The dark side of the fibroblastic sleeve: Case report and literature review.

The fibroblastic sleeve is a structure potentially enveloping any intravascular device. At ultrasound scan, it typically presents as a thin layer of variably echogenic material covering the catheter surface, which usually tends to remain into the vessel after the catheter removal. However, several case reports have documented its migration toward the heart or pulmonary artery after a central venous catheter removal.

Pregnancy Outcomes from a Multidisciplinary Obstetric-Medicine/Rheumatology Clinic in the United States: A Five-Year Retrospective Analysis.

Objective: At Women & Infants Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island, the Specialty Care in Pregnancy clinic combines obstetric-medicine internists with rheumatologists to care for pregnant patients with rheumatologic conditions. These clinics are scarce, with only three known similar clinics in the United States. This study aims to characterize the population cared for in this clinic, identify interventions, and analyze pregnancy outcomes for the birthing parents and newborns.

Insulin and leptin oscillations license food-entrained browning and metabolic flexibility.

Timed feeding drives adipose browning, although the integrative mechanisms for the same remain unclear. Here, we show that twice-a-night (TAN) feeding generates biphasic oscillations of circulating insulin and leptin, representing their entrainment by timed feeding. Insulin and leptin surges lead to marked cellular, functional, and metabolic remodeling of subcutaneous white adipose tissue (sWAT), resulting in increased energy expenditure.

Systemic sclerosis is associated with increased in-patient mortality in patients hospitalized for heart failure.

Aims: We aimed to analyse the characteristics and in-hospital outcomes of patients hospitalized for heart failure (HF) with co-morbid systemic sclerosis (SSc) and compare them to those without SSc, using data from the National Inpatient Sample from years 2016 to 2019.

Methods And Results: International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision diagnosis codes were used to identify hospitalized patients with a primary diagnosis of HF and secondary diagnoses of SSc from the National Inpatient Sample database from 2016 to 2019. Patients were divided into two groups: those with and without a secondary diagnosis of SSc.

Sex-Dependent Variations in Hypothalamic Fatty Acid Profile and Neuropeptides in Offspring Exposed to Maternal Obesity and High-Fat Diet.

Maternal obesity and/or high-fat diet (HF) consumption can disrupt appetite regulation in their offspring, contributing to transgenerational obesity and metabolic diseases. As fatty acids (FAs) play a role in appetite regulation, we investigated the maternal and fetal levels of FAs as potential contributors to programmed hyperphagia observed in the offspring of obese dams. Female mice were fed either a control diet (CT) or HF prior to mating, and fetal and maternal blood and tissues were collected at 19 days of gestation.

Development and validation of an OMERACT ultrasound scoring system for the extent of calcium pyrophosphate crystal deposition at the joint level and patient level.

Background: The Calcium Pyrophosphate Deposition (CPPD) subgroup of the Outcome Measures in Rheumatology (OMERACT) Ultrasound working group was established to validate ultrasound as an outcome measure instrument for CPPD, and in 2017 has developed and validated standardised definitions for elementary lesions for the detection of calcium pyrophosphate crystals in joints. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate the reliability of a consensus-based ultrasound scoring system for CPPD extent, representing the next phase in the OMERACT methodology.

Methods: In this study the novel scoring system for CPPD was developed through a stepwise process, following an established OMERACT ultrasound methodology.

Artificial intelligence in rheumatoid arthritis: potential applications and future implications.

The widespread adoption of digital health records, coupled with the rise of advanced diagnostic testing, has resulted in an explosion of patient data, comparable in scope to genomic datasets. This vast information repository offers significant potential for improving patient outcomes and decision-making, provided one can extract meaningful insights from it. This is where artificial intelligence (AI) tools like machine learning (ML) and deep learning come into play, helping us leverage these enormous datasets to predict outcomes and make informed decisions.

Walter Bauer, Marian Wilkins Ropes, and the Massachusetts General Hospital.

Walter Bauer was instrumental in the development of rheumatology as a medical subspecialty, promoting careful clinical observation and description and bringing basic scientists and clinicians together to study the "anatomy, chemical composition, and metabolism of connective tissue" in the laboratory. Marian Wilkins Ropes was a pioneering woman in medicine: the first female medical resident at the Massachusetts General Hospital, the first woman appointed as an assistant professor of clinical medicine at Harvard Medical School, the first woman elected to membership in the American Society of Clinical Investigation, and the first woman elected president of the American Rheumatism Association.

The burden of osteoarthritis: Is it a rising problem?

The objective of this review is to provide an overview of the current status of osteoarthritis (OA) as one of the most common joint disorders worldwide. Despite being the 11th cause of disability globally, there has been an increase in the prevalence, annual incidence, and years lived with disability of OA, particularly in developed and developing countries. Erosive hand OA, which affects approximately 10% of the general population, has been associated with a higher clinical burden compared to non-erosive hand OA.

