Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

A Bjelle

Publications and source records attributed to A Bjelle.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1991

Swallowing problems in rheumatoid arthritis.

Twenty-nine female patients with definite or classical rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and 30 controls were investigated in order to evaluate oral symptoms, particularly xerostomia, and swallowing difficulties in RA by means of a questionnaire, physical examination, stimulated saliva secretion, labial salivary gland biopsy, esophageal manometry and laboratory blood tests. Xerostomia was reported by 6 patients (21%), compared with no-one in the control group. Four of these 6 patients had decreased stimulated saliva secretion, compared with 2 of the remaining 23 patients. Dysphagia was experienced by 8 patients (28%), compared with one control subject. Dysphagia was associated with disease severity. Esophageal manometry revealed a decrease of the amplitude of the peristaltic pressure complex in the proximal part of esophagus in the RA group, indicating dysfunction of the striated muscles. No correlation was found between dysphagia and esophageal manometry results.

Arthritis, Rheumatoid↗
PubMed1991

Laryngeal involvement in rheumatoid arthritis.

Twenty-nine female patients with definite or classical rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and 30 controls were studied in order to assess the prevalence of laryngeal involvement in patients with RA and the occurrence of extrathoracic airway obstruction. Laryngeal involvement was assessed by physical examination including direct fiberoptic laryngoscopy, respiratory function tests and low-voltage radiography. Physical examination revealed laryngeal involvement in 17 RA patients (59%), extrathoracic airway obstruction was indicated by spirometry in 4 (14%) and radiography revealed pathological findings in 3 patients (10%). One or more signs of laryngeal involvement were found in 20 patients (69%). Symptoms of breathing difficulties were common (75%) among patients with laryngeal involvement. The erythrocyte sedimentation rate and class-specific rheumatoid factors were not correlated to laryngeal involvement.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Prediction of team care effects in outpatients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Predictive factors for the outcome of 1-year rheuma-team care were studied in 68 female rheumatoid arthritis (RA) outpatients (mean age 56 years, mean RA duration 15 years). Seventy-three background variables were analyzed in a 4-step statistical model including partial and multivariate correlations in order to disclose the best predictors of change scores of the outcome measures chosen. These concerned disease activity (C-reactive protein, Lansbury articular index), physical joint function (Keitel index), mood (Mood Adjective Check List, MACL), and overall health (Sickness Impact Profile). Between 14 and 47% of the variance of the 1-year outcome change scores was explained by combinations of 2 or 3 predictors out of 12 strong background variables. The lowest value of explained variance was noted for MACL, and the highest for C-reactive protein. Both clinical, social, and self-assessed health data were among the predictors. Our results can provide a guide in the selection of patients with RA for multidisciplinary team care, in the formulation of treatment goals, and the creation of cost-effectiveness schedules.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Factors associated with radiographic osteoarthritis: results from the population study 70-year-old people in Göteborg.

Selected factors potentially associated with radiographic osteoarthritis (OA) were studied in 2 subsamples of 79-year-olds, within the longitudinal prospective study 70-year-old People in Göteborg. A very significant (p less than 0.01 in men, p less than 0.001 in women) association was found between radiographic knee OA and body mass index (BMI), and a significant (p less than 0.05) association was also observed between radiographic hand OA and BMI in men. Smoking correlated negatively (p less than 0.01) to radiographic knee OA in both sexes, even after adjusting for BMI. Other factors, including diabetes, ischemic heart disease, hypertension, physical activity, education, vocational training, marital status, serum uric acid, triglycerides, cholesterol and blood glucose levels did not correlate to radiographic OA. Finally, no correlation was found between either decreased bone mineral content or the presence of previous fragility fractures.

Aged↗
PubMed1990

Pain management.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Humans↗
PubMed1990

Purification and characterization of IgG immunoconglutinins from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: implications for a regulatory function.

