OBJECTIVE We studied the effects of loss of ovarian function (ovariectomy) on muscle mass of gastrocnemius and the mRNA levels of IGF-1, atrogin-1, MuRF-1, and myostatin in an experimental model of rheumatoid arthritis in rats. METHODS We randomly allocated 24 female Wistar rats (9 weeks, 195.3 ± 17.4 grams) into four groups: control (CT-Sham; n = 6); rheumatoid arthritis (RA; n = 6); ovariec...

Antikeratin antibodies reacting in a laminar distribution with keratinised rat oesophagus were found in the sera of a proportion of patients with rheumatoid arthritis but not in healthy controls. In rheumatoid arthritis (RA) the proportion of sera exhibiting this reactivity varied with the site tested in the rat's upper alimentary tract. There were 36.4% of 99 patients with RA who gave positive...

UNLABELLED The prevalence of laryngeal involvement in Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) ranges from 13 to 75%. The specific RA manifestations include the cricoarytenoid arthritis and the presence of rheumatoid nodules in the vocal folds. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of dysphonia and laryngeal alterations on videolaryngoscopy in RA patients and their association ...

Background: The present study aimed to evaluate serum YKL-40 levels in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) compared to healthy subjects and to search whether there is an association between YKL-40 levels and disease characteristics in RA. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 60 RA patients based on the ACR/EULAR 2010 criteria and 30 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were included. I...

We report regarding a male patient who presented with a systemic vasculitis that was consistent with a diagnosis of polyarteritis nodosa. At presentation, he had no features of inflammatory arthritis but had a high rheumatoid factor titer and low C4 level. Withdrawal of immunosuppression after 6 years resulted in the development of classical rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This case supports previou...

This report deals with the question of whether or not the established association of HLA-DR4 with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) can also be detected in cases of RA as diagnosed in a population survey. For this purpose 6584 persons older than 19 years living in a single community in The Netherlands were investigated for the presence of rheumatoid arthritis and related abnormalities. After five years...

OBJECTIVES To examine the relation between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and bronchiectasis (BR). METHODS Disease activity, outcome, extra-articular manifestations, and laboratory features were compared in 32 patients with BR and RA (RA-BR group), 32 matched patients with RA without BR (RA group), and 31 patients with BR but without arthritis (BR group). RESULTS In 30 of the 32 (94%) patients w...

The basis of susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is complex, comprising genetic and environmental susceptibility factors. We have reviewed the available approaches to the investigation of the genetic basis of complex diseases and how these are being applied to RA. Affected-sibling-pair methods for nonparametric linkage analysis, linkage-disequilibrium-based approaches, transmission dise...