Immune-mediated diseases and subsequent risk of alopecia areata in a prospective study of US women.

Introduction: Alopecia areata (AA) is the most common form of immune-mediated hair loss. Studies have begun to establish the most frequent comorbid diseases of AA; however, results have been inconsistent with few prospective studies.

Methods: A total of 63,692 women in the Nurses' Health Study, 53-80 years, were prospectively followed from 2002 to 2014 to determine whether history of immune-mediated disease was associated with AA risk.

Development of a histopathological index for skeletal muscle analysis in Rattus norvegicus (Rodentia: Muridae).

Skeletal muscle histopathological changes induced or caused by pathologies in animal models, can impair functionality, being the main focus of therapeutic studies. This study aimed to propose a histopathological index to assess, in a quantitative manner, skeletal muscle changes induced by experimental protocols for Rodentia's models. For the development, evaluation of fit and parsimony, replicability, and sensitivity index, Wistar rats from experiments with the same experimental design, but with different variation factors, were used to achieve different levels of damage.

Targeting RUNX1 as a novel treatment modality for pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Aims: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a fatal disease without a cure. Previously, we found that transcription factor RUNX1-dependent haematopoietic transformation of endothelial progenitor cells may contribute to the pathogenesis of PAH. However, the therapeutic potential of RUNX1 inhibition to reverse established PAH remains unknown.

Update of the current role of ultrasound in asymptomatic hyperuricemia. A systematic literature review.

Ultrasound (US) is a recognized imaging modality for the assessment of gout. Recently it is being explored for its potential role in the evaluation of subjects with asymptomatic hyperuricemia (AH). Preliminary reports demonstrated the presence of monosodium urate (MSU)-crystal deposits including aggregates, double contour sign and/or tophi in both intra-articular and periarticular tissues of AH individuals.

Maternal high-fat diet consumption programs male offspring to mitigate complications in liver regeneration.

In the last decades, obesity and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) have become increasingly prevalent in wide world. Fatty liver can be detrimental to liver regeneration (LR) and offspring of obese dams (HFD-O) are susceptible to NAFLD development. Here we evaluated LR capacity in HFD-O after partial hepatectomy (PHx).

Inhibition of lipid phosphatase SHIP1 expands myeloid-derived suppressor cells and attenuates rheumatoid arthritis in mice.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a debilitating autoimmune disease of unknown cause, characterized by infiltration and accumulation of activated immune cells in the synovial joints where cartilage and bone destructions occur. Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) are of myeloid origin and are able to suppress T cell responses. Src homology 2 domain-containing inositol polyphosphate 5-phosphatase 1 (SHIP1) was shown to be involved in the regulation of MDSC differentiation.

The Role of Fatty Acids in Ceramide Pathways and Their Influence on Hypothalamic Regulation of Energy Balance: A Systematic Review.

Obesity is a global health issue for which no major effective treatments have been well established. High-fat diet consumption is closely related to the development of obesity because it negatively modulates the hypothalamic control of food intake due to metaflammation and lipotoxicity. The use of animal models, such as rodents, in conjunction with in vitro models of hypothalamic cells, can enhance the understanding of hypothalamic functions related to the control of energy balance, thereby providing knowledge about the impact of diet on the hypothalamus, in addition to targets for the development of new drugs that can be used in humans to decrease body weight.

Identifying Potential Classification Criteria for Calcium Pyrophosphate Deposition Disease: Item Generation and Item Reduction.

Objective: Classification criteria for calcium pyrophosphate deposition (CPPD) disease will facilitate clinical research on this common crystalline arthritis. Our objective was to report on the first 2 phases of a 4-phase process for developing CPPD classification criteria.

Methods: CPPD classification criteria development is overseen by a 12-member steering committee.

Analysis of Wistar Rats Submitted to a Gout Model, Treated with Double Cryotherapy Protocol.

Gout arthritis commonly affects joint regions by deposition of crystals, promoting functional damage mainly during periods of exacerbation. Cryotherapy is a commonly used resource to contain inflammatory processes, however, its use during a gout crisis is not yet well understood. Therefore, the objective was to evaluate the parameters of Wistar rats submitted to an experimental gout model and treated with dual cryotherapy protocol.

Sexual dimorphism in aging hematopoiesis: an earlier decline of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells in male than female mice.

Adult hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) reside in the bone marrow (BM) ensuring homeostasis of blood production and immune response throughout life. Sex differences in immunocompetence and mortality are well-documented in humans. However, whether HSPCs behave dimorphically between sexes during aging remains unknown.