\n\nMethods. In 23 patients with recurrent gonarthritis despite previous intraarticular corticosteroid

therapy, a total of 41 intraarticular injections (20 infliximab and 21 methylprednisolone) were performed in 28 knees. Initial therapy was randomly assigned, and crossover therapy was eligible within 3 months. The clinical effect was assessed during 6 months of followup. Akt inhibitor The primary outcome was event-free survival, defined as the time after treatment until local retreatment was performed and/or nonimprovement of the knee joint score. Adverse effects were recorded during followup.\n\nResults. All patients treated with intraarticular infliximab had an insufficient response. In contrast, 8 of the 21 intraarticular methylprednisolone injections were effective (P = 0.004). Between groups, no differences in the patients’ age, disease duration, number of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, or previous intraarticular methylprednisolone were www.selleckchem.com/products/apr-246-prima-1met.html observed. Reported adverse effects were not related to therapy.\n\nConclusion. Treatment with intraarticular infliximab injection was not effective in patients with a chronically inflamed knee joint. Intraarticular injection with methylprednisolone was

superior despite previous intraarticular corticosteroid therapy. Further investigation is needed to provide these patients with a better alternative.”
“Background: Medicinal plants are used worldwide for several human ailments including bacterial infections. The present work was designed to assess the in vitro antibacterial activities of some Cameroonian medicinal plants including Entada abyssinica, Entada africana, Pentaclethra macrophylla, Allexis cauliflora, Anthocleista leibrechtsiana, Carapa procera, Carica papaya and Persea americana against Gram-negative bacteria expressing multidrug resistant (MDR) phenotypes. Methods: The microbroth dilution was used to determine the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) of the samples against eight bacterial strains belonging to four

species, Escherichia coli, Enterobacter aerogenes, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Providencia stuartii. Results: The extracts displayed selective antibacterial PND-1186 activities with the minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) values ranges of 64 to 1024 mu g/mL. The most active extract was that from Pentaclethra macrophylla (TPM) that showed inhibitory activities against five of the eight (62.5%) tested bacteria. The lowest MIC value (64 mu g/mL) was recorded with the crude extract of Entada africana against E. coli AG100A whilst the best MBC (256 mu g/mL) value was also obtained with methanol extract of Persea americana against this bacterial strain. Conclusion: The results of the present work provide baseline information on the possible use of Pentaclethra macrophylla, Entada africana and Entada abyssinica in the treatment of selected bacterial infections.