Background: Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is one of the most successful orthopedic surgeries performed in recent decades. However, controversies still exist between conducting simultaneous or staged bilateral TKA. The objective of this study is to conduct a systematic review assessing the clinical outcome associated with simultaneous bilateral and staged bilateral total knee arthroplasty (BTKA). Methods: A search was applied to CNKI, Embase, Medline, and Cochrane central database (January 2000–July 2018). All studies that compared simultaneous bilateral TKA (simBTKA) with staged bilateral TKA (staBTKA) without language restriction were reviewed, and qualities of included studies were assessed using the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale. Data were pooled and a meta-analysis completed. Results: The 18 studies were identified to be eligible. The 18 comparative studies published from 2001 to 2018, covered 73617 participants in the simBTKA group and 61838 in the staBTKA group, respectively. Results of meta-analyses indicated that simBTKA showed a lower risk of deep infection and respiratory complications, but increased mortality, pulmonary embolism (PE), and deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) compared with staBTKA. There were no significant differences in revision, superficial infection, arthrofibrosis, cardiac complications, neurological complications and urinary complications between procedures. Conclusions: Since there are risks and benefits to both procedures, these potential complications must be interpreted in light of each individual patient's needs and concerns. Further research must be conducted, in the form of a randomized clinical trial, to evaluate the outcomes mentioned in this review.

BackgroundRecently, there has been an increasing demand for analysing a large amount of specimen at the same time and for stably storing those specimens for clinical research. Therefore, the role of the biobank that collects and preserves the samples for research and supplies them stably is very important.1 Anti-CCP antibody and RF predated the onset of RA by several years, which indicates that citrullination and the production of anti-CCP and RF autoantibodies are early processes in RA.2 In addition, RA patients with anti-CCP antibody had more swollen joints and more severe radiological destruction.3 ObjectivesThe purpose of this study is to evaluate the stability of RF and anti-CCP antibody after preserving the remaining samples for a long time and to determine the usefulness of the remaining samples that were kept for future research.MethodsSerum samples used in this study were collected from 50 patients with RA in Eulji university hospital in 2011. The patients had baseline measurement at the time the samples were obtained and had more than one serum aliquots stored for archived samples. At baseline measurement, rheumatoid factor was quantified with turbid immunometry and anti-CCP was measured by an ELISA analyzer. all specimens were kept in a freezer where temperature monitoring was carried out for 24 hours to keep the temperature below −70°C. 6 years later, he samples were slowly thawed at 4°C and measured by the same method of the baseline measurement.ResultsThe mean age for 50 patients from which the samples were collected is 51.22 years. It was an average of 6.0 years (range: 5.6–6.1 years) for the samples to be stored at the biobank. We observed a slight decrease in concentration of RF and anti-CCP. There were significantly difference in concentration of RF and anti-CCP (Z=−5.10, p-value<0.001; Z=−3.81, p-value<0.001). The correlation between baseline sample and archived sample is strong (RF: ρ=0.973, p-value<0.001; anti-CCP: ρ=0.938, p-value<0.001).ConclusionsThis study assessed the stability of RF and anti-CCP antibody in archived samples of blood. Our results showed that serum concentration of RF and anti CCP antibody remain stable for up to 5 years at −70°C. There was a slight decreased in the level overtime that was correlated with baseline value. These data indicated that the archived human samples in human cohorts could be used to examine for research and could be estimated according to the regression analysis.References[1] Shankar S, Uday Y. Biobanking: Basic concepts and role in rheumatology. Indian J Rheumatol. 2011;6(3):129–37.[2] Rantapää-Dahlqvist S, De Jong BAW, Berglin E, Hallmans G, Wadell G, Stenlund H, et al. Antibodies Against Cyclic Citrullinated Peptide and IgA Rheumatoid Factor Predict the Development of Rheumatoid Arthritis. Arthritis Rheum. 2003;48(10):2741–9.[3] van der Helm-van Mil AHM, Verpoort KN, Breedveld FC, Toes REM, Huizinga TWJ. Antibodies to citrullinated proteins and differences in clinical progression of rheumatoid arthritis. Arthritis Res Ther. 2005;7(5):R949–58.Ackn...

