PROTEINURIA AND HAEMATURIA IN PATIENTS WITH LUNG CANCER

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THU0116 European multicentre pilot survey to assess vitamin d and clinical status in rheumatoid arthritis patients

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LiMnPO4-olivine deposited on a nanoporous alloy as an additive-free electrode for lithium ion batteries.

A new strategy for the fabrication of binder- and carbon-free electrodes for lithium ion batteries is demonstrated. The strategy is based on the employment of a nanoporous metallic structure as a mechanically stable and conductive scaffold inside of which an active material is directly grown. The porous metallic structures with the pore size on the nanometric scale were obtained by de-alloying microcrystalline Cu60Ag30Al10, applying the method of selective dissolution of the less noble metals from the alloy. The active material of choice is LiMnPO4-olivine, which displays higher energy density in comparison with the well-known LiFePO4 (701 W h kg-1versus 586 W h kg-1). The improved electrode capacity can be explained by the enhanced diffusion of Li+ into LiMnPO4, achieved by decreasing the size of the phospho-olivine particles, incorporated inside the pores of the metallic structure. This approach enables to us perform the precise engineering of the particle size, which in turn contributes to the improvement of the electrochemical properties of phospho-olivines.This work has received funding from the National Research Program “Low Carbon Energy for the Transport and Household (E+)” (DO1-214/28.11.2018) granted by the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science. The collaboration with Cambridge University, Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy was supported by the H2020 project Materials Networking

Impact of lumbar syndesmophyte on bone health as assessed by bone density (BMD) and bone texture (TBS) in men with axial spondyloarthritis.

Patients with spondyloarthritis (SpA) have an elevated incidence of osteoporosis and are at increased risk of pathological vertebral fracture. Evaluation of bone density by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) has its limits in fracture prediction, already known in this population. One hypothesis is that the presence of lumbar syndesmophyte could overestimate the spine bone mineral density (BMD). Trabecular bone score (TBS) is a new texture measurement correlated with bone microarchitecture. Previous studies have shown that TBS is mildly impacted by osteoarthritis and thus could be a predictor of fracture better than spine BMD. We aimed to evaluate a male population of SpA with BMD and TBS measurement and see the impact of lumbar syndesmophytes. Two cohorts of SpA male patients (Lausanne, Sofia) with SpA disease, clinical and bone parameters (femoral neck and total spine BMD+spine TBS) were merged. We compared BMD and TBS results regarding to the presence/absence of syndesmophytes. Our study concerned 51 men [29 with lumbar syndesmophytes (L1 to L4,≥1), 22 without], fulfilling the European Spondyloarthropathy Study Group (ESSG) and the Assessment of SpondyloArthritis international Society (ASAS) criteria. Mean age was 52.18 years old (no difference between the 2 groups) and mean body mass index (BMI) 27.47kg/m <sup>2</sup> (29.12±0.67 with and 25.30±0.81 without, P=0.0006). For the overall population mean BMD T-score at the spine was -0.55±1.54, mean BMD T-score at the femoral neck -1.20±0.95 and mean lumbar spine TBS was 1.26±0.13. Regarding to the presence or the absence of syndesmophytes, mean spine BMD T-score was -0.07±1.63 and -1.18±1.16 (P=0.009 and 0.250 before and after adjustment for BMI), mean femoral neck BMD T-score was -1.37±0.93 and -0.97±0.94 (P=0.14 and 0.03 before and after adjustment for BMI) and mean TBS was 1.21±0.12 and 1.33±0.11 (P=0.001 and 0.06 before and after adjustment for BMI) respectively for SpA men with and without syndesmophytes. Our results showed that SpA men with and without syndesmophytes have lower results compared to the normal population regarding hip BMD, spine TBS and spine BMD except for men with syndesmophytes who have a normal BMD spine T-score. These results suggest that TBS is not influenced by the syndesmophytes in opposite to spine BMD and could be measured in this population in addition to the neck BMD to assess the bone fragility

