Chicken Anti-PSA Polyclonal antibody

Objectives: This study aims to examine the presence of neuropathic pain (NP) in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and its relationship with functional parameters. Patients and methods: The study included 50 PsA patients (18 males, 32 females; mean age 50 years; range, 27 to 68 years) diagnosed according to The Classification Criteria for Psoriatic Arthritis. NP was assessed with PainDETECT questionnaire (PDQ). Associations of NP with quality of life (QoL), sleep and fatigue were analyzed by filling out the Psoriatic Arthritis Quality of Life (PsAQoL), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and Multidimensional Assessment of Fatigue (MAF) scales, respectively. Group analysis was performed with independent-samples Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis test. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (rho) was used for correlations between functional parameters. Results: Mean disease duration of the PsA patients was 90.2 +/- 90.8 months]. The number of patients with ambiguous NP was eight (3 males, 5 females) while likely NP was detected in 12 patients (2 males, 10 females). The median scores of visual analog scale-pain, PSQI, PsAQoL and MAF were significantly higher in patients with NP (p<0.05). The correlations between PDQ and other functional parameters were found moderate-strong calculated as follows: PSQI (rho=0.44, p=0.003), MAF (rho=0.42, p=0.005), PsAQoL (rho=0.73, p<0.0001). Conclusion: The existence of NP in PsA is not rare and it has a significant relationship with impaired QoL and sleep disturbances. The assessment of NP in PsA patients is necessary to provide a holistic treatment strategy.

Background and purpose Monitoring of the disease course of patients with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) remains challenging because nerve conduction studies do not adequately correlate with functional disability. The prognostic value of pathological spontaneous activity (PSA) in needle electromyography (EMG) in different CIDP subgroups in a longitudinal context has, to date, not been analysed. We aimed to determine whether PSA was a prognostic marker or a marker of disease activity in a cohort of patients with CIDP. Methods A total of 127 patients with CIDP spectrum disorder were retrospectively analysed over 57 +/- 47 months regarding the occurrence of PSA (fibrillations and positive sharp waves). The presence of PSA at diagnosis, newly occurring PSA, and continuously present PSA were longitudinally correlated with clinical disability using the Inflammatory Neuropathy Cause and Treatment Overall Disability Sum Score (INCAT-ODSS) and CIDP subtype. Results Pathological spontaneous activity occurred in 49.6% of all CIDP patients at first diagnosis. More frequent evidence of PSA was significantly associated with a higher INCAT-ODSS at the last follow-up. Continuous and new occurrence of PSA were associated with higher degree of disability at the last follow-up. The majority of patients with sustained evidence of PSA were characterized by an atypical phenotype, higher degree of disability, and the need for escalation of treatment. Conclusions Pathological spontaneous activity was associated with a higher degree of disability and occurred more frequently in atypical CIDP variants according to the longitudinal data of a large cohort of patients with CIDP. Our results showed that EMG examination was an adequate marker for disease progression and should be evaluated during the disease course.