Background: The excess mortality associated with
rheumatoid arthritis is largely due to
cardiovascular disease. Rheumatoid arthritis is of
primary importance in atherogenesis. The intimamedia thickness of extracranial carotid arteries is a
measurable index of the presence of
atherosclerosis.
Objective: To assess carotid intima-media
thickness in rheumatoid arthritis by Doppler
ultrasound.
Methods: Fifty two Iraqi patients with rheumatoid
arthritis were studied and compared with another
fifty two, healthy individuals matched for age and
sex as a control group. Full history was taken and
complete clinical examination was done for all
individuals in both groups. Rheumatoid arthritis
diagnosis was based on The American
Rheumatism Association 1987 revised criteria for
the classification of rheumatoid arthritis. Carotid
intima-media thickness was measured by Doppler
ultrasound.
Results: There was a significant increase in the
frequency of increased carotid intima-media
thickness among individuals with rheumatoid
arthritis (44.2%) compared to healthy control
group (3.8%) (P=0.000001).
Conclusion: Increased carotid intima-media
thickness occurs in high frequency in rheumatoid
arthritis
Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a very common liver disease in the world, particularly in Western and developed countries. It is rapidly growing in the Asia- Pacific region.
Objectives: This study was designed to determine the association between risk factors and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease grades among Malaysian adults.
Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional observational study design was prospectively carried out in this study. Consecutive 628 respondents who attended for a medical checkup at urban health center had been recruited for the study. All respondents had the physical examination, blood tests, clinical assessments, and abdominal ultrasoun
Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease, where the normal joint tissues attacked by body’s immune system, causing their inflammation. Cluster of Differentiation 69 (CD69) is a human transmembrane C-Type lectin protein encoded by the CD69 gene. It’s expression was induced by activation (in vivo and in vitro) of T lymphocytes and Natural Killer (NK) Cells. As CD69 early activation has been implicated in the pathogenesis of some inflammatory diseases, its expression on peripheral blood T-lymphocytes must be evaluated.
Objective: To evaluate the expression of CD69 on peripheral blood T-lymphocytes in RA Iraqi patients.
Patients and methods: This study carried out between March 2
Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease that results in a chronic, systemic inflammatory disorder that may affect many tissues and organs, but principally attacks flexible (synovial) joints. Many cases are believed to result from an interaction between genetic factors and environmental exposures. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is associated with several autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis and multip
... Show MoreRheumatoid arthritis (RA) is one of the autoimmune diseases characterized by the synovial inflammation which causes organs and tissues damage especially synovial tissues and joints. The study included 50 serum samples from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) when compared with 50 serum samples from healthy individuals as control with age range 35 – 60 years (41.3 ± 2.4 years vs. 41.0 ± 2.0 years, respectively). ELISA technique was used to assess the Anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide IgG antibody (anti-CCP IgG Ab) level, anti-rheumatoid factor IgG antibody (anti-RF IgG) and anti-Cytomegalovirus (anti-CMV IgG) antibodies frequencies in the studied groups. The present findings demonstrated that all RA patients have 100% seropositive fr
... Show MoreRheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systematic autoimmune disorder with chronic inflammation changes of unknown etiology. Various synovial inflammatory and proliferative alterations may contribute to the cartilaginous tissues and invasive bony tissues, leading to destructive joints and malformed bones. This disease is mostly due to infective microorganisms or genetic susceptibility causing immune system disturbances through triggering both T-cells and B-cells. Furthermore, different immune cells may secret cytokines, which are responsible for some RA pathogenesis activity. From ninety individuals, serum sample was collected; thirty of them were normal and sixty cases were patients with RA attended a privet medical clin
... Show MoreBackground: Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease. Many etiological agents are proposed to play a role in its pathogenecity. One of these factors is cytokines such as Interleukin6.
Material & Methods: ELISA method has been used for IL-6 estimation in 75 RA patients in comparison with 61 SLE as patient controls and 39 apparently healthy controls.
Results: This study showed that there was an elevation of IL-6 in the sera of RA patients with high significant differences between RA patients and controls (P< 0.001). Moreover a good correlation between IL-6 level & RF titer were observed. However, for most patients with high IL-6 were shown to be HLA-DR4.
Conclusions: Interleukin-6 play
Seventy- four cases of clinically diagnosed Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), fifty cases of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and thirty healthy normal controls were investigated for detection of rheumatoid factor (RF), total serum immunoglobulins (Igs), antinuclear antibody (ANA), and ANA subtype anti-double stranded DNA (anti-ds DNA).
Patients with RA showed 58.1% positive for RF comparable with 14% positivity in SLE patients and 6.6% in normal individuals. Serum Igs (IgA,IgG) were found to be elevated in RA and SLE
patients (62.2% , 36.5%) (54% , 38%) respectively. This study revealed that ANA is found in 88% of SLE patients sera and 78% of these ANA is ds DNA in comparison with only 6.8% of RA sera wer
Background: Pulmonary involvement in patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a serious extra articular manifestation.
Patients and Methods: 82 patients with RA and 40 control subjects were included in this prospective study. They were submitted to medical history, physical measurements (height, weight and BMI) and spirometric evaluation for FVC, FEV1, FEV1%, PEFR and FMF (FEF25-75%).Objective: The aim of the study is to detect pulmonary involvement, classify the type of involvement (whether obstructive, restrictive or mixed), and to find out whether pulmonary system was involved in the early stage of the disease and is asymptomatic and to determine the as
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