BACKGROUND Periodontitis and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) share a number of clinical and pathologic features, one of which is the presence of the tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α)-induced bone resorption that is involved in the pathogenesis of both. OBJECTIVES To investigate the effect of TNF-α blockade on periodontal conditions in patients with active RA. METHOD The periodontal statuses of ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Approaching the cervical and high thoracic level epidural space through transepidural route from lumbar region represents a method to lower the occurrence of complications associated with direct approach. The authors performed a cadaveric pilot project to determine the feasibility of various catheter-based manipulation and cephalad advancement using the transepidural r...

Postoperative analgesia in patients undergoing robot-assisted thoracic surgery: a comparison between epidural and intercostal nerve block combined with intravenous patient-controlled

To compare the outcomes of thoracic epidural block with thoracic paravertebral block for thoracotomy in pediatric patients. A prospective double-blind study. 60 pediatric patients aged 1-24 months, ASA II, III scheduled for thoracotomy were randomly allocated into two groups. After induction of general anesthesia, thoracic epidural catheter was inserted in group E (epidural) patients and thorac...

Cognitive decline following surgery in older individuals is a major clinical problem of uncertain mechanism; a similar cognitive decline also follows severe infection, chemotherapy, or trauma and is currently without effective therapy. A variety of mechanisms have been proposed, and exploring the role of inflammation, we recently reported the role of IL-1β in the hippocampus after surgery in mi...

In this review we addressed the various analgesic techniques in cardiac surgery, especially regional methods such as thoracic epidural anesthesia (TEA). There are many techniques available for management of postoperative pain after cardiac operation including intravenous administration of analgesic drugs, infiltration of local anesthetics, nerve blocks, and neuroaxial techniques. Although there...

OBJECTIVES Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α ) therapy has been implicated in the development of autoimmune diseases. Our aim was to describe three patients with spondyloarthropathies who responded to infliximab, a chimeric monoclonal antibody specific for TNF-α but developed new symptoms of spondyloarthropathies. In parallel, a review of the literature on psoriasis induced by TNF-α blockers w...