Micro-mechanical fingerprints of the rat bladder change in actinic cystitis and tumor presence.

Tissue mechanics determines tissue homeostasis, disease development and progression. Bladder strongly relies on its mechanical properties to perform its physiological function, but these are poorly unveiled under normal and pathological conditions. Here we characterize the mechanical fingerprints at the micro-scale level of the three tissue layers which compose the healthy bladder wall, and identify modifications associated with the onset and progression of pathological conditions (i.e., actinic cystitis and bladder cancer). We use two indentation-based instruments (an Atomic Force Microscope and a nanoindenter) and compare the micromechanical maps with a comprehensive histological analysis. We find that the healthy bladder wall is a mechanically inhomogeneous tissue, with a gradient of increasing stiffness from the urothelium to the lamina propria, which gradually decreases when reaching the muscle outer layer. Stiffening in fibrotic tissues correlate with increased deposition of dense extracellular matrix in the lamina propria. An increase in tissue compliance is observed before the onset and invasion of the tumor. By providing high resolution micromechanical investigation of each tissue layer of the bladder, we depict the intrinsic mechanical heterogeneity of the layers of a healthy bladder as compared with the mechanical properties alterations associated with either actinic cystitis or bladder tumor.

[Efficacy of and tolerance to a new NSAID in the treatment of arthrosis: droxicam. Randomized study versus tenoxicam]. / Efficacia e tollerabilità di un nuovo FANS nella terapia dell'artrosi: il droxicam. Studio randomizzato versus tenoxicam.

A four-week open study was carried out to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of droxicam, a new NSAID, in the treatment of painful osteoarthritis (OA). The results were compared with those obtained treating a similar group of patients with tenoxicam, at the same dosage of 20 mg/day, orally administered. The study showed that both drugs are effective in treating OA, with a mild predominance of droxicam in decreasing pain, functional limitation and chronic inability score. Tolerability was excellent or good in over 70% of patients and only one subject of each group was dropped out for severe side-effects. According to the Authors droxicam has shown to be an effective analgesic and anti-inflammatory agent as judged by its efficacy on pain relief and joint mobility in OA.

The coexistence of rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus.

A 29-year-old white female with longstanding classical rheumatoid arthritis (RA) developed clinical and serological manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with prominent signs of diffuse proliferative lupus nephritis. She fulfilled the ARA criteria for the classification of SLE as well as the ARA criteria for classical RA. The concomitant presence of these two affections in the same patient is rare and the discriminating features suggest that this coexistence may be coincidental. With respect to treatment, our patient had good relief of symptoms by a combined administration of methylprednisolone pulses and cyclophosphamide.

Gold nephropathy and renal amyloidosis in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis.

A 71-year-old Caucasian woman with rheumatoid arthritis, who had been treated with gold salts for 19 months, developed a significant proteinuria associated with nephrotic syndrome and renal impairment. Her renal biopsy revealed the unusual simultaneous occurrence of gold nephropathy and renal amyloidosis and she was treated by gold withdrawal, methylprednisolone pulses and azathioprine, with a good remission of symptoms. We describe the case and discuss the possible cause(s) of similar renal involvement and the results obtained with the combined therapy of steroids and cytotoxic drugs.