Sulfasalazine reduces the number of flares of acute anterior uveitis over a one-year period.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of sulfasalazine (SSZ) in the prevention of recurrent flares of acute anterior uveitis (AAU).

Methods: We included patients seen from June 1997 to October 2000 in this prospective, open, longitudinal study who fulfilled the following inclusion criteria: either (1) > or = 3 flares of AAU in the previous year or (2) > or = 2 recurrences of uveitis within 3 months before starting the trial. We excluded uveitis of infectious or malignant origin or patients with contraindications to the drug.

Painful shoulder: comparison of physical examination and ultrasonographic findings.

Background: High frequency ultrasonography is an accurate non-invasive imaging technique for evaluating patients with painful shoulder.

Objective: To compare the clinical diagnosis established by a physical examination with high frequency ultrasonographic findings in patients with painful shoulder.

Methods: Thirty one consecutive patients with a first flare of shoulder pain were prospectively included in the study.

Low vitamin D levels in outpatient postmenopausal women from a rheumatology clinic in Madrid, Spain: their relationship with bone mineral density.

To evaluate a possible relationship between vitamin D levels and bone mineral density (BMD) and the prevalence of hypovitaminosis in a population of postmenopausal women from a rheumatologic outpatient clinic in Madrid, Spain, 171 postmenopausal women (aged 47-66 years) divided into two groups (osteoporotic and nonosteoporotic, according to WHO criteria) were studied between November and June. Liver and kidney function were normal in all subjects. Serum parathyroid hormone (PTH) and calcidiol levels were determined and bone densitometry carried out at the lumbar spine and hip level.

Activity indices in rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: To determine which activity indices better correlate with assessor's (AGA) and patient's (PGA) global assessment of disease activity and to compare the improvement with American College of Rheumatology (ACR) and European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) criteria and their association with PGA and AGA of overall improvement.

Methods: Seventy-five patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were studied. Swollen and tender joints, morning stiffness, grip strength, pain, AGA, PGA, Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) score, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CPR), and hemoglobin were determined before and 6 months after treatment.

Antiperinuclear factor as a prognostic marker in rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: Antiperinuclear factor (APF) is an autoantibody detected in >50% of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA); it shows a specificity of roughly 90%. We investigated the possible role of APF as a prognostic marker in RA.

Methods: A series of 103 patients with RA who fulfilled the 1987 American College of Rheumatology criteria (88 women and 15 men; mean age 55.