Relationship between the prevalence of subclinical tenosynovitis and treatment in patients with RA in clinical remission: STARTER study

Objective: This study is a sub-analysis from the patient cohort of the STARTER (Sonographic Tenosynovitis Assessment in RheumaToid arthritis patiEnts in Remission) study. The aim was to evaluate differences in ultrasound-detected joint and/or tendon involvement between patients receiving therapies based on a combination of conventional synthetic DMARDs (csDMARDs) and biologic DMARDs (bDMARDs) and those who were treated with either csDMARDs or bDMARDs in monotherapy. Material and methods: Four hundred and twenty-seven consecutive patients with a diagnosis of RA were recruited between October 2013 and June 2014. They were divided into three subgroups based on their therapy at baseline: patients with bDMARD in monotherapy, patients with csDMARD in monotherapy and patients in combination therapy (csDMARD + bDMARD). At baseline, 6 months and 12 months, a clinical examination (28 joint count) and an ultrasound evaluation were performed in each patient. A score of grey-scale (GS) and power Doppler (PD) synovitis and tenosynovitis was calculated based on the OMERACT scoring systems. Results: Two hundred and fifty-six patients completed the observation period: 48 patients from the bDMARD group (18.75%), 152 patients from the csDMARD group (59.38%) and 56 patients from csDMARD + bDMARD group (21.88%). The analysis showed that GS tenosynovitis and PD tenosynovitis are better controlled in combination therapy than they are ith csDMARD alone (P=0.025 and P=0.047, respectively); for PD synovitis, there was a better response in those who were treated with the combination therapy when compared with the patients receiving csDMARD (P=0.01) or bDMARD (P=0.02) alone. Conclusions: The analysis showed a lower prevalence of subclinical inflammatory manifestations detected with ultrasound imaging in those patients treated with the combination therapy than in those in monotherapy

Feasibility study for the implementation of RFID technology in CFRPs component

This work aims to investigate the application of RFID technology (Radio Frequency IDentification) to CFRPs (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers) components to improve traceability and support logistics in the race car industry. Several RFID tags able to withstand the harsh processing environment, e.g., high temperature and pressures, have been considered. In order to hide the tag, it was decided to insert it into the component before polymerization, instead of bonding it outside. This technical approach improves the aesthetics and allows the tag to act as an anti-counterfeiting device. However, the readability of a passive RFID tag within CFRP must be evaluated. To better clarify the readability of the tag within CRFP an experimental campaign was conducted with samples based on real laminate mock-ups. The experiments were carried out on a square laminate sample with grooves to house the tag of different size and geometry and different types of composite plies that covers it. It has been observed how the composite cover could affect the reading distance in comparison to the control configuration, i.e., cover-free situation