Title: Application of backstroke to a patient with ankylosing spondylitis Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of the application of backstroke with chosen parameters to a patient with ankylosing spondylitis. To compare the effectiveness of this swimming exercise programme with a traditional exercise programme held in a gymnasium. This work investigates whether it is suitable to recommend backstroke swimming to patients with ankylosing spondylitis as an effective form of physical exercise for improving range of movements and reducing pain. Methods: The effectiveness of a 9 week long swimming programme was evaluated using a range of movements of the glenohumeral and coxal joints and of the spine. The presence of pain was measured by the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Diasese Activity Index. The same parameters were measured for another patient with the similar activity of the disease who took part in group exercises in a gymnasium. At the end of the programmes the parameters were compared and evaluated. Results: The swimming programme has improved the patient's posture and has strengthened back muscles. Pain was reduced in some parts of the back and also general pain measured by BASDAI. The range of movements of both glenohumeral joints improved in all measured directions. The range of movements...

Osteoporosis and fragility fractures are recognized complications of inflammatory rheumatic diseases. This is thought to result from the effects of chronic inflammation, relative immobility and corticosteroid use. A rare syndrome of osteoporosis in a patient with coeliac disease has been described which results from production of neutralizing antibodies to the bone protective protein osteoprotegerin (OPG). The aim of my thesis is to evaluate prevalence and clinical predictors of osteoporosis in a contemporary cohort of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to investigate the role of OPG autoantibodies in the pathogenesis of osteoporosis in rheumatic diseases. In a retrospective cohort study, I found that the overall prevalence of osteoporosis in patients with RA was 29.9% which is in keeping with older reports that recorded a prevalence rate between 17% and 36%. In our contemporary cohort osteoporosis was significantly more common than in a gender and age matched control cohort (17.4%). Further analysis showed that only age and BMI were independent predictors of osteoporosis in RA. A predictive tool based on age and BMI was developed which had 91.4% sensitivity for the detection of osteoporosis in an independent RA population. I went on to screen for the presence of autoantibodies to OPG in patients with various rheumatic diseases. In a study of 75 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and 199 healthy controls OPG autoantibodies were detected in two controls (1%) compared with seven patients with RA (9.3%). The RA patients with detectable OPG antibodies had a longer disease duration, higher DAS28 scores and higher levels of the bone resorption marker CTX than RA patients who did not have autoantibodies. Purified IgG from patients with high levels of OPG antibodies blocked the ability of recombinant OPG to inhibit RANKL induced NFκB activation in a HEK293 cell based assay indicating that they were functional. In a further study of 134 patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), 16 patients (11.9%) had detectable OPG antibodies. The presence of OPG-Ab was independently associated with reduced hip bone mineral density and an increased risk of fractures in this population. In patients with a longer disease duration we have also observed that there was a higher discrepancy between spinal and hip BMD in OPG-Ab positive patients compared with OPG ab negative patients (p=0.003). In order to investigate if OPG antibodies affected measurement of serum RANKL concentrations as detected by ELISA using OPG as the capture reagent, I measured OPG ab and free RANKL concentrations in 55 rheumatic disease patients. Surprisingly there was a significant positive correlation between free RANKL and OPG Ab concentrations (r=0.430, p=0.001) which was the opposite to what I had expected. These findings reject the hypothesis that OPG ab block binding of synthetic OPG to RANKL in the ELISA. In conclusion, I have shown that osteoporosis is a common complication in RA and I have developed a new risk prediction tool for the use in clinical practice. I have also found that OPG antibodies are produced more commonly in patients with RA and AS than in healthy controls and that antibody levels correlate with bone resorption markers in RA and bone mineral density in AS patients. In vitro studies have shown that some OPG antibodies have functional effects on RANKL signalling. These findings raise the possibility that OPG antibodies may contribute to the pathogenesis of local and systemic bone loss in rheumatic diseases and signal the need to study the relationship between these antibodies and bone disease in large-scale longitudinal studies.

