Efficacy of oral prednisolone in active ankylosing spondylitis: results of a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled short-term trial.

Background: The efficacy of oral prednisolone in patients with active ankylosing spondylitis (AS) has not been studied to date.

Methods: In this double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial, patients with AS with active disease despite taking non-steroidal antirheumatic drugs were randomised to three groups in which they were either treated with 20 mg (n=13) or 50 mg (n=12) of prednisolone, or placebo (n=14), administered orally every day for a total of 2 weeks. The primary endpoint was defined as a 50% improvement of the Bath AS Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) at week 2.

Effectiveness and safety of adalimumab in patients with ankylosing spondylitis or psoriatic arthritis and history of anti-tumor necrosis factor therapy.

Introduction: Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) antagonists reduce the signs and symptoms of spondyloarthritides, including ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA). Our objective was to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of adalimumab, 40 mg every other week, for patients with AS or PsA and prior treatment with infliximab (IFX) and/or etanercept (ETN).

Methods: Both trials were 12-week, open-label studies with an optional extension period up to week 20.

Effectiveness, safety, and predictors of good clinical response in 1250 patients treated with adalimumab for active ankylosing spondylitis.

Objective: We evaluated the effectiveness and safety of adalimumab in a large cohort of patients with active ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and identified clinical predictors of good clinical response.

Methods: Patients with active AS [Bath AS Disease Activity Index (BASDAI)>or=4] received adalimumab 40 mg every other week in addition to their standard antirheumatic therapies in a multinational 12-week, open-label study. We used 3 definitions of good clinical response: 50% improvement in the BASDAI (BASDAI=50), 40% improvement in the ASsessments of SpondyloArthritis International Society criteria (ASAS40), or ASAS partial remission.

Adalimumab is effective and well tolerated in treating patients with ankylosing spondylitis who have advanced spinal fusion.

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of adalimumab in treating patients with AS and advanced structural damage.

Methods: Patients with active AS [Bath AS Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) > or =4] received 40 mg of adalimumab every other week plus their standard anti-rheumatic therapies in this 12-week, open-label study. Investigators documented the presence or absence of advanced ankylosis based on previous radiographs.

Multicenter open-label study with infliximab in active ankylosing spondylitis over 28 weeks in daily practice.

Objective: The aim of this study was to prospectively investigate the therapeutic efficacy and safety of infliximab therapy in NSAID-refractory AS patients, with special emphasis on impact on quality of life in daily practice.

Patients And Methods: 101 AS patients with active disease (mean Bath ankylosing spondylitis activity index (BASDAI) 6.3, range 4.

Platelet activation in diabetic microangiopathy.

Platelet activation and hyperreactivity are known to be associated with a rapid development and progression of diabetic angiopathy. The present study attempts to clarify whether IDDM patients without diabetic complications have an increased platelet activation and whether in vivo platelet activation is altered in the presence of diabetic microangiopathy. Platelet activation was assessed by flow cytometry analysis in 50 healthy controls (c) and in 41 patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM type 1) who were screened for diabetic complications.

Fluoroscopy-guided application of corticosteroids for local control of manubriosternal joint pain in patients with spondyloarthropathies.

Symptomatic manubriosternal arthritis, occasionally encountered with spondyloarthropathies, may not be adequately controlled by systemic therapy. Local corticosteroid injections make a potential contribution to symptomatic management. Three patients with acute inflammation of the joint as documented by MRI and fluoroscopy-guided therapy are presented.

Cloning and expression of an inhibitor of microbial metalloproteinases from insects contributing to innate immunity.

The first IMPI (inhibitor of metalloproteinases from insects) was identified in the greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella [Wedde, Weise, Kopacek, Franke and Vilcinskas (1998) Eur. J. Biochem.

Determinants of the quality of life (QoL) in patients with an implantable cardioverter/defibrillator (ICD).

Objectives: In high-risk cardiac patients the treatment of life-threatening arrhythmias with an implantable cardioverter/defibrillator (ICD) extends survival. Other important outcome criteria are treatment side effects especially the quality of life (QoL). Knowledge of the variables that influence QoL is important for therapy decisions in ICD patients.

Successful short term treatment of patients with severe undifferentiated spondyloarthritis with the anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha fusion receptor protein etanercept.

Objective: Anti-tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-alpha) therapy has been successfully used in patients with active ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and other subtypes of spondyloarthritis (SpA). Treatment options for patients with severe forms of undifferentiated spondyloarthritis (uSpA), a rather frequent SpA subset, are limited. In this open study we examined the efficacy of the TNF-alpha receptor fusion protein etanercept in patients with uSpA.

The humoral immune response in viral heart disease: characterization and pathophysiological significance of antibodies.

Several lines of evidence suggest a viral infection as the initiating event for the development of myocarditis (MC). Especially enteroviruses like coxsackie B3 virus have been shown to induce MC in humans and strains of MC-prone mice after an infection. The further course of the disease is, however, determined not only by the viral infection but also by the host's immune system.

The functional expression of human bone-derived cells grown on rapidly resorbable calcium phosphate ceramics.

The use of biodegradable bone substitutes is advantageous for alveolar ridge augmentation, since it avoids second-site surgery for autograft harvesting. This study examines the effect of novel, rapidly resorbable calcium phosphates on the expression of bone-related genes and proteins by human bone-derived cells (HBDC) and compares this behavior to that of tricalciumphosphate (TCP). Test materials were alpha-TCP, and four materials which were created from beta-Rhenanite and its derivatives: R1-beta-Rhenanite (CaNaPO(4)); R1/M2 composed of CaNaPO(4) and MgNaPO(4); R1+SiO(2) composed of CaNaPO(4) and 9% SiO(2) (wt%); and R17-Ca(2)KNa(PO(4))(2).

