Endovascular Biopsy of Vertebrobasilar Aneurysm in Patient With Polyarteritis Nodosa.

The management of unruptured intracranial aneurysms remains controversial. The decisions to treat are heavily informed by estimated risk of bleeding. However, these estimates are imprecise, and better methods for stratifying the risk or tailoring treatment strategy are badly needed.

Antimalarial myopathy in a systemic lupus erythematosus patient with quadriparesis and seizures: a case-based review.

Weakness, seizures, and encephalopathy have a broad differential diagnosis in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). We present a case of a 26-year-old female with a recent diagnosis of SLE who experienced a clinical deterioration with quadriparesis, seizures, and encephalopathy. Her quadriparesis was found to be secondary to biopsy-proven hydroxychloroquine-induced myopathy with concomitant inflammatory myopathy.

Arterial calcification due to CD73 deficiency (ACDC): imaging manifestations of ectopic mineralization.

Arterial calcification due to CD73 deficiency (ACDC) is a recently identified rare and debilitating adult-onset disorder caused by autosomal recessive NT5E gene mutations. ACDC is characterized by progressive and painful arterial calcifications primarily affecting the lower extremities, as well as calcifications affecting small joint capsules of the hands and feet. In this case report, the authors provide clinical follow-up for one of the first individuals identified by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as having ACDC, focusing mainly on the imaging manifestations of periarticular joint mineralization, which are bilateral but slightly asymmetric, bulky up to the levels of the metacarpophalangeal and metatarsophalangeal joints, but smaller and more capsular in distribution at the proximal and distal interphalangeal joints, without erosive change or intra-articular mineralization.

Validity and Responsiveness of a 10-Item Patient-Reported Measure of Physical Function in a Rheumatoid Arthritis Clinic Population.

Objective: We assessed implementation of the 10-item Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) physical function form (PF-10a) in routine practice in a racially and ethnically diverse population with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Objectives were to determine feasibility of implementing PF-10a in the electronic health record (EHR) and PF-10a validity and longitudinal responsiveness.

Methods: Clinical and demographic data were abstracted from EHRs for all RA patients seen at a university-based rheumatology clinic between February 2013 and February 2015.

Elevation of serum tumor necrosis factor α in patients with periprosthetic osteolysis: a case-control study.

Background: Periprosthetic osteolysis is the leading reason for THA revision. The relationship of serum biomarkers with severe radiographic periprosthetic osteolysis has not been defined but may be important to direct future research and clinical therapeutics.

Questions/purposes: We determined whether there was an association between measurable inflammatory markers (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein [hsCRP]) or inflammatory mediators (tumor necrosis factor α [TNF-α], IL-1β, IL-6, receptor activator of nuclear factor κB ligand [RANKL], and osteoprotegerin [OPG]) and periprosthetic osteolysis.

Risk factors for incident osteoarthritis of the hip and knee.

This article reviews the published risk factors associated with incident osteoarthritis of the lower extremity weight-bearing joints. Systemic risk factors include factors such as age, ethnicity, gender and genetic variables. Local risk factors are variables such as obesity, previous knee injury and occupational activities.

Vascular pathology of medial arterial calcifications in NT5E deficiency: implications for the role of adenosine in pseudoxanthoma elasticum.

Arterial Calcification due to Deficiency of CD73 (ACDC) results from mutations in the NT5E gene encoding the 5' exonucleotidase, CD73. We now describe the third familial case of ACDC, including radiological and histopathological details of the arterial calcifications. The medial lesions involve the entire circumference of the elastic lamina, in contrast to the intimal plaque-like disease of atherosclerosis.

NT5E mutations and arterial calcifications.

Background: Arterial calcifications are associated with increased cardiovascular risk, but the genetic basis of this association is unclear.

Methods: We performed clinical, radiographic, and genetic studies in three families with symptomatic arterial calcifications. Single-nucleotide-polymorphism analysis, targeted gene sequencing, quantitative polymerase-chain-reaction assays, Western blotting, enzyme measurements, transduction rescue experiments, and in vitro calcification assays were performed.