Sarcopenia was recently identified as an entity in the ICD-10 classification of October 2016. According to the recommendation of the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP2), sarcopenia is defined as low muscle strength and low muscle mass, while physical performance is used to categorize the severity of sarcopenia. In recent years, sarcopenia has become increasingly common in younger patients with autoimmune diseases such as Rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Due to the chronic inflammation caused by RA, patients have reduced physical activity, immobility, stiffness, and joint destruction and all of that lead to the loss of muscle mass, muscle strength, disability and significantly lowering the patients’ quality of life. This article is a narrative review about sarcopenia in RA, with a special focus in its pathogenesis and management.

This study compares EQ-5D-3L, EQ-5D-5L, and SF-6D utilities in patients with different musculoskeletal (MSK) disorders, also differing in disease severity as defined by valid clinical indexes. Utilities were measured from a cross-sectional sample of rheumatoid arthritis (N = 114), psoriatic arthritis (N = 57), ankylosing spondylitis (N = 49), and osteopenia/osteoporosis (N = 95) patients. For the first three groups, disease activity (severity) was measured with the DAS-28, DAPSA, and BASDAI clinical indexes, respectively. Mean differences and effect sizes were measured, and agreement between utilities was estimated with the intraclass correlation coefficient and Bland–Altman plots. Higher agreement was observed between EQ-5D-5L and SF-6D, compared to EQ-5D-3L and SF-6D, in all MSK disorder groups and severity levels. In groups with moderate to high severity, agreement between EQ-5D-3L/SF-6D and EQ-5D-5L/SF-6D was between low and fair, and both EQ-5D-3L and 5L utilities were lower than SF-6D (p < 0.001). On the other hand, in remission or low activity groups, agreement was excellent, and SF-6D utilities were again typically higher than EQ-5D-3L/5L, but not significantly. In more severe patients, SF-6D generated significantly higher utilities than EQ-5D-3L and 5L, which is consistent with most previous studies. Such discrepancies could have implications on economic evaluations of interventions targeting patients with MSK disorders.

Food allergens are a well acknowledged issue in food industry and are regulated by legislation. The presence of allergens can either origin from the raw material or due to contamination during production. Allergen information on packaging is mandatory although it cannot be accurate in the case of contamination therefore warnings are used. The purpose of the study is the development and validation of a SYBR Green Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction method using specific primer pairs based on Jug r 1, Jug r 3, and Jug r 4 allergen-coding sequences to improve the sensitivity of Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction techniques for detection of walnut and almond traces in commercial food products and its comparison with ELISA methodology in terms of detection ability. A total of 100 samples were collected from local markets and were analyzed by Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) and ELISA methods. The results indicated that 16 samples (16%) were found positive in walnut traces and 18 samples (18%) were found positive in almond traces by Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction of which Elisa identified 14 samples (14%) positive in walnut traces and 15 samples (15%) positive in almond traces. Among them, 4 samples (25%) that contained walnut traces and 6 samples (33.3%) that contained almond traces had no allergen declaration on their label. The improved accuracy of Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction underlines the importance of this method for allergen detection and quantification in the food industry

In 1948, Malcolm Hargraves, Helen Richmond, and Robert Morton during evaluation of bone marrow examinations at the Mayo Clinic (Minnesota, USA) observed exclusively in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) the presence of abnormal cells with specific morphology (the nucleus is phagocytosed by mature leucocytes) and introduced the term "LE cell" 1 . Although LE cells are usually found in the bone borrow of these patients, it has been shown that after a period of incubation they can be formed in buffy coats of peripheral blood 2 indicating that the LE phenomenon is rather a secondary response to a blood circulating factor and not a developmental cellular defect.One year later, two research laboratories independently confirmed the inducible nature of LE phenomenon 3 . Incubation of bone marrow cells from healthy subject with plasma from SLE patients lead to the formation of LE cells. It took almost a decade and a series of ingenious research to discover that the phenomenon LE cells are autoantibodies that bind to nuclear elements. The molecular nature of the LE factor was determined when it was discovered that this factor lies in the gamma globulin fraction 4 . The nuclear specificity has been shown later by at least two different research groups at the same time. Holborow et al, showed that in all tissues examined (skin, heart muscle, kidney, thyroid and spleen) exposure of the section to LE cells positive sera resulted in marked specific fluorescence of the nuclei on subsequent staining with the anti-globulin conjugate 5 .In the same year, Holman and Kunkel published a seminal work in Science where they show that the LE serum factor possesses affinity for cell nuclei and nucleoproteins 6 . One year later, Friou and colleagues introduced an indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) assay with end-point titres for the detection of anti-nuclear antibodies 7,8 (ANA). Subsequently, three distinct classic patterns (homogeneous, speckled and nucleolar) of ANA fluorescence were described by Swanson Beck during the staining of rat liver sections with patients' serum 9 , introducing the importance of ANA pattern in clinical practice. Since then significant progress has been made on the identification of ANA specificity in SLE and other systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases, including Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), Sjögren's Syndrome (SjS), Systemic Sclerosis (SSc), Mixed Connective Tissue Disease (MCTD), and Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathies (IIM). AbstractThe antinuclear antibody (ANA) testing is an indispensable diagnostic tool for the management of systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (SARD). From the initial discovery of ANA identification until today there has been considerable technical progress in ANA testing and standardisation which has allow the development of commercial ANA assay kits that are widespread used in clinical and research practice. In this mini-review we explore the history and recent advancements in ANA testing and provide guidelines to the laboratory interpretation and clinical assessment of ANA...

Cellulose and lignocellulose nanofibrils were extracted from pistachio shells utilizing environmentally friendly pulping and totally chlorine-free bleaching. The extracted nanofibers were used to elaborate nanopaper, a continuous film made by gravimetric entanglement of the nanofibers and hot-pressed to enhance intramolecular bonding. The elaborated nanopapers were analyzed through their mechanical, optical, and surface properties to evaluate the influence of non-cellulosic macromolecules on the final properties of the nanopaper. Results have shown that the presence of lignin augmented the viscoelastic properties of the nanopapers by ≈25% compared with fully bleached nanopaper; moreover, the hydrophobicity of the lignocellulose nanopaper was achieved, as the surface free energy was diminished from 62.65 to 32.45 mNm−1 with an almost non-polar component and a water contact angle of 93.52°. On the other hand, the presence of lignin had an apparent visual effect on the color of the nanopapers, with a ΔE of 51.33 and a ΔL of −44.91, meaning a substantial darkening of the film. However, in terms of ultraviolet transmittance, the presence of lignin resulted in a practically nonexistent transmission in the UV spectra, with low transmittance in the visible wavelengths. In general, the presence of lignin resulted in the enhancement of selected properties which are desirable for packaging materials, which makes pistachio shell nano-lignocellulose an attractive option for this field.