Long-term efficacy and safety of infliximab in the treatment of ankylosing spondylitis: an open, observational, extension study of a three-month, randomized, placebo-controlled trial.

Objective: Treatment of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) with infliximab, an anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha monoclonal antibody, was shown to be efficacious in patients with active disease during a 3-month treatment period. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of infliximab treatment of AS for a 1-year period.

Methods: This study was an open, observational, extension study of a 3-month, randomized, placebo-controlled trial.

Early onset albuminuria in Dahl rats is a polygenetic trait that is independent from salt loading.

The aim of the study was to characterize the genetic basis for the early onset of increased urinary albumin excretion (UAE) observed in the salt-sensitive Dahl rat (SS). We first characterized blood pressures and UAE values in adult SS compared with the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) strain. Blood pressure measurements by radiotelemetry at 14 wk demonstrated similar spontaneous hypertension in both strains on a low-sodium diet containing 0.

Six-month results of a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of etanercept treatment in patients with active ankylosing spondylitis.

Objective: There is increasing evidence that tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha) is centrally involved in the pathogenesis of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and other spondylarthritides. This study was designed to investigate the efficacy of anti-TNFalpha therapy with etanercept, a 75-kd receptor fusion protein, in active AS.

Methods: This multicenter trial had 2 phases: an initial placebo-controlled period of 6 weeks' duration and an observational phase lasting 24 weeks.

Genetic loci contribute to the progression of vascular and cardiac hypertrophy in salt-sensitive spontaneous hypertension.

Objective: The salt-sensitive Dahl rat and the spontaneously hypertensive rat develop comparable spontaneous hypertension on a low-salt diet, whereas only the salt-sensitive Dahl rat strain develops a striking increase in blood pressure and cardiovascular hypertrophy on a high-salt diet. We set out to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) contributing to the progression of salt-induced organ damage in hypertension by studying an F2 population derived from both strains.

Methods And Results: We determined systolic blood pressure (SBP), vascular aortic hypertrophy (AH), cardiac left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy (LVH), and LV fibrosis in 230 male F2-animals on a high-salt diet.

Nephroprotective effects of the endothelin ET(A) receptor antagonist darusentan in salt-sensitive genetic hypertension.

We tested the effect of selective endothelin ET(A) receptor blockade on the development renal damage in the Sabra rat model of genetic salt-sensitivity. Animals from the salt-sensitive (SBH/y) and salt-resistant strains (SBN/y) were either salt-loaded with deoxycorticosterone acetate and salt (DOCA) or fed a normal diet. Additional salt-loaded groups were also treated with the selective ET(A) antagonist darusentan (DA).

Transvaginal bone anchors in female stress urinary incontinence: poor results.

Objective: This study evaluates the results of a minimally invasive technique for correcting female stress urinary incontinence by transvaginal implantation of pubic bone anchors.

Patients And Methods: Female stress urinary incontinence was treated by fixing a gelatin-coated Dacron sling between two miniature titanium anchors with Prolene sutures.

Results: A total of 26 patients (median age 57.

Magnetic resonance-guided biliary drainage in a patient with malignant obstructive jaundice and thrombocytopenia.

In a patient suffering from malignant obstructive jaundice and thrombocytopenia, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to guide percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage, to avoid blind puncture of the bile ducts using fluoroscopy. The first puncture approach was successful, and an MRI-visible guide wire and drainage catheter were inserted successfully within 35 min. The course after the intervention was uneventful, and the patient's fever and itching improved.

Platelet activation is increased in patients with cardiomyopathy: myocardial inflammation and platelet reactivity.

Thrombotic events are a major complication in patients with cardiomyopathy, in which inflammation is often found within the heart. We examined the platelet activation in patients with cardiomyopathy with and without myocardial infiltrates. Endomyocardial biopsies of 45 patients with cardiomyopathy (CM) were immunohistologically assessed for infiltrates.

Ultrasound examination of paediatric testicles after laparoscopic laser dissection of internal testicular vessels in cryptorchism.

Purpose: To evaluate the growth of testicles, their sonographic structure and the recovery of testicular perfusion through collateral vessels after preliminary laparoscopic laser dissection (PLLD) of the internal spermatic artery in cryptorchism.

Materials And Methods: The postoperative position, the volume increase, the structural and vascular abnormalities and the incidence of epididymal abnormalities were evaluated with ultrasound in 32 children (mean age: 6.5 +/- 1.

Bisphosphonates--targeting bone in the treatment of spondyloarthritis.

The increased prevalence of osteoporosis and recognition of the importance of subchondral bone marrow inflammation in ankylosing spondylitis, together with in vitro and animal model data indicating that bisphosphonates may possess anti-inflammatory properties, constitute a theoretical rationale for their evaluation in this disease. Open evaluation of intravenous pamidronate in some but not all studies has demonstrated efficacy whilst controlled evaluation of a monthly regime has shown that therapy is efficacious in about 60% of patients, although effects are delayed, treatment being necessary for at least 6 months.

Apoptotic epithelial cell death: a prerequisite for palatal fusion. An in vivo study in rabbits.

Unlabelled: The aim of the present study was to investigate stage-specific changes in medial edge epithelium during in vivo fusion of embryonic palatal shelves in 25 Russian rabbits.

Material And Methods: The embryos were dissected following Caesarian section at day 18. Palatal shelves of specific developmental steps (approximation, contact, fusion) were examined by light microscopy, immunohistochemistry and transmission electron microscopy.