Simple limbal epithelial transplantation: a review on current approach and future directions

Simple limbal epithelial transplantation is a recently developed technique for treating limbal stem cell deficiency caused by ocular burns. A small limbal biopsy from the donor eye, usually from the patient's healthy eye, is excised and dissected into multiple pieces. An amniotic membrane is atttached using fibrin glue on the diseased eye after removing the conjunctivalized pannus from the corneal surface. The limbal biopsy pieces are placed onto the amniotic membrane, fixed with fibrin glue, followed by bandaging of the ocular surface with a contact lens. This technique (auto simple limbal epithelial transplantation) offers easier surgical manipulations and economic advantages over other techniques for the treatment of limbal stem cell deficiency. We therefore review simple limbal epithelial transplantation along with recent modifications in the technique and case studies, including challenges and failures

European multicentre pilot survey to assess vitamin D status in rheumatoid arthritis patients and early development of a new Patient Reported Outcome questionnaire (D-PRO).

Objective: To collect data on vitamin D (25(OH)D) serum levels in a large number of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients from different European countries, to investigate their relation with disease activity, disability, quality of life, and possibly to construct a new Patient Reported Outcome (PRO) questionnaire in order to self-estimate if they are at risk for vitamin D insufficiency/deficiency-related clinical implications (D-PRO). Methods: This was a European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) supported cross-sectional study (project No CLI064) which involved 625 RA patients (mean age 55 \ub1 11 years, mean disease duration 11 \ub1 9 years), 276 age and sex matched healthy subjects, and rheumatologists working in academic institutions or hospital centres, as well as PARE organizations (patient representatives) from 13 European countries. Serum samples for 25(OH)D level measurement were collected during winter time and analyzed in a central laboratory using chemiluminescence immunoassay (DiaSorin). Patient past medical history was recorded. RA patients were provided with three questionnaires: the Rheumatoid Arthritis Impact Diseases score (RAID), the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ), and the new D-PRO questionnaire at the time of 25(OH)D serum sampling. D-PRO questionnaire consisted of three domains, Symptom Risk Score (SRS), Habitus Risk Score (HRS) and Global Risk Score (SRS + HRS = GRS), constructed with items possibly related to vitamin D deficiency. D-PRO was correlated with both clinical and PRO scores. DAS28-CRP was also evaluated. Statistical analysis was performed by non parametric test

Validity of the rheumatoid arthritis impact of disease (RAID) score and definition of cut-off points for disease activity states in a population-based European cohort of patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Objectives: To assess the validity of the rheumatoid arthritis impact of disease (RAID) for measuring disease activity of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to determine cut-off values for defining the disease activity states. Methods: A total of 622 RA patients from an European database have been included. Cross-validation was based on assessment of convergent and discriminant validity. Optimal cut-offs were determined against external criteria by calculating the respective 25th and 75th percentiles mean values of RAID. External criteria included definitions for remission (REM), low disease activity (LDA), moderate disease activity (MDA) and high disease activity (HDA), cut-offs of the 28-joint disease activity score-C-reactive protein (DAS28-CRP) score. Results: The RAID showed a moderate degree of correlation with respect to DAS28-CRP (rho = 0.417; P < 0.0001). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves to discriminate the ability of RAID to distinguish patients with active and non-active disease was very good with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.847 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.816 to 0.878; P < 0.0001). Based on the distributions of RAID in the different disease activity groups, we propose the following cut-off values for REM: RAID 643; for LDA: RAID >3 and 644; for MDA: RAID >4 and 646; for HDA: RAID >6. Mean RAID differed significantly between patients classified as REM, LDA, MDA or HDA (P = 0.001). Conclusions: The cut-offs revealed good measurement characteristics in cross-validation analysis, had great discriminatory performance in distinguishing patients with different levels of disease activity and are suited for widespread use in everyday practice application and research