Marco A Cimmino

..The main goals of CPPD therapy are control of the acute or chronic inflammatory reaction and prevention of further episodes...

..81, P= 0.047). According to our results, adiponectin concentrations seem to be driven by inflammation, whereas leptin seems to be increased directly by the use of steroids...

..To assess the clinical characteristics and determinants of pain observed by general practitioners (GPs) in Italian patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the hand, hip, and knee...

..Dactylitis is a relatively specific feature of PsA. Its pathogenic mechanisms have been investigated with MRI. MRI evaluation of PsA may facilitate diagnosis, evaluation of treatment effects, and understanding of associated mechanisms...

..To evaluate the characteristics of pain in a cohort of Italian patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the hip and knee...

..Weight-bearing MRI permits the imaging of joints in their natural, weight-bearing position and may disclose relevant biomechanical changes. Finally, whole-body MRI evaluates the entire body with a single acquisition...

..In conclusion, sex is probably modulating the response to corticosteroids. This finding emphasizes the need to consider differences between males and females in the clinical and therapeutic approach to PMR patients...

..To describe the occurrence of different rheumatic diseases and to examine the characteristics of patients referred to six Italian rheumatological units. To compare these data with those from other countries...

..An important advance should be the adoption of univocal definitions of psoriasis and PsA, including guidelines for patterns of skin and joint involvement...

..In conclusion, new imaging techniques and refinements of the established techniques have opened exciting perspectives in our understanding and treatment of many rheumatic diseases...

..To study with MRI the hands of consecutive PMR patients, who were not selected on the basis of peripheral arthritis, with a correlation to clinical and laboratory findings...

..This technique cannot be used to differentiate PsA from RA. However, REE and RE were significantly higher in PsA than in normal controls, with only one instance of overlap between values found for the two groups...

..Additional end-points were the number of patients still in need of steroid treatment, the cumulative steroid dose, and the number of flare-ups of PMR...

..Other types of soft tissue calcinosis may have a degenerative, metaplastic or neoplastic origin, and their characterization strongly relies on multimodality imaging...

..To evaluate the role of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the diagnosis, staging, and follow-up of the rheumatoid wrist...

..To determine the efficacy of dynamic gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the wrist in the evaluation of disease activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA)...

..To review the imaging methods used for the evaluation of disease progression in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to evaluate the results of their application in pharmacological trials...

..001). EAMs seem to be rarer in Italy than in the Anglo-Saxon populations of northern Europe and the USA. Differences in prevalence of EAMs can exist even within the same country...

..These dyes can be coupled with different compounds including antibodies and drugs...

..To review the data on the epidemiology of polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR), in particular geographical and temporal differences in incidence and its risk factors including the actinic hypothesis...

..The aim of this study is to test if 12.5 mg prednisone/day is an adequate starting dose in PMR and to evaluate clinical predictors of drug response...

..The AMICA study evaluated how the presence of a coexistent disease and/or its chronic pharmacological treatment influenced the prescription of pharmacological and nonpharmacological therapy in patients with OA...

..To evaluate the prescription modalities of general practitioners (GPs) and specialists in symptomatic osteoarthritis (OA) patients enrolled in the AMICA study...

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..To assess the clinical characteristics of gout and its diagnostic approach in a group of Italian patients...

..Combination therapy between glucocorticoids and inhibitors of pro-inflammatory cytokines should be tested in large studies and early cases of PMR...

..Corollary strategies under investigation include corticosteroids to prevent joint damage, monoclonal antibodies to arthritogenic peptides of bacteria or to surface markets of host lymphocytes, and modulators of synovial fluid cytokines...

..To evaluate the prevalence of self-reported joint pain and swelling in the peripheral joints of subjects from an Italian general population. To correlate the result with demographic data and physical activity...

..To increase the familiarity of rheumatologists toward epidemiology, we describe the methodology used in a prevalence study of musculoskeletal complaints performed in Chiavari, Italy...

..This review is concerned with an appraisal of PMR with different imaging modalities with a view to highlighting possible clues to its pathogenesis, diagnosis and prognosis...

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..To evaluate the distribution and scope of papers published in the world in otolaryngology (ORL) journals and to compare the impact of this research among different countries...

..Our data suggest that a control group of healthy subjects should be included in MRI studies on the appearance of the wrist in disease...

..The role of dynamic MRI, performed at presentation, in predicting the outcome of patients with early arthritis has been addressed in the present study...

..Comorbidity is a good predictor of health outcome, health services utilization, and medical costs. Because RA comorbidity can act as confounder, it should be considered in epidemiologic studies and clinical trials...

..The diagnostic and clinical approach to osteoarthritis (OA) of the hand, knee, and hip in general practice and specialist practice in Italy as determined by the AMICA project...

..The study was designed to evaluate their prescription modalities to determine whether they matched the recently proposed treatment guidelines for OA (ACR 2000; EULAR 2000; APS 2002)...

..Additionally, it provides information on the speed of contrast agent uptake by various tissues. The method delivers objective and easily reproducible results, which have been favourably viewed by a number of medical experts...

..Steroids are the standard treatment for polymyalgia rheumatica. The efficacy of the candidate drug methotrexate has not yet been demonstrated in controlled studies...

..The disease course and patient's requirements often change over time, thus requiring a periodic review and readjustment of therapy rather than the rigid continuation of a single treatment...