The aim of this study was to explore the genetic association of Mediterranean fever (MEFV) gene polymorphisms rs3743930 and rs11466023 with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) susceptibility in a cohort of Chinese Han population.Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method was used for genotyping MEFV polymorphisms in 131 AS patients and 127 healthy controls. Chi-square test was employed to compare the genotype and allele distributions between the case and control groups. Odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated to assess the association between MEFV gene polymorphisms and AS incidence.The frequency of the G allele of MEFV polymorphism rs3743930 in the AS group was significantly higher than that in the healthy control group (36.64% vs 28.35%, P < .05). And individuals carrying the GG genotype showed 2.896 folds higher risk of developing AS when compared with CC genotype carriers (OR = 2.896, 95% CI = 1.115–7.519). But no significant differences were detected in either genotype or allele distributions between case and control groups for the polymorphism rs11466023 (P > .05).MEFV gene polymorphism rs3743930 might be significantly associated with AS susceptibility in Chinese Han population, and its G allele might predict high risk of AS.

Background Anti–cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies (as a serologic marker of RA) bind to citrulline residue which is now considered to play a pivotal role in various human diseases such as multiple sclerosis, various tumors, and many other infectious diseases. The hypothesis of the association between PADI4 gene and TB susceptibility was introduced, but didn’t identified. Therefore, we hypothesized that the diversity in PADI4 genes could affect susceptibility to tuberculosis in RA patients and preliminarily designed the association study of PADI4 polymorphisms in the patients with mycobacteria infection. Objectives To examine the possibility for single nucleotide polymorphisms of peptidylarginine deiminase 4 to discriminate who’s susceptible to active tuberculosis disease. Methods The study population consisted of 47 patients with bacteriological-confirmed tuberculosis, 35 patients with non-tuberculous mycobacterial disease, 50 rheumatoid arthritis patients and 83 healthy controls. Blood samples were collected before starting treatment for TB and NTM. All subjects were genotyped for three SNPs in PADI4, namely PADI489, PADI490, and PADI4104. In addition, antCCP antibodies were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and rheumatoid factor was measured by the latex fixation test. Results In TB patients, the AG and CT genotypes for PADI4_89 and PADI490, respectively were significantly lower than those of control subjects. Adjusted odd ratiosfor PADI489 and PADI490 were 0.34 (p = 0.005). The frequencies of haplotypes and minor allele were not significantly different among groups. IgM RF-positive was observed in 42 patients with RA (84%), in 7 patients with TB (15.0%), in 5 patients with NTM (14%), and in 5 healthy controls (6%) (p < 0.0001). There were significant differences in the frequencies of the presence of antiCCP antibodies among groups: RA (88%), TB (8%), NTM (0%), and healthy controls (1%) (p < 0.0001) Conclusions This study showed that polymorphisms of PADI were associated with susceptibility to TB in a Korean population References Baronnet L, Barnetche T, Kahn V, Lacoin C, Richez C, Schaeverbeke T. Incidence of tuberculosis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. A systematic literature review. Joint, bone, spine : revue du rhumatisme. 2011 May;78(3):279-84. PubMed PMID: 21273108. Epub 2011/01/29. eng. Dixon WG, Hyrich KL, Watson KD, Lunt M, Galloway J, Ustianowski A, et al. Drug-specific risk of tuberculosis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with anti-TNF therapy: results from the British Society for Rheumatology Biologics Register (BSRBR). Annals of the rheumatic diseases. 2010 Mar;69(3):522-8. PubMed PMID: 19854715. Pubmed Central PMCID: 2927681. Epub 2009/10/27. eng. Seong SS, Choi CB, Woo JH, Bae KW, Joung CL, Uhm WS, et al. Incidence of tuberculosis in Korean patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA): effects of RA itself and of tumor necrosis factor blockers. The Journal of rheumatology. 2007 Apr;34(4):706-11. PubMed PMID: 17309133. Epub 2007/02/20. eng. Disclo...