Biologic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs are equally effective in psoriatic arthritis patients with low and high joint counts.

Objective: A lack of representation in pivotal trials currently limits guidance for the use of biologic DMARDs (bDMARDs) in PsA patients with a low number of actively inflamed joints. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of a first bDMARD in PsA patients with a low vs high number of affected joints.

Methods: PsA patients with available 66/68 joint count assessments were divided into low joint count (LJC) patients when presenting with <3 tender or <3 swollen joints or high joint count (HJC) patients with ≥3 joints in both categories.

The links of hepcidin and erythropoietin in the interplay of inflammation and iron deficiency in a large observational study of rheumatoid arthritis.

Anaemia affects quality of life and radiographic outcome in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In a cross-sectional study with 779 patients, we assessed the prognostic potential of the major haematopoietic regulators, hepcidin and erythropoietin, comparing their serum concentrations with respect to different anaemia types, inflammatory activity, anti-cytokine-specific treatment effects and iron deficiency (ID) indices. The results showed that clinical disease activity was more closely associated with haemoglobin levels than with anti-tumour necrosis factor-alpha or interleukin 6 receptor effects.

Persisting right-sided chylothorax in a patient with chronic lymphocytic leukemia: a case report.

Introduction: Chylothorax caused by chronic lymphocytic leukemia is very rare and the best therapeutic approach, especially the role of modern immunochemotherapy, is not yet defined.

Case Presentation: We present the case of a 65-year-old male Caucasian patient with right-sided chylothorax caused by a concomitantly diagnosed chronic lymphocytic leukemia. As first-line treatment four cycles of an immunochemotherapy, consisting of fludarabine, cyclophosphamide and rituximab were administered.

[Fundus leucaemicus as first manifestation of chronic myeloid leukemia. Diagnosis and monitoring with OCT under treatment with imatinib and interferon-alpha].

Fundus leucaemicus with reduction of visual acuity can be one of the first signs of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). The ocular manifestations are unspecific, but characteristic for severe systemic diseases. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is helpful for documentation and quantification of the pathological retinal changes.

Cholesterol enhances thrombin-induced release of fibroblast growth factor-2 in human vascular smooth muscle cells.

Objective: The mitogenic response to the G protein-coupled receptor agonist thrombin in human vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) depends on release of fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2). Yet, intracellular mechanisms triggering FGF-2 release are unknown. The present study investigates possible effects of cholesterol enrichment and depletion, which have been shown to influence FGF-2-dependent signaling and SMC mitogenesis, on thrombin-induced FGF-2 release.

Sonication of proteins causes formation of aggregates that resemble amyloid.

Despite the widespread use of sonication in medicine, industry, and research, the effects of sonication on proteins remain poorly characterized. We report that sonication of a range of structurally diverse proteins results in the formation of aggregates that have similarities to amyloid aggregates. The formation of amyloid is associated with, and has been implicated in, causing of a wide range of protein conformational disorders including Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, and prion diseases.

Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase mutants associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis show enhanced formation of aggregates in vitro.

Mutations in Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD) are associated with the fatal neurodegenerative disorder amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). There is considerable evidence that mutant SOD has a gain of toxic function; however, the mechanism of this toxicity is not known. We report here that purified SOD forms aggregates in vitro under destabilizing solution conditions by a process involving a transition from small amorphous species to fibrils.