Assessment of disease activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis using optical spectral transmission measurements, a non-invasive imaging technique.

OBJECTIVES: In rheumatoid arthritis (RA), treat-to-target strategies require instruments for valid detection of joint inflammation. Therefore, imaging modalities are increasingly used in clinical practice. Optical spectral transmission (OST) measurements are non-invasive and fast and may therefore have benefits over existing imaging modalities. We tested whether OST could measure disease activity validly in patients with RA. METHODS: In 59 patients with RA and 10 patients with arthralgia, OST, joint counts, Disease Activity Score (DAS) 28 and ultrasonography (US) were performed. Additionally, MRI was performed in patients with DAS28<2.6. We developed and validated within the same cohort an algorithm for detection of joint inflammation by OST with US as reference. RESULTS: At the joint level, OST and US performed similarly inproximal interphalangeal-joints (area under the receiver-operating curve (AUC) of 0.79, p<0.0001) andmetacarpophalangeal joints (AUC 0.78, p<0.0001). Performance was less similar in wrists (AUC 0.62, p=0.006). On the patient level, OST correlated moderately with clinical examination (DAS28 r=0.42, p=0.001), and US scores (r=0.64, p<0.0001). Furthermore, in patients with subclinical and low disease activity, there was a correlation between OST and MRI synovitis score (RAMRIS (Rheumatoid Arthritis MRI Scoring) synovitis), r=0.52, p=0.005. CONCLUSIONS: In this pilot study, OST performed moderately in the detection of joint inflammation in patients with RA. Further studies are needed to determine the diagnostic performance in a new cohort of patients with RA.

Inelastic state-to-state scattering of OH (2Pi3/2, J=3/2,f) by HCl.

Parity resolved state-to-state cross sections for inelastic scattering of OH (X2Pi) by HCl were measured in a crossed molecular beam experiment at the collision energy of 920 cm(-1). The OH (X2Pi) radicals were prepared in a single quantum state, Omega=3/2, J=3/2, MJ=3/2, f, by means of electrostatic state selection in a hexapole field. The rotational distribution of the scattered OH radicals by HCl was probed by saturated LIF spectroscopy of the 0-0 band of the A 2Sigma+ - X 2Pi transition. Relative state-to-state cross sections were measured for rotational excitations up to J=9/2 within the Omega=3/2 spin-orbit manifold and up to J=7/2 within the Omega=1/2 spin-orbit manifold. A propensity for spin-orbit conserving transitions was found, but no propensity for excitation into a particular Lambda-doublet component of the same rotational state was evident. The data are presented and discussed in comparison with results previously obtained for collisions of OH with CO (Ecoll=450 cm(-1)) and N2 (Ecoll=410 cm(-1)) and with new data we have measured for the OH+CO system at a comparable collision energy (Ecoll=985 cm(-1)). This comparison suggests that the potential energy surface (PES) governing the interaction between OH and HCl is more anisotropic than the PES's governing the intermolecular interaction of OH with CO and N2.

Molecular reorientation in collisions of OH + Ar.

Orientational effects in rotationally elastic collisions of OH with Ar were studied in a crossed molecular beam setup. A static electric field was applied to orient the molecules before the collision. After the collision the orientation was measured by using a narrow-band laser system to probe the Stark-split states corresponding to different orientations. Differential and integral cross sections for reorientation of the molecular axis have been determined as a function of the initial orientation. The cross section for reorientation by one quantum is 25 A2 with a preference for O-end collisions.