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Introduction. Disease activity, drug exposure , infectious factors, smoking, excessive alcohol intake and stress were identified to have a negative impact on spermatogenesis and gonadal function. Population-based studies on fertility in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) men are lacking. It is not known, if men with AS have a reduced number of children. Our objective was to determine fertility in a masculine AS group by determining the family size. Patients and methods. Men diagnosed with AS responded to a questionnaire comprising of several domains, focused on the preconception/conception period. Demographic parameters, disease related information, sexual relationship status, infertility treatment use in the couple, time to pregnancy achievement (TTP), comorbidities, exposure to gonadotoxic medication or radiation in the past, smoking, number of pregnancies and children born in the couple and couples' decision to limit family size were registered. Results. Out of 122 AS patients, 76 accepted to participate to the interview. Hundred-eleven pregnancies were registered in the couples and 99 children were born. Forty-two men (55.26%) with AS onset fathered 58 children and 34 (44.73%) men fathered 41 children before AS onset . No statistic difference was found between the 2 subgroups when average number of children/ family was compared (1.38 vs 1.20). A statistic significant number of men, with AS onset at conception (14/42; 33.33%), decided to limit the family size (p=0.02). Twenty-seven patients (35.52%) recalled a decrease in sexual desire. In 19 (25%) of them, this phenomenon was linked to the disease burden. Decrease of sexual desire in the 2 groups showed a borderline statistic significant difference, p=0.051. No statistic significant difference was obtained when TTP in the two groups were compared. Conclusion. A lower fertility in AS patients was described in our group in comparison to general population and this phenomenon could be linked mostly to psychological factors impacting family size decision. No correlation between the low fertility and disease presence at conception was found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bien que la fonction sexuelle soit altérée chez une proportion élevée de patients (pts) atteints de polyarthrite rhumatoïde (PR), elle est souvent négligée dans la prise en charge.1 FINCH1 (NCT02889796), FINCH2 (NCT02873936) et FINCH3 (NCT02886728) sont des études de phase 3 visant à évaluer la tolérance et l'efficacité du filgotinib (FIL) dans la PR modérée à sévère. La fonction sexuelle rapportée par les pts a également été évaluée. Analyser les caractéristiques de la maladie associées à la fonction sexuelle et explorer l'effet du FIL et de l'adalimumab (ADA) sur la fonction sexuelle des hommes et des femmes dans les études FINCH. Les analyses post-hoc comprenaient des données des pts randomisés et ayant reçu ≥ 1 dose du traitement dans les études FINCH. Des analyses en sous-groupes hommes/femmes ont été effectuées pour décrire la corrélation entre les caractéristiques de la maladie à l'inclusion et l'EVA Fonction sexuelle à l'inclusion (en utilisant le coefficient de corrélation de Pearson) et pour évaluer l'effet du traitement sur les variations depuis l'inclusion de l'EVA Fonction sexuelle (mm) jusqu'à S52 (FINCH1-3) ou S24 (FINCH2). En utilisant une EVA exploratoire de 0 à 100 (0 : aucun effet, 100 : inhibition totale), les pts ont indiqué comment la PR affectait leur capacité sexuelle au cours de la dernière semaine. Les variations depuis l'inclusion ont été analysées avec un modèle à effets mixtes pour des mesures répétées. Toutes les valeurs p sont nominales à des fins exploratoires. Les caractéristiques à l'inclusion sont indiquées dans le Tableau 1. Les analyses univariées ont révélé des corrélations positives significatives (p < 0,05) entre l'ancienneté de la maladie et l'EVA Fonction sexuelle à l'inclusion dans les sous-groupes hommes/femmes de FINCH1. Aucune corrélation significative n'a été observée dans les sous-groupes hommes/femmes de FINCH2-3. Dans toutes les études, des corrélations significatives (p < 0,05) ont été observées entre l'EVA Fonction sexuelle à l'inclusion et les caractéristiques de la maladie à l'inclusion (NAG/NAD28, DAS-28, HAQ-DI, SF-36, EVA globale du patient, EVA douleur ou fatigue) chez les hommes et les femmes. Dans toutes les études, l'analyse des variations de la moyenne des moindres carrés depuis l'inclusion de l'EVA Fonction sexuelle a révélé des améliorations chez les hommes et les femmes sous FIL dès S2, et jusqu'à S52 (S24 dans FINCH2). La Fig. 1 montre les données pour FINCH1. La fonction sexuelle doit être considérée comme un critère important pour le pt dans le traitement de la PR. À l'inclusion des études FINCH, l'activité de la maladie avait un impact négatif sur la fonction sexuelle des hommes et des femmes. Le traitement actif par FIL ou ADA a entraîné des améliorations rapides et durables de la fonction sexuelle par rapport à l'inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Musculoskeletal Ultrasonography (US) is nowadays widely used for clinical grounds and for research purposes in rheumatology. US of the hand and wrist has recently developed due to the technological improvement and use of new, high resolution