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Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and pain reduction, hospital readmission, and joint replacement in patients with osteoarthritis (OA). Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) prescription patterns were further analyzed to confirm the association with prognosis and quality of life in OA patients. Methods: We retrospectively followed 3,850 hospitalized patients with osteoarthritis between January 2018 and December 2022 using the hospital's HIS system. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used for data matching. Cox's proportional risk model was used to assess the impact of various factors on the outcomes of patients with OA, including pain worsening, readmission, and joint replacement. The Kaplan-Meier survival curve was applied to determine the impact of TCM intervention time on patient outcomes. Data mining methods including association rules, cluster analysis, and random walks have been used to assess the efficacy of TCM. Results: The utilization rate of TCM in OA patients was 67.01% (2,511/3,747). After PSM matching, 1,228 TCM non-user patients and 1,228 TCM user patients were eventually included. The outcomes of pain worsening, re-admission rate, and joint replacement rate of the TCM non-user group were observably higher than those of the TCM user group with OA (p

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a prevalent autoimmune disease whose main features include chronic synovial inflammation, bone destruction, and joint degeneration. Neutrophils are often considered to be the first responders to inflammation and are a key presence in the inflammatory milieu of RA. Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), a meshwork of DNA-histone complexes and proteins released by activated neutrophils, are widely involved in the pathophysiology of autoimmune diseases, especially RA, in addition to playing a key role in the neutrophil innate immune response. NETs have been found to be an important source of citrullinated autoantigen antibodies and inflammatory factor release, which can activate RA synovial fibroblasts (FLS) and cause joint damage. This article reviews the role of NETs in the pathophysiology of RA, demonstrating the application of multiple molecules with various therapies, with a view to informing the discovery and development of novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets for RA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) as a autoimmune disease involves inflammatory responses in the development of the disease, often causing changes in the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR). In the past few decades, research on the relationship between NLR and AS has generally shown an upward trend. This study adopts the bibliometrics method to analyze the development trend, frontier, and hotspots of global research in this field in the past 2 decades. By searching for publications in the SCI-Expanded edition of the Web of Science Core Collection, the information of literature published between 2000 and 2023 is recorded. Based on the VOSviewer, CiteSpace and Excel, bibliometric analysis, and visualization analysis are conducted on the overall distribution of annual output, leading countries, active institutions, journals, authors, co-cited references, and keywords. Through retrieving and screening, a total of 1654 papers are obtained for analysis. In the past 2 decades, the number of publications related to this field has shown an increasing trend. The United States has the highest Hirsch index (H-index) and publication volume. The most productive institution is Harvard University, while the H-index of the University of Milan in Italy is far ahead. Frontiers in Immunology is the institution with the highest output. The H-index of the Annals of the Rheumatic holds the top position. This study has uncovered the main emphasis on NLR in AS research and has provided clarification regarding the value of NLR as a biomarker for immune inflammatory response in the diagnosis and prognosis of AS., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)