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WOS: 000360385500003, PubMed ID: 27708927, Objective: To assess sarcopenia status in women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Material and Methods: Thirty female patients with RA and 30 female controls without RA were enrolled in this study. Sarcopenia status in patients with RA was evaluated by assessing body composition using dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). C-reactive protein (CRP) levels and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) were measured, and body mass index (BMI) and Disease Activity Score (DAS28) were calculated. Because sarcopenia differs between men and women, the study groups comprised only females. Results: It was found that skeletal muscle index (SMI) was lower in patients with RA (5.83 +/- 0.807) than in controls (7.30 +/- 1.640). Sarcopenia (in females with an SMI of

WOS: 000276859300003, Objective: Differentiation of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) from other diseases with joint involvement such as hepatitis-C virus (HCV) infection represents a diagnostic problem. In addition to the rheumatoid factor (RF), more specific and sensitive auto-antibodies are under evaluation in recent years with conflicting results. In this study, we tested the diagnostic value of rheumatoid factor, anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) and anti-mutated citrullinated vimentin (anti-MCV) in distinguishing RA from hepatitis C patients. Materials and Methods: Sera of 34 RA patients and 30 hepatitis C patients were tested for RF, anti-CCP anti-MCV. Disease activity was determined by disease activity score (DAS-28) 28 in RA and by modified Knodell score in hepatitis C patients. Extra-articular involvement in RA and rheumatologic involvement in hepatitis C patients were documented. Results: In roc analysis, area under curve (AUC) was the highest in anti-CCP. Sensitivity and specificity was 82% and 53%, 79%, and 96% and 70%, and 73% for RF, anti-CCP and anti-MCV respectively. DAS-28 has a weak correlation with RF (r=0.406), anti-CCP (r=0.433), and anti-MCV (r=0.453). There was no difference between the patients in autoantibody levels regarding extra-articular involvement and DAS-28 in RA, and joint involvement in hepatitis C patients. Conclusion: Anti-MCV antibodies may be useful in distinguishing RA however it seems to have no additional value over anti-CCP or RF in hepatitis C patients. Anti-CCP antibodies are more reliable in diagnosis of RA due to their high specificity. (Turk J Rheumatol 2010; 25: 19-23)