Clinical characteristics and risk factors for Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia in patients with rheumatoid arthritis receiving adalimumab: a retrospective review and case-control study of 17 patients.

Objectives: To investigate the clinical characteristics and risk factors of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PCP) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients treated with adalimumab.

Methods: We conducted a multicenter, retrospective, case-control study to compare RA patients treated with adalimumab with and without PCP. Data from 17 RA patients who were diagnosed with PCP and from 89 RA patients who did not develop PCP during adalimumab treatment were collected.

Solitary fibrous tumor in the cervical spine with destructive vertebral involvement: a case report and review of the literature.

Introduction: Recently, solitary fibrous tumors occurring in spine-related lesions have been reported. However, the destruction of vertebral bodies by this type of tumor has not been reported.

Materials And Methods: A 71-year-old female presented with pain from a mass on the right side of her neck.

Total spondylectomy of a symptomatic hemangioma of the lumbar spine.

A vertebral hemangioma with dural compression and neurological deficit is rare. We report a symptomatic lumbar vertebral hemangioma which was successfully managed with total spondylectomy. The patient was a 31-year-old man whose chief complaint was low back pain.

Two-level posterior lumbar interbody fusion for degenerative disc disease: improved clinical outcome with restoration of lumbar lordosis.

Background Context: Although posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) for degenerative lumbar diseases is routine, there are few reports on double-level PLIF.

Purpose: To evaluate the clinical outcomes of double-level PLIF.

Study Design/setting: A retrospective study of operated cases in Gifu, Japan.

Cervical clear cell meningioma mimicking a vertebral metastasis.

Cervical vertebral involvement of clear cell meningioma is very rare. We report a case of clear cell meningioma in the cervical vertebral body in a 72-year old male. Seven years prior to this presentation, the patient underwent palliative surgery and posterior instrumentation for a cervical vertebral tumor at C5, which had been diagnosed as a metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

Dropped head syndrome associated with cervical spondylotic myelopathy.

We report a case of an 80-year-old woman with dropped head syndrome associated with cervical spondylotic myelopathy. She could not keep her cervical spine in a neutral position for >1 minute. She had a disturbed gait and severe kyphotic deformity in her thoracic spine.

Spontaneous symptomatic pseudoarthrosis at the T11-T12 intervertebral space with diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis: a case report.

Study Design: We report on a 69-year-old male who had severe back pain due to spontaneous symptomatic pseudoarthrosis at the T11-T12 intervertebral space with diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis.

Objective: To describe a rare clinical entity and successful treatment by spinal fusion with a 4-year follow-up.

Summary Of Background Data: There have been a few reports of spontaneous symptomatic pseudoarthrosis of an intervertebral space associated with diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis, but there have been no reports of surgical treatment for this clinical condition.

Synergistic induction of apoptosis of rheumatoid arthritis synovial cells by H(2)O(2) and N-acetyl-leucyl-leucyl-norleucinal.

The effects of proteolysis inhibitors on hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2))-induced apoptosis were examined in cultured human synovial cells of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. RA synovial cells were resistant to apoptosis induced by H(2)O(2). In the presence of 100 microM N-acetyl-leucyl-leucyl-norleucinal (ALLN, known as calpain inhibitor 1 and also a proteasome inhibitor), but not N-acetyl-leucyl-leucyl-methioninal (ALLM), apoptotic cell death was elicited by 400 microM H(2)O(2) at a concentration that alone never induced cell death.

Calpain inhibition by cerebrospinal fluid and effects of calpain on intrathecal nerve tissue.

Study Design: The effects of calpain on intrathecal nerve tissue in the rabbit were investigated.

Objective: To evaluate the chemonucleolytic side effect of calpain on nerve tissue in the event of accidental intrathecal calpain injection.

Summary Of Background Data: Calpain has a degradative effect on proteoglycans, and as previously shown, it is associated with chemonucleolytic action in the rabbit.