Multimodal Imaging of Structural Damage and Inflammation in Psoriatic Arthritis: A comparison of DMARD-Naive and DMARD-Failure Patients.

Objectives: To compare inflammatory and structural differences in active Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA) between disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD)-naive and DMARD-failure patients using diverse imaging approaches for future analyses. Additionally, to explore the influence of patient characteristics (clinical and demographic variables) on imaging findings.

Methods: Of the 80 patients included from the first cohort of the ongoing multicentre TOFA-PREDICT trial, 40 were DMARD-naive and 40 were DMARD-failure (csDMARD failure; 1 prior bDMARD excluding etanercept was allowed), all meeting classification criteria for PsA with a minimum disease duration of eight weeks.

Increased vascular inflammation on PET/CT in psoriatic arthritis patients in comparison with controls.

Background: Patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, possibly due to a chronic inflammatory state.

Objectives: The main objective of this study was to investigate the difference in vascular inflammation, measured with 18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/CT (PET/CT), in PsA patients and controls. We conducted a secondary analysis to assess the association between clinical parameters of disease activity with vascular inflammation in PsA.

Longitudinal Follow-Up Using the Heel Enthesitis Magnetic Resonance Imaging Scoring System (HEMRIS) Shows Minimal Changes in Heel Enthesitis Assessed in Spondyloarthritis and Psoriasis Patients.

Enthesitis is a common clinical feature of spondyloarthritis (SpA). For reliable assessment of enthesitis the Heel Enthesitis Magnetic Resonance Imaging Scoring System (HEMRIS) was developed. The aims of this study were to evaluate changes in HEMRIS over time and to evaluate whether these changes correlated with changes in clinical parameters.

TOFA-PREDICT study protocol: a stratification trial to determine key immunological factors predicting tofacitinib efficacy and drug-free remission in psoriatic arthritis (PsA).

Introduction: Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a chronic, inflammatory, musculoskeletal disease that affects up to 30% of patients with psoriasis. Current challenges in clinical care and research include personalised treatment, understanding the divergence of therapy response and unravelling the multifactorial pathophysiology of this complex disease. Moreover, there is an urgent clinical need to predict, assess and understand the cellular and molecular pathways underlying the response to disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs).

Tissue-Resident Memory CD8+ T Cells From Skin Differentiate Psoriatic Arthritis From Psoriasis.

Objective: To compare immune cell phenotype and function in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) versus psoriasis in order to better understand the pathogenesis of PsA.

Methods: In-depth immunophenotyping of different T cell and dendritic cell subsets was performed in patients with PsA, psoriasis, or axial spondyloarthritis and healthy controls. Subsequently, we analyzed cells from peripheral blood, synovial fluid (SF), and skin biopsy specimens using flow cytometry, along with high-throughput transcriptome analyses and functional assays on the specific cell populations that appeared to differentiate PsA from psoriasis.

Comparison of the Heel Enthesitis MRI Scoring System (HEMRIS) with clinical enthesitis and local metabolic activity on PET-CT.

Objective: To compare the Heel Enthesitis MRI Scoring model (HEMRIS) with clinical and PET/CT outcomes in patients with cutaneous psoriasis (Pso), psoriatic arthritis (PsA) or ankylosing spondylitis (AS).

Methods: This prospective, observational study included 38 patients with Pso, PsA and AS. Patients were included regardless of presence or absence of clinical heel enthesitis.

Sensory modulation disorders in childhood epilepsy.

Background: Altered sensory sensitivity is generally linked to seizure-susceptibility in childhood epilepsy but may also be associated to the highly prevalent problems in behavioral adaptation. This association is further suggested by the frequent overlap of childhood epilepsy with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), conditions in which altered behavioral responses to sensory stimuli have been firmly established. A continuum of sensory processing defects due to imbalanced neuronal inhibition and excitation across these disorders has been hypothesizedthat may lead to common symptoms of inadequate modulation of behavioral responses to sensory stimuli.

Influence of Ossicular Chain Damage on Hearing After Chronic Otitis Media and Cholesteatoma Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Importance: Physicians should ideally be able to provide patients with chronic otitis media and/or cholesteatoma specific information about postoperative hearing outcome, based on their level of preoperative ossicular chain damage (OCD).

Objective: To identify the influence of preoperative OCD on hearing outcomes in patients after chronic otitis media and/or cholesteatoma surgery.

Data Sources: PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library databases were systematically searched for available evidence, without any constraints, on December 13, 2014, for articles published between January 1, 1975, and December 13, 2014.