Skin temperature and skin blood flow were studied above different tender points in 20 patients with fibromyalgia (FM) and 20 healthy controls.

Polymyositis and dermatomyositis are idiopathic inflammatory myopathies. Respiratory complications are a common feature, but ventilatory insufficiency is rare in these patients. We describe here three patients diagnosed with inflammatory myopathy (polymyositis) with respiratory failure due to muscle weakness who did not respond to immunosuppressive therapy. Mechanical ventilation at home with nasal or tracheal intermittent positive pressure resulted in improved chronic hypoventilation. This treatment improves the quality of life of patients with inflammatory myopathies and can be lifesaving in some cases.

The reliability and discriminative capacity of hand function tests were studied in order to obtain tests suitable for the evaluation of local treatment of an arthritic metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joint.

To determine the incidence and significance of antibodies to the parvovirus B19 non-structural (NS1) protein in B19-infected persons during acute infection and convalescence.

To quantify the efficacy of a series of baths containing natural radon and carbon dioxide (1.3 kBq/l, 1.6 g carbon dioxide/l on average) versus artificial carbon dioxide baths alone in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

The development of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)-related syndromes during treatment with sulphasalazine has been described and demonstrated to be influenced by genetic factors. The prevalence of this drug-induced condition and the immunological mechanisms involved are less known. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of sulphasalazine-induced lupus-like reactions in a well-defined early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) cohort and to analyse the roles of HLA haplotypes, autoantibodies and the B-cell stimulating cytokine interleukin-10 (IL-10) as possible underlying risk factors. Patients and methods. Forty-one consecutive patients with early RA, in whom sulphasalazine was used as the first disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug in single therapy and was maintained for at least 6 months, were investigated for the occurrence of lupus-related events. Longitudinal analyses of rheumatoid factor (RF), antinuclear antibodies (ANA), anti-double-stranded DNA antibodies and serum IL-10 (ELISA) and the typing of HLA DR and DQ alleles were performed.

To evaluate the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) in the assessment of functional status, its responsiveness to change with treatment and its correlation with conventional disease activity indices in polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR).

To highlight the possible association between infertility and treatment with long-term non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAIDs). NSAIDs act mainly through the inhibition of cyclooxygenase, the enzyme that catalyses the synthesis of prostaglandins, which are essential mediators of ovulation, implantation and placentation of the conceptus.

The aim of the study was to evaluate QT dispersion (QTd), an indicator of repolarization heterogeneity, and its relation to ventricular arrhythmias in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS).

To investigate the distribution of radiolabelled interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to assess whether this cytokine is suitable for scintigraphic visualization of synovitis.

Cyclosporin and tacrolimus are immunomodulatory drugs which act predominantly on T cells. Improvements in certain manifestations, particularly skin tightness, have been observed in a number of patients with scleroderma treated with these drugs. However, to date there have been no reports of their use in a routine clinical setting.

There are a significant number of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) of North Indian or Pakistani origin (Asian) now living in the UK. RA has been poorly studied in this racial group. The aim of this study was to compare RA in this Asian group with RA in the indigenous northern European (European) population. It was hypothesized that these two racial groups would have different disease expressions and immunogenetics that could be relevant to pathogenesis, prognosis and therapy.

To test the role of joint receptors for proprioception in patients with bilateral knee osteoarthritis (OA) and patients who had undergone unilateral total knee arthroplasty (TKA).

A number of studies have indicated that rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a less severe disease in Mediterranean countries than in Northern Europe. We investigated whether differences in the frequency of class II MHC antigens might contribute to this variation in disease severity.