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Yes / RA patients often present with low muscle mass and decreased strength. Quantitative MRI offers a non-invasive measurement of muscle status. This study assessed whether MRI-based measurements of T2, fat fraction, diffusion tensor imaging and muscle volume can detect differences between the thigh muscles of RA patients and healthy controls, and assessed the muscle phenotype of different disease stages. Thirty-nine RA patients (13 'new RA'-newly diagnosed, treatment naïve, 13 'active RA'-persistent DAS28 >3.2 for >1 year, 13 'remission RA'-persistent DAS28 1 year) and 13 age and gender directly matched healthy controls had an MRI scan of their dominant thigh. All participants had knee extension and flexion torque and grip strength measured. MRI T2 and fat fraction were higher in the three groups of RA patients compared with healthy controls in the thigh muscles. There were no clinically meaningful differences in the mean diffusivity. The muscle volume, handgrip strength, knee extension and flexion were lower in all three groups of RA patients compared with healthy controls. Quantitative MRI and muscle strength measurements can potentially detect differences within the muscles between RA patients and healthy controls. These differences may be seen in RA patients who are yet to start treatment, those with persistent active disease, and those who were in clinical remission. This suggests that the muscles in RA patients are affected in the early stages of the disease and that signs of muscle pathology and muscle weakness are still observed in clinical remission. / National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Leeds Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) and Health Education England

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / The purposes of this study were to describe the relationship of sociodemographic and biomedical characteristics to health perceptions among individuals with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to identify which functional measures are associated with one's health perceptions. Data were extracted on 395 individuals with classical or definite RA for a secondary data analysis. These data had been collected between 1978 and 1982 using the Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales (AIMS), a reliable and valid self-administered questionnaire on health status. Sociodemographic information included age, sex, current marital status, occupation, income, and engagement in a productive role. Biomedical data included a respondent's disease duration, disease severity, and comorbid conditions. A dependent variable which classified health perceptions (HP) was constructed from two AIMS questions concerning self-assessed current health and belief in the ability to resist illness. Using subjects' sociodemographic characteristics and biomedical indicators as determinants of health perception classifications (HPC), repondents were grouped into nodes through a recursive partitioning technique (CART). Income, disease activity, current marital status, age, and comorbidity were identified by CART as important and interactive determinants of HPC. In the second phase of analysis, differences in function between HP groups on the nine AIMS scales were explored using subjects' self-assigned HP groups, while controlling for sociodemographic and biomedical characteristics and their potential interactive effects as they had been identified by the CART algorithm. Analysis of these differences demonstrated that the explanatory sociodemographic and biomedical variables used in this study both explained and masked significant differences between HP groups on certain functional measures. Finally, the analysis determined which functional measures were most associated with self-assigned HP using a stepwise logistic regression model. Anxiety, physical activity and household activity formed an overall explanatory model of HP. Physical activity and depression were associated with current health perceptions. Perceived resistance to illness was related to subjects' levels of anxiety and household activity. / 2999-01-01

Two instruments were developed and administered to fifteen female and three male rheumatoid arthritics (mean age 44) previously hospitalized for allergy treatment by ecological methods. The Physical Functioning Ability Scale assessed functional capacity according to common daily activities, and the Rehabilitation Questionnaire surveyed adjustment problems subjects encountered after hospital discharge. ANOVA was performed on the functionality scale comparing dimensions of dependence, pain, and difficulty with categorical activities of mobility, work, and personal care, Significant F values (p(.05) were obtained for interaction and dimensions, but not for categories. Functional independence from human/mechanical assistance was particularly noted. Recommendation for future research concerns replicating this study using a control group of rheumatoid arthritics treated by traditional medical approaches.

The purpose of this study was to describe the therapeutic interventions used for people with limited function of the hand due to osteoarthrtis or rheumatoid arthritis. The study was accomplished through a literature studie. Data were collected through a search of databases considering the criteras for inclusion or exclusion that were established by the authors before the search. Twelve articles were included in the study and analysed through a qualitative content analysis. Fivedifferent categories of occupational interventions were revealed through the analysis. The categories are orthotics, heat and cold treatment, information and education, strength and range of motion exercises and training in activity of daily life. The result of the analysis continued with an interpretation of OTIPM to furher iluminate the occupational focus of activity. A minority of the occupational interventions used as treatment of clients with a limited function of the hand due to osteoarthrits or rheumatoid arthritis correspond to the focus of activity described in OTIPM. / Validerat; 20110607 (anonymous)

Ngan, Kit Shan. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 176-187). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese.

This is a study of muscle function in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA). Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a disease that primarily affects the synovial membrane of joints. Muscle weakness, atrophy and pain occur in adult RA. This may be a consequence of joint pain, stiffness and immobility. Muscle inflammation and neuropathy occur as complications in adults. Muscle function in JIA has been much less studied. The aim of the study was to examine whether muscle weakness and atrophy also occur in children with JIA. This was a longitudinal study over a two-year period, where muscle strength and thickness were measured repeatedly in a group of 20 children and teenagers with JIA. Muscle strength was measured using different methods and in several muscle groups. Muscle biopsies were obtained and nerve conduction velocity studies performed. The study concludes that, compared to healthy people, children and teenagers with JIA have as a group reduced muscle strength and muscle thickness. For most of these children and teenagers, muscle strength is only slightly lower than expected, but a few have marked muscle weakness. This is most apparent in patients with severe polyarthritis where the weakness seems to be widespread. Patients with isolated arthritis may also have greatly reduced strength and thickness of muscles near the inflamed joint. There is a risk of decreasing strength in patients with polyarthritis and in muscles near an active arthritis. Minor changes are common in muscle biopsies, and findings may indicate immunological activity in the muscles. Atrophy of type II fibres, as in adult RA, was not found in JIA. No patient had signs of neuropathy. / On the day of the public defence the status of article IV was: Submitted.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karolinska institutet, 2007. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Thesis (Ph.D. in Biostatistics) -- University of Colorado Denver, 2008. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 53-56). Online version available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karolinska institutet, 2010.