Hashimoto's thyroiditis, also known as chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis or autoimmune thyroiditis, is a considerable part of the spectrum of chronic autoimmune thyroid gland disorders which is pathologically associated with various degrees of lymphocytic infiltration. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate whether cartilage thickness is affected in patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis or not in thyroidology. A total of 61 individuals had been evaluated in this case-control study, including 32 euthyroid Hashimoto's thyroiditis patients and 29 healthy subjects comparable in age, sex, and body mass index. The patients with a history of knee trauma or knee surgery, an additional systemic disease such as diabetes mellitus, or an inflammatory disease like rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and scleroderma had not been included in the study. The thickness of the femoral articular cartilage was measured using B-mode ultrasonography, and the right lateral condyle, right intercondylar area, right medial condyle, left medial condyle, left intercondylar area, and left lateral condyle were also measured. No statistically significant difference between patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis diagnosis and healthy controls in terms of age, age groups, gender, and body mass index (p>0.05). As a consequence, no obvious connection between autoimmune markers and cartilage thickness in patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis was recognized. Although the diverse manifestation of Hashimoto's thyroiditis could be observed, it seems to be no liaison between thyroid autoimmunity and cartilage thickness.

OBJECTIVE: Long-term ocular effects of tumor necrosis factor-alpha inhibitors remain to be elucidated. This study aimed to examine the long-term effects of adalimumab use on neural tissue of the anterior visual pathways using optical coherence tomography in patients with ankylosing spondylitis.METHODS: This was a single-center, open-label, cross-sectional study conducted at the Giresun University Faculty of Medicine, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department, between November 2019 and August 2020. This study included 26 ankylosing spondylitis patients receiving adalimumab for at least 1 year and 21 healthy controls. All subjects underwent a full ophthalmological examination and optical coherence tomography examination with the following measurements: peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickness, peripapillary retinal thickness, peripapillary choroidal thickness, ganglion cell complex thickness, and the optic head properties.RESULTS: Peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickness and retinal thickness measurements were lower in the adalimumab group. In addition, ganglion cell complex thickness was significantly lower and the cup-to-disc ratio was significantly higher in the adalimumab group (p0.05).CONCLUSION: Although tumor necrosis factor-alpha inhibitors have some favorable effects on the ocular involvement of patients with ankylosing spondylitis, they may also have paradoxical detrimental effects as evidenced by structural changes observed by optical coherence tomography. Future studies with better design, probably including a large number of patients with a range of rheumatological diseases and tumor necrosis factor-alpha inhibitors, are warranted.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate differences in depression, anxiety and somatosensory amplification between fibromyalgia (FM) patients with and without type D personality (TDP) and healthy controls and to examine the mediating role of somatosensory amplification in the relationship between TDP and FM severity. Methods: A total of 159 participants were included in the cross‐sectional case‐control study and divided into three groups: FM patients with TDP ( n = 56, mean age = 45.93 ± 11.01), FM patients without TDP ( n = 48, mean age = 49.17 ± 11.18) and healthy controls ( n = 55, mean age = 46.1 ± 9.64). Participants were assessed with the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ; administered only to FM patients), TDP Scale, Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory and Somatosensory Amplification Scale. Mediation analysis was performed to determine the mediating role of somatosensory amplification. Results: FM patients with TDP had significantly higher levels of depression, anxiety and somatosensory amplification compared to both FM patients without TDP and healthy controls ( p < 0.001). Correlation analyses showed strong positive associations between TDP and anxiety ( r = 0.729, p < 0.001) and depression ( r = 0.794, p < 0.001). Somatosensory amplification was found to have a significant mediating role in the relationship between TDP and FM severity ( b = 0.084, 95% CI = 0.018–0.172, p < 0.05). Conclusion: These results highlight TDP as an important psychological risk factor associated with increased depression, anxiety, and somatosensory amplification in FM patients. The apparent mediating role of somatosensory amplification suggests that addressing this mechanism and psychological stress with targeted psychosocial interventions may improve the efficacy of FM treatment.

Background: To evaluate kinesiophobia and its relationship with disease-related characteristics and quality of life in lipedema patients. Methods: In this descriptive case-control study, 40 lipedema patients and 40 participants in the control group were included. All participants were evaluated in terms of body mass index (BMI), pain numeric rating scale (NRS) and pain threshold (PT) scores, kinesiophobia (Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia - TSK), lower extremity functional scores (Lower Extremity Functional Scale - LEFS), and health-related quality of life (Nottingham Health Profile - NHP) scores. Additionally, the lipedema patients were evaluated in terms of extremity volumes, and total and mean lower extremity fat mass by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Results: High kinesiophobia was detected in 78% of the lipedema patients and 55% of the control group ( p = .033). TSK ( p = .048), NRS ( p = .001), and NHP total scores ( p = .041) were higher and PT scores ( p = .007) were lower in lipedema patients compared to the control group. No difference was found between lipedema patients with high and low kinesiophobia in terms of fat mass or extremity volumes. A positive correlation was found between TSK score, NHP total score (r = 0.356, p = .024), NHP physical activity (ρ = 0.403, p = .010) and NHP energy (ρ = 0.436, p = .005) subscale scores . Conclusion: Kinesiophobia is highly prevalent in lipedema patients, regardless of disease-related data and affecting the quality of life of the patients, negatively.

There are previously stated risk factors for the transition from psoriasis to psoriatic arthritis, but the immune mechanisms in this regard have not been adequately explained. In this study, we aimed to investigate this transition in terms of the complement system. Study was planned as a prospective analytical type. 46 psoriasis and 45 psoriatic arthritis patients were included in this study. Morning stiffness, nail involvement, disease activation questionnaire scores, neutrophil and lymphocyte percentage, neutrophil-lymphocyte rate, high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein, triglyceride, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, uric acid, complement 3 (C3) and 4 (C4) values were evaluated. Enthesis clinical assessment was done with the Leeds enthesis index (LEI). Ultrasonography was used to evaluate the enthesis sites. The severity of skin involvement in psoriasis was evaluated with the psoriasis area severity index (PASI). PASI scores were higher in psoriasis patients, while LEI scores, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein levels were higher in psoriatic arthritis patients ( P = .016, P = <.001, P = .016, P = .027, P = .020, respectively). Among psoriasis patients, C3 levels were higher in the patients with nail involvement ( P = .035). C3 levels of psoriasis patients showed a moderate positive correlation between PASI and LEI scores ( r = 0.368, r = 0.404, respectively). In psoriasis patients, high-density lipoprotein values were found to be moderately negatively correlated with both C3 and C4 ( r = −0.311, r = −0.388, respectively). As a result of this study, C3 levels may play a role in the progression to psoriatic arthritis.