Background: Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a chronic heterogenous inflammatory arthritis with five phenotypes. The two least studied phenotypes are investigated in this thesis, including: psoriatic spondyloarthropathy (PsSpA) and psoriatic arthritis mutilans (PAM). The aims of this thesis were to determine the prevalence, clinical characteristics and radiographic characteristics of PsSpA and PAM in a cohort of PsA patients, and serum-soluble bone- turnover biomarkers of these phenotypes. Aims: Comparisons were made with PsA patients without axial disease (pPsA), and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients. Methods: A prospective single-centre cross-sectional study was conducted of PsA and AS patients. Serum on psoriasis-only patients (PsC) and healthy controls (HC) were also obtained. Multivariate clinical, radiographic, genetic and serum biomarker comparisons were made between these five groups of subjects. Results: The study enrolled 201 PsA and 201 AS patients, who were then reclassified as 118 PsSpA, 127 pPsA and 157 AS cases, alongside 200 PsC and 50 HC subjects. Several clinical biomarkers, imaging biomarkers, serum-soluble biomarkers and genetic biomarkers were identified that differentiate PsSpA from pPsA and AS. PsSpA affected a significant proportion of PsA patients, and was not a milder version of AS. PsSpA involvement was as disabling and clinically impactful as AS. PAM was found to be associated with PsSpA, and clinical biomarkers of PAM occurrence and radiographic progression were identified. Conclusions: In conclusion, this thesis indicates that PsSpA is on a spectrum of musculoskeletal disease, in between pPsA and AS; with PsSpA comprising a continuum itself, and with a phenotype expression related to disease duration. These findings may prompt the inception of an international-consensus classification system for PsSpA, for which there is a great clinical need. Given that PsSpA has its own discrete clinical and biomarker signature, its clinical management and research should be tailored from that of pPsA and AS. Ultimately this may further the effort for stratified and personalised medicine.

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic, inflammatory rheumatic disease that has a highly variable disease course. Three biologic agents, adalimumab, etanercept, and infliximab, have been developed for the treatment of AS. We conducted three studies: 1) an exploratory analysis of a year-long longitudinal dataset to gain insight into the variability of disease activity, physical function, and well-being and to explore the relationship between these outcome measures; 2) a systematic review of the available evidence for the efficacy of biologic treatment; 3) a systematic review of potential adverse effects of this treatment. We found that repeated measures of disease activity, function and well-being fluctuate considerably between patients, with complex patterns occurring over time within patients. There was mostly high quality evidence that these biologics are efficacious against placebo. We did not find evidence of an increase in serious adverse events or serious infections from short-term randomized controlled trials.

