Smoking cessation is associated with lower disease activity and predicts cardiovascular risk reduction in rheumatoid arthritis patients

Objectives: Smoking is a major risk factor for the development of both cardiovascular disease (CVD) and RA and may cause attenuated responses to anti-rheumatic treatments. Our aim was to compare disease activity, CVD risk factors and CVD event rates across smoking status in RA patients. Methods: Disease characteristics, CVD risk factors and relevant medications were recorded in RA patients without prior CVD from 10 countries (Norway, UK, Netherlands, USA, Sweden, Greece, South Africa, Spain, Canada and Mexico). Information on CVD events was collected. Adjusted analysis of variance, logistic regression and Cox models were applied to compare RA disease activity (DAS28), CVD risk factors and event rates across categories of smoking status. Results: Of the 3311 RA patients (1012 former, 887 current and 1412 never smokers), 235 experienced CVD events during a median follow-up of 3.5 years (interquartile range 2.5-6.1). At enrolment, current smokers were more likely to have moderate or high disease activity compared with former and never smokers (P < 0.001 for both). There was a gradient of worsening CVD risk factor profiles (lipoproteins and blood pressure) from never to former to current smokers. Furthermore, former and never smokers had significantly lower CVD event rates compared with current smokers [hazard ratio 0.70 (95% CI 0.51, 0.95), P = 0.02 and 0.48 (0.34, 0.69), P < 0.001, respectively]. The CVD event rates for former and never smokers were comparable. Conclusion: Smoking cessation in patients with RA was associated with lower disease activity and improved lipid profiles and was a predictor of reduced rates of CVD events

一种超临界流体增强含氟聚合物制品的制备方法

本发明涉及一种超临界流体增强含氟聚合物制品的制备方法。本发明方法首先将双螺杆挤出机的1区和2区预热，然后将含氟聚合物喂入1区，再将温度为31.1～70℃、压力为7.4～25MPa的超临界二氧化碳由3区注入到筒体内；调节螺杆熔体泵转速为1～10转/分钟，二氧化碳与含氟聚合物在4～7区进行熔融共混，通过释放二氧化碳，将9区筒内压力降至常压；最后通过模头后挤出成型，得到含氟聚合物制品。本发明方法通过调节熔体泵的转速控制双螺杆筒体内的压力，使二氧化碳流体能均匀、稳定地塑化熔融聚合物，从而降低加工温度5℃～20℃，避免含氟聚合物的分解，拓宽了加工窗口。本发明方法绿色环保，无溶剂污染，可连续生产