Objective To explore the characteristics of sleep disturbance and its related factors in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).Methods A total of 71 patients with RA in Department of Rheumatology Huaxi Hospital have completed the following questionnaires, including Pittsburgh sleeping quality index (PSQI), visual analogue scale (VAS), disease activity score in 28 joints (DAS28), health assessment questionnaire (HAQ), hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS), fatigue severity scale (FSS) and a self-designed general status questionnaire.Results The prevalence of sleep disturbance was 42.3％ (30/71) in rheumatoid arthritis patients (68.4％).The scores of DAS28, VAS, PSQI, HAQ, FSS and HADS in patients with sleep disturbance were significantly higher than those in patients with good sleep, which were respectively 3.90 ± 1.12 vs 2.92 ± 1.92, (5.03 ± 2.63) scores vs (2.41 ± 1.84) scores, (10.87 ± 2.42) scores vs (4.29 ± 1.85) scores, 3.0 (0.0, 7.0) scores vs 2.0 (0.5,4.0) scores, (39.17 ±14.02) scores vs (29.63 ± 16.12) scores, (14.50 ±7.77) scores vs (9.49 ±6.57) scores (P ＜ 0.05 in all scales).According to the results of Pearson correlation analysis, PSQI had significantly positive correlation with DAS28 (r =0.462, P ＜ 0.01), VAS (r =0.556, P ＜ 0.01), HAQ (r =0.360, P ＜ 0.01), FSS(r =0.420, P ＜ 0.01) and HADS (r =0.447, P ＜ 0.01) respectively.The logistic regression analysis indicated that VAS was a predictor for poor sleep quality (P ＜ 0.01).The patients receiving biological agents had significantly (P ＜ 0.05) lower scores of DAS28 (2.86±1.39 vs 3.52 ± 1.1 0), PSQI [(5.90 ± 4.24) scores vs (8.53 ± 3.78) scores], VAS(2.15 ± 2.30 vs 4.05 ± 2.46), HAQ [0.0 (0.0, 2.0) scores vs 3.0(0.0,6.0) scores] compared to those taking oral drugs.Conclusion High prevalence of sleep disturbance in patients with RA is noted, which indirectly influences the activity of disease, quality of life, depression, fatigue and other physical and mental health.Biological agents can partly improve the sleep disturbance and functional status.

Objective To determine the expression levels of SOCS2 in the mouse livers under starvation, diabetes and obese conditions and to study the effect of SOCS2 on gluconeogenesis.Methods Animals were divided into 3 groups: C57BL/6J mice, the control group was fed ad libtum and the experimental group was fasted for 24 h.Diabetes model db/db and the control db/m mice were fed ad libitum.Obese model ob/ob and the control C57BL/6J mice were fed ad libitum.All the mice above were sacrificed and total RNA was isolated from mouse livers and reverse transcribed to cDNA.The expression of SOCS2 and gluconeogenesis genes in the mouse livers in the 3 groups above were detected by real-time quantitative PCR.SOCS2 was overexpressed in the primary C57BL/6J mouse hepatocytes by the adenovirus system.The effect of SOCS2 on glucose production was measured by glucose output assay.Results C57BL/6J mouse hepatic SOCS2 expression was suppressed by starvation status.The expression of SOCS2 was decreased in the livers of db/db and ob/ob mice.In contrast, the key regulators of gluconeogenesis, PGC-1α, PEPCK and G6Pase exhibited the opposite expression pattern as SOCS2 in the livers underidentical starvation, diabetes and obese conditions.The protein was Mr 23 000 and glucose production was inhibited after SOCS2 being overexpressed in the primary C57BL/6J mouse hepatocytes by adenovirus system.Conclusions SOCS2 may inhibit gluconeogenesis in the C57BL/6J mouse primary hepatocytes, and SOCS2 may be a potential target for the treatment of type Ⅱ diabetes.

Objective To investigate the incidence of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in patients with rheumatic diseases in order to find evidence for the prevention of mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) in these patients.Methods From January 2013 to July 2015,759 patients with rheumatic diseases and 38 health controls were enrolled.All of them underwent interferon-gamma release assays(T-SPOT.TB) to screen for LTBI.Incidence of MTB infection was evaluated in different groups and test was used for statistical analysis between groups.Results The incidences of LTBI in patients and health controls were 27.27％ (207/759) and 10.53％ (4/38),respectively.In 2013,24.66％ (73/296) (standardized infection rate 23.37％) patients with rheumatic diseases were positive for LTBI screening test.In 2014 and 2015,the percentages were 32.02％ (73/296) (standardized infection rate was 32.15％) and 25.96％ (73/228) (standardized infection rate was 28.46％),respectively,which was statistically significant in these 3 groups (P =0.004).the infection rate in 2014 tended to be higher than that in 2013 (P =0.001).There were 30.24％ (88/291) male and 25.43 ％ (119/468) female patients who were considered as LTBI.But the difference was not significant between genders.The infection rates between patients older than 60 years old and less was significantly different,which were 45.65％ (42/92) and 24.74％ (165/667),respectively (P =0.000).As far as diseases were concerned including rheumatoid arthritis,systemic lupus erythematosus,spondyloarthritis and other rheumatic diseases,the incidences were 33.93％ (57/168),22.06％ (45/204),25.73％ (44/171) and 28.24％ (61/216) respectively,without statistical significance.Conclusions The incidence of LTBI is high in patients with rheumatic diseases.Attention should be paid especially to elderly patients and rheumatoid arthritis patients who have relatively higher rates of LTBI.Careful monitoring and prevention measures are suggested to take in these patients.