Factors associated with radiographic spinal involvement and hip involvement in ankylosing spondylitis.

Objectives: To determine the factors associated with radiographic spinal involvement and hip involvement in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and assess the influence of the damage seen in the radiographs on functional outcome in patients with AS.

Methods: We included 531 consecutive patients and recorded the clinical, laboratory, and radiographic data. Based on the spinal radiographs, patients were classified into 3 categories: (1) no spinal involvement; (2) spinal involvement without fusion; and (3) spinal involvement with fusion.

Association of bone morphogenetic proteins with spinal fusion in ankylosing spondylitis.

Objective: To measure serum concentrations of bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP) in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), and to investigate the relationship between BMP and clinical manifestations and radiographic changes.

Methods: We studied 60 consecutive AS patients with and 60 patients without spinal fusion. Spinal radiographs were assessed using the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Radiology Index (BASRI) and the modified Stoke Ankylosing Spondylitis Spinal Score (mSASSS).

Backstepping control for periodically time-varying systems using high-order neural network and Fourier series expansion.

An adaptive backstepping tracking scheme is developed for a class of strict-feedback systems with unknown periodically time-varying parameters and unknown control gain functions. High-order neural network (HONN) and Fourier series expansion (FSE) are combined into a new function approximator to model each uncertain term in the system. The dynamic surface control (DSC) approach is used to solve the problem of 'explosion of complexity' in the backstepping design procedure.

Adaptive tracking for periodically time-varying and nonlinearly parameterized systems using multilayer neural networks.

This brief addresses the problem of designing adaptive neural network tracking control for a class of strict-feedback systems with unknown time-varying disturbances of known periods which nonlinearly appear in unknown functions. Multilayer neural network (MNN) and Fourier series expansion (FSE) are combined into a novel approximator to model each uncertainty in systems. Dynamic surface control (DSC) approach and integral-type Lyapunov function (ILF) technique are combined to design the control algorithm.

Serum BLC/CXCL13 concentrations and renal expression of CXCL13/CXCR5 in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and lupus nephritis.

Objective: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a prototype of systemic autoimmune disease in which cytokines such as B lymphocyte chemoattractant (BLC, or CXC motif ligand 13, CXCL13) may play important roles in pathogenesis. We investigated the implications of CXCL13 in SLE and lupus nephritis.

Methods: Serum samples from 425 patients with SLE and 106 healthy control individuals were analyzed for the concentration of CXCL13 by ELISA.

Improvement of active rheumatoid arthritis after etanercept injection: a single-center experience.

Background: To study the clinical effectiveness and adverse reactions of etanercept in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA), in whom combination therapies with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) had failed.

Methods: One hundred and thirty-three patients with active RA who had been treated without satisfactory effect with DMARDs were entitled, by the Taiwan Bureau of National Health Insurance, to undergo etanercept injection (25 mg subcutaneously, twice weekly) along with oral methotrexate (15 mg weekly) in Taipei Veterans General Hospital. The disease activity score in 28 swollen and 28 tender joints (DAS28), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), serum C-reactive protein (CRP), rheumatoid factors (RFs), tender joint count (TJC), and swollen joint count (SJC) were recorded at the beginning, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after treatment.

Differences between juvenile-onset ankylosing spondylitis and adult-onset ankylosing spondylitis.

Background: Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory disease, which involves the spine, peripheral joints and entheses. Juvenile-onset ankylosing spondylitis (JAS) affects children under the age of 16 years. JAS has been noted to present as clinical courses different from those of adult-onset ankylosing spondylitis (AAS).

Adaptive NN backstepping output-feedback control for stochastic nonlinear strict-feedback systems with time-varying delays.

For the first time, this paper addresses the problem of adaptive output-feedback control for a class of uncertain stochastic nonlinear strict-feedback systems with time-varying delays using neural networks (NNs). The circle criterion is applied to designing a nonlinear observer, and no linear growth condition is imposed on nonlinear functions depending on system states. Under the assumption that time-varying delays exist in the system output, only an NN is employed to compensate for all unknown nonlinear terms depending on the delayed output, and thus, the proposed control algorithm is more simple even than the existing NN backstepping control schemes for uncertain systems described by ordinary differential equations.

A simplified technique for intrathoracic stomach repair: laparoscopic fundoplication with Vicryl mesh and BioGlue crural reinforcement.

Background: Laparoscopic repair of an intrathoracic stomach has been associated with a high recurrence rate. The use of biologic or synthetic mesh to reinforce the crural repair has been shown to reduce recurrence. This study aimed to assess a simplified technique for reinforcing the crural repair using absorbable Vicryl mesh secured with BioGlue during laparoscopic repair of an intrathoracic stomach.

Mycobacterium-associated lobular panniculitis, mimicking a rheumatoid nodule in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis.

Mycobacterium-associated lobular panniculitis can mimic a rheumatoid nodule and has been seldom reported in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We describe a 69-year-old woman with RA who presented initially with fever and an indurated skin lesion on the right thigh. Lobular panniculitis was diagnosed after biopsy and was then treated with prednisolone.

Increased spontaneous but decreased mitogen-stimulated expression and excretion of interleukin 18 by mononuclear cells in patients with active systemic lupus erythematosus.

