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Biomedical subjects

A T Masi

Publications and source records attributed to A T Masi.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Plasma tryptophan and other amino acids in primary fibromyalgia: a controlled study.

To test the hypothesis that plasma tryptophan and/or its transport ratio is decreased in primary fibromyalgia (PF), we measured plasma tryptophan and its transport ratio in 29 patients with PF and 30 healthy controls without significant pain, in a blinded manner. Twenty-one other amino acids were also similarly analyzed among these study subjects. Transport ratio of tryptophan was found to be significantly (p less than 0.01) decreased in PF compared with the control group (0.09 +/- 0.02 vs 0.10 +/- 0.02). Plasma tryptophan level was lower in PF (45 +/- 10 nmol/ml) than in healthy controls (51 +/- 15 nmol/ml), showing a trend towards significance (p less than 0.09). Additionally, plasma histidine and serine levels were found to be significantly (p less than 0.01) lower in patients with PF than in controls. Our results suggest that a decreased brain serotonin level, as possibly reflected by a decreased transport ratio of plasma tryptophan, may play a pathophysiologic role in PF.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed1992

Plasma and urinary catecholamines in primary fibromyalgia: a controlled study.

Plasma and urinary catecholamines were measured in a blinded manner among 30 patients with primary fibromyalgia (PF) and 30 healthy controls without significant pain to determine possible elevations of catecholamines in PF, as well as their correlations with psychological and clinical variables in this syndrome. Results showed no significant differences between fibromyalgia and control groups in any of the catecholamines measured, nor was there a correlation between catecholamine levels and any of the clinical features or psychologic measures.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Do sex hormones play a role in ankylosing spondylitis?

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) has a striking disease marker, i.e., HLA-B27, indicating the major genetic predisposition; however, expression of disease is also strongly influenced by age- and sex-related factors. Sex steroids studies suggest greater androgenicity in AS than normal control persons. Therapeutic interventions that normalize such sex steroid status have shown clinical improvements in males and females. Muscle histopathology in AS shows frequent changes early in disease consistent with neuropathic and myopathic mechanisms of a noninflammatory nature. Accepting the available, aggregate data, one may infer that sex steroid imbalance in persons susceptible to AS may target axial and proximal muscle tissues, resulting in relative functional hypertonicity. Such phenomenon, developing in preteen and younger adult ages, may contribute to peripheral and axial manifestations of enthesopathy in this disease by complex and currently unknown mechanisms.

Aging↗
PubMed1991

Relationship of clinical features with psychological status in primary fibromyalgia.

Clinical features and psychological status determined by the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) in 103 patients with primary fibromyalgia syndrome (PFS) were analyzed by univariate and multivariate techniques to determine if clinical features were related to psychological status or were intrinsic to PFS per se. The central features of PFS, e.g., number of pain sites, number of tender points, fatigue, and poor sleep, were independent of psychological status. However, discriminant analysis identified 4 variables--patient-reported depression, anxiety, stress, and pain severity--which together predicted 3 MMPI subgroups with an accuracy of 55% (P less than 0.001); the only musculoskeletal feature--pain severity--alone provided an accuracy of only 34% (P greater than 0.05). These data suggest a new concept, that the central features of fibromyalgia are independent of the psychological status and are more likely related to the PFS itself. However, pain severity may be influenced by psychological factors.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Psychiatric status of patients with primary fibromyalgia, patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and subjects without pain: a blind comparison of DSM-III diagnoses.

OBJECTIVE: The major purpose of this study was to compare the frequency of the occurrence of DSM-III diagnoses in patients with primary fibromyalgia syndrome, patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and subjects without pain. METHOD: Thirty-five patients with primary fibromyalgia, 33 patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and 31 nonpatients without pain were blindly assessed for psychiatric diagnoses with the Psychiatric Diagnostic Interview. RESULTS: Data from this interview revealed no group differences in terms of lifetime history of any psychiatric disorders, including major depression, somatization disorder, or anxiety-based disorders. Analysis of the auxiliary symptoms of depression on the Psychiatric Diagnostic Interview revealed that the patients with fibromyalgia did not report a higher frequency of vegetative signs of depression. However, analysis of the somatization scale revealed an interaction between medical and psychiatric diagnoses: patients with primary fibromyalgia syndrome and a psychiatric history endorsed significantly more somatic symptoms than did patients with rheumatoid arthritis or subjects without pain, and fibromyalgia patients without a psychiatric history were no more likely to endorse somatic symptoms than were arthritis patients or subjects without pain. CONCLUSIONS: The Psychiatric Diagnostic Interview data failed to discriminate in any major way between primary fibromyalgia syndrome (a disorder with no known organic etiology) and rheumatoid arthritis (a disorder with a known organic etiology). Therefore, these data do not support a psychopathology model as a primary explanation of the symptoms of primary fibromyalgia syndrome.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

The 'CREST' syndrome. Comparison with systemic sclerosis (scleroderma).

