[Effectiveness and safety of selective and non - selective factor Xa inhibitors in antiphospholipid syndrome and systemic lupus erythematosus: anti - Xa - activity range].

Unlabelled: The aim of the study was to evaluate the anti - Xa - activity (aXa) of selective and non - selective factor Xa inhibitors in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) patients according to clinical implications and laboratory parameters.

Materials And Methods: Clinical and laboratory data were analyzed retrospectively in SLE and APS patients who protractedly received low weight molecular heparins (LWMH) and selective factor Xa inhibitors fondaparinux and rivaroxaban. The study included 70 patients in the middle age 39 [31; 43] years: 15/70 (21%) - with SLE, 10/70 (14%) - with APS and 45/70 (65%) - with SLE and APS (SLE+APS).

[Evaluation of methotrexate effect on the acute-phase response in rheumatoid arthritis after 12-week treatment].

Unlabelled: DAS28 index calculated with regard for ESR, the number of swollen/painful joints and evaluation of the patient's condition by VAS is universally used to estimate activity of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). There is a variant of calculation using C-reactive protein (CRP) instead of ESR. Our experience indicates that ESR decreases more slowly than CRP during treatment and better reflects dynamics of patients' condition.

[Clinical significance of heart rate variability in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus].

Aim: To evaluate clinical significance of heart rate variability (HRV) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Material And Methods: HRV was investigated by means of time-domain analysis of 24 hour ambulatory ECG of 122 SLE patients under 55 years of age and 32 age-matched healthy controls. In addition to clinical manifestations and activity of SLE, we assessed the presence of basic conventional cardiovascular risk factors (hypertension, smoking, body mass index, dyslipidemia), performed common carotid duplex scanning with measurement of intima-medial thickness (IMT).

[The significance of cardiovascular risk factors and C-reactive protein to the development of atherosclerosis in women with systemic lupus erythematosus].

Compared with general population, women suffering from systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have signs of coronary artery disease (CAD) five to eight times more often, especially in young age. Early development of atherosclerosis in patients with SLE is caused by conventional cardiovascular risk factors and specific ones, associated with the disease and its therapy. A slight increase in such an inflammatory marker as C-reactive protein (CRP) is thought to reflect the presence of subclinical inflammation in the vascular wall, connected with atherosclerotic process.

[Articular lesions in Ixodes tick-borne borreliosis (Lyme disease)].

Articular lesions in 157 patients infected with ixodes tick-borne borreliosis (ITB) in a central Russia's region set on, on the average, in 4 months after tick attack; they were associated with systemic signs of an early disseminated infection and set on less seldom in a late period. The most often encountered systemic signs were as follows: secondary erythema (32% of patients), neurological syndrome (13%), cardio-vascular lesions (22%), ocular lesions (13%) and hepatic lesions (8%). The articular syndrome manifested itself through arthralgia (53 patients) and arthritis (104 patients), which set on quite often in the tick-attack area.