No description available.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:27:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-06-21Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:14:39Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 pereira_dfa_me_sjc.pdf: 933077 bytes, checksum: 1cf55e305807271fd95bf2e3e95495ba (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / A espondilite anquilosante (EA) é uma doença inflamatória crônica de etiologia desconhecida, caracterizada pelo acometimento predominante do esqueleto axial. A terapia convencional inclui o uso de antiinflamatórios não hormonais e drogas anti-reumáticas modificadoras da evolução da doença (DMARDs). O uso de agentes imunobiológicos, como o anti-TNF, tem sido considerada uma excelente opção terapêutica em casos mais graves e refratários, porém estudos prévios demonstraram maior risco de infecções após o tratamento. Reservatórios bucais de microrganismos oportunistas podem causar infecções sistêmicas, uma vez que a cavidade bucal representa uma porta de entrada para patógenos, especialmente em pacientes imunocomprometidos. O objetivo do presente estudo foi avaliar a presença e a sensibilidade aos antimicrobianos de Candida spp., Staphylococcus spp., Enterobacteriaceae e Pseudomonas spp. na cavidade bucal de pacientes com EA em uso de anti-TNF comparando-os com indivíduos controle. Foram incluídos no estudo: grupo anti-TNF (35 indivíduos, diagnosticados portadores de EA com idade entre 17 a 63 anos e sob terapia anti-TNF); grupo Convencional (35 pacientes portadores de EA, com idade entre 21 e 74 anos sob tratamento convencional não imunobiológico; e respectivos grupos controle composto por indivíduos saudáveis pareados na idade, gênero e condições bucais aos grupos com EA. Foram realizados exame clínico, anamnese, bem como coleta de enxágüe bucal de cada indivíduo a qual foi semeada em meios de cultura específicos para cada microrganismo e posterior obtenção do número de unidades formadoras de colônia por militros (UFC/mL). Os isolados foram identificados pelo Sistema API, bem como fora realizados testes de sensibilidade aos antifúngicos dos isolados de leveduras, e, antibióticos dos isolados bacterianos... / The Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of unknown etiology, particularly characterized by a compromise of the axial skeleton. The conventional therapy includes the use of non-hormonal anti-inflammatory and Disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). The use of immunobiological agents, such as anti-TNF, has been considered an excellent therapeutical option in more serious and refractory cases. However, previous studies demonstrated an increased risk of infections after the treatment is completed. Oral reservoirs of opportunist microorganisms can cause systemic infections, once that the oral cavity represents a door of entrance for pathogens, especially in immunocompromised patients. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the presence and antimicrobial susceptibility of Candida spp., Staphylococcus spp., Enterobacteriaceae and Pseudomonas spp. in the oral cavity of patients with AS treated with anti-TNF in comparison to healthy individuals. The following groups were included in the study: anti-TNF group (35 AS patients, aged between 17 and 63 years and under anti-TNF therapy); Conventional group (35 AS patients aged between 21 and 74 years under non-immunobiological conventional treatment); and respective Control groups (composed by healthy individuals paired in age, gender and oral conditions with AS groups). After clinical examination and anamnesis, oral rinses of each individual was collected. The rinses were plated in specific culture media for each microorganism. The number of colony-forming units per milliters (CFU/mL) was obtained. Isolates were identified by API system. Next, sensitivity tests to antifungicals agents were done for yeasts isolates and antibiotics for bacterial isolates. For Staphylococcus spp., the CFU counts for the anti-TNF group and Conventional group was statistically higher than the respective control groups... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Resumo: A espondilite anquilosante (EA) é uma doença inflamatória crônica de etiologia desconhecida, caracterizada pelo acometimento predominante do esqueleto axial. A terapia convencional inclui o uso de antiinflamatórios não hormonais e drogas anti-reumáticas modificadoras da evolução da doença (DMARDs). O uso de agentes imunobiológicos, como o anti-TNF, tem sido considerada uma excelente opção terapêutica em casos mais graves e refratários, porém estudos prévios demonstraram maior risco de infecções após o tratamento. Reservatórios bucais de microrganismos oportunistas podem causar infecções sistêmicas, uma vez que a cavidade bucal representa uma porta de entrada para patógenos, especialmente em pacientes imunocomprometidos. O objetivo do presente estudo foi avaliar a presença e a sensibilidade aos antimicrobianos de Candida spp., Staphylococcus spp., Enterobacteriaceae e Pseudomonas spp. na cavidade bucal de pacientes com EA em uso de anti-TNF comparando-os com indivíduos controle. Foram incluídos no estudo: grupo anti-TNF (35 indivíduos, diagnosticados portadores de EA com idade entre 17 a 63 anos e sob terapia anti-TNF); grupo Convencional (35 pacientes portadores de EA, com idade entre 21 e 74 anos sob tratamento convencional não imunobiológico; e respectivos grupos controle composto por indivíduos saudáveis pareados na idade, gênero e condições bucais aos grupos com EA. Foram realizados exame clínico, anamnese, bem como coleta de enxágüe bucal de cada indivíduo a qual foi semeada em meios de cultura específicos para cada microrganismo e posterior obtenção do número de unidades formadoras de colônia por militros (UFC/mL). Os isolados foram identificados pelo Sistema API, bem como fora realizados testes de sensibilidade aos antifúngicos dos isolados de leveduras, e, antibióticos dos isolados bacterianos... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of unknown etiology, particularly characterized by a compromise of the axial skeleton. The conventional therapy includes the use of non-hormonal anti-inflammatory and Disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). The use of immunobiological agents, such as anti-TNF, has been considered an excellent therapeutical option in more serious and refractory cases. However, previous studies demonstrated an increased risk of infections after the treatment is completed. Oral reservoirs of opportunist microorganisms can cause systemic infections, once that the oral cavity represents a door of entrance for pathogens, especially in immunocompromised patients. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the presence and antimicrobial susceptibility of Candida spp., Staphylococcus spp., Enterobacteriaceae and Pseudomonas spp. in the oral cavity of patients with AS treated with anti-TNF in comparison to healthy individuals. The following groups were included in the study: anti-TNF group (35 AS patients, aged between 17 and 63 years and under anti-TNF therapy); Conventional group (35 AS patients aged between 21 and 74 years under non-immunobiological conventional treatment); and respective Control groups (composed by healthy individuals paired in age, gender and oral conditions with AS groups). After clinical examination and anamnesis, oral rinses of each individual was collected. The rinses were plated in specific culture media for each microorganism. The number of colony-forming units per milliters (CFU/mL) was obtained. Isolates were identified by API system. Next, sensitivity tests to antifungicals agents were done for yeasts isolates and antibiotics for bacterial isolates. For Staphylococcus spp., the CFU counts for the anti-TNF group and Conventional group was statistically higher than the respective control groups... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Orientador: Cristiane Yumi Koga Ito / Coorientador: Marcelo de Medeiros Pinheiro / Banca: Fernanda Lourenção Brighenti / Banca: Emilia Inoue Sato / Mestre

