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This article discusses a case study of a 25-year-old woman who presented with symptoms of chronic leg edema, erythema nodosum, cough, and numbness in her limbs. Further investigation revealed pneumonia, empyema, subclavian artery thrombosis, spleen and kidney infarctions, and left ventricular thrombi. The patient was diagnosed with Takayasu's arteritis, a systemic vasculitis, and received treatment with anticoagulation and immunosuppression. The article emphasizes the importance of considering Takayasu's arteritis as a potential cause of unexplained heart failure in young women. [Extracted from the article]

Aim: To assess the association between periodontitis (PD) and inadequate disease control (IDC) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) receiving biological therapy. Materials and methods: In total, 111 RA patients receiving biological therapy for at least 3 months were assessed for periodontal disease at baseline. RA disease activity was assessed at baseline and at 3 months of follow‐up. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the association between PD and IDC, adjusting for age, sex, smoking, diabetes, and baseline RA disease activity. An additional exploratory model further controlled for disease characteristics and other medications. Results: Among 111 patients, 84 (75.7%) had PD, of whom 37 (44.0%) received periodontal treatment. Thirty‐four (40.5%) of PD patients had IDC; 12 (32.4%) of treated PD patients and 22 (46.8%) of untreated patients had IDC, respectively. The ORs (95% CIs) for IDC were 1.45 (0.50–4.23) in PD patients and 1.84 (0.59–5.76) in untreated PD patients. In the exploratory model, the ORs (95% CIs) for IDC were 5.00 (1.19–21.03) in PD patients and 6.26 (1.34–29.34) in untreated PD patients. Conclusion: This single‐centre, prospective study failed to demonstrate a consistently positive correlation between PD and IDC in RA patients receiving biological treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate QuantiFERON-tuberculosis Gold (QFT-G) assay and tuberculin skin test (TST) for latent tuberculosis (TB) infection (LTBI) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treated with adalimumab., Methods: We prospectively followed up 43 RA patients who received adalimumab therapy and underwent serial TSTs and QFT-G assays. TST was performed using Mantoux method and QFT-G assay was examined by measuring interferon-gamma levels in whole blood samples that were incubated with early secretary antigenic target-6 and culture filtrate protein 10., Results: Before starting adalimumab therapy, 8 RA patients (18.6%) had positive and 35 (81.4%) had negative TST results. All 8 RA patients with positive TST results were diagnosed as LTBI and received isoniazid prophylaxis (INHP) 1 month before starting adalimumab therapy. None of these 8 RA patients developed active TB 2 years after completing INHP. A high rate (10 [37.0%] patients) of TST conversion was observed among 27 patients who had completed 12-month adalimumab therapy. Of these 10 patients with TST conversion, 2 patients had positive QFT-G results and 1 developed active TB disease. Among 17 RA patients who did not have TST conversion after 12-month adalimumab therapy, 1 patient who had a positive QFT-G result developed active TB disease. Of all 43 RA patients who received adalimumab therapy, 4 (9.3%) developed active TB after starting adalimumab therapy., Conclusion: The application of TST for detecting LTBI is limited in RA patients by the frequent presence of anergy. Combined QFT-G assay and TST can aid in detecting LTBI in RA patients receiving adalimumab therapy.