A Comparison of the Modified Score for the Assessment of Chronic Rheumatoid Affections of the Hands and the Australian/Canadian Osteoarthritis Hand Index in Hand Osteoarthritis Patients

Objectives. To compare the modified score for the assessment and quantification of chronic rheumatoid affections of the hands (M-SACRAH) with the Australian/Canadian osteoarthritis hand index (AUSCAN) in hand osteoarthritis (HOA). Both are self-administered patient questionnaires, being designed to assess functional status, stiffness, and pain in affected patients, despite some differences in format, compass and arrangement of questions. Methods. 66 HOA patients (51 females), attending the outpatient clinic, were included. Patients completed the AUSCAN (15 visual analogue scales) (VAS) and the M-SACRAH (12 VAS). Results. AUSCAN-pain amounted to a mean of 41.9 (±2.9 SEM), AUSCAN-stiffness to 53.1 (3.7) and AUSCAN function to 42.6 (3.2). M-SACRAH-function amounted to 25.4 (2.4), M-SACRAH-stiffness to 42.6 (3.0), and M-SACRAH-pain to 43.7 (3.1). The total mean M-SACRAH was 37.2 (2.4) (all P's < .0001). The three respective domains of the two scores correlated significantly: pain: r = 0.73, stiffness: r = 0.75, and function: r = 0.76 (all P's < .0001). The four identical items in both scores also correlated significantly. No significant gender specific differences were observed. Conclusion. Despite a different scope of items, a significant high correlation of these two scores evaluating HOA patients could be demonstrated. We conclude that both scores are equivalently valuable for the assessment of health status in these patients

The use of tumour necrosis factor alpha-blockers in daily routine. An Austrian consensus project

To define relevant disease parameters and their respective limits indicating the initiation of TNF-α-blockers in individual patients. Subsequently, to analyze retrospectively patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA) or ankylosing spondylitis (AS), who started TNF-α inhibition in 2006. Points to consider, regarded relevant for individual treatment decisions as well as their assessment methods, were ascertained by experts’ consensus applying the Delphi technique. Subsequently, these parameters’ thresholds with respect to the initiation of a TNF-α-blocker were identified. Thereafter, the rheumatologists representing 12 centres all over Austria agreed to retrospectively analyze their patients started on a TNF-α-blocker in 2006. Experts’ opinion regarding disease parameters relevant to initiate TNF-α-blockers in RA patients only slightly differed from those applied in clinical trials, but the parameters’ threshold values were considerably lower. For PsA patients, some differences and for AS patients, considerable differences between experts’ opinion and clinical studies appeared, which held also true for decisive parameters’ means and thresholds. Six hundred and fifty patients, started on TNF-blockers in 2006, could be analyzed retrospectively, 408 RA patients (53.3 years mean, 340 females), 93 PsA patients (48.9 years mean, 59 males) and 149 AS patients AS (42.2 years mean, 108 males), representing approximately 25% of all Austrian patients initiated on a TNF-blocker in this respective year. Far more individualized, patient-oriented treatment approaches, at least in part, are applied in daily routine compared with those derived from clinical trials or recommendations from investigative rheumatologists

Contributions to the biodiversity of Vietnam – Results of VIETBIO inventory work and field training in Cuc Phuong National Park

VIETBIO [Innovative approaches to biodiversity discovery and characterisation in Vietnam] is a bilateral German-Vietnamese research and capacity building project focusing on the development and transfer of new methods and technology towards an integrated biodiversity discovery and monitoring system for Vietnam. Dedicated field training and testing of innovative methodologies were undertaken in Cuc Phuong National Park as part and with support of the project, which led to the new biodiversity data and records made available in this article collection.VIETBIO is a collaboration between the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin – Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science (MfN), the Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin (BGBM) and the Vietnam National Museum of Nature (VNMN), the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources (IEBR), the Southern Institute of Ecology (SIE), as well as the Institute of Tropical Biology (ITB); all Vietnamese institutions belong to the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST).The article collection "VIETBIO" (https://doi.org/10.3897/bdj.coll.63) reports original results of recent biodiversity recording and survey work undertaken in Cuc Phuong National Park, northern Vietnam, under the framework of the VIETBIO project. The collection consist of this “main” cover paper – characterising the study area, the general project approaches and activities, while also giving an extensive overview on previous studies from this area – followed by individual papers for higher taxa as studied during the project. The main purpose is to make primary biodiversity records openly available, including several new and interesting findings for this biodiversity-rich conservation area. All individual data papers with their respective primary records are expected to provide useful baselines for further taxonomic, phylogenetic, ecological and conservation-related studies on the respective taxa and, thus, will be maintained as separate datasets, including separate GUIDs also for further updating