The venom of animals, including snakes, scorpions, and spiders is a complex combination of proteins, peptides, and other biomolecules as well as some minerals. Among the biomolecules of some animal’s venom, small peptides that lack disulfide bands known as Non-Disulfide Bridge Peptides (NDBPs) potentiate the bradykinin by preventing the conversion of angiotensin 1 to angiotensin 2 using the mec...

Therapies for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were mostly aimed at reducing the pain, stiffness and further progression of joint destruction. However, with the advent of biologic agents that act against specific inflammatory cytokines contributing to RA pathogenesis (treat-to-target strategy), the degree of remission achieved has been remarkably impressive. In particular, inhibition of tumor necrosis...

INTRODUCTION The risk of active tuberculosis is increased in psoriasis patients receiving biologic drug therapy. The QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube assay (QFT) is used for latent tuberculosis screening in these patients. This study presents a retrospective analysis on repeated QFT assays, investigating the influence of biologic drugs and isoniazid therapy on the outcome of the assay. METHODS Ser...

Introduction: Inflammatory bowel disease is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the gastrointestinal tract. Biologic drugs target specific molecules in body’s immune system to control inflammation. Recent studies have suggested potential link between their use and an increased risk nephrolithiasis. We conducted study further investigate this association. Methods: The used multiple logistic regre...

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) management has greatly improved with the development of biologic disease modifying antirheumatic drugs, but a proportion of patients do not improve despite the biologic drugs currently available. We need new biologic agents with novel mechanisms of action for the treatment of refractory patients. Recent evidence has shown that granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating ...

OBJECTIVE To examine whether initiation of a biologic agent to treat 2 autoimmune disorders -- rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and multiple sclerosis (MS) -- affects use of other medical services. STUDY DESIGN Longitudinal analysis from 1997 to 2005 examining linked pharmacy and medical claims from large, private employers. METHODS The study sample included 30,761 individuals newly diagnosed with...

BACKGROUND To assess persistence rates of biologic agents for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis in Japan. METHODS Based on Japanese claims data of 16,214 patients between 2012 and 2014, 6-, 12-, and 18-month persistence rates of different biologic agents were calculated. Determinants of persistence were assessed by means of a multivariate Cox proportional hazard model controlling for age,...