study of HLA type II [DRB] by PCR in Egyptian rheumatoid arthritis patients

To assess the relationship between HLA-DRB1 and rheumatoid arthritis in Egyptian patients, 40 subjects ere examined; 26 were rheumatoid arthritis patients and 14 were normal persons. The patients were further subdivided into groups according to the Mean Grades of the Disease Activity. All patients and the controls were subjected to ESR estimation by Westgren's method, Rheumatoid factor testing and HLA-DRB1 typing by PCR. The DNA was extracted from whole blood. Exon 2 was amplified and checked by gel electrophoresis. For HLA-DRB1 allele detection, amplification products were subsequently hybridized using typing strips in which 37 sequence specific DNA probe lines and 2 control lines were fixed. There was a significant association between rheumatoid factor and the grade of disease activity. There was a significant association between HLA-DRB1 broad types *4 and *1 and the susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis. HLA-DRB1 broad types *4 and *1 had significant higher frequencies in patients than controls. They were 40.4% and 21.2% in patients while were 10.7% and 3.6% in controls. P values were 0.04 and 0.003 respectively for them. HLA-DRB1 *0102 allele had shown a significant increase in group IV rheumatoid arthritis patients with a frequency of 50%. high relative risk, and a P value of 0.014

Evaluation of piascledine 300 in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis clinical, biochemical and radiological study

In this work, the efficacy of piascledine 300 mg in the treatment of knee OA by clinical, biochemical and radiological study was evaluated. Forty patients with primary knee OA fulfill the ACR criteria for classification and reporting of knee OA were included and classified into two groups according to the presence or absence of effusion. The results have shown an improvement in the parameters measured, either clinically or biochemically, and a success rate of 65% of the drug as detected by clinical evaluation in this study after 6 months of drug intake, but the radiological study did not detect any signification changes

Comparative study between clinical assessment, laboratory markers, synovial fluid analysis and thermography in joint inflammation of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis

In this study the thermographic index [TI] of the knee joint was compared with the other parameters of joint inflammation of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis [JRA]. Twenty patients with JRA were included in the study [70% females and 30% males]. The mean age of our patients was 9.9 +/- 2.5 years. Ten healthy children matching our cases as regard; sex, age and weight served as a control group. All the patients were subjected to clinical assessment [joint score], laboratory investigations [ESR, CRF, HB%], synovial fluid analysis [TLC and glucose] and TI measurement. A significant correlation was observed between the joint score, ESR, HB% and TLC of the synovial fluid Insignificant correlations were reported between the joint score and CRP and between the TLC, CRP and HB%. The glucose level in the synovial fluid insignificantly correlated with all the other clinical and laboratory variables. The TI was found to be significantly correlated with the joint score, ESR, HB% and TLC of the synovial fluid while, it was found to be insignificantly correlated with the CRP and the glucose level of the synovial fluid. It is concluded that the TI is a good index for the assessment of joint activity in JRA with an equivalent efficacy to the other clinical and laboratory parameters of joint inflammation