[The safety of interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (anakinra) in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis].

The safety profile of interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (anakinra) has been studied with randomised, placebo-controlled trials involving 2932 patients affected by rheumatoid arthritis. The most frequently reported adverse events were represented by injection site reactions (71%) and headache (13.6%). No statistically significant difference in the incidence of infections was observed among the patients treated with the interleukin-1 receptor antagonist and the patients receiving placebo. In particular, the incidence of serious infections was 1,8% in rheumatoid arthritis patients on anakinra therapy and 0,7% in patients on placebo. The reported serious infections consisted of pneumonia, cellulitis, bone and joint infections, bursitis. No case of opportunistic infections or tubercolosis was observed. The results of clinical studies suggest that anakinra is a new well-tolerated drug for the treatment of patients affected by rheumatoid arthritis

Ta/CoFeB/MgO analysis for low power nanomagnetic devices

The requirement of high memory bandwidth for next-generation computing systems moved the attention to the development of devices that can combine storage and logic capabilities. Domain wall-based spintronic devices intrinsically combine both these requirements making them suitable both for non-volatile storage and computation. CoPt and CoNi were the technology drivers of perpendicular Nano Magnetic Logic devices (pNML), but for power constraints and depinning fields, novel CoFeBMgO layers appear more promis- ing. In this paper, we investigate the Ta2CoFeB1MgO2Ta3 stack at the simulation and experimental level, to show its potential for the next generation of magnetic logic devices. The micromagnetic simulations are used to support the experiments. We focus, first, at the experimental level measuring the switching field distribution of patterned magnetic islands, Ms via VSM and the domain wall speed on magnetic nanowires. Then, at the simulation level, we focus on the magnetostatic analysis of magnetic islands quantifying the stray field that can be achieved with different layout topologies. Our results show that the achieved coupling is strong enough to realize logic computation with magnetic islands, moving a step forward in the direction of low power perpendicularly magnetized logic devices

Ultrasound imaging for the rheumatologist XLIV. Ultrasound of the shoulder in healthy individuals

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the prevalence of shoulder ultrasound (US) detectable abnormalities in asymptomatic individuals of various ages and to correlate the US findings with clinical data. METHODS: 97 healthy subjects were enrolled in the present study. They were subgrouped according to their age, as follows: group I (20-29 years); group II (30-39 years); group III (40-49 years); group IV (50-59 years); group V (>60 years). A physical examination of both shoulders, based on a series of provocative maneuvers, was carried out. The US assessment was performed by using a Logiq9 machine equipped with a multi-frequency linear probe working at 12MHz and included the study of a number of structures for the evaluation of local abnormalities, as follows: the long head of biceps tendon (synovial effusion (SE), synovial hypertrophy (SH), power Doppler (PD) signal); the subacromion-subdeltoid and sub-scapularis bursae (SE, SH, PD signal); the rotator cuff tendons (tendinosis, calcifications, tears, impingement); the acromionclavicular (ACJ) and gleno-humeral joints (SE, SH, PD signal, osteophytes, erosions, fibrocartilage calcifications, cartilage abnormalities, tophaceous deposits). In addition, deltoid, throchite and throchine enthesopathy were searched for. RESULTS: 194 shoulders were studied in total. A low but variable percentage of joints of healthy individuals (3.1-13.4%) showed positive provocative maneuvers. 138 shoulders (71.1%) did not show any US abnormalities. The most frequent changes were SE of ACJ (25.5%), osteophytes of ACJ (23.3%), and supraspinatus tendinosis (20.6%). The prevalence of abnormalities progressively increased with age. Sub-clinical involvement was present in most cases, being provocative maneuvers positive only in a low percentage of joints. CONCLUSIONS: The present study demonstrated the presence of a wide set of US-detectable changes in healthy subjects, that were more frequently present in elderly individuals. The absence of any clinical sign of local pathology cannot exclude the presence of local abnormalities

Ga+ Ion Irradiation-Induced Tuning of Artificial Pinning Sites to Control Domain Wall Motion

Domain-wall-based devices are considered one of the candidates for the next generation of storage memories and nanomagnetic logic devices due to their unique properties, such as nonvolatility, scalability, and low power consumption. Field or current-driven domain walls require a regular and controlled motion along the track in which they are stored in order to maintain the information integrity during operation. However, their dynamics can vary along the track due to film inhomogeneities, roughness of the edges, and thermal fluctuations. Consequently, the final position of the domain walls may be difficult to predict, making difficult the development of memory and logic applications. In this paper, we demonstrate how Ga+ ion irradiation can be used to locally modify the material properties of the Ta/ CoFeB/MgO thin film, creating regions in which the domain wall can be trapped, namely motion barriers. The aim is to push the domain wall to overcome thin-film inhomogeneities effects, while stopping its motion at artificially defined positions corresponding to the irradiated regions. Increasing the driving force strength, the domain wall can escape, allowing the shifting between consecutive irradiated regions. In this way, the correct positioning of the domain walls after the motion is ensured. The study shows that the driving force strength, namely current density or magnetic field amplitude, needed to overcome the irradiated regions depends on the ion dose. These results show a reliable approach for domain wall manipulation, enabling a precise control of the domain wall position along a track with synchronous motion