How to diagnose spondyloarthritis early? Accuracy of peripheral enthesitis detection by power Doppler ultrasonography.

Objective: Early diagnosis of spondyloarthritis (SpA) is sometimes difficult owing to the lack of reliable diagnostic criteria. The objective of this study was to determine the diagnostic accuracy of detecting enthesitis by power Doppler ultrasonography (PDUS) in patients with suspected SpA.

Methods: A prospective single-centre cohort study was performed in patients with symptoms suggestive of SpA (inflammatory back pain, arthritis, enthesitis or dactylitis, HLAB27+ uveitis) who underwent clinical examination, pelvic x-ray, MRI of lumbar spine/sacroiliac joints, HLA-B typing and other tests judged useful for diagnosis.

Eosinophilic fasciitis: a rare skin sclerosis.

Eosinophilic fasciitis (Schulman's syndrome) is a rare disease with specific clinical symptoms such as the groove sign which facilitate diagnosis. We report a typical case of eosinophilic fasciitis in an otherwise healthy 49-year-old man who presented with "prayer and groove signs". Histological analysis showed sclerosis and eosinophilic infiltration of the fascia.

Identification of the minimal combination of clinical features in probands for efficient mutation detection in the FBN1 gene.

Mutations identified in the fibrillin-1 (FBN1) gene have been associated with Marfan syndrome (MFS). Molecular analysis of the gene is classically performed in probands with MFS to offer diagnosis for at-risk relatives and in children highly suspected of MFS. However, FBN1 gene mutations are found in an ill-defined group of diseases termed 'type I fibrillinopathies', which are associated with an increased risk of aortic dilatation and dissection.

How to evaluate and improve the reliability of power Doppler ultrasonography for assessing enthesitis in spondylarthritis.

Objective: To evaluate and improve the reliability of power Doppler ultrasonography (PDUS) for detecting and scoring enthesitis in patients with spondylarthitis, using a 3-step procedure.

Methods: In the first step, we evaluated the reliability of 5 sonographers by bilaterally scanning 5 entheses twice in 5 patients. In the second step, starting from disagreements observed during the first step, we established consensus guidelines.

Identification of 23 TGFBR2 and 6 TGFBR1 gene mutations and genotype-phenotype investigations in 457 patients with Marfan syndrome type I and II, Loeys-Dietz syndrome and related disorders.

TGFBR1 and TGFBR2 gene mutations have been associated with Marfan syndrome types 1 and 2, Loeys-Dietz syndrome and isolated familial thoracic aortic aneurysms or dissection. In order to investigate the molecular and clinical spectrum of TGFBR2 mutations we screened the gene in 457 probands suspected of being affected with Marfan syndrome or related disorders that had been referred to our laboratory for molecular diagnosis. We identified and report 23 mutations and 20 polymorphisms.

Prosthetic hip infection caused by Tropheryma whipplei.

We report a case of prosthetic hip infection due to Tropheryma whipplei in a 74-year-old man not previously known to have Whipple's disease. Diagnosis was based on systematic 16S rRNA gene amplification and sequencing of samples obtained during revision hip arthroplasty.

Perceptions in 7700 patients with rheumatoid arthritis compared to their families and physicians.

Objective: To compare perceptions of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) to those of their families and usual physicians regarding pain and subjective experience of the disease.

Methods: Questionnaires were mailed to patients listed in the files of a non-profit patient organization (Association Française des Polyarthritiques). Each patient, one family member (or close friend), and the usual physician were each asked to complete a questionnaire.

Bone mineral density in Marfan syndrome. A large case-control study.

Objective: To measure bone mineral density (BMD) in a group of patients meeting Gand criteria for Marfan syndrome, comparatively with a group of healthy controls.

Methods: Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) was used to measure BMD at the hip and wrist in 130 patients seen at the Multidisciplinary Marfan Clinic, Paris, France. Results were compared to values in the database of the absorptiometry machine (Hologic QDR100) and to values in 72 healthy height-matched controls including 35 whose body mass index (BMI) values were similar to those in the patients.

Unusual evolution of Waldenström's macroglobulinemia into osteolytic myeloma.

We report the unusual transformation of a case of Waldenström's macroglobulinemia (WM) into IgM multiple myeloma (MM). The initial clinical and biological presentation of the disease was typical smouldering WM, with lymphocytic infiltration of the bone marrow. Five years later, signs of transformation appeared: the patient presented with diffuse osteolytic bone lesions without organomegaly, and the bone marrow was infiltrated with characteristic malignant plasma cells.

[Inflammatory arthritis of the elderly].

Inflammatory arthritis of the elderly have growned new interest because of their frequency and also because new syndromes or subsets of arthritis of the young adults have been recently described. The originality of seropositive rheumatoid arthritis beginning after 70 years old is that management and prognosis are not different from early onset a RA. Various subsets of mild seronegative arthritis of the elderly that pose diagnostic problems with polymyalgia rheumatism (PMR) are also described.

A large simple clinical trial prototype for assessment of OTC drug effects using patient-reported data.

Purpose: Innovative methods are needed to assess risks related to treatment for common medical conditions, where therapy is usually patient-directed or over-the-counter (OTC), and where tolerability, i.e. patient experienced events, may affect patterns of use.

Lumiracoxib does not affect methotrexate pharmacokinetics in rheumatoid arthritis patients.

Background: Methotrexate and nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs are frequently coadministered in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Objective: To evaluate the effect of lumiracoxib, a novel cyclooxygenase-2 selective inhibitor, on methotrexate pharmacokinetics and short-term safety in patients with RA.

Methods: This multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study enrolled 18 patients (mean age 49.

Risk factors for adverse events in analgesic drug users: results from the PAIN study.

Background: The relative influence of various risk factors for adverse events (AE) in analgesics users have never been precisely quantified. Advantage was taken of data generated in the paracetamol, aspirin and ibuprofen new tolerability (PAIN) study, a large randomized double-blinded trial of paracetamol, aspirin or ibuprofen for common pain in general practice to attempt this.

Objective: Identify and quantify factors associated with the occurrence of AE in users of analgesic drugs.