ORCID Profile
0000-0001-6502-4407
Current Organisation
University of Nottingham
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Publisher: BMJ
Date: 09-2021
DOI: 10.1136/RMDOPEN-2021-001814
Abstract: We describe the early experiences of adults with systemic rheumatic disease who received the COVID-19 vaccine. From 2 April to 30 April 2021, we conducted an online, international survey of adults with systemic rheumatic disease who received COVID-19 vaccination. We collected patient-reported data on clinician communication, beliefs and intent about discontinuing disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) around the time of vaccination, and patient-reported adverse events after vaccination. We analysed 2860 adults with systemic rheumatic diseases who received COVID-19 vaccination (mean age 55.3 years, 86.7% female, 86.3% white). Types of COVID-19 vaccines were Pfizer-BioNTech (53.2%), Oxford/AstraZeneca (22.6%), Moderna (21.3%), Janssen/Johnson & Johnson (1.7%) and others (1.2%). The most common rheumatic disease was rheumatoid arthritis (42.3%), and 81.2% of respondents were on a DMARD. The majority (81.9%) reported communicating with clinicians about vaccination. Most (66.9%) were willing to temporarily discontinue DMARDs to improve vaccine efficacy, although many (44.3%) were concerned about rheumatic disease flares. After vaccination, the most reported patient-reported adverse events were fatigue/somnolence (33.4%), headache (27.7%), muscle/joint pains (22.8%) and fever/chills (19.9%). Rheumatic disease flares that required medication changes occurred in 4.6%. Among adults with systemic rheumatic disease who received COVID-19 vaccination, patient-reported adverse events were typical of those reported in the general population. Most patients were willing to temporarily discontinue DMARDs to improve vaccine efficacy. The relatively low frequency of rheumatic disease flare requiring medications was reassuring.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 24-04-2023
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 22-02-2021
DOI: 10.1007/S10067-021-05605-X
Abstract: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common degenerative condition leading to significant pain, functional limitation, and economic loss. Generalized OA (GOA) is associated with greater morbidity and accounts for 5-25% of total OA cases depending on definition used. This paper aims to determine the frequency and pattern of GOA, compare clinical and laboratory parameters of GOA and non-GOA subjects, then identify independent associations of GOA among Nigerians with knee OA. A cross-sectional study of 180 knee OA patients with knee and generalized OA defined using ACR criteria. Questionnaire administration was followed by physical examination and appropriate radiographs. Data was summarized using tables and figures. