Proposed diagnostic criteria for rheumatoid arthritis

The osteoporosis of rheumatoid arthritis

“…Under normal circumstances a period of four to seven days must elapse between drug administration and bone sampling before a permanent tetracycline label can be recognized12 yet cases #6 and #7 showed no evidence of any tetracycline at the periphery of the histologically normal active osteoid seam, even though the critical time period (4-7 days) had been adequate before sampling the bone. These abnormalities may be due to several factors which have yet to be clarified:- 1. intrinsic abnormality of matrix (or osteoid), 2. very slow mineralization rate so that insufficient tetracycline accumulates to be visible,…”

“…The two major factors contributing to this appearance would seem to be:- 1. Pain and Disuse: Demineralization usually develops in any bone which is immobilized for any long period; and in rheumatoid arthritis the splinting effect and relati& disuse is provided by the pain, the local soft tissue swelling and edema.…”

“…In all subjects the rheumatoid processes was considered to be "active" at the time of the biopsy. no patient had any dissociated illness arid none was bedfast; their disease status and functional capacity35 is recorded in table 1 with other pertinent clinical details. None had received corticosteroids for the previous four years and five had never received corticosteroids at any time.…”

The pharmacokinetics of the enantiomers of flurbiprofen in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

“…The subjects of the study were fifteen patients, aged between 51 and 71 years (mean 64) all suffering from classical or definite rheumatoid arthritis as defined by Ropes et al (1959). These individuals were included in a previous study of 29 patients in whom the plasma and synovial fluid concentrations of racemic flurbiprofen had been measured along with thermographic measurements (Aarons et al, 1986 Chromatography was carried out using a Spherisorb 150 x 4.6mm 3 pLm silica column with u.v.…”

Synovial fluid hyaluronate in rheumatoid arthritis

“…6 Hyaluronate was precipitated in mucin clots from rheumatoid synovial fluid by adding acetic acid or a cobalt salt to the fluid, and was measured indirectly by determining hexosamine in these clots. A part of the total hexosamine of synovial fluid is not a component of hyaluronate, and it was shown in the method adopted that no hexosamine other than hyaluronate hexosamine was precipitated in mucin clots and that no hyaluronate hexosamine remained in the supernatant after a mucin clot was formed.…”