The levels of IgG immunoconglutinins in plasma from patients with rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus and primary biliary cirrhosis were monitored by ELISA. High levels of IgG immunoconglutinins were found mainly in plasma from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. These immunoconglutinins bound to microtitre plate-fixed C3, C3b and C3c but poorly to C3d. This binding was inhibited by particle-bound C3b and iC3b but not by the corresponding soluble fragments. Furthermore, Western blot analysis revealed no immunoconglutinin-binding to reduced C3 peptides and no binding was shown to soluble C3 alpha and beta chain by ELISA. IgG immunoconglutinins were purified from three plasma specimens by affinity chromatography on activated thiol sepharose ATS/C3 fragments. Two immunoconglutinin preparations that preferentially recognize ATS-C3b, inhibited C5-convertase function by 50-100% while one immunoconglutinin that recognized ATS-C3d,g had no effect. The two former immunoconglutinins also inhibited all three factor I cleavages in C3 alpha chain but the latter inhibited only the third cleavage. None of the immunoconglutinins affected the binding of complement-coated anti-BSA/BSA complexes to CR1 (CD35) on human erythrocytes, but the two immunoconglutinins that inhibited all factor I cleavages also inhibited the factor I-induced release of anti-BSA/BSA complexes from CR1. The results show that immunoconglutinins recognize specific epitopes on bound C3 fragments and that they are able to modulate C3-mediated functions.

Antibody Specificity↗
PubMed1990

A comparison of overall health between patients with rheumatoid arthritis and a population with and without rheumatoid arthritis.

Women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) at a rheumatology outpatient clinic (PAT) were compared with women with RA in representative samples of the Gothenburg population (POP), and with non-arthritic women in this population (REF). Clinical routine measures disclosed substantial dysfunction in both RA groups. Their physical, psychosocial, and overall function, assessed by means of the Sickness Impact Profile (SIP), was more impaired than that of the REF. The PAT had a higher disease activity and worse overall health status than the POP. In definite and classical RA, a poorer SIP physical and overall function was noted in the PAT than in the POP group, despite similar mean age and mean disease duration. Women with probable RA in the POP group had worse SIP dysfunction than the REF, particularly regarding ambulation and personal care. The SIP was sensitive to variations in disease activity and comprehensively disclosed dysfunction better than routine clinical measures.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1990

Clinical assessment of rheumatic diseases using viscoelastic parameters for synovial fluid.

For the first time it is clearly exhibited that synovial fluid (SF) is thixotropic. Although no hysteresis loops were observed for SF, not even at high shear rates, thixotropy may be exhibited by measuring the rate of recovery after extensive shearing. The rebuilding of the structure in a small-amplitude oscillatory state following the high-shear-rate state reveals the thixotropic behaviour. Five different viscoelastic parameters for various synovial fluids (SF) were obtained using oscillatory rheometry. It was also shown that for SF in the low frequency range, corresponding to a knee joint almost at rest, the shear loss modulus G" is greater than the shear storage modulus G', since the system is allowed to dissipate energy at rest. However, with movement, G' increases and eventually becomes greater than G" at a characteristic frequency above which the system has insufficient time to dissipate energy and hence responds as an elastic body. This functional behaviour, characteristic for normal SF, broke down in the SF of rheumatoid arthritis. It was also absent in the SF of knee joints with meniscus lesions and ligament defects.

Elasticity↗
PubMed1990

Health status assessment in rheumatoid arthritis. I. Further work on the validity of the sickness impact profile.

In a cross-sectional, longitudinal study, 99 women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) completed a well established health status measure, the Sickness Impact Profile (SIP), for diagnosis specific evaluation. Using traditional and self-reporting data, we examined SIP relationships that described physical functioning. They related closely to clinical measures. Psychosocial functioning measured by SIP related specifically to mental health and arthritic pain. Importantly, the SIP was sensitive to 1-year pre and posttreatment changes showing both improvement and deterioration. When applied to patients with RA SIP categories could be more appropriately aggregated, e.g., Home management included in the Physical dimension and Communication omitted from the Psychosocial.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

[Fibromyalgia--a new name for a syndrome with diffuse muscular disorders].

This new name for an old and common disease has introduced fresh criteria and initiated clinical and basic research. The present clinical knowledge of the diagnosis and treatment is reviewed. Morphological and biochemical findings in the muscle of fibromyalgia patients have shown an unevenly distributed reduction of the oxygen tension. Hypoxia in the muscle sensitizes nociceptors, resulting in hyperalgesia with a diffuse distribution of pain symptoms. These are difficult for the individual to localize and are often combined with muscle stiffness and increased fatigability. These symptoms correspond to complaints received from fibromyalgia patients.

Diagnosis, Differential↗
PubMed1989

Reliability of articular indices and function tests in a population study of rheumatic disorders.

