Treat-to-target by Email During Urate-lowering Therapy in Gout
GoutInflammatory Rheumatism2 moreGout is secondary to urate crystal deposition after chronic elevation of serum urate level (SUL). Long-term lowering SUL below 360 µmol/L allows dissolution of deposited crystals and disease cure. There is currently a paradoxical observation: while urate-lowering therapy (ULT) is available and efficient there is an increase of gout prevalence and severity. The apparent failure of ULT in gout management is due to several causes including unadjusted dosage, no SUL verification, irregular follow-up and low treatment compliance. In contrast, a nurse-led treat-to-target (T2T) strategy with regular adaptations of ULT until reaching SUL target allows gout cure in more than 90% of patients. We hypothesize that an electronic messaging-led T2T strategy will allow obtaining similar results. The aim of this study is to demonstrate that email-led T2T strategy during ULT is superior to usual care.
tDCS in Post-Acute COVID-19 Patients With SARDs
Rheumatic DiseasesAutoimmune DiseasesSome patients develop "Post-acute COVID-19 syndrome," in which they experience persistent symptoms after recovering from the acute phase of COVID-19 infection. This syndrome may be more significant in patients with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (SARDs) who have been suffering from several symptoms associated to SARDs, such as myalgia, fatigue, and general pains. The transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) technique has been frequent, for example, to relieve fatigue and general pains in general population. However, to date, there are no studies evaluating this technique in ARD patients with post-acute COVID-19; therefore, the main objective of the opened study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the application of acute tDCS in ARD patients with post-acute COVID-19.
A Study to Determine the Efficacy and Safety of Deucravacitinib Compared With Placebo in Participants...
Psoriatic ArthritisThe purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of deucravacitinib versus placebo in participants with active psoriatic arthritis who are naïve to biologic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs. The long term extension period will provide additional long-term efficacy and safety information.
Clinical Trial to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of LEVI-04 in Patients With Osteoarthritis of...
PainOsteo Arthritis Knee5 moreThis is a phase 2, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of multiple doses and multiple administrations of LEVI-04 for the treatment of pain due to osteoarthritis of the knee.
Telerehabilitation in Rheumatic Diseases
TelerehabilitationTelerehabilitation (TR) became more popular during COVID-19 pandemic due to social isolation and curfew. Exercise is one of treatments for patients with rheumatic diseases that are known to have low levels of physical activity.
Nutrition in Rheumatic Diseases
SpondyloarthritisRheumatoid Arthritis1 moreBackground: Patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases (IRD) are prone to malnutrition for several reasons. The diseases and treatment can cause reduced intake and absorption of nutrients and the inflammatory processes may cause an increased demand for nutrients, especially proteins. Studies report that nutritional status can affect disease activity. Dietary supplement of 3-4 gram omega-3 has shown beneficial effect upon disease activity in patients with IRD. Aim: To investigate whether improved dietary intake with and without supplements of omega-3 will affect disease activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and spondyloarthritis (SpA). Hypothesis 1: A systematic change of diet in line with the Norwegian dietary guidelines, which will result in increased intake of, among other nutrients, omega-3 fatty acids and complete protein, as well as reduced intake of saturated fat and sugar, will improve nutritional status and reduce disease activity. Hypothesis 2: A systematic change of diet (as above), included a high dose of omega-3 will further improve nutritional status and reduce disease activity compared with placebo. Design: A DB-RCT-study will be conducted. All patients will receive individualized dietary guidance by a clinical dietician for 12 weeks, before randomization to supplements of omega-3 or placebo, for 24 weeks. The supplement will be blinded for the participants, researchers and physicians. Clinical implications: The study will investigate the effect of improved diet and nutrition on treatment offered to patients with IRD to provide more evidence-based knowledge, and thus specific dietary guidelines for patients with IRD. In addition, the study might increase the understanding of the role of omega-3 in the pathogenesis of inflammation.
The Effect of Ramipril in Suppressing ST2 Expression in Rheumatic Mitral Stenosis Patients
Rheumatic Heart DiseaseMitral Stenosis3 moreObjective propose: to investigate the effect of Ramipril in suppressing ST2 (suppression of tumorigenicity 2) in the cardiac mitral valve in patients with Rheumatic Heart Disease. We hypothesized that we hypothesized that ramipril will improve rheumatic mitral valve fibrosis through the downregulation of ST2.
Bi-atrial Versus Left Atrial Ablation for Patients With Rheumatic Mitral Valve Disease and Non-paroxysmal...
Persistent Atrial FibrillationThis study is aimed to compare the efficacy of bi-atrial ablation with left atrial ablation for atrial fibrillation during mitral valve surgery in patients with rheumatic mitral valve disease.
Effectiveness of Tele-rheumatology for Delivering High Quality Rheumatology Care During the COVID-19...
Rheumatic DiseasesWhile tele-rheumatology (TR) visits are a COVID-19 related necessity, there is a lack of rigorous data on the comparative effectiveness of TR versus (vs) in-person usual care (UC) especially in medically at-risk populations such as people with rheumatic and musculoskeletal disease (RMD) using immunosuppressive drugs (IS). This clear research gap was highlighted by the American College of Rheumatology in its recent Task Force Report on Telehealth in the COVID era. In this study, the investigators will rigorously evaluate the comparative effectiveness of TR visits for high risk people living with RMD and among those from socially vulnerable populations, in the COVID-19 era. This study is of key public health importance and relevance to rheumatology since it addresses the urgent clinical and policy needs to provide safe, efficacious, and equitable care to diverse patients with RMD during and beyond the COVID-19 crisis. Our proposal is very responsive to the RRF's Notice of Special interest on COVID-19 in improving the care of people with RMD during the COVID-19 pandemic. The investigators will perform the first randomized experiment of tele-rheumatology, generating high quality evidence to guide the use of this technology across diverse populations of people with RMDs. Beyond the high public health impact of this study for people with RMDs, the investigators expect that our findings will have high generalizability to other at-risk patient populations with multimorbidity and inform rheumatology practice into the foreseeable future.
Impact of Different Exercise Programs on Knee OA
OsteoarthritisKnee Osteoarthritis4 moreThis study will examine and compare the changes in serum biomarkers, joint kinematics, and thigh muscle strength based on three different 8-week exercise protocols in individuals with knee pathology: Lower-body positive-pressure (LBPP) supported low-load treadmill walking and Aquatic exercise program and standard of care treadmill or community walking. Investigators hypothesize that both the 8-week exercise programs which aim to partially off-load the knee joint will be associated with a significant reduction in serum biological markers of joint disease (tissue turnover, cartilage degradation and inflammation) in response to the exercise. The serum biological markers will be directly correlated to participant reported knee pain. Both the LBPP-supported low-load and the aquatic exercise regimens will result in significant increases in thigh muscle strength about the degenerative knee which in-turn will result in diminished knee pain and enhanced joint function. Investigators aim to compare these two exercise programs to understand if benefits of one far exceeds the other as compared to standard of care treadmill or community walking.