Since the publication of the JUPITER trial, attention has been focused on the adverse glycemic effects of statin therapy. Although the modest increase in the risk of new diabetes mellitus is outweighed by the reduction in cardiovascular events for statins, emerging biochemical and genetic links between lipid metabolism and glycemic control raise the prospect of a broader diabetogenic effect of ...

INTRODUCTION The European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) recommendations for the management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and the treat-to-target (T2T) principles have been developed in order to improve the treatment outcome of patients with RA, and have received broad attention. It is not clear, though, whether these recommendations are indeed followed up in clinical practice. OBJECTIVE To...

OBJECTIVE Fatigue is prevalent and disabling in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Surprisingly, the long-term course of fatigue is studied seldom and it is unclear to what extent it is influenced by inflammation. This study aimed to determine the course of fatigue during 8 years follow-up, its association with the severity of inflammation and the effect of improved treatment strategies. METHODS 626 ...

PURPOSE To evaluate the efficacy and safety of the biosimilar infliximab in adult patients with inflammatory arthritis switched from reference product in our center. PATIENTS AND METHODS In April 2014, patients attending our rheumatology service for infliximab infusions were switched from reference product to the biosimilar infliximab following consent and hospital approval. RESULTS Around ...

BACKGROUND Erectile dysfunction (ED) is common although under-reported by patients. Along with the better known causes of ED, drug-induced impotence needs to be considered as a cause of this symptom. Lipid-lowering drugs have been prescribed increasingly. Their relationship to ED is controversial. OBJECTIVES Our aim was to clarify the relationship between lipid-lowering therapy and ED. A seco...

OBJECTIVE To analyze changes in the lag time to first disease modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) prescription since onset of symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) over the last 2 decades in Spain. PATIENTS AND METHOD Review of medical records of 865 patients diagnosed with RA living in Spain and attended in specialty care settings of the National Health System. The principal variable was th...

The present study demonstrates the effect of fibrates, agonists of PPARα on cytokines-induced proliferation in primary cultured astrocytes. Alone or combination treatment with cytokines, such as IL-1β (10 ng/ml), IFNγ (10 ng/ml), and TNF-α (10 ng/ml) cause a significant increase of cell proliferation in a time-dependent manner. Treatment of astrocytes with bezafibrate and fenofibrate (0, 5, and...

BACKGROUND Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with loss of overall functionality of the locomotion system and it is connected with substantial economic losses. OBJECTIVE To describe the clinical characteristics and healthcare resource utilization characteristics and to analyze the correlations in a cross-sectional sample of 206 patients in Romania. METHOD RA cases have been enrolled fr...

Reports on healing of erosions in rheumatoid arthritis are rare. However, it is expected that repair of erosions should be seen more often during the period of extensive use of disease modifying antirheumatic drugs, especially in patients who experience sustained remission. Two such cases are described.

INTRODUCTION The aim of this study was to determine a low disease activity threshold--a 28-joint disease activity score (DAS28) value--for the decision to maintain unchanged disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) treatment in rheumatoid arthritis patients, based on expert opinion. METHODS Nine hundred and sixty-seven case scenarios with various levels for each component of the DAS28 (re...