To evaluate the multi-biomarker disease activity (MBDA) score as a predictor of radiographic progression and compare it with other risk factors among patients with established RA receiving non-biologic DMARDs.

To investigate gender-attributable differences regarding clinical outcome [disease activity, physical function and quality of life (QoL)] and radiographic damage in patients with AS over time.

To evaluate characteristics of relapse, relapse rates, treatment and outcomes among patients with biopsy-proven GCA in a large, single-institution cohort.

Recent advances in research into the earliest phases of RA have provided additional insights into the processes leading from the healthy to the diseased state. These insights have opened the way for the development of preventive strategies for RA, which represents a significant paradigm shift from treatment to prevention and will have major implications for patients as well as society. It would be a huge step forward if clinical signs and symptoms, disability, impaired quality of life and the need for chronic immunosuppressive treatment could be prevented. RA can be seen as a prototypic autoimmune disease, and discoveries about the preclinical diseased state for RA could potentially facilitate research into prevention of other immune-mediated inflammatory diseases such as type 1 diabetes, SLE and multiple sclerosis. This review focuses on the current knowledge of factors contributing to the development of RA and discusses the opportunities for intervention.

The aim of this study was to investigate omega-3 fatty acid (FA) supplement use and omega-3 FAs in erythrocyte membranes [omega-3 FA % in erythrocyte membranes (RBC)] and their association with anti-CCP autoantibodies in a population without RA, but who are at genetic risk for RA.

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether there are clinical subgroups that may have different prognoses among FMF patients.

The mechanisms and sites of monosodium urate monohydrate (MSU) crystal deposition in gout have received little attention from the scientific community to date. Formalin fixation of tissues leads to the dissolution of MSU crystals, resulting in their absence from routinely processed pathological samples and hence neglect. However, modern imaging techniques-especially ultrasonography but also conventional CT and dual-energy CT-reveal that MSU crystals form at the cartilage surface as well as inside tendons and ligaments, often at insertion sites. Tophi comprise round white formations of different sizes surrounded by inflammatory tissue. Studies of fibres recovered from gouty synovial fluid indicate that these fibres are likely to be a primary site of crystal formation by templated nucleation, with crystals deposited parallel to the fibres forming transverse bands. In tophi, two areas can be distinguished: one where crystals are formed on cellular tissues and another consisting predominantly of crystals, where secondary nucleation seems to take place; this organization could explain how tophi can grow rapidly. From these observations based on a crystallographic approach, it seems that initial templated nucleation on structural fibres-probably collagen-followed at some sites by secondary nucleation could explain MSU crystal deposition in gout.

The IL-23-IL-17 axis in inflammatory arthritis. Erik Lubberts. Nat. Rev. Rheumatol. 11, 415-429 (2015); published online 28 April 2015; doi:10.1038/nrrheum.2015.53. In Figure 2a of this Review, full protection against CIA was incorrectly stated as an effect of IL-17 deficiency instead of IL-17RA deficiency.

There are unique challenges to designing and carrying out high-quality trials testing therapeutic devices in OA and other rheumatic diseases. Such challenges include determining the mechanisms of action of the device and the appropriate sham. Design of device trials is more challenging than that of placebo-controlled drug trials. Our aim was to develop recommendations for designing device trials.

Coping responses have been shown to determine health outcomes in chronic diseases. The aim of the study was to examine the role of joint-specific factors and coping styles on disability in patients with hand OA.

To evaluate radiographic and clinical outcomes up to 24 months in patients with RA enrolled in the Canadian Methotrexate and Etanercept Outcome study.

The objectives of the study were to assess the 2 year BMD changes and their determinants in patients with early inflammatory back pain suggestive of axial spondyloarthritis (SpA) (DESIR cohort).

Increased knowledge about pathological processes active in inflammatory joint diseases is needed to initiate personalized medicine based on targeted treatments in the future. The molecular and cellular pathways that are active during joint inflammation may differ between the various inflammatory joint diseases, between different patient subgroups within one disease, or even between different stages of the disease in a single patient. In this review, we evaluate synovial inflammation in terms of descriptive histopathology through to more functional studies on human synovial tissue inflammation in RA and SpA, in phenotypic subgroups of RA and SpA patients, and during the disease course of both diseases.