Improvement of Liver Involvement in Familial Mediterranean Fever After the Introduction of Canakinumab: A Case Report.

Hepatic involvement in familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) ranges from a nonspecific increase in liver enzymes to cryptogenic cirrhosis, and the liver is mostly involved in patients bearing the M694V mutation in homozygosis. A 44-year-old Jewish woman with FMF developed nonalcoholic steatohepatitis during colchicine treatment (2,5 mg per day), confirmed by both elastography and liver biopsy. Therefore, combined therapy with the interleukin-1 (IL-1) blocking agent canakinumab (150 mg every four weeks) and colchicine (at a reduced dose of 1.

Branched alkyldimethylamine oxide surfactants: An effective strategy for the design of high concentration/low viscosity surfactant formulations.

Hypothesis: The rational design of branched-tail surfactants is a suitable strategy to obtain low-viscosity surfactant-rich isotropic aqueous mixtures with negligible effects on biodegradability. This opens a way to the design of concentrated ("water-free") surfactant formulations, highly attractive for their ecological and economic benefits.

Experiments: The aggregation behaviour of N,N-dimethyl-2-propylheptan-1-amine oxide (CDAO-branched) in aqueous mixtures is investigated across the entire composition range by polarized optical microscopy, small angle X-ray and neutron scattering, electron paramagnetic resonance, and pulse-gradient stimulated echo nuclear magnetic resonance.