transducers. US is currently improving clinical examination of the rheumatic hand and wrist and it is commonly used as daily practice by many rheumatologists. The number of publications addressing this area of US scanning has grown exponentially over the last few years. The aim of this paper is to review the current literature on US of the hand and wrist in rheumatology, including US scanning techniques, as well as normal and pathological findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Continuous Hahn polynomials Sn(x) appear in a formulation of quantum mechanics on a discrete time lattice, where they form a natural basis for the state vectors. In this paper we derive some of their generating functions, the expression of the raising and lowering operators and give a lower bound for the largest root of the equation Sn(x)=0. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Origins of ancient rockslides in seismic regions can be controversial and must not necessarily be seismic. Certain slope morphologies hint at a possible coseismic development, though further analyses are required to better comprehend their failure history, such as modelling the slope in its pre-failure state and failure development in static and dynamic conditions. To this effect, a geophysical characterization of the landslide body is crucial to estimate the possible failure history of the slope. The Balta rockslide analysed in this paper is located in the seismic region of Vrancea-Buzau, Romanian Carpathian Mountains and presents a deep detachment scarp as well as a massive body of landslide deposits. We applied several geophysical techniques on the landslide body, as well as on the mountain crest above the detachment scarp, in order to characterize the fractured rock material as well as the dimension of failure. Electrical resistivity measurements revealed a possible trend of increasing fragmentation of rockslide material towards the valley bottom, accompanied by increasing soil moisture. Several seismic refraction surveys were performed on the deposits and analysed in form of P -wave refraction tomographies as well as surface waves, allowing to quantify elastic parameters of rock. In addition, a seismic array was installed close to the detachment scarp to analyse the surface wave dispersion properties from seismic ambient noise; the latter was analysed together with a colocated active surface wave analysis survey. Single-station ambient noise measurements completed all over the slope and deposits were used to further reveal impedance contrasts of the fragmented material over in situ rock, representing an important parameter to estimate the depth of the shearing horizon at several locations of the study area. The combined methods allowed the detection of a profound contrast of 70–90 m, supposedly associated with the maximum landslide material thickness. The entirety of geophysical results was used as basis to build up a geomodel of the rockslide, allowing to estimate the geometry and volume of the failed mass, that is, approximately 28.5–33.5 million m3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Aged population presents a high prevalence rate of osteoarthritis (OA) and cardiovascular pathology, anticoagulant therapy being frequently used in this group. Intra-articular Hyaluronic acid (HA) injections have been successfully used to improve joint lubrication and to modulate joint inflammation and their administration requires the use of thick needles of 21-22g. The aim of the study was to evaluate the security profile of intra-articular ultrasound guided injections (USGI) using thick needles in patients on current efficient anticoagulant therapy. Material and method Patients diagnosed with knee OA (Kellgren 2-3) and cardiovascular pathology requesting chronic anticoagulation with Vitamin K antagonists were recruited in the outpatient clinic to receive one viscosupplementation intra-articular USGI. All patients presented chronic refractory knee pain after previous systemic/ local NSAIDs and other painkillers, according to current protocols. Only patients with mild knee effusion/ synovial hypertrophy, no popliteal cyst at US examination, and efficient INR between 2 and 3, determined in the same day, were included. No switch from anticoagulant Vitamin K antagonists to Heparin was made. The US evaluation was repeated post procedural immediately, after 45 minutes and 72 hours. Informed written consent was signed by all patients. Results Thirty-two patients (78.12% women, age 65±8.3 years) with knee OA received unilateral one USGI with monodose HA. In all patients, the viscosupplementation agent was deposited strictly inside the joint space under continuous visual US control. No iatrogenic bleeding inside the joint was noticed after the interventional maneuver in 100% of the knees. No local injection-site nor systemic reactions did occur when patients were checked at 72 hours and no further reports of injection linked (technical or product) side effects were identified. Conclusion. Intra-articular injections with thicker needles (21-22g) have a very good safety profile in patients with current efficient anticoagulant Vitamin K antagonists. There is no need to stop anticoagulant therapy or to switch on Heparin previous to the USGI when INR is lower than 3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]