The plasma Tumor Necrosis Factor-α (TNF-α) does not have any correlation with disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs)

We performed this study to measure the Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha (TNF-α) plasma level and to survey its correlation with disease activity in the newly diagnosed Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) patients and those who were under treatment with the combination of Disease-Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drug (DMARD) plus Prednisolone (PSL).We enrolled 30 newly diagnosed RA patients who received no treatment regarding their disease, 30 patients under treatment with the combination of Methotrexate (MTX) + Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) + PSL and 30 healthy subjects in this case-control study from September 2017 to December 2017. The level of plasma TNF-α was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in each group. For assessment of disease severity, we used Disease Activity Score-28 (DAS-28) formula, and regarding DAS-28, we divided patients into four groups, including remission, low, moderate and high disease activity. There were no significant differences in the plasma level of TNF-α between the newly diagnosed RA patients and subjects who received MTX + HCQ + PSL, as well as healthy controls (p>0.05). There was a significant correlation between plasma levels of TNF-α and DAS-28 in the newly diagnosed patients with RA (r = 0.594, P = 0.001). Targeting TNF-α at the early stage of RA could have more beneficial effects on the amelioration of disease activity

Retrieval of soil salinity from Sentinel-2 multispectral imagery

Soil salinity is a widespread environmental hazard and the main causes of land degradation and desertification, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. The first step in finding such a solution is providing accurate information about the severity and extent of the salinity spread in affected areas; this can be done by mapping the electrical conductivity (EC) of the soil. Utilizing the potential of high-resolution satellite imagery along with remote sensing techniques is a promising method to map salinity, as it allows for large-scale monitoring and provides high accuracy and efficiency. This paper, therefore, aims at assessing soil salinity by mapping the EC of soils, using satellite imagery from the newly launched Sentinel-2 satellite as well as Landsat-8 data. A field study was carried out using those data, and various salt features were extracted that relate the EC values of field samples to satellite-derived salt features. The study used two different regression approaches MLP and SVR. Additionally, two feature selection algorithms, GA and SFS, were implemented on the data to improve model performance. The study concludes that the proposed method for modeling salinity and the mapping of soil EC can be considered an effective approach for soil salinity monitoring

Increased gene expression of CCR6 and RORγt in peripheral blood cells of rheumatoid arthritis patients and their correlation with anti‐cyclic citrullinated peptide and disease activity

Abstract Objectives The significance of T helper 17 (Th17) cells in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has recently been demonstrated in many studies. Retinoic acid receptor‐related orphan receptor γt (RORγt) is a transcription factor that is specifically involved in the generation of Th17 cells. Besides, the chemokine receptor CCR6, the receptor for CCL20, is characteristically expressed by these cells. Considering the pivotal roles of Th17 cells in RA pathogenesis, in this study, we assessed the gene expression of CCR6 and RORγt in the peripheral blood leukocytes of new case RA patients. Also, we evaluated their association with anticyclic citrullinated peptide (anti‐CCP) antibodies and disease activity. Methods Forty‐five new case RA patients and 45 healthy persons have been recruited in this investigation. The gene expression of CCR6 and RORγt was evaluated by quantitative real‐time PCR (qRT‐PCR), and anti‐CCP antibodies plasma levels were measured using the enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique. Disease activity was measured according to the disease activity score‐28 (DAS‐28) formula. Results The gene expression of CCR6 and RORγt increased remarkably in new case RA patients compared to healthy controls (p < .05 and p < .01, respectively). Moreover, there was a positive correlation between RORγt gene expression and parameters, including gene expression of CCR6 (p = .001, r = .461), plasma levels of CCL20 (p = .0009, r = .477), ESR (p = .004, r = .419), DAS‐28 (p = .006, r = .402), anti‐CCP (p = .019, r = .346), and RF (p = .001, r = .451). Also, CCR6 gene expression was positively associated with the DAS‐28 (p = .037, r = .310), plasma levels of anti‐CCP (p = .037, r = .312), and ESR (p = .029, r = .327). Conclusion Increased gene expression of CCR6 and RORγt in peripheral blood leukocytes of new case RA patients may contribute to the exacerbation and pathogenesis of RA

The development of anticyclic citrullinated peptide (anti‐CCP) antibody following severe COVID‐19

Abstract Objectives The dysregulated immune response is one of the cardinal features of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19). This study was conducted to clarify the occurrence of autoantibodies (AABs) associated with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (SARDs) in hospitalized patients with a moderate, severe, and critical form of COVID‐19. Methods The serum samples obtained from 176 hospitalized COVID‐19 patients were investigated in this study, including patients with moderate (N = 90), severe (N = 50), and critical (N = 36) forms of COVID‐19. Also, the serum samples collected from healthy subjects before the COVID‐19 pandemic were used as controls (N = 176). The antinuclear antibodies (ANAs), antidouble‐stranded DNA (anti‐dsDNA), cytoplasmic‐anti neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (c‐ANCA), perinuclear ANCA (p‐ANCA), antiphospholipid antibodies (aPLs), and anticyclic citrullinated peptide (anti‐CCP) occurrence was evaluated using a solid‐phase enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results The results showed that the occurrence of ANAs, anti‐dsDNA, anti‐CCP, c‐ANCA, and p‐ANCA was significantly higher in the COVID‐19 patients compared to serum obtained from healthy subjects (p < .0001, p < .0001, p < .0001, p < .05, and p < .001, respectively). The positive number of anti‐CCP tests increased significantly in severe COVID‐19 compared to the moderate group (p < .01). Conclusion Our study further supports the development of autoantibodies related to systemic autoimmune rheumatologic diseases. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study with a large sample size that reported the occurrence of anti‐CCP in a severe form of COVID‐19