Effects of exercise on fatigue and physical capacity in men with chronic widespread pain - a pilot study.

Background: There is very limited knowledge about the effects of exercise on men with Chronic Widespread Pain (CWP), especially regarding fatigue. We wanted to investigate the effects of resistance exercise compared with pool exercise on multidimensional fatigue, psychological distress and physical capacity in men with CWP.

Methods: Thirty-four men with CWP, with a mean age of 49 (SD 8, range 26-59) years, were randomised to 12 weeks of standardised pool exercise (PE) or resistance exercise (RE).

Significantly impaired shoulder function in the first years of rheumatoid arthritis: a controlled study.

Introduction: Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) risk impaired shoulder function due to the inflammatory process. The knowledge of shoulder function in the early years of the disease is limited. The aim was to compare shoulder function and activity limitation related to the shoulder-arm-hand in women with RA in early disease course compared to age-matched healthy women.

Infliximab dose reduction sustains the clinical treatment effect in active HLAB27 positive ankylosing spondylitis: a two-year pilot study.

The rationale of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of infliximab (IFX) treatment in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and to determine whether IFX dose reduction and interval extension sustains the treatment effect. Nineteen patients were included and treated with IFX 5 mg/kg every 6 weeks for 56 weeks. All patients concomitantly received MTX with median dose 7.

Usefulness of multiple dimensions of fatigue in fibromyalgia.

Objectives: To explore in which contexts ratings of multiple dimensions of fatigue are useful in fibromyalgia, and to compare multidimensional fatigue between women with fibromyalgia and healthy women.

Design: A cross-sectional study.

Subjects And Methods: The Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI-20), comprising 5 subscales of fatigue, was compared with the 1-dimensional subscale of fatigue from the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ) in 133 women with fibromyalgia (mean age 46 years; standard deviation 8.

Staphylokinase promotes the establishment of Staphylococcus aureus skin infections while decreasing disease severity.

Skin infections are frequently caused by Staphylococcus aureus and can lead to a fatal sepsis. The microbial mechanisms controlling the initiation and progression from mild skin infection to a severe disseminated infection remain poorly understood. Using a combination of clinical data and in vitro and ex vivo assays, we show that staphylokinase, secreted by S.

Disability of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand questionnaire in Swedish patients with rheumatoid arthritis: A validity study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the reliability and validity of the Disability of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) questionnaire in a Swedish rheumatoid arthritis population.

Methods: To investigate the concurrent and convergent validity, 67 patients with rheumatoid arthritis completed the DASH, the Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index (HAQ) and activity-induced pain. Active shoulder-arm motion, handgrip force and disease activity (Disease Activity Score in 28 joints; DAS28) were assessed.

The role of Staphylococcus aureus sortase A and sortase B in murine arthritis.

Gram-positive pathogenic bacteria display proteins on their surface that play important roles during infection. In Staphylococcus aureus, these surface proteins are anchored to the cell wall by two sortase enzymes, SrtA and SrtB, that recognize specific surface protein sorting signals. The role of sortase enzymes in bacterial virulence was examined using a murine septic arthritis model.

On the role of Staphylococcus aureus sortase and sortase-catalyzed surface protein anchoring in murine septic arthritis.

Anchoring of Staphylococcus aureus surface protein to the cell wall is catalyzed by sortase, a transpeptidase. The contribution of staphylococcal surface proteins to establishment of infection was examined using a murine septic arthritis model. Intravenous inoculation of mice with the sortase-deficient mutant S.