Our arthritis
Our arthritis
An international study has demonstrated the potential promise of a new type of anti-arthritic therapy that could overcome some of the limitations associated with current drug options.
Published in the latest issue of the American Journal of Pathology, the research highlights the possibility that a compound called DTrp8-gamma MSH (DTrp) could be viewed as a starting point for a new class of anti-arthritic agents that effectively treats multiple inflammatory diseases at the same time.
Patients with more or less severe forms of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may have the same painful symptoms, but does this mean that the cause of their illness is the same? And therefore that they should all receive the same treatment? Scientists at VIB and Ghent University have demonstrated with their research into inflammasomes that RA should be considered as a syndrome rather than a single disease.
Mohamed Lamkanfi (VIB/Ghent University): "Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) can be very painful and it is not always easy to find the most suitable medicine. Until recently, RA was considered to be a single disease, but our research suggests that it is more likely to be a syndrome than a single disease. This knowledge could result in a more personalized approach to treatment, with the most suitable medicines selected according to the patient's profile."
A Loughborough University lecturer has developed a computer software concept that will enable clinicians with no experience in Computer Aided Design (CAD) to design and make custom-made 3D printed wrist splints for rheumatoid arthritis sufferers.
Dr Abby Paterson, from the Design School, said: “I wanted to give clinicians the ability to make splints they have not been able to make before.
Dancing can reduce seniors' knee and hip pain and also improve their walking, a new, small study finds.
The research involved 34 seniors, average age 80, who all had pain or stiffness in their knees or hips as a result mainly of arthritis. The participants -- mostly women -- were assigned to a group that danced for 45 minutes up to two times a week for 12 weeks or to a control group that did not dance.
By the end of the 12 weeks, those who danced had less pain in their knees and hips and were able to walk faster, said Jean Krampe, an assistant professor of nursing at Saint Louis University and lead author of the study.
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system is attacking itself. The pattern of joints affected is usually symmetrical involving hands and other joints.The main target of inflammation is the synovium, the thin membrane that lines the joints. As rheumatoid arthritis develops, some of the body’s immune cells are mistaking one’s own protein as a foreign intruder. The exact protein is unknown and may be one of many potential candidates such as responses to pathogenic infection, be it viral, bacterial or fungal. The other possible proteins may have a genetic connection.
Last week, Stanford researchers published a paper called "Rejuvenation of the muscle stem cell population restores strength to injured aged muscles" in Nature Medicine. It's an interesting study, showing that the loss of strength and muscle mass that accompanies aging is partly the result of muscle stem cells that stop working properly – and, more intriguingly, that it may be possible to "rejuvenate" those stem cells in targeted areas, for example around the hip followed hip replacement surgery.
