Impulsivity and Cognitive Functioning in Inpatients with Concurrent Disorders: A Comparative Study with Healthy Controls and Evaluation of Treatment-Related Changes: Impulsivité et fonctionnement cognitif chez les patients hospitalisés présentant des troubles concomitants : étude comparative avec des témoins sains et évaluation des changements liés au traitement.

Objective: This study investigated impulsivity and working memory among CD inpatients across treatment and compared to controls.

Methods: Patients (= 56,  = 38.2, = 11.

Changes in Loss Sensitivity During Treatment in Concurrent Disorders Inpatients: A Computational Model Approach to Assessing Risky Decision-Making.

Background: Recent studies have employed computational modeling to characterize deficits in aspects of decision-making not otherwise detected using traditional behavioral task outcomes. While prospect utility-based modeling has shown to differentiate decision-making patterns between users of different drugs, its relevance in the context of treatment has yet to be examined. This study investigated model-based decision-making as it relates to treatment outcome in inpatients with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders.

SPECT imaging of cerebral blood flow changes induced by acute trigeminal nerve stimulation in drug-resistant epilepsy. A pilot study.

Objective: To explore the cortical areas targeted by acute transcutaneous trigeminal nerve stimulation (TNS) in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT).

Methods: Ten patients with DRE underwent brain SPECT at baseline and immediately after a 20-minute TNS (0.25 ms; 120 Hz; 30 s ON and 30 s OFF) applied bilaterally to the infraorbital nerve.

Effect of short-term transcutaneous trigeminal nerve stimulation on EEG activity in drug-resistant epilepsy.

Background: Transcutaneous trigeminal nerve stimulation (TNS) has antiepileptic effects in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE). However, whether and how TNS is able to modulate the electroencephalogram (EEG) background activity in patients with DRE is still unknown.

Objectives: To investigate the effect of short-term TNS on EEG background activity in DRE by qualitative and quantitative analyses.

Effects of acute trigeminal nerve stimulation on rest EEG activity in healthy adults.

Trigeminal nerve stimulation (TNS) is a non-invasive neuromodulation method which is increasingly used for its beneficial effects on symptoms of several neuropsychiatric disorders such as drug-resistant epilepsy. Sites and mechanisms of its action are still unknown. The present study was aimed at investigating the physiological effects of acute TNS on rest electroencephalographic (EEG) activity.

Impact of 24 months of anti-TNF therapy versus methotrexate on body weight in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a prospective observational study.

To evaluate the impact of anti-TNF-α therapy on the body weight of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients following 24 months of treatment. Data were collected on all RA patients included in the Veneto Region's Registry of Biological Therapy from January 2007 to July 2012. Inclusion criteria were: start of monotherapy with adalimumab, etanercept, or methotrexate, no previous use of biologic therapy, and at least 24 months of treatment.

Effects of half dose etanercept (25 mg once a week) on clinical remission and radiographic progression in patients with rheumatoid arthritis in clinical remission achieved with standard dose.

Objectives: This prospective long-term follow-up study evaluated the effects of half-dose etanercept (25 mg weekly) on clinical remission and radiographic progression in a large cohort of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in clinical remission after etanercept 25 mg bi-weekly.

Methods: 524 biologic-naïve RA patients were treated with etanercept 25 mg bi-weekly after failure of conventional drugs. Patients achieving remission (DAS28 <2.

Drug survival of the first course of anti-TNF agents in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and seronegative spondyloarthritis: analysis from the MonitorNet database.

Objectives: To compare drug survival of different anti-TNF drugs (infliximab, INF, etanercept, ETA, and adalimumab, ADA) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and spondyloarthritis (SpA) by analysing data collected from an Italian multicenter observational cohort study.

Methods: All patients with RA or SpA registered in the MonitorNet database who started their first course of anti-TNF therapy were included. Overall drug survival was measured, along with specific reasons of discontinuation (inefficacy or adverse events).

Elderly onset of primary Sjögren's syndrome: clinical manifestations, serological features and oral/ocular diagnostic tests. Comparison with adult and young onset of the disease in a cohort of 336 Italian patients.

Objectives: To study and compare the clinical and serological features of patients with elderly versus adult and younger onset of primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS).

Methods: We analyzed retrospectively 336 consecutive pSS patients followed at our unit. They were subdivided into three groups according to the age at disease onset: elderly (>65 years), adult (>40 and ≤65 years), and young (≤40 years).

[TNFalpha blockers and infectious risk in rheumatoid arthritis].

Patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis have increased risk of infections when compared with general population. The risk depends directly from disease activity and severity. Furthermore, risk increases with aging, immunosuppressive agents and comorbidities such as diabetes, pulmonary and cardiac diseases.

MonitorNet: the Italian multi-centre observational study aimed at estimating the risk/benefit profile of biologic agents in real-world rheumatology practice.

MonitorNet is a database established by the Italian Society of Rheumatology (SIR) in January 2007 and funded by the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA), for the active long-term follow-up of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis treated with biologic agents. All hospital Rheumatology Units in Italy were invited to participate in a non-interventional, observational, epidemiological study. The study is conducted in a routine clinical setting (real-world practice) where biologics are prescribed on the basis of current recommendations.

