Why read this summary? Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, progressive autoimmune disease associated with inflammation principally in synovial joints and affecting over 400 000 people in the United Kingdom. In recent years it has become clear that pain and disability can be avoided if the disease is recognised early and treated promptly and appropriately. It is therefore crucial that all health ...

Studies of cytokine expression in rheumatoid arthritis have provided key insights into the pathogenesis of disease and have offered clues for effective therapy. Patterns of T-cell products in chronic rheumatoid synovitis suggest that T helper type 1 cells contribute to the perpetuation of disease. However, there is no guarantee that the mechanisms of late disease are identical to very early rhe...

Psoriasis (Ps) is a chronic inflammatory disease affecting 1% to 3% of the population worldwide. A significant portion (5% – 40%) of patients with Ps develop psoriatic arthritis (PsA), a chronic inflammatory arthritis that causes progressive joint damage, reduced functionality and increased mortality risk. Skin disease typically manifests before arthritis in more than 80% of PsA patients, and p...

Although chronic pain is the most common symptom of arthritis, relatively little is known about the mechanisms driving it. Recently, a sprouting of autonomic sympathetic fibers into the upper dermis of the skin, an area that is normally devoid of them, was found in the skin following chronic inflammation of the rat hindpaw. While this sprouting only occurred when signs of joint and bone damage ...

BACKGROUND The likely corresponding increase in prevalence of chronic disease will be a major challenge for the health care system. Few nationwide epidemiological studies include a large enough sample of older adults to provide estimates of chronic conditions in the older adult population. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of eight common chronic health conditions and examine socioeco...

Introduction Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF) as an ethnic disease is wide-spread in Armenia. In most cases FMF manifests in childhood. Joint involvement is the third major FMF manifestation. It usually presents as acute recurrent arthritis (ARA), arthralgia, more rare chronic arthritis (Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis, JIA), which are important to better learn more about the overlap between th...

Arthritis occurred in 4 5 per cent. of 600 patients with regional enteritis reviewed by Van Patter, Bargen, Dockerty, Feldman, Mayo, and Waugh (1954). Ford and Vallis (1959) described four cases of arthritis in regional enteritis and suggested that it was similar in nature to the arthritis associated with ulcerative colitis (Bywaters and Ansell, 1958). The present study was undertaken to invest...

In the previous issue of Arthritis Research & Therapy data are presented showing that circulating immune complexes containing citrullinated fibrin(ogen) are present in anti-citrullinated protein antibody-positive rheumatoid arthritis patients, and that such immune complexes co-localize with complement factor C3 in the rheumatoid synovium. These results corroborate the idea that citrullination i...

There is an increasing number of rheumatoid patients who get septic arthritis. Chronic use of steroids is one of the important predisposing factors. The clinical picture of septic arthritis is different in immunocompromised patients like patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The diagnosis and management are discussed in this review article.