Association Between IL-6 （Interleukin-6） and Iron Status in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

The study was performed to determine whether the srum concentrations of IL （interleukin）-6 are elevated in patients with RA （rheumatoid arthritis） and to investigate the relationship between IL-6 levels and iron status in RA patients. 95 serum samples were obtained, 70 of them from patients with RA who had visited the department of Rheumatology at Al-Sadder medical city in Najaf governorate （Iraq） and 25 age and sex-matched healthy controls. The authors assessed the clinical parameters of the disease, including ESR （erythrocyte sedimentation rate）, CRP （C-reactive protein）, and RF （rheumatoid factor）. Serum levels of iron and TIBC （total iron binding capacity） were measured spectrophotometrically, while TS% （transferrin saturation percentage） and transferrin concentration were calculated mathematically. Serum concentrations of IL-6 （interleukin-6） and ferritin were measured using an ELISA （enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay）. The results of serum concentration of IL-6 （interleukin-6） and ferritin were significantly elevated （P 〈 0.0001） in patients with RA compared to those of healthy controls. On the other hand, serum concentrations of iron, TIBC （total iron binding capacity）, TS% （transferrin saturation percentage） and transferrin concentration were significantly decreased in patients with RA compared with those of healthy controls. These findings suggest that anemia is the most frequent observations in patients with RA and mostly associative with increasing level of interleukin-6.

Efficacy of boswellic acid on lysosomal acid hydrolases,lipid peroxidation and anti-oxidant status in gouty arthritic mice

Objective:To evaluate the efficacy of boswellic acid against monosodium urate crystal-induced inflammation in mice.Methods:The mice were divided into four experimental groups.GroupⅠserved as control;mice in groupⅡwere injected with monosodium urate crystal;groupⅢconsisted of monosodium urate crystal-induced mice who were treated with boswellic acid(30mg/kg/b.w.);groupⅣcomprised monosodium urate crystal-induced mice who were treated with indomethacin(3mg/kg/b.w.).Paw volume and levels/activities of lysosomal enzymes,lipid peroxidation,anti-oxidant status and inflammatory mediator TNF-αwere determined in control and monosodium urate crystal-induced mice.In addition,the levels ofβ-glucuronidase and lactate dehydrogenase were also measured in monosodium urate crystal-incubated polymorphonuclear leucocytes(PMNL)in vitro.Results:The activities of lysosomal enzymes,lipid peroxidation,and tumour necrosis factor-αlevels and paw volume were increased significantly in monosodium urate crystal-induced mice,whereas the activities of antioxidant status were in turn decreased.However,these changes were modulated to near normal levels upon boswellic acid administration.In vitro,boswellic acid reduced the level ofβ-glucuronidase and lactate dehydrogenase in monosodium urate crystal-incubated PMNL in concentration dependent manner when compared with control cells.Conclusions:The results obtained in this study further strengthen the anti-inflammatory/antiarthritic effect of boswellic acid,which was already well established by several investigators.

Construction and validation of a risk prediction model for depressive symptoms in a middle-aged and elderly arthritis population

BACKGROUND Arthritis is a prevalent and debilitating condition that affects a significant proportion of middle-aged and older adults worldwide.Characterized by chronic pain,inflammation,and joint dysfunction,arthritis can severely impact physical function,quality of life,and mental health.The overall burden of arthritis is further compounded in this population due to its frequent association with depression.As the global population both the prevalence and severity of arthritis are anticipated to increase.AIM To investigate depressive symptoms in the middle-aged and elderly arthritic population in China,a risk prediction model was constructed,and its effectiveness was validated.METHODS Using the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study 2018 data on middleaged and elderly arthritic individuals,the population was randomly divided into a training set(n=4349)and a validation set(n=1862)at a 7:3 ratio.Based on 10-fold cross-validation,least absolute shrinkage and selection regression was used to screen the model for the best predictor variables.Logistic regression was used to construct the nomogram model.Subject receiver operating characteristic and calibration curves were used to determine model differentiation and accuracy.Decision curve analysis was used to assess the net clinical benefit.RESULTS The prevalence of depressive symptoms in the middle-aged and elderly arthritis population in China was 47.1%,multifactorial logistic regression analyses revealed that gender,age,number of chronic diseases,number of pain sites,nighttime sleep time,education,audiological status,health status,and place of residence were all predictors of depressive symptoms.The area under the curve values for the training and validation sets were 0.740(95%confidence interval:0.726-0.755)and 0.731(95%confidence interval:0.709-0.754),respectively,indicating good model differentiation.The calibration curves demonstrated good prediction accuracy,and the decision curve analysis curves demonstrated good clinical utility.CONCLUSION The risk prediction model developed in this study has strong predictive performance and is useful for screening and assessing depression symptoms in middle-aged and elderly arthritis patients.

On Research Progress of Western and Chinese Medicine Treatment on Pre-Rheumatoid Arthritis

Pre-rheumatoid arthritis is the inevitable phase before the actual onset of rheumatoid arthritis and has the crucial clinical significance of early controlling and preventing disease progression. Full understanding, from both Western medicine(WM) and Chinese medicine(CM), could offer new ideas for decision making in clinical and mechanism research. This paper reviews the novel studies of WM and CM to discuss the advantages and potential mechanisms working behind.