A strong association between HLA-DR4 and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been found in a number of populations. In contrast, the incidence of DR2 is decreased in patients with RA, suggesting that this specificity may confer some protection against the disease. A number of subtypes of DR2 have been defined by serology, by responses in mixed lymphocyte culture reaction, and, more recently, by restr...

BACKGROUND Overdiagnosis is considered a risk associated with the diagnosis of osteoporosis-as many people diagnosed won't experience harm from the condition. As yet there's little evidence on community understanding of overdiagnosis outside cancer- where it is an established risk of some screening programs-or effective ways to communicate about it. We examined community understanding around ov...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the performance of QuantiFERON-TB GOLD (QFTG) in a resource-poor setting among patients with and without HIV infection. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. SETTING Two hospitals in Northern Tanzania. SUBJECTS Eighty three adult male and female inpatients. INTERVENTION All patients were screened for HIV infection and underwent tuberculin skin test (TST) and QFTG. RESULT...

Re: Audit of Shared Care between Hospital and General Practice in the Management of Rheumatoid Arthritis SIR—I was interested to read the paper by Helliwell and O'Hara [1] on the audit of shared care between hospital and general practice in the management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) using disease-modifying drugs. They point out that the audit for i.m. gold (sodium aurothiomalate) was disappoin...

In a prospective study of 45 patients with rheumatoid arthritis mucocutaneous symptoms and signs were evaluated before and during treatment with intramuscular sodium aurothiomalate (Myocrisin). The work, performed in close collaboration between dermatology and rheumatology departments, showed that there was no significant increase in mucocutaneous side effects in patients with pre-existing muco...

Plasmonic photothermal therapy (PPTT) is a minimally-invasive oncological treatment strategy in which photon energy is selectively administered and converted into heat sufficient to induce cellular hyperthermia. The present work demonstrates the feasibility of in vivo PPTT treatment of deep-tissue malignancies using easily-prepared plasmonic gold nanorods and a small, portable, inexpensive near...

The present study investigated the acute toxic effects of a metal-loaded Bauxsol reagent (MLBR), containing more than 6,450 mg kg(-1) of bound metal, on the earthworm Eisenia fetida. Bauxsol is manufactured by Virotec Global Solutions of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The E. fetida were exposed to 0, 10, 20, 40, 60, and 80% treatments of MLBR plus cow manure for 28 d. Good motility and no m...

The objective of the study was to examine the feasibility and benefits of a group resistance training exercise programme for improving muscle function in institutionalised older adults. A feasibility and acceptability study was designed for a residential aged care (RAC) facility, based on the Gold Coast, Australia. Thirty-seven adults, mean age 86.8 ± 6.1 years (30 females) living in a RAC faci...

Magnetic gold nanoclusters (MGNCs) functionalized with 4-dimethylaminopyridine (DMAP) enables the trace detection of tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA), an environmental pollutant, using surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy. The synthesis, cleansing, and functionalization of MGNCs are conducted in aqueous solutions; SERS samples are prepared by magnetic precipitation in the presence...