Radiographic involvement of cervical facet joints in ankylosing spondylitis: a longitudinal analysis in correlation with vertebral body lesions.

Background: The inability to assess structural changes in facet joints is a limitation of established radiographic scoring systems for ankylosing spondylitis (AS). We compared radiographic evidence of ankylosis in cervical facet joints and cervical vertebral bodies in patients with AS.

Methods: We analysed longitudinal data collected from 1106 AS patients and assessed 4984 spinal radiographs obtained up to 16 years of follow-up.

Prediction of radiographic progression pattern in patients with ankylosing spondylitis using group-based trajectory modeling and decision trees.

Objective: This study aimed to identify trajectories of radiographic progression of the spine over time and use them, along with associated clinical factors, to develop a prediction model for patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS).

Methods: Data from the medical records of patients diagnosed with AS in a single center were extracted between 2001 and 2018. Modified Stoke Ankylosing Spondylitis Spinal Scores (mSASSS) were estimated from cervical and lumbar radiographs.

Age-stratified trends in the progression of spinal radiographic damage in patients with ankylosing spondylitis: a longitudinal study.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate spinal radiographic progression in specific age ranges of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients.

Methods: Longitudinal data for 1125 AS patients at a single hospital from 2000 to 2018 were retrospectively reviewed. Radiographic intervals were obtained from patients with consecutive spinal radiographs.

Anterior Chest Wall Involvement in Spondyloarthritis Patients as Detected by Magnetic Resonance Imaging: A Case Series and Literature Review.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) plays an important role in diagnosing and classifying axial spondyloarthritis (SpA) and is also useful for appropriate evaluation of disease status owing to its ability to detect inflammation early and reveal structural changes. However, dedicated MRI for the anterior chest wall (ACW) is not routinely considered despite relatively frequent presence of ACW lesions. To date, no study has investigated the imaging findings and clinical features of ACW involvement in Korean SpA patients.

Clinical and Genetic Risk Factors Associated With the Presence of Lupus Nephritis.

Objective: To elucidate whether clinical features and the weighted genetic risk score (wGRS) were associated with the presence of lupus nephritis (LN).

Methods: We retrospectively divided patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE, n=1,078) into biopsy-proven LN (n=507) and non-LN groups (non-LN, n=571) Baseline clinical features, serologic markers, and the wGRS were collected The wGRS was calculated from 112 non-human leukocyte antigen (non-HLA) loci and HLA-DRβ1 amino acid haplotypes for SLE Associations among clinical features, wGRS, and the presence of LN were identified.

Results: In the multivariate analysis, patients with LN were younger at diagnosis (odds ratio [OR]=0.

Low BASDAI score alone is not a good predictor of anti-tumor necrosis factor treatment efficacy in ankylosing spondylitis: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of high disease activity as measured using the Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Score (ASDAS) in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients who nonetheless have low Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) scores after anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) treatment. Its clinical impact on anti-TNF survival was also investigated.

Methods: We conducted a single-centre retrospective cohort study of AS patients having low BASDAI scores (< 4) and available ASDAS-C-reactive protein (CRP) data after 3 months of first-line anti-TNF treatment.

Excess mortality persists in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Objectives: To investigate the causes and risk of death in a large cohort of Korean patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: Patients in the Hanyang BAE (Bae registry of Autoimmune diseases for Epidemiology) RA cohort who fulfilled the American College of Rheumatology criteria were analyzed. A total of 2355 patients were enrolled from October 2001 to December 2015.

Intervention Thresholds for Treatment in Patients with Glucocorticoid-Induced Osteoporosis: Systematic Review of Guidelines.

Background: In this study, we aimed to evaluate and compare the treatment indication for patients with glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis (GIOP) in various clinical practice guidelines.

Methods: We searched for potentially relevant studies conducted from January 2000 to March 2020 using online databases, including PubMed, Ovid-EMBASE, Guidelines International Network, National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, KoreaMed, KMbase, and KoMGI. We reviewed and analyzed the guidelines that included recommendations on GIOP and fulfilled the inclusion criteria.

Conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs therapy may not slow spinal radiographic progression in ankylosing spondylitis: results from an 18-year longitudinal dataset.

Objectives: The clinical benefit of conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (cDMARDs) for treating ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is generally limited to improvements in peripheral arthritis. However, cDMARDs could be conditionally considered as alternatives to established drugs for improving axial manifestations in exceptional circumstances. However, there are few studies of the impact of cDMARDs on radiographic progression outcomes.

Deletion at 2q14.3 is associated with worse response to TNF-α blockers in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Background: Structural variations such as copy number variations (CNVs) have a functional impact on various human traits. This study profiled genome-wide CNVs in Korean patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) to investigate the efficacy of treatment with TNF-α blockers.

Methods: A total of 357 Korean patients with RA were examined for the efficacy of TNF-α blocker treatment.

The relationship between anti-C-reactive protein and disease activity in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Background/aims: Anti-C-reactive protein (CRP) antibody has been introduced as a potential biologic marker in Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The aim of study is to evaluate the level of anti-CRP antibody in patients with SLE.

Methods: This study investigated the relationship between levels of anti-CRP antibodies and disease activity markers, such as complement, anti-double-stranded DNA antibody, and SLE disease activity index in 34 patients with SLE.

Sleep quality in rheumatoid arthritis, and its association with disease activity in a Korean population.

Background/aims: The aim of this study was to compare the sleep quality between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and healthy controls; and to evaluate the relationship between RA disease activity and sleep quality in Korea.

Methods: A total of 130 RA patients and 67 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were enrolled in a comparative study of sleep quality using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Age, gender, concomitant medication, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, serum C-reactive protein, Beck Depression Inventory second edition (BDI-II), 28 joints disease activity score (DAS28), pain visual analog scale (VAS), and PSQI were analyzed as covariates.

Two Cases of Hypophosphatemic Osteomalacia After Long-term Low Dose Adefovir Therapy in Chronic Hepatitis B and Literature Review.

Adefovir dipivoxil (ADV) is a nucleotide used as long-term therapy of chronic hepatitis B. Many published reports have shown that long-term high-dose therapy with adefovir can be associated with proximal renal tubular dysfunction resulting in significant hypophosphatemia, renal insufficiency and osteomalacia. We have encountered two patients who developed evidence of hypophosphatemic osteomalacia while on long-term low-dose adefovir therapy for chronic hepatitis B.

A centrifugally actuated point-of-care testing system for the surface acoustic wave immunosensing of cardiac troponin I.

A fully automated point-of-care testing (POCT) system with a surface acoustic wave (SAW) immunosensor was developed for rapid and sensitive detection of cardiac troponin I (cTnI) in body fluid (plasma and whole blood). The assay, based on gold nanoparticle sandwich immunoassay and subsequent gold staining, was performed on the SAW immunosensor packaged inside a disposable microfluidic cartridge. The entire fluidic process, including plasma separation, reagent transport, metering, and mixing, was carried out by controlling the centrifugal force acting on the rotating cartridge and laser-irradiated ferrowax microvalves.

Electrical immunosensor based on a submicron-gap interdigitated electrode and gold enhancement.

We demonstrated that the detection of human interleukin 5 (IL5) with a higher sensitivity than the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was possible using mass-producible submicron-gap interdigitated electrodes (IDEs) combined with signal amplification by a gold nanoparticle (AuNP) and gold enhancement. IDEs, facing comb-shape electrodes, can act as simple and miniaturized devices for immunoassay. An IDE with a gap size of 400nm was fabricated by a stepper photolithography process and was applied for the immunoassay of human IL5.

Signal amplification by enzymatic reaction in an immunosensor based on localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR).

An enzymatic reaction was employed as a means to enhance the sensitivity of an immunosensor based on localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). The reaction occurs after intermolecular binding between an antigen and an antibody on gold nano-island (NI) surfaces. For LSPR sensing, the gold NI surface was fabricated on glass substrates using vacuum evaporation and heat treatment.