Objective: To measure serum concentration and analyze the expression of interleukin 18 (IL-18) mRNA in mononuclear cells of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Methods: IL-18 concentrations in sera and culture supernatants of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from healthy controls and patients with active SLE were measured by ELISA. PBMC and polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) purified from patients with active SLE were stimulated with phytohemagglutinin (PHA), pokeweed mitogen (PWM), and lipopolysaccharide (LPS).

Adaptive NN output-feedback stabilization for a class of stochastic nonlinear strict-feedback systems.

In this paper, the adaptive neural network output-feedback stabilization problem is investigated for a class of stochastic nonlinear strict-feedback systems. The nonlinear terms, which only depend on the system output, are assumed to be completely unknown, and only an NN is employed to compensate for all unknown upper bounding functions, so that the designed controller is more simple than the existing results. It is shown that, based on the backstepping method and the technique of nonlinear observer design, the closed-loop system can be proved to be asymptotically stable in probability.

Hydrocephalus in an elderly man with systemic lupus erythematosus.

A 71-year-old man presented with quadriplegia, seizures, dysarthria, motor aphasia and urinary incontinence lasting for several years. The development of proteinuria and increased susceptibility to infections brought the physician's attention to possible underlying autoimmune diseases. Laboratory investigations revealed evidence for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and antiphospholipid syndrome.

Adaptive NN control for discrete-time pure-feedback systems with unknown control direction under amplitude and rate actuator constraints.

This paper focuses on the problem of adaptive neural network tracking control for a class of discrete-time pure-feedback systems with unknown control direction under amplitude and rate actuator constraints. Two novel state-feedback and output-feedback dynamic control laws are established where the function tanh(.) is employed to solve the saturation constraint problem.

Comments on "Discrete-time adaptive backstepping nonlinear control via high-order neural networks".

The purpose of this comment is to point out some mistakes in the above paper. It is shown that the main results of the paper cannot stand in general. Also, it is pointed out that after some corrections, the proposed control algorithm is still applicable to a more simple system.

Autoantibody and biopsy grading are associated with expression of ICAM-1, MMP-3, and TRAIL in salivary gland mononuclear cells of Chinese patients with Sjogren's syndrome.

Objective: Sjögren's syndrome (SS) is an inflammatory autoimmune disease. We investigated important factors associated with the expression of inflammation-related molecules in minor salivary gland (MSG) mononuclear cells in patients with SS.

Methods: Thirty-four patients with SS with a MSG biopsy grading of either grade III (10 patients) or grade IV (24 patients) were enrolled.

Hemolytic uremic syndrome with ischemic glomerulonephropathy and obliterative vasculopathy in a systemic sclerosis patient treated with cyclosporine-A.

Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) is not a commonly reported complication in post-transplantation patients treated with cyclosporine-A (CSA), and is extremely rare in systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients treated with this drug. CSA may contribute to the development of chronic ischemic glomerulonephropathy and vasculopathy, features not easily distinguished from SSc-related nephropathy. Here, we describe a 41-year-old Chinese man with diffuse-type SSc treated with CSA who developed thrombocytopenia, acute renal failure and hemolytic anemia and was diagnosed with HUS.

Chronic graft-versus-host disease mimicking rapid progressive rheumatoid arthritis with atlantoaxial subluxation.

Chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) may mimic clinical and serological features of various autoimmune diseases. We present a case of a 23-year-old man who developed vitiligo, symmetric polyarthritis, high titre rheumatoid factor, antinuclear antibodies and anti-double stranded DNA antibodies after allogenic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation for severe aplastic anaemia. He was treated with low dose oral steroids, non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs and azathioprine and clinical improvement of polyarthritis were observed initially.

Deterioration of the liver biochemistry due to reactivation of chronic hepatitis B during etanercept treatment for rheumatoid arthritis.

To report a hepatitis B virus (HBV) reactivation during the treatment of etanercept for rheumatoid arthritis (RA).The chronological course of a patient with RA who developed HBV reactivation associated with etanercept treatment was recorded.A Taiwanese woman with RA was treated by etanercept.

Analysis of genetic diversity and population structure of Chinese yak breeds (Bos grunniens) using microsatellite markers.

Nine Chinese yak breeds (Maiwa, Tianzhu White, Qinghai Plateau, Sibu, Zhongdian, Pali, Tibetan High Mountain, Jiulong, and Xinjiang) and Gayal were analyzed by means of 16 microsatellite markers to determine the level of genetic variation within populations, genetic relationship between populations, and population structure for each breed. A total of 206 microsatellite alleles were observed. Mean F-statistics (0.

Human leukocyte antigen and clinical and demographic characteristics in psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis in Chinese patients.

Objective: Psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) are interrelated disorders. To date, no study has compared the differences of genes between patients with PsA and psoriasis and healthy controls in a Chinese population. We conducted a retrospective study to determine the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) -A, -B, -Cw, -DR, and -DQ alleles in Chinese patients with PsA and psoriasis.

Decentralized output-feedback neural control for systems with unknown interconnections.

An adaptive backstepping neural-network control approach is extended to a class of large-scale nonlinear output-feedback systems with completely unknown and mismatched interconnections. The novel contribution is to remove the common assumptions on interconnections such as matching condition, bounded by upper bounding functions. Differentiation of the interconnected signals in backstepping design is avoided by replacing the interconnected signals in neural inputs with the reference signals.