This study aims to investigate the value of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in detecting Bone Marrow Edema (BME) in the Metacarpophalangeal (MCP) and wrist joints for Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and the correlation between the degree of BME and the disease activity of RA. Nonenhanced MRI scan of dominant wrist/metacarpophalangeal joints of 60 active RA patients were scored for BME using 0.2 T ex...

Dupuytren's contracture is a condition commonly encountered by hand surgeons, although it is rare in the Asian population. Various surgical procedures for Dupuytren's contracture have been reported, and the outcomes vary according to the treatment modalities. We report the treatment results of segmental fasciectomies with multiple transverse incisions for patients with Dupuytren's contracture. ...

AIM The objective of this study was to evaluate whether musculoskeletal (MS) ultrasound (US) can be useful in helping medical students to detect joint inflammation through physical examination. MATERIAL AND METHODS The study was performed by two groups of four 6th year medical students. None had received any previous training in the clinical examination of joints or the use of ultrasound. Stu...

BACKGROUND The main aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of US-detectable forefoot bursae, metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joint and metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joint synovial hypertrophy (SH), Power Doppler (PD) signal or erosion in participants with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). A secondary aim was to determine the strength of potential association between patient reported foot-rel...

An antagonist of human monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1, which consists of MCP-1(9-76), had previously been characterized and shown to inhibit MCP-1 activity in vitro. To test the hypothesis that, by inhibiting endogenous MCP-1, the antagonist has antiinflammatory activity in vivo, we examined its effect in the MRL-lpr mouse model of arthritis. This strain spontaneously develops a chron...

INTRODUCTION The colored ultrasound images can better highlight the joint echotexture damage. OBJECTIVE To detect echotexture changes in joints of patients with rheumatic diseases, through a color histogram, and to correlate the area measurements with the gray scale (GS). METHODS Four patients with chondrocalcinosis, 5 patients with osteoarthritis and 1 patient with psoriatic arthritis were...

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease caused by a T cell-driven autoimmune process, which majorly involves the diarthrodial joints. It affects 1% of the US population, and approximately 70% of patients with RA develop pathologies of the hand, especially of the metacarpophalangeal joints (MCP). Furthermore, also the extensor and flexor tendons of the fingers are frequently ...

A marker-based kinematic hand model to quantify finger postures was developed and compared to manual goniometric measurements. The model was implemented with data collected from static postures of five subjects. The metacarpal phalangeal (MCP) and proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joints were positioned in flexion of approximately 30, 60, and 90 degrees for 5 subjects. Wrist flexion/extension and ...

This paper deals with the way of using the device for three-dimensional motion analysis allowing the interaction between the movable segments of the hand to be described. The aims of this study were to investigate the angular patterns of the MCP joints for the fingers I-V during the grip of four commonly used objects and to compare the results between the dominant/non-dominant hands and in both...

Neural coupling of proximal and distal upper limb segments may have functional implications in the recovery of hemiparesis after stroke. The goal of the present study was to investigate whether the stretch reflex response magnitude of spastic finger flexor muscles poststroke is influenced by sensory input from the shoulder and the elbow and whether reflex coupling of muscles throughout the uppe...