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic, inflammatory rheumatic disease that has a highly variable disease course. Three biologic agents, adalimumab, etanercept, and infliximab, have been developed for the treatment of AS. We conducted three studies: 1) an exploratory analysis of a year-long longitudinal dataset to gain insight into the variability of disease activity, physical function, and well-being and to explore the relationship between these outcome measures; 2) a systematic review of the available evidence for the efficacy of biologic treatment; 3) a systematic review of potential adverse effects of this treatment. We found that repeated measures of disease activity, function and well-being fluctuate considerably between patients, with complex patterns occurring over time within patients. There was mostly high quality evidence that these biologics are efficacious against placebo. We did not find evidence of an increase in serious adverse events or serious infections from short-term randomized controlled trials.

Thesis (M.S.W.)--University of Hong Kong, 1991.

The Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA)-B27 is a Major Histocompability Complex (MHC) class I antigen that is strongly associated with development of a group of closely related arthritic diseases, collectively known as the spondyloarthropathies (SpA). However, the mechanism by which HLA-B27 confers this susceptibility is unclear. Studies have shown that HLA-B27 heavy chains can form classical heterotrimers associated with peptide and β2-microglobulin (B27HT), and also non-classical heavy chain homodimers (B27₂). B27₂ assemble intracellularly during maturation and are also expressed at the cell surface following endosomal recycling of B27HT. A pathogenic role for B27₂ has been proposed in two of the current theories of pathogenesis: the B27 homodimer theory and the B27 misfolding and UPR theory. Yet, determinations of the extent, distribution, and triggers of B27₂ expression, as well as the functional consequences of its receptor interactions in AS pathogenesis, have been hampered by the lack of a specific detection reagent. Therefore, to investigate the role of B27₂ in AS, we generated a novel antibody to B27₂ – HD6 – using phage display technology, which binds to in vitro refolded B27₂ but not B27HT complexes by ELISA. This thesis provides evidence that HD6-reactive molecules, which include B27₂, are expressed at the cell surface in both cell lines and in the context of a disease setting. Recognition is B27-specific and strongly correlated with the magnitude of B27 expression, which could account for the lack of staining in some cell subsets. Moreover, staining was comparable in cell lines expressing the disease-associated B*27:05 and the less disease-associated subtype B*27:09. In addition, I have shown cells expressing physiologic levels of B27, including EBV-transformed BCLs and AS patient PBMCs, are capable of expressing the HD6 epitope upon low pH treatment. Interestingly, these ‘acid-inducible HD6’ molecules were absent from cells lacking a functional PLC. Finally, I have shown that HD6-reactive molecules can derive from pre-existing folding B27 molecules at the cell surface, which may be inhibited by the addition of exogenous B27-binding peptides. These findings are consistent with a mechanism of pathogenesis involving the surface expression and recognition of B27₂ and/or other aberrantly folded forms of B27, as proposed in the homodimer theory. HD6 will be a powerful tool to address the potential pathogenic role of B27₂ in SpA and may additionally have therapeutic potential.