To assess the long-term outcome of anterior knee pain diagnosed in childhood.

Familial haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (FHL) is a disorder characterized by deficient cytotoxic T-cell function and activated macrophages, owing to a defect in the perforin gene and absent perforin expression. Because symptoms of patients with systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA) are sometimes clinically very similar to those with FHL, we studied whether perforin expression in sJIA patients would be reduced also.

Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a rare complication of juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM). The aim of this study was to clarify the clinical features of JDM-associated ILD and to evaluate the efficacy of cyclosporin A (CSA).

Computers and the Internet form a large part of our professional and personal lives. There are advantages and disadvantages to computer-assisted learning which will be discussed. An Internet and Medline search was performed to assess the educational content of rheumatology websites and also their effect on learning in the undergraduate and postgraduate setting.

Psoriatic spondyloarthropathy (PSA) can occasionally be complicated by AA amyloid, and renal amyloidosis should be suspected in patients with PSA who have unexplained proteinuria. The diagnosis of amyloidosis can be made either histologically or by radiolabelled serum amyloid P component (SAP) scintigraphy. Prognosis is determined by the extent of organ involvement and associated impairment of function, and by the degree of response of the underlying disease to anti-inflammatory therapy. A review of the literature identified less than a dozen cases of AA amyloidosis complicating PSA, and the outcome in most cases was poor. We report here the favourable clinical course of a middle-aged Caucasian male patient with severe PSA who developed renal AA amyloidosis, in whom treatment with oral chlorambucil led to stabilization of the amyloid deposits and resolution of the associated nephrotic syndrome. We review the diagnosis and treatment of AA amyloidosis, including the management of patients with underlying inflammatory spondyloarthropathies, and propose the possible role of a therapeutic trial of anti-tumour necrosis factor alpha in patients with amyloid complicating inflammatory rheumatic diseases.

To evaluate whether autoantibodies in the absence of rheumatic diseases increase the risk of mortality among very elderly subjects who are otherwise in good functional condition.

We recently identified a new protein, pituitary gland specific factor 1a (PGSF1a), that is specifically transcribed in the pituitary gland. In our investigation of anti-PGSF1a antibody for pituitary diseases, we examined it in patients with RA and other autoimmune diseases. We unexpectedly discovered the frequent existence of anti-PGSF1a antibody in patients with RA. We therefore examined the prevalence of this antibody to understand its clinical significance in RA.

To clarify the association between parvovirus B19 and myositis.

While symmetry and clustering of radiographic hand osteoarthritis (OA) have been described in middle-aged women, these have not been studied in elderly individuals and similar investigations are lacking for symptomatic hand OA. The goal of this study was to study patterns of joint involvement in symptomatic hand OA among elderly Caucasian men and women.

To raise peptide antibodies recognizing the C-terminal amino acid sequence in the G1 domain of porcine aggrecan, generated by the action of either aggrecanase or neutral metalloproteinase(s), in rabbits and to use them to investigate the release of aggrecan from porcine articular cartilage.

The cost per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) of infliximab (Remicade) treatment in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) was estimated on the basis of a clinical trial comparing infliximab plus methotrexate with methotrexate alone in 428 patients with advanced disease [Anti-Tumour Necrosis Factor Trial in Rheumatoid Arthritis with Concomitant Therapy (ATTRACT)].

To assess the short-term urate-lowering effect of fenofibrate in men on long-term allopurinol therapy for hyperuricaemia and gout.