The association between radiographic progression, functional impairment, markers of dyslipidaemia and inflammation in patients with hand osteoarthritis: a five-year longitudinal study.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the associations between radiographic damage, serum biomarkers, and clinical assessments in Czech patients with hand osteoarthritis (HOA) over a five-year follow-up period.

Methods: The study cohort comprised 129 patients diagnosed with HOA, including 72 patients with an erosive subtype and 57 patients with a non-erosive subtype. Radiographs were evaluated using the Kallman scoring system by two independent readers.

New pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-40 is produced by activated neutrophils and plays a role in the early stages of seropositive rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: Interleukin (IL)-40 is a new cytokine related to immune system function and malignancies. Recently, an association of IL-40 with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and externalisation of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETosis) was found. As neutrophils are implicated in RA development, we investigated IL-40 in early stages of RA (ERA).

[Pain treatment options for osteoarthritis].

Osteoarthritis is one of the most common diseases of the joints and spine and is characterized by degenerative changes starting in the cartilage. Joint changes cause pain, stiffness, swelling, and a loss of normal joint function. Several international recommendations address the choice of treatment methods for osteoarthritis.

Circulating miRNAs in hand osteoarthritis.

Objective: Hand osteoarthritis (OA) is a frequent musculoskeletal disorder with an increasing prevalence during ageing. This study aimed to evaluate circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) in the plasma of patients with hand OA compared with age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects.

Methods: In total, 238 participants (96 with erosive and 73 with non-erosive hand OA patients and 69 healthy control subjects) were included in this study.

Clusterin serum levels are elevated in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis and predict disease activity and treatment response.

Clusterin (CLU) is a molecular chaperone that participates in a variety of biological processes. Recent studies indicate its possible involvement in the development of bone erosions and autoimmunity. The aim of this study was to investigate its serum concentrations in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to explore their potential relationship with disease activity and treatment response.

Chemokine and Cytokine Profiles in Patients with Hand Osteoarthritis.

Background: The development of hand osteoarthritis (HOA) and its progression into the erosive subset are unclear, but inflammation is suspected to be the main source. To verify the involvement of inflammation in HOA pathogenesis, we evaluate serum inflammatory mediators and their association with HOA-related clinical features in patients.

Methods: 153 participants (50 non-erosive HOA patients, 54 erosive HOA patients, and 49 healthy control subjects) were included in this study.

Lower serum clusterin levels in patients with erosive hand osteoarthritis are associated with more pain.

Background: The aims of this study were to analyse the serum concentrations of clusterin (CLU) in patients with hand osteoarthritis (OA) and in healthy controls, to compare CLU levels between patients with erosive and non-erosive disease, and to examine the association of CLU levels with clinical and laboratory parameters.

Methods: A total of 135 patients with hand OA (81 with erosive and 54 with non-erosive disease) and 53 healthy individuals were included in this study. All patients underwent clinical and hand joint ultrasound examination.

Chronic Low Back Pain: Current Pharmacotherapeutic Therapies and a New Biological Approach.

Chronic low back pain (CLBP) syndrome represents one of the leading causes of long-term disability worldwide. The prevalence of CLBP has been rising significantly in relation to increasing average life expectancy. CLBP results from chronification of acute low back pain.

Relationship between serum calprotectin (S100A8/9) and clinical, laboratory and ultrasound parameters of disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis: A large cohort study.

Background: Calprotectin may be a sensitive biomarker of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease activity.

Objectives: In the current study, we investigated whether calprotectin is a better biomarker than CRP for predicting clinical activity and ultrasound parameters in patients with RA.

Methods: A total of 160 patients with RA underwent clinical (swollen joint count-SJC, tender joint count-TJC, Disease Activity Score-DAS28, Clinical Disease Activity Index-CDAI, and simplified Disease Activity Index-SDAI) and ultrasound (German US7) examination.

The relationship between synovitis quantified by an ultrasound 7-joint inflammation score and physical disability in rheumatoid arthritis - a cohort study.

Background: Restoring normal physical functioning is a major therapeutic aim in the management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). It is unknown, whether the extent of synovial inflammation quantified by musculoskeletal ultrasound (US) can predict current or future capacity for physical functioning. To answer this question we investigated the longitudinal relationship between physical function assessed by the health assessment questionnaire (HAQ) and the German 7-joint ultrasound score (US7S) in a prospective cohort of patients with RA.

Serum Calprotectin Discriminates Subclinical Disease Activity from Ultrasound-Defined Remission in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis in Clinical Remission.

Objective: Clinical remission in some patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may be associated with ongoing synovial inflammation that is not always detectable on clinical examination or reflected by laboratory tests but can be visualized by musculoskeletal ultrasound. The goal of our study was to determine the levels of serum calprotectin, a major leukocyte protein, in patients with RA in clinical remission and to investigate the ability of serum calprotectin levels to distinguish patients in ultrasound-defined remission from those with residual ultrasound subclinical inflammation.

Methods: Seventy RA patients in clinical remission underwent clinical and ultrasound examination.

Serum calprotectin (S100A8/9): an independent predictor of ultrasound synovitis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Introduction: Calprotectin, a heterodimeric complex of S100A8/9 (MRP8/14), has been proposed as an important serum biomarker that reflects disease activity and structural joint damage in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The objective of this cross-sectional study was to test the hypothesis that calprotectin is associated with clinical and ultrasound-determined disease activity in patients with RA.

Methods: A total of 37 patients with RA (including 24 females, a mean disease duration of 20 months) underwent a clinical examination and 7-joint ultrasound score (German US-7) of the clinically dominant hand and foot to assess synovitis by grey-scale (GS) and synovial vascularity by power Doppler (PD) ultrasound using semiquantitative 0-3 grading.

Decrease in serum interleukin-21 levels is associated with disease activity improvement in patients with recent-onset rheumatoid arthritis.

Interleukin-21 (IL-21) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The aim of our study was to assess serum levels of IL-21 in patients with recent-onset RA in relation to disease activity and response to treatment. We analyzed serum levels of IL-21 in 51 RA patients, both before and 12 weeks after the initiation of treatment and in 36 healthy individuals.

Pentosidine, an advanced glycation end-product, may reflect clinical and morphological features of hand osteoarthritis.

The study investigates pentosidine levels, an advanced glycation end-product, in patients with erosive and non-erosive hand osteoarthritis (HOA) and determine its potential association with clinical findings and imaging-defined joint damage.Pentosidine was measured by HPLC in serum and urine of 53 females with HOA (31 erosive and 22 non-erosive HOA) and normalised to the total serum protein or urinary creatinine, respectively. Pain, joint stiffness and disability were assessed by the Australian/Canadian OA hand index (AUSCAN).

Serum hyaluronic acid as a potential marker with a predictive value for further radiographic progression of hand osteoarthritis.

Objective: To compare serum levels of hyaluronic acid (HA) between patients with erosive and non-erosive hand osteoarthritis (HOA), and investigate its association with morphological changes and radiographic progression over 2 years.

Methods: Fifty-five women with erosive and 33 women with non-erosive HOA were included in this study. All underwent clinical examination, which included assessment of pain, swelling, deformity and deviation of small hand joints and completed health assessment questionnaires.