The CREST syndrome refers to a disorder comprising the manifestations of calcinosis, Raynaud's phenomenon, esophageal dysfunction, sclerodactyly, and telangiectasia. Thirteen CREST patients (two with CRST) were compared with 26 patients with systemic sclerosis but without the full manifestations of the CRST syndrome. No significant difference was found between the groups in the age of onset of Raynaud's phenomenon, degree of multiphasic digital color changes, ulcerations of fingers, sclerodactyly, or in the frequency of abnormal esophageal peristalsis or dysphagia. Laboratory results were similar, including the frequency of an elevated ESR. However, the CREST patients had a significantly lower frequency of arthralgia (54%) and arthritis (15%) than did those with scleroderma (88% and 65%, respectively). All but one of the CREST patients were women, which was a greater proportion than found among scleroderma cases (69%), and all were white (P less than .05). Most patients with the CREST syndrome had rather severe acrosclerosis. At last evaluation, four patients were chronically ill and three had died. The CREST and CRST syndromes are closely related disorders that seem to be part of the spectrum of systemic sclerosis.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Prognosis in rheumatoid arthritis. A longitudinal study of newly diagnosed younger adult patients.

The course of rheumatoid arthritis was analyzed in 50 newly-diagnosed adults followed prospectively for an average of over five years. Eighteen patients had no swelling and no erosion (outcome 1), 22 patients had swelling without erosion (outcome 2) and 10 patients had erosion (outcome 3). Computer-assisted data screening and multivariate analytic technics were employed to derive a simple index from entry data which correlated closely with the patients' subsequent articular course. The index included six entry items: positive rhematoid factor; two or more swollen upper extremity joints on examination (2 points each); history of Raynaud's-like symptoms; malaise or weakness at the onset of arthritis; white race and female sex (1 point each). This index was 80 per cent accurate over-all in classifying patients into the three mutually exclusive articular outcome categories. Zero to 2 points on entry predicted no swelling, 3 to 5 points swelling without erosion and 6 to 8 points the development of bony erosion. Although results must be qualified to this patient population in the early stages of disease, the analytic approaches developed promise to assist with a broad range of clinical research and medical care delivery problems.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

A new look at the epidemiology of ankylosing spondylitis and related syndromes.

Among the rheumatic diseases, non so clearly illustrates the relations between host and environmental factors as the seronegative spondyloarthropathy group of disorders. The strongest association is with the histocompatibility antigen HLA-B27, which accounts for a striking susceptibility to these diseases and is present in over 90% of individuals with idiopathic ankylosing spondylitis. Next in importance appears to be a difference in sex penetrance with males predominating in all categories. The most dramatic sex relationship is with postvenereal Reiter's syndrome which has a male-to-female ratio of nearly 50:1. Another potent host factor is age, with increased predisposition to onset at puberty and young adulthood in HLA-B27-positive patients. Environmental or possibly infectious agent influence are most apparent in Reiter's syndrome, where the antecedent circumstances of venereal contact and bacillary dysentery are frequent precipitating events. Secondary forms of peripheral arthritis, radiographic sacroiliitis, and ankylosing spondylitis frequently occur in psoriasis and inflammatory bowel disease; in the case of peripheral arthritis, there is no or a significantly reduced association with HLA-B27 compared to AS or RS. Secondary factor seem to be contributing to spondyloarthropathy in these disorders. These iterrelations emphasize the powerful effects of host characteristics on the type of rheumatic disease syndrome acquired and provide superb opportunities for more precise understanding of disease pathogenesis and ultimate control through the integration of epidemiologic, clinical, and laboratory research.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

Age, sex, and race effects on mortality from systemic lupus erythematosus in the United States.

Nationwide rates of death from systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) were estimated from National Center for Health Statistics mortality data for 1968 to 1972 according to age, sex, and race. The overall rates for females, 6.3 per million person-years (whites 5.2, blacks 14.8), were about four times that for males, 1.6 per million person-years (whites 1.5, blacks 2.2). The overall rate for blacks, 8.8, was 2.6 times that for whites, 3.4. An earlier rise in age-specific mortality rates for females than males produced higher age-specific female-to male sex ratios in the early adult years than in later years. Mortality generally increased with age in whites whereas the phenomenon of an accentuation and decline during the early and middle adult ages was seen in blacks, particularly females. Analysis of age-, sex-, race-specific rates using one measure of synergistic interaction, S, revealed substantial synergy between the effects of sex and race on mortality during the childbearing ages (S = 3.2, 95% confidence interval = 2.3--4.4).

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

The relationship between HLA-B27 positive peripheral arthritis and sacroiliitis.

HLA typing for B27 antigen is a helpful diagnostic aid in the classification of peripheral arthritis patients (especially young patients) who are rheumatoid factor negative. We studied 109 patients with seronegative peripheral arthritis belonging to various clinical categories; 23% proved to be B27 positive in comparison to 7% of normal controls. In spite of a paucity of spinal manifestations there was a high prevalence of sacroiliitis (83%) in the B27 positive peripheral arthritis patients as opposed to only 21% in those without B27 antigen. HLA-B27 typing and radiographs of the sacroiliac joints are important differential tests.

Adolescent↗