Bac kgro und: Cervical spine involvement in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) can cause pain and disability, with a variety of neurologic signs and symptoms. Objecti ves: To investigate the relationship between structural cervical spine involvement in patients with RA with the age at disease onset and the degree of radiologic severity of RA measured by Larsen scoring. Pati ents ... إقراء المزيد

Objective: we aimed to study systemic sclerosis patients in order to assess osteoprotegerin/Receptor activator of nuclear factor-kB ligand (OPG/RANKL) system and find the relation of these biomarkers with the clinical features of the disease, the carotid intima thickness, markers of inflammation, lipid profile, and other laboratory characteristics. Methods: both the level of (RANKL), (OPG) in sera of participants, in 30 ... إقراء المزيد

Objectives: Tostudyesophagealhighresolutionmanometry(HRM)insystemicsclerosis(SSc)patients and thecorrelationof findings toTheUniversityofCalifornia,LosAngelesSclerodermaClinicalTrials Consortiumgastrointestinaltract2.0(UCLASCTC_GIT2.0). Methods: FortySScpatientswereadministeredtotheUCLASCTCGIT2.0.PatientsunderwentHRMstudy (Solar GIMMS).HRMdatawerecomparedwith15healthyvolunteers. Results: Forty patientswithmeanage46 7 7 yearsanddiseaseduration9.3 7 7 yearsreportedupper (85.7%),lowerGIsymptoms(75%),while5%reportednosymptoms.Mean 7 SD scoresofUCLA SCTC_GIT2.0itemswereasfollows:reflux 1.2 7 0.8, distention1.6 7 1.2,fecalsoiling0.3 7 0.9, diarrhea 0.8 7 1,social1 7 1,emotional1 7 1.1,constipation0.5 7 0.9, andtotalGITscore0.9 7 0.6. Lower esophagealsphincter(LES)pressureanddistalesophagealamplitudeweresignificantly lowerin SSc patientsthancontrols.Mainmanometric findings weredecreasedLESrestingpressure(40%)and aperistalsis(40%).RegressionanalysesshoweddistalesophagealamplitudeandLESrestingpressure negativelycorrelatedwithreflux score(r ¼ −0.64; p ¼ ... إقراء المزيد

Hypo-vitaminosis D and its relevance to the stability of the immune system represent an interesting investigational topic in the field of rheumatology. Objectives: survey hypo-vitaminosis D and its relation to disease activity parameters in a population of patients with autoimmune diseases. Materials and methods: case control study including 70 patients: 30 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 30 patients with systemic ... إقراء المزيد

Gastrointestinal involvement (GI) in systemic sclerosis (SSc) is one of the most frequent symptoms in SSc and include a wide range of symptoms from gastro-oesophageal reflux to faecal incontinence. These have a negative impact on patient quality of life. The SSc_GIT 1.0 is a disease-specific HRQOL instrument for patients with SSc to assess their GIT-related activity and severity, High-resolution manometry ... إقراء المزيد

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