Could Biomarkers of Bone, Cartilage or Synovium Turnover Be Used for Relapse Prediction in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients?

Objective. The aim of this review is to clarify the usefulness of bone, cartilage, and synovial biomarker in the management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) therapy in remission. Synovial Biomarkers. High MMP-3 levels are associated with joint progression in RA patients, but there is no data about their utility in clinical remission. IIINys and Glc-Gal-PYD seem to be more specific to synovium, but more studies are required. Cartilage Biomarkers. Unbalance between cartilage break-down biomarkers (urinary CTX II and COMP) and cartilage formation biomarker (PIIANP) was described. This unbalance is also associated with joint destruction and prognosis of destruction. No data are available on patients in remission. Bone Biomarkers. RA activity is correlated with an increase of bone resorption markers such as CTX I, PYD, and TRACP 5b and a decrease of bone formation markers such as OC and BALP. RA therapies seem to improve bone turnover in limiting bone resorption. There is no study about bone marker utility in remission. Conclusion. Biomarkers seem to correlate with RA activity and progression. They also could be used to manage RA therapies, but we need more data on RA remission to predict relapse

Génération d'organoïdes respiratoires à exposition extérieure apicale à partir de cellules de pools de donneurs

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Génération d’organoïdes respiratoires avec exposition apicale externe

International audienc

Do patients from the Democratic Republic of Congo with schizophrenia have facial emotion recognition deficits?

Patients with schizophrenia can have difficulty recognizing emotion, and the impact of this difficulty on social functioning has been widely reported. However, earlier studies did not thoroughly explore how this deficit may vary according to emotion intensity, or how it may differ among individuals and across cultures. In the present study, our aim was to identify possible deficits in facial emotion recognition across a wide range of emotions of different intensities among patients with schizophrenia from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Thirty stable patients with schizophrenia and 30 healthy controls matched for age and level of education were evaluated using a validated and integrative facial emotion recognition test (TREF). A total recognition score and an intensity threshold were obtained for each emotion. Patients with schizophrenia had emotion recognition deficits, particularly for negative emotions. These deficits were correlated to the severity of negative symptoms. Patients showed no threshold deficit at the group level, but analysis of individual profiles showed marked heterogeneity across patients for the intensity of the emotion decoding deficit. Our study confirms the existence of deficits in emotion recognition for negative emotions in patients with schizophrenia, generalizes it to DRC patients, and underlines considerable heterogeneity among patients

Relationship Dynamics of Couples Facing Advanced-Stage Parkinson’s Disease: A Dyadic Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

International audienceBackground/Objective Several studies have examined the impact of Parkinson’s disease (PD) on the quality of couples’ relationships. To date, few studies have explored how couples experience their relationship dynamic by taking into account the disease stage. The objectives of this study were to understand the experience of each partner and to study the mechanisms that underlie their couple organization in the advanced stage of PD. Methods Semistructured individual interviews conducted with fifteen patients and their partners were the subject of a dyadic interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results Three themes were identified from the analysis: the first, “A Closeness That Separates,” allows the identification of different patterns of interactions that lead to emotional distancing between the partners; the second, “The Adversity Is Not Unbearable, But Going It Alone Would Be,” emphasizes the importance of how the assisting partner provides support; and the third, “Be Prepared for Anything and Facing an Uncertain Future,” reveals the extent and modes of the dyadic regulation of the emotions linked to what the future may hold. Conclusion Psychological support is important to help couples express both their feelings and their respective needs in the evolving context of PD

Tocilizumab induces corticosteroid sparing in rheumatoid arthritis patients in clinical practice

International audienceObjective. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of introducing tocilizumab (TCZ) as co-therapy with CS in patients with RA.Methods. This study was an open, observational, retrospective multicentre study. RA patients treated with oral CS for >3 months who started treatment with TCZ between December 2009 and June 2011 in five centres were included. Variables included demographic data, disease history, co-treatments, disease activity and dose of CS at inclusion and at weeks 4, 8, 12 and 24. The evolution of disease activity and of the dose of CS (analysis of variance with repeated measures) were analysed, searching for factors correlated with changes in the dose of CS.Results. Inclusion of 130 patients [women 80.8%, mean age 56.7 years (S.D. 14.0), RA duration 16.3 years (S.D. 10.4), mean baseline 28-joint DAS (DAS28) 5.1 (S.D. 1.4), mean baseline dose of CS 10.0 mg/day (S.D. 8.2) prednisone equivalent. Decreases in the mean daily dose of CS and in the DAS28 were observed during follow-up [respectively 6.5mg (S.D. 4.8) at week 24 (P < 0.0001) and 3.0mg (S.D. 1.4) at week 24 (P < 0.0001)]. The only variable that correlated with the decrease in the dose of CS was the initial dose of the drug (r = 0.82, P < 0.001).Conclusion. The introduction of TCZ led to rapid and long-lasting CS sparing that did not correlate with the reduction in disease activity. It is possible that in patients treated with high-dose CS, the main objective of the clinician is to reduce dosage of CS rather than RA activity

Efficacy and safety of tocilizumab in elderly patients with rheumatoid arthritis

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Predictors of response and remission in a large cohort of rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with tocilizumab in clinical practice

Supplementary data are available at Rheumatology Online.International audienceObjective: The objective of this study was to identify predictors of response and remission to tocilizumab (TCZ) in RA patients seen in daily routine clinical practice.Methods: The efficacy of TCZ was evaluated after 12 and 24 weeks of treatment by the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) response criteria. Regression analysis was performed to study the association between remission or EULAR response and the following characteristics: gender, age, current smokers, prior cardiovascular disease (CVD), 28-joint disease activity score (DAS28), CRP, RF or ACPA positivity, combination therapy with DMARDs and TCZ as the first biological therapy or after failure of at least one biological therapy.Results: In total, 204 patients were included with a mean DAS28 score of 5.14. EULAR response and remission were obtained in 86.1% and 40% of patients, respectively, at week 24. In multiple regression analysis, a high baseline CRP level [odds ratio (OR) 4.454 (95% CI 1.446, 13.726)] was significantly associated with EULAR response at week 24 and, inversely, age >55 years [OR 0.285 (95% CI 0.086, 0.950)] and prior CVD [OR 0.305 (95% CI 0.113, 0.825)] were significantly associated with lower EULAR response at week 24. Older age was also associated with less remission at week 24 [OR 0.948 (95% CI 0.920, 0.978)]. No additional effectiveness was found when TCZ was used in combination with a DMARD or when patients were naive to biological agents.Conclusion: In daily practice we identified three predictors of a better response for TCZ therapy in RA: a younger age, a high baseline CRP level and no history of CVD