Reliability and method error were assessed for 25 clinical tests by test-retest on 31 subjects with rheumatic disorder (RD) and on 28 consecutive non-RD of a reference group (REF) from a female population sample. Low systemic differences were found for joint mobility tests in the RD group and correlation coefficients were generally above 0.7. A significant difference in the RD group was found only for climbing stairs, and in the REF group for shoulder external rotation and flexion, wrist extension and grip strength. The relative method error of grip strength was large (17%). A new assessment of activities of daily living could not be fully evaluated because the population studies had limited disability, but the error was acceptable. Articular indices (Lansbury, Ritchie, and American Rheumatism Association) showed large method errors (9-25%), acceptable test-retest correlations (greater than 0.75), and a systematic difference only in the Ritchie index. The analyses showed that a number of clinical tests are adequate for population studies of RD, but the metrical properties of these tests must be considered in the planning of clinical and population studies.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1989

Distinctive expression of neoantigenic C3(D) epitopes on bound C3 following activation and binding to different target surfaces in normal and pathological human sera.

Binding of C3 to sheep erythrocytes in a serum-free milieu (EAC14oxy2, EAC142) has previously been shown to mimic the antigenic change that occurs upon denaturation of C3 in sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS), whereby neoantigenic C3(D) epitopes are exposed. The present paper deals with C3 bound to various target surfaces which are known to modulate the functional properties of C3 in different ways. Bound C3 fragments on serum-treated human aggregated gammaglobulin, zymosan, rabbit and sheep erythrocytes, and on circulating immune complexes isolated from sera of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus, were shown to be mainly in the iC3b form. By RIAs, employing polyclonal antibodies, the range of C3(D) antigenic epitopes of 125I-labelled SDS denatured C3 expressed by the particle-bound iC3b was monitored. The physiologically bound iC3b on all tested particles expressed wide range of C3(D) epitopes and each type of particle-bound C3 exposed its individual range. By competition ELISA specific C3(D) alpha epitopes were monitored, employing monoclonal antibodies. A distinct difference in the expression of these epitopes was observed in iC3b bound to various test particles in the presence of normal serum and in iC3b present on circulating immune complexes from pathological sera. Considering that the neoantigenic C3(D) epitopes have been shown to be associated with different functions of C3, the distinctive antigenic expression of each type of serum-treated particle might reflect different functional forms of the protein.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗
PubMed1989

Ageing and disorders of the locomotor system.

Many aspects of rheumatic disorders are specific for the elderly population. The prevalence of many chronic disorders increases with age and the incidence of some rheumatic disorders is highest in the elderly. The spectrum of rheumatic disorders of age-specific groups varies between levels of the health care system. The onset of many inflammatory rheumatic diseases is different and the clinical appearance may be further modified by other concomitant diseases in the elderly. Therapeutic approaches have to consider changes of drug metabolism and multipharmacy. Finally, the variation of organ function increases with age making "normality" more difficult to evaluate in the elderly. Decline of function may result in both overdiagnosis and underdiagnosis.

Aged↗
PubMed1988

Team versus non-team outpatient care in rheumatoid arthritis. A comprehensive outcome evaluation including an overall health measure.

In a rheumatology department, 2 randomized groups of female outpatients with rheumatoid arthritis were studied prospectively for 1 year. The outcome of multidisciplinary team care (T group, 31 patients) was compared with that of regular outpatient clinic care (NT group, 28 patients). Pharmacologic treatment and orthopedic specialist consultations were similar in both groups, but use of paramedical care was higher in the T group. Outcome measures of disease activity, specific joint function, and self-rated physical discomfort disclosed no significant differences between the 2 groups. Mental well-being increased in the T group. Overall health, measured by the Sickness Impact Profile, improved significantly only in the T group. This improvement was also significant compared with the NT group.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

NSAIDs and cartilage metabolism.

Data from experimental studies on the influence of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) on cartilage is reviewed. There is evidence from this data that some NSAIDs exert a harmful effect, but also that other NSAIDs do not influence cartilage metabolism or could even have a moderate beneficial effect. So far the experimental data must be interpreted with great caution to the clinical situation and no firm conclusions could be drawn from the few clinical reports available. However, the high frequency of other side effects of NSAIDs in the elderly calls a restrictive prescription of these drugs to osteoarthritic patients.

Animals↗