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Thermal Imaging for Inflammatory Arthritis Evaluation
Published in U. Snekhalatha, K. Palani Thanaraj, Kurt Ammer, Artificial Intelligence-Based Infrared Thermal Image Processing and Its Applications, 2023
U. Snekhalatha, K. Palani Thanaraj, Kurt Ammer
RA is an inflammatory multi-factorial systemic disorder that affects around 1–2% of Indians, especially women in the age group of 50-year-olds (Mittal and Dubey, 2013). It causes pain, disability, and loss of function. Earlier screening or diagnosis of RA allows better treatment and prevention. Unfortunately, there is no specific test to detect the presence of RA. RA is traditionally diagnosed by combining symptoms such as morning stiffness with clinical signs such as a number of swollen and tender joints and laboratory tests such as ESR, CRP, rheumatoid factor, and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) antibodies. For the diagnosis of RA, clinical signs and symptoms must have been present for at least 6 weeks (Arnett et al., 1988). The severity of disease can be further assessed by imaging modalities such as X-ray, ultrasound, and MRI. However, the sensitivity of these tests is limited in the diagnosis of RA at the earlier stage (Heidari, 2011). In 2010, the American College of Rheumatology/European League against Rheumatism Collaborative Initiative published revised rheumatoid arthritis classification criteria aimed at earliest identification of patients who might benefit from treatment with disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARD). The presence of obvious “clinical” synovitis in at least one joint is central to this classification (Aletaha et al., 2010). Imaging techniques such as MRI or sonography can confirm clinically suspected synovitis.
Infection in the Hematopoeitic Stem Cell Transplant Recipient with Autoimmune Disease
Published in Richard K. Burt, Alberto M. Marmont, Stem Cell Therapy for Autoimmune Disease, 2019
Valentina Stosor, Teresa R. Zembower
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic inflammatory disease of unclear etiology. It is characterized by chronic synovitis leading to devastating joint dysfunction by cartilage and subchondral bone destruction.18 Several immunologic abnormalities have been described in RA patients, including altered complement system activation, abnormal chemotaxis and phagocytosis of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs), reduced gamma interferon production, and blunted NK cell activity.10 Infections play a major role in both the morbidity and mortality of patients with RA. One prospective study from the Mayo Clinic, during which cohorts of both RA and nonRA patients were followed for a mean of 12.7 and 15.0 years, respectively, demonstrated an increased risk of infection for RA patients, with bone, joint, skin, soft tissue, and respiratory tract infections predominating.19 Strong predictors of infection include increasing age, presence of extraarticular manifestations of disease, leukopenia, the use of corticosteroids and other comorbid conditions such as chronic lung disease, alcoholism, organic brain disease, and diabetes mellitus.20
Articular Cartilage Pathology and Therapies
Published in Kyriacos A. Athanasiou, Eric M. Darling, Grayson D. DuRaine, Jerry C. Hu, A. Hari Reddi, Articular Cartilage, 2017
Kyriacos A. Athanasiou, Eric M. Darling, Grayson D. DuRaine, Jerry C. Hu, A. Hari Reddi
Approximately 1% of the population suffers from rheumatoid arthritis. Although rheumatoid arthritis results in joint destruction, it differs from the injury or aging etiology of osteoarthritis, as the cause is immune-mediated (Figure 3.3). This results in systemic chronic inflammation (synovitis). Unfortunately, the initiating antigens in susceptible patients have not yet been identified definitively. Females are more than twice as susceptible as men to rheumatoid arthritis, and this has been hypothesized to be due to differences in estrogen effects on T-cell function (Ahmed et al. 1999; Pernis 2007).
Case series: rheumatological manifestations attributed to exposure to Libby Asbestiform Amphiboles
Published in Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A, 2018
Roger Diegel, Brad Black, Jean C. Pfau, Tracy McNew, Curtis Noonan, Raja Flores
The patient was diagnosed with Behçet’s Disease and rheumatoid arthritis. The patient developed oral and genital ulcers in 1994 with eye inflammation in 1995 and diagnosed with Behçet’s disease. The patient developed synovitis in his hands, wrists, ankles, and feet and was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 1995. The patient has been treated with Remicade 500 mg every 4 weeks with good resolution of his symptoms. He also has taken methotrexate 7.5 mg weekly. Prior to Remicade, he had used prednisone. Testing results from PAML from April 2014 showed negative ANA ELISA test, CCP positive at 21, with greater than 20 considered positive. However, indirect immunofluorescence testing gave a positive ANA test at 1:80 titer. The patient also developed pleurisy in 1985.
Serum substance P level as a marker for subclinical rheumatoid arthritis activity
Published in Egyptian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 2023
Shimaa Borham Mohamed, Mohammed Fouad Elkenawy, Tamer Omar Elsaid, Ghada El-Saeed Mashaly
The autoimmune disorder rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease characterized by persistent synovitis, progressive destruction, and joint deformity [1]. When compared to other autoimmune illnesses, which affect 5% to 7% of the global population, RA prevalence ranges from 0.3% to 1% [2]. Women are more likely than men to have rheumatoid arthritis (3:1 ratio) [3]. The T lymphocytes cells are the major cells responsible for causing synovitis and hence can be implicated in the pathophysiology of RA [4]. Rheumatoid arthritis commonly impacts the smaller joints in the hands and feet. RA can also affect the musculoskeletal system, which includes tendons, muscles, bones, and less frequently extra-articular sites [5].
‘A long want’: an archival exploration of scurvy in the Otago goldfields of New Zealand
Published in Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 2023
Hallie R. Buckley, Melandri Vlok, Peter Petchey, Neville Ritchie
The rheumatismus of scorbutus for which John Tie was admitted could have presented as Lind describes, where following the pale and bloated face and a general aversion to work and exercise; their former aversion to motion degenerates soon into a universal lassitude, with a stiffness and feebleness of their knees upon using exercise; with which they are apt to be much fatigued, and upon that occasion subject to a breathlessness or panting. (Lind 1753, p. 149)Today an inflammation of the synovium, the membrane lining a synovial joint capsule, has multiple aetiologies and is termed ‘synovitis’. How synovitis was recognised in the nineteenth century is difficult to discern, but two of the patients are recorded with ‘scorbutic synovitis’ in the register. William Harper, a 34-year-old Scottish man working at Hogburn was initially seen for scorbutic synovitis as an outpatient and then admitted. He spent 39 days in and was discharged on the 14th of February. Lind (1753, p. 162) describes symptoms which may have been diagnosed as the synovitis associated with scurvy: In the second stage of this disease, they most commonly lose the use of their limbs; having a contraction of the flexor tendons in the ham, with a swelling and pain in the joint of the knee. Indeed, a stiffness in these tendons, and a weakness of the knees, appear pretty early in this disease, generally terminating in a contracted and swelled joint.Despite the cure for scurvy being well understood in the 1860s many of these patients had prolonged stays in the hospital. As noted, the records are very patchy in 1864 but for several the outpatients the duration of time the men had been sick with scurvy prior to examination by a doctor was noted. For example, George Bilfrow (age not recorded) was an English man working at Millers Flat who had been ill with scorbutus for over 2 months before being seen at the hospital.