Methods used to assess remission and low disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis.

The aim of the treatment in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is to prevent articular damage and functional loss by decreasing the activity of the disease. The overall goal is the full suppression of the activity of the disease, also called clinical remission. The most reliable indices to assess RA activity were defined by the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) and the International League Against Rheumatism (ILAR) and are habitually used for the evaluation of remission.

PABS: an online platform to assist BAC-by-BAC sequencing projects.

Genome sequencing projects are either based on whole genome shotgun (WGS) or on a BAC-by-BAC strategy. Although WGS is in most cases the preferred choice, sometimes the BAC-by-BAC approach may be better because it requires a much simpler assembly process. Furthermore, when the study is limited to specific regions of the genome, the WGS would require an unjustified effort, making the BAC-by-BAC the only feasible strategy.

Laboratory findings in psoriatic arthritis.

Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) has been classically defined as an inflammatory arthritis associated with psoriasis. However, in comparison with other relevant inflammatory arthropathies, in which a definite diagnosis is frequently possible only by means of laboratory investigations, in PsA true laboratory diagnostic markers are lacking. Some markers are utilised more to differentiate other diseases than to characterise PsA.

Pathogenetic and clinical rationale for TNF-blocking therapy in psoriatic arthritis.

The classical definition of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) as an inflammatory arthritis associated with psoriasis reflects only in part the large spectrum of musculoskeletal disorders found in patients with psoriasis. In particular, enthesopathy, dactilytis, osteitis and axial involvement are frequently neglected and probably account for the unsatisfactory response of PsA to traditional drugs, such as NSAIDs, steroids and DMARDs. Furthermore, these drugs showed only a partial ability to influence radiographic progression and psoriasis.

A randomized pilot trial comparing cyclosporine and azathioprine for maintenance therapy in diffuse lupus nephritis over four years.

There is not agreement about the best maintenance treatment for patients with diffuse lupus nephritis. This multicenter, randomized trial compared the safety and efficacy of cyclosporine and azathioprine. Seventy-five patients with diffuse proliferative lupus were given three intravenous methylprednisolone pulses followed by prednisone and oral cyclophosphamide for a median of 90 d.

[Anakinra, a recombinant human IL-1 receptor antagonist, in clinical practice. Outcome in 60 patients with severe rheumatoid arthritis].

Objective: We evaluated both the efficacy and safety of anakinra in daily routine rheumatoid arthritis clinical practice.

Methods: We studied 60 cases, including patients with previous anti-TNFalpha exposure, treated with anakinra (100 mg/daily s.c.

[Primary antiphospholipid syndrome and hyperhomocysteinemia: a study of a group of 29 patients].

Objective: In order to investigate the potential role of hyperhomocysteinemia as an additional risk factor for thrombotic events, we studied its prevalence in patients with primary antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) and evaluated its association with different clinical features.

Methods: We enrolled 29 patients without any current evidence of underlying connective tissue disorder and fulfilling the Sapporo preliminary classification criteria for APS.

Results: Ten (34,4%) patients showed mild hyperhomocysteinemia (18,34 micromol/L +/- 2,04 DS).

[Intra-articular treatment with the TNF-alpha antagonist, etanercept, in severe diffuse pigmented villonodular synovitis of the knee].

Pigmented villonodular synovitis (PVNS) is a rare pre-malignant disease that require aggressive treatment as surgical synovectomy, eventually followed by radiosynovectomy. Nevertheless, the disease often reoccurs after these treatments. To determine the safety and efficacy of intra-articular (IA) TNFalpha blockade with etanercept (ETN), before extended arthroscopic synovectomy, in severe PVNS of the knee, two patients, (a 26-year-old man with B27+ undifferentiated spondylarthropathy and a 32-year-old femal with seronegative oligoarthritis), affected by diffuse knee PVNS (diagnosis made by histological examination), resistant to IA corticosteroid injections and to repeated arthroscopic synovectomy, were submitted, after protocol approval by human research committee and patient's written informed consent to intra-articular etanercept (IA-ETN) treatment with a different dosage schedule: 12.

Bosentan therapy of pulmonary arterial hypertension in connective tissue diseases.

Background: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a life-threatening and debilitating complication of several connective tissue diseases. We aimed to evaluate the effects of long-term treatment with bosentan, an oral dual endothelin ET(A)/ET(B) receptor antagonist, in a cohort of patients with PAH related to connective tissue diseases.

Materials And Methods: In the present prospective, noncontrolled study, 13 patients (nine with systemic sclerosis, two with systemic lupus erythematosus, one with mixed connective tissue disease and one with overlap syndrome including scleroderma and myositis), mostly nonresponders to prostanoids therapy, were treated for 1 year with bosentan.

Long-term prognosis and causes of death in systemic lupus erythematosus.

Purpose: We studied survival rate, prognostic factors, and causes of death in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), particularly focusing on the influence of disease severity.

Patients And Methods: A cohort of 207 consecutive Italian patients with SLE were prospectively studied. All prominent clinical and serologic parameters were evaluated and considered as prognostic risk factors.