Objective. Regular physical activity is associated with decreased morbidity and mortality. Traditionally, patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have been advised to limit physical exercise. We studied the prevalence of physical activity and associations with demographic and disease-related variables in patients with RA from 21 countries. patients from 58 sites in 21 countries were enrolled in QUEST-RA: 79% were women, >90% were white, mean age was 57 years, and mean disease duration was 11.6 years. Only 13.8% of all patients reported physical exercise >3 times weekly. The majority of the patients were physically inactive with no regular weekly exercise: >80% in 7 countries, 60 -80% in 12 countries, and 45% and 29% in 2 countries, respectively. Physical inactivity was associated with female sex, older age, lower education, obesity, comorbidity, low functional capacity, and higher levels of disease activity, pain, and fatigue. Conclusion. In many countries, a low proportion of patients with RA exercise. These data may alert rheumatologists to motivate their patients to increase physical activity levels.

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Medication adherence is influenced by complex and multifactorial issues, which can include smoking, depression, polypharmacy, convenience of obtaining and administering the medication, patient motivation and education. We recommend simplifying treatment regimens, where possible, improving provider-patient communication, and providing support and education to increase medication adherence, with a view to improving patient outcomes and clinical trial data quality.

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Study Group for Diabetic Foot Infections of the Turkish Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases has called for collaboration of the relevant specialist societies and the Ministry of Health to issue a national consensus report on the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of diabetic foot (DF) wounds and diabetic foot infections (DFIs) in Turkey. In the periodical meetings of the assigned representatives from all the parties, various questions as to pathogenesis, microbiology, assessment and grading, treatment, prevention and control of diabetic foot were identified. Upon reviewing related literature and international guidelines, these questions were provided

Fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) have been used to diagnose new-onset diabetes mellitus (DM) in order to simplify the diagnostic tests compared with the 2-hour oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT; 2-hPG). We aimed to identify optimal cut-off points of high sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) in new-onset DM people based on FPG, 2-hPG, or HbA1c methods. Data derived from recent population-based survey in Turkey (TURDEP-II). The study included 26,499 adult people (63% women, response rate 85%). The mean serum concentration of hs-CRP in women was higher than in men (p < 0.001). The people with new-onset DM based on HbA1c had higher mean hs-CRP level than FPG based and 2-hPG based DM cases. In HbA1c, 2-hPG, and FPG based new-onset DM people, cut-off levels of hs-CRP in women were 2.9, 2.1, and 2.5 mg/L [27.5, 19.7, and 23.5 nmol/L] and corresponding values in men were 2.0, 1.8, and 1.8 mg/L (19.0, 16.9, and 16.9 nmol/L), respectively (sensitivity 60–65% and specificity 54–64%). Our results revealed that hs-CRP may not further strengthen the diagnosis of new-onset DM. Nevertheless, the highest hs-CRP level observed in new-onset DM people diagnosed with HbA1c criterion supports the general assumption that this method might recognize people in more advanced diabetic stage compared with other diagnostic methods.

Objective:To determine whether early toxic effects from hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) could be detected by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) before symtomatic visual loss occured.Materials and Methods:Fifteen subjects with a history of the chronic use of hydroxychloroquine monotherapy for less than five years without fundus changes (group 1) and 15 visually normal healthy subjects (group 2) were enrolled in this study. All participants underwent systemic and ocular examination, visual field testing, and macular scan imaging using SD-OCT.Results:There were no significant differences in sex and ages between the groups (P > 0.05). Mean duration of HCQ usage in group 1 was 2.5 ± 1.34 (range:1-5) years. Visual field testing with central 10-2 threshold program was normal in all subjects. Inner retinal thickness in parafoveal and perifoveal area were found to be significantly lower in group 1 compared to group 2 (P < 0.01 for perifoveal, P < 0.05 for parafoveal retinal measurements). However, significant thinning was demonstrated only in full retinal thickness of perifoveal area in group 1 compared to group 2 (P: 0.013). Parafoveal and perifoveal inner retinal thickness measurements of inferior quadrants were significantly reduced in group 1 compared to group 2 (P < 0.01).Conclusion:Significant thinning of inner retinal layer especially in parafoveal and perifoveal areas in the absence of clinical fundus changes was observed in our study. We consider that SD-OCT may determine when inner retinal thinning starts in these patients and may contribute a quantitative approach to the early diagnosis and progression of retinal changes.

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