Wood Quality along the Trunk Height of Birch and Aspen Growing in the Restoring Forests of Central Russia

The structure of forests has changed with an increase in soft-wooded broadleaved species over the past decade. The demand for hard-wooded broadleaved species can be met by replacing them with compressed wood of soft-wooded broadleaved species. Existing compressed wood technologies do not fully take into account the density variations that exist along the height of a tree trunk. In this study, we examined the variability of birch and aspen microstructures along the height of the trunk, including vessels per square millimeter and the diameter (tangential and radial) of the vessel lumina. The research was carried out on aspen and birch species growing in Central Russia. The vessels per square millimeter in both species increased from the base to the top of the trunk and their diameters decreased from the base to the top of the trunk. Birch demonstrated greater changes in these values than aspen. There was a strong relationship between the diameter of the vessel lumina and the trunk height. A decrease in the density of the stemwood from the base to the top of the trunk was caused by an increase in the vessels per square millimeter. These results affected the density of the stemwood and determined the degree of compression as well as the initial size of the blanks required to obtain material with uniform quality indicators, regardless of the source location of the raw materials in the tree trunk

The Use of Tocilizumab in 40 Patients With Polyarticular Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis: the Results of a Retrospective Study

The issue of a therapy of children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) with intolerance or insufficient effectiveness of methotrexate remains actual.Objective: Our aim was to study the efficacy and safety of tocilizumab in patients with polyarticular JIA.Methods. In a retrospective study, we studied the results of the use of tocilizumab in patients with active polyarticular JIA ( 5 active joints) resistant to prior therapy with methotrexate or a combination of methotrexate with other nonbiologic disease-modifying antiinflammatory drugs.Results. The data of 40 children (83% girls) with the onset median of polyarticular JIA of 4.8 (2.9, 8.1) years and the interval between the disease onset and the initiation of tocilizumab therapy of 5.7 (1.8, 8.5) years was analyzed. Tocilizumab was used as an intravenous infusion of 8 mg/kg (with a weight 30 kg) or 10 mg/kg (with a weight < 30 kg) every 4 weeks. The duration of tocilizumab monotherapy in 5 (13%) children was 1,109 days (452; 1,542). The stages of inactive disease (according to the criteria of C. Wallace, 2004) in 6 months of tocilizumab therapy reached 6 (15%) patients, in 42 months — 32 (80%) patients. In 3 patients, tocilizumab was canceled due to persistent remission. After 6 months of treatment, there was a marked decrease in erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein concentration, number of leukocytes and platelets (in all cases, p < 0.001) to normal values, which persisted throughout the whole period of drug administration. Predictors for achieving inactive disease were the initial (at the onset of tocilizumab therapy) number of peripheral blood leukocytes < 9.0X109/l [relative risk (RR) 1.92; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.9–4.6)] and the absence of prior biological therapy (RR 1.92, 95% CI 0.9–4.6). The most frequent side effects of tocilizumab therapy were transient hypercholesterolemia (in 13), hypertriglyceridemia (in 4), transient grade II neutropenia (in 1).Conclusion. The long-term efficacy and relative safety of tocilizumab in children with polyarticular JIA have been showed

ETANERCEPT TREATMENT RESULTS IN CHILDREN WITH NON-SYSTEMIC JUVENILE IDIOPATHIC ARTHRITIS: REMISSION, RECRUDESCENCE, AND ADVERSE EVENTS. RETROSPECTIVE COHORT STUDY

Background. Etanercept is a biological drug most commonly used in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). The results of its use are showed in local studies.Objective. Our aim was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the use of etanercept in children with non-systemic JIA, to determine the predictors of remission and the risk factors for the development of exacerbations.Methods. In a retrospective cohort study, the results of etanercept treatment (remission, exacerbations, adverse events) in children with non-systemic JIA were analyzed. The minimum follow-up period was 6 months.Results. The period of remission within 6–36 months occurred in 77/131 (58.8%), exacerbations developed in 18/129 (14.0%) patients. Predictors of achieving remission were the age of JIA onset < 8 years [relative risk (RR) 2.05; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.27–3.23], the age of prescribing etanercept ≤ 10 years (RR 1.7, 95% CI 1.22–2.38), the time of the disease prior to etanercept prescription < 2.5 years (RR 2.4, 95% CI 1.4–4.4), the presence of HLA-B27 antigen (RR 2.15, 95% CI 0.98–4.75; p = 0.06). The risk of exacerbations was higher in children with polyarticular JIA (RR 2.7, 95% CI 0.9–8.2; p = 0.08), whereas methotrexate therapy reduced the risk of exacerbations (RR 0.32, 95% CI 0.1–1.15; p = 0.05). Etanercept was discontinued due to primary (improvement by the ACRpedi criteria after 3 months of therapy <30%) or secondary (loss of previously achieved ≥ 30% improvement) failure in 14/152 (9.2%) patients; de novo uveitis developed in 8/152 (5.3%) patients; reactions at the injection site — in 6/152 (4.0%) patients.Conclusion. Therapy involving etanercept is more likely to induce remission in younger patients with JIA onset at the age of 8 years and a history of less than 2.5 years. A high risk of exacerbations was noted in patients with polyarticular JIA, and low one — in those receiving methotrexate as a part of combined therapy

DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS OF SYSTEMIC-ONSET JUVENILE ARTHRITIS AND RHEUMATIC MASKS OF ONCOHEMATOLOGICAL DISEASES: A RETROSPECTIVE COHORT STUDY

Background. Patients with malignant oncohematological diseases (OHD) may have such symptoms as fever, lymphadenopathy, hepatosplenomegaly,  joint pain, arthritis, elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive  protein (CRP) concentration, anemia that require differentiation from clinical implications of systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA).Objective.  Our aim was to determine diagnostic criteria that can differentiate  rheumatic masks of OHD from sJIA.Methods.  The retrospective  study included 86 children with sJIA and 21 children with OHD who had rheumatic masks and were hospitalized in rheumatological departments with an initial diagnosis of sJIA. OHD were represented  by acute lymphoblastic leukemia (n = 17), neuroblastoma (n = 1), and lymphomas (n = 3).Results. Blast cells in the peripheral blood test were detected in 9/17 (53%) patients with acute leukemia at different times from the appearance of complaints and hospitalization. Diagnostic criteria for differentiating OHD from sJIA were the number of active joints  3 (diagnostic odds ratio, OR, 4.4, 95% confidence interval, CI, 1.5–13.2), CRP concentration < 15 mg/L (OR 5.6, 95% CI 1.7–18.4), platelets     307   109/L (OR 22.9, 95% CI 4.9–107.0), white blood cells     8.9   109/L (OR 50.2, 95% CI 6.3–401.3), albumin > 43.3% (OR 28.8, 95% CI 5.6–149.2),  absence of exanthema (OR 39.8, 95% CI 8.4–188.5).  The most frequent symptoms with the greatest specificity were night pain (sensitivity 0.57, specificity 1.0), bone pain (sensitivity 0.95, specificity 1.0), pathological fractures (sensitivity 0.14, specificity 1.0).Conclusion. The identified diagnostic criteria can be used for differential diagnosis of OHD with rheumatic masks and sJIA