cartilage, and synovial biomarker in the management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) therapy in remission. SYNOVIAL BIOMARKERS: High MMP-3 levels are associated with joint progression in RA patients, but there is no data about their utility in clinical remission. IIINys and Glc-Gal-PYD seem to be more specific to synovium, but more studies are required.