Involvement of IL-33 in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis: the effect of etanercept on the serum levels of IL-33

To investigate the role of interleukin (IL)-33 in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, we measured the serum levels of IL-33 in RA patients before and after the administration of etanercept. Twenty-four patients with RA were treated with etanercept. Clinical and laboratory examinations, including serum levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) and hemoglobin (Hb); white blood cell (WBC) and red blood cell (RBC) counts; and the Disease Activity Score of 28 joints including CRP (DAS28-CRP), were performed at the baseline and at 3 and 6 months after the initial treatment with etanercept. The mean serum IL-33 levels had decreased significantly at 3 and 6 months after the initial treatment with etanercept. Serum IL-33 levels showed a significant correlation with the number of tender joints, CRP, DAS28-CRP, and the WBC count, and an inverse correlation with the RBC count and Hb level. These findings indicated that the decrease of serum IL-33 levels was a novel function of etanercept, shown for the first time in this study. Measurement of serum levels of IL-33 may become a useful control marker for RA treatment.     

Revised FIGO staging system for cancer of the ovary,fallopian tube,and peritoneum: important implications for radiologists

Ovarian cancer is the seventh most common cancer diagnosis among women worldwide. The International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics recently significantly revised staging criteria for cancer of the ovary. The latest revision was based on the concept that high-grade serous tubal intraepithelial carcinoma (STIC) may be the origin of some high-grade serous carcinomas of the ovary and peritoneum. Therefore, staging criteria for the ovary, fallopian tube, and peritoneum have been unified. Understanding this background and other important revised points are essential for radiologists concerned with imaging diagnosis in gynecologic oncology. Through this review, we introduce the STIC theory and show examples of diseases in accordance with the new staging criteria based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) results.     

Associations of radiographic degeneration and pain with daily cumulative hip loading in patients with secondary hip osteoarthritis

The purpose of this study was to investigate the associations of radiographic and clinical variables of hip osteoarthritis (OA) with alterations in gait and joint loading in patients with secondary hip OA. Fifty females with secondary hip OA were participated. The minimum joint space width (mJSW) of the hip as a degenerative sign and Sharp and center edge (CE) angles as morphological variables were measured radiographically. Hip joint pain was assessed using a visual analog scale. As gait variables, walking speed, range of hip motion, hip moment peak, and hip moment impulse were calculated. Daily cumulative hip loading was calculated as the hip moment impulse multiplied by the mean number of steps per day. After bivariate correlation analyses between dependent (mJSW and pain) and independent variables (age, body mass index, sharp/CE angles, steps per day, and gait variables), separate forward‐backward stepwise multiple regression analyses were performed for each dependent variable. Daily cumulative hip loading in the sagittal plane (β = 0.30, p = 0.021) and age (β = ?0.36, p = 0.007) were significantly associated with the mJSW. Walking speed (β = ?0.36, p = 0.008) and age (β = 0.29, p = 0.031) were significantly associated with hip joint pain. Decrease in daily cumulative hip loading in the sagittal plane was associated with mJSW independently of age. Although the causal relationship was not clear, patients with hip OA reduced total exposure to hip joint loading adaptively rather than lowering the hip moment peak concerning worsening of hip degeneration. © 2016 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 34:1977–1983, 2016.

     

Effectiveness of 16S ribosomal DNA real-time PCR and sequencing for diagnosing bacterial keratitis

Graefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology - To evaluate the efficacy of real-time PCR for 16S ribosomal DNA (16S r-DNA) and sequencing for diagnosing microbial keratitis. We...     

How to successfully resect 70 % of the liver in pigs to model an extended hepatectomy with an insufficient remnant or liver transplantation with a small-for-size graft

An insufficient remnant in extended hepatectomy and small-for-size graft in liver transplantation are critical matters in the field of liver surgery, and reliable and reproducible animal models that can provide clinically relevant and reliable data are needed. We herein describe our detailed surgical procedures for performing 70 % hepatectomy in pigs, and discuss the critical anatomical features, key techniques and pitfalls based on our experience. The porcine liver is divided into four lobes. The right lateral lobe (RLL) accounts for 30 % of the liver volume. Important points, such as selective temporal clamping of the arterial branch, confirmation of a related demarcation line, a two-step process to skeletonize Glisson’s capsules during liver resection and selective ligation of the portal venous branch to the right medial lobe without inducing any subtle injuries to Glisson’s capsules from the RLL to common bile duct, are discussed.