May Bacterial Infections Trigger Bullous Pemphigoid? Case Report and Review of Literature.

Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is an autoimmune blistering skin disease, mainly observed in the elderly. Infections have been suggested as possible disease triggers. However, infections may even heavily influence the disease clinical course and mortality.

Sensitivity to change and clinical correlations of the novel DACtylitis glObal Sonographic (DACTOS) score in psoriatic arthritis.

Objective: The aim of the study is to assess the performance of the DACTOS (DACtylitis glObal Sonographic) score in a PsA dactylitis clinical setting. In particular, we evaluated the ability of DACTOS to identify the affected fingers, its sensitivity to change after treatment, the correlations between DACTOS and clinical parameters, and the capacity of the score to identify the treatment responders.

Methods: Forty-six consecutive patients with symptomatic PsA hand dactylitis were enrolled.

Prevalence of Hepatitis B Virus Markers in Patients with Autoimmune Inflammatory Rheumatic Diseases in Italy.

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection may be reactivated by immunosuppressive drugs in patients with autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases. This study evaluates HBV serum markers' prevalence in rheumatic outpatients belonging to Spondyloarthritis, Chronic Arthritis and Connective Tissue Disease diagnostic groups in Italy. The study enrolled 302 subjects, sex ratio (M/F) 0.

Novel and reliable DACTylitis glObal Sonographic (DACTOS) score in psoriatic arthritis.

Objectives: Dactylitis is one of the most typical features of psoriatic arthritis (PsA), with a high lifetime prevalence and inclusion in PsA clinical indices. Musculoskeletal ultrasonography (Msk-US) can readily detect inflammatory involvement of finger anatomical structures particular to dactylitis and monitor therapeutic effects. In this study, we aim to identify the characteristic lesions in PsA dactylitis of the hands, assess the reliability of Msk-US in scoring those lesions and develop a DACTylitis glObal Sonographic (DACTOS) score.

OMERACT agreement and reliability study of ultrasonographic elementary lesions in osteoarthritis of the foot.

Objective: To evaluate the level of agreement on ultrasonographic (US) lesions among highly experienced sonographers as well as the intraobserver and interobserver reliability of inflammatory and structural US lesions in patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the foot.

Methods: After a systematic literature review, a Delphi survey was performed to test definitions of US lesions in OA of the foot, including inflammatory lesions (ie, synovial hypertrophy [SH], joint effusion [JE], power Doppler signal [PD]), and structural abnormalities (ie, cartilage damage [CD] and osteophytes). Subsequently, the reliability of US in assessing the aforementioned lesions was tested on static images as well as during a live exercise.

Anti-polysaccharide and anti-diphtheria protective antibodies after 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccination in rheumatoid arthritis patients under immunosuppressive therapy.

Immunogenicity of 13-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide (PnPS) conjugate vaccine (PCV13) was evaluated in 38 rheumatoid arthritis patients under immunosuppressive treatment and 20 healthy controls (HC). Antibodies to all PnPS and diphtheria-toxin analogue conjugate protein were measured pre- (T0), 1 (T1), 6 (T2), 12 (T3) months post-immunization. Patients and HC had similar response to individual PnPS.

Clinical and ultrasonographic predictors for achieving minimal disease activity in patients with psoriatic arthritis: the UPSTREAM (Ultrasound in PSoriatic arthritis TREAtMent) prospective observational study protocol.

Introduction: Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) occurs in 10%-15% of people with psoriasis and accounts for 10%-20% of early arthritis clinics referral. Only a few prognostic factors of therapeutic response in patients with PsA have been identified. In the last years, the role of imaging has grown up and the European League Against Rheumatism recognised that ultrasound (US) has higher sensitivity than clinical examination to detect inflammatory disease activity.

The predictive role of ultrasound-detected tenosynovitis and joint synovitis for flare in patients with rheumatoid arthritis in stable remission. Results of an Italian multicentre study of the Italian Society for Rheumatology Group for Ultrasound: the STARTER study.

Objective: To define the role of ultrasound (US) for the assessment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in clinical remission, including joint and tendon evaluation.

Methods: A multicentre longitudinal study has been promoted by the US Study Group of the Italian Society for Rheumatology. 25 Italian centres participated, enrolling consecutive patients with RA in clinical remission.

Ultrasound-detected tenosynovitis independently associates with patient-reported flare in patients with rheumatoid arthritis in clinical remission: results from the observational study STARTER of the Italian Society for Rheumatology.

Objectives: This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of US-detected tenosynovitis in RA patients in clinical remission and to explore its clinical correlates.

Methods: A total of 427 RA patients in clinical remission were consecutively enrolled from 25 Italian rheumatology centres. Tenosynovitis and synovitis were scored by US grey scale (GS) and power Doppler (PD) semi-quantitative scoring systems at wrist and hand joints.

Could early rheumatoid arthritis resolve after periodontitis treatment only?: case report and review of the literature.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an immune-mediated polyarthritis; currently no pathogenic agent has been identified as a disease trigger. A patient with RA, presumably caused by periodontal infection, whose remission has been observed after periodontitis treatment in absence of specific RA therapy, is reported here for the first time, to our knowledge. A 61-year-old male patient presented migrant arthritis associated with antibodies against citrullinated protein antigens positivity.

Should we routinely treat patients with autoimmune/rheumatic diseases and chronic hepatitis B virus infection starting biologic therapies with antiviral agents? NO.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection affects a large part of the world population. Different virological HBV categories have been identified and managing strategies for immunosuppressed patients with serological signs of current or past HBV infection has been proposed. Those strategies developed to manage patients in the haematology setting are based on strong evidence.