Objectives

Nearly one-third of AS patients in clinical practice switched biological treatment. Response rates and drug survivals were lower among switchers, however, half of switchers achieved treatment response.

The aim of this study was to measure the variation in dietary fibre (DF) content and composition among different rye varieties grown in the same location in three successive years and to estimate the contributions of genotype and harvest year to this variation. The study included grain from 19 different varieties of rye, of which seven varieties were analysed in all three years. The content of total DF in all samples ranged from 147 to 209 g kg À1 dry matter (dm), with 34-66 g kg À1 being waterextractable (WE) DF and 108-159 g kg À1 being water-unextractable (WUE) DF. The main DF component was arabinoxylan (AX) with a content of 80-121 g kg À1 dm, of which 26-41 g kg À1 dm was WE AX. The ratio of arabinose to xylose (ara/xyl) of total AX ranged from 0.59 to 0.69. The content of b-glucan was 13-22 g kg À1 dm and that of fructan was 45-64 g kg À1 dm. Analysis of the data from seven varieties and three harvest years showed a highly significant influence of harvest year on most DF components. Significant genotype effects were found for the contents of total DF, total AX, b-glucan and fructan and for the ara/xyl ratio of total and WUE AX. Estimation of variance components showed that yearly variations in the contents of total DF, total AX, WUE DF, WUE AX and b-glucan were generally higher (27-55% of total variance) than genotype effects (14-19%). The ara/xyl ratio of total and WUE AX showed a high influence of genotype (46 and 43% respectively). Non-adapted rye varieties with small kernel size had the highest contents of total DF and total AX. The content of b-glucan was positively correlated with kernel weight (r = 0.68), whereas no overall correlation was found between kernel size and the content of DF. As a conclusion, the variation in DF content and composition in this study was significantly influenced by both harvest year and rye genotype.

In this study of TNFi-treated AS patients in clinical practice, current and previous smokers had significantly poorer patient-reported outcomes at baseline, shorter treatment adherence and poorer treatment response compared with never smokers.

The n-3 PUFA-supplemented group showed improvement in outcome measures for disease activity, although the difference between the groups was not statistically significant. However, use of NSAIDs and paracetamol was significantly reduced in the n-3 PUFA group compared to the control group. Finally, there was a significant decrease in leukotriene B formation in the n-3 PUFA group compared with controls.