Ultrasound features of shoulder involvement in patients with ankylosing spondylitis: a case-control study.

Background: During Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) courses, shoulder involvement is common. However, etiologies of shoulder pain in patients with AS remain to be defined. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of ultrasound (US) abnormalities in shoulders of patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), and to determine predictive factors of ultrasound shoulder enthesitis.

Clinically important improvement in the WOMAC and predictor factors for response to non-specific non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in osteoarthritic patients: a prospective study.

Background: The aims of the present study were first to detect MCID for WOMAC in a Moroccan population, and second, to identify the best pre-treatment predictors on the change of health after treatment by non-specific, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and to evaluate whether the predictors were dependent on the choice of the response criterion.

Methods: The study involved 173 patients with osteoarthritis in whom primary care physicians decided to start treatment with non-selective NSAIDs. Assessments at admission and after 6 weeks were conducted.

Arthritis after infection with Chikungunya virus.

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an emerging alphavirus responsible for several infectious outbreaks in the world. After an acute stage of illness characterised by a fever-arthralgia syndrome and rash, joint disorders due to CHIKV infection can sometimes persist for several months or years. Chronic arthritis after this emerging disease is well documented, and similarities to rheumatoid arthritis have been described.

Psychometric evaluation of the Moroccan version of the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI) and Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) for use in patients with ankylosing spondylitis.

The objectives of this study are to translate, adapt in the Moroccan cultural context, and validate in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI) and Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI). The cross-cultural adaptation of the BASFI and BASDAI was obtained in accordance with the guidelines for translation of the health status measures. Eighty-five patients with AS were included in the study.

Rheumatoid arthritis in patient with homozygous haemoglobin C disease.

To date, few cases of hemoglobinopathies in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have been reported (Marino and Mcdonald in J Rheumatol 17:970-972, 1990; Gladman and Bombardier in Arthritis Rheum 30:1065-1068, 1987; Michel et al. in Semin Arthritis Rheum 38:228-240, 2008). These haemoglobin diseases are associated with characteristics abnormalities of the skeleton.