Doubling the single-dose infusion rate of tocilizumab in rheumatoid arthritis is safe and efficacious

To access publisher's full text version of this article click on the hyperlink at the bottom of the pageTo investigate the impact of enhanced infusion rate of tocilizumab on the occurrence of infusion reactions, overall safety, and efficacy in rheumatoid arthritis (RA).We conducted a 24-week multicentre, open-label, randomized parallel group study comparing adverse event (AE) and effect profiles following tocilizumab IV 8 mg/kg every 4 weeks over 31 min vs. standard 60-min infusions in patients with RA and an inadequate clinical response to disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and/or tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α inhibitors.A total of 47 patients were enrolled in the study and randomized to fast infusions (n = 25) and controls (n = 22). Incidences of infusion reactions were similar between the two groups, neither of them leading to withdrawal. Likewise, the incidence of additional AEs did not differ between the treatment arms. Two serious adverse events (SAEs) were reported, in the control group. Four patients withdrew due to AEs, two from each arm. Efficacy at week 24 was comparable between groups.In RA, monthly tocilizumab infusions of 8 mg/kg provided over 31 or 60 min during 24 weeks did not differ concerning safety or efficacy

Weapons, Body Postures, and the Quest for Dominance in Robberies

Objective: A small-scale exploration of the use of video analysis to study robberies. We analyze the use of weapons as part of the body posturing of robbers as they attempt to attain dominance. Methods: Qualitative analyses of video footage of 23 shop robberies. We used Observer XT software (version 12) for fine-grained multimodal coding, capturing diverse bodily behavior by various actors simultaneously. We also constructed story lines to understand the robberies as hermeneutic whole cases. Results: Robbers attain dominance by using weapons that afford aggrandizing posturing and forward movements. Guns rather than knives seemed to fit more easily with such posturing. Also, victims were more likely to show minimizing postures when confronted with guns. Thus, guns, as part of aggrandizing posturing, offer more support to robbers’ claims to dominance in addition to their more lethal power. In the cases where resistance occurred, robbers either expressed insecure body movements or minimizing postures and related weapon usage or they failed to impose a robbery frame as the victims did not seem to comprehend the situation initially. Conclusions: Video analysis opens up a new perspective of how violent crime unfolds as sequences of bodily movements. We provide methodological recommendations and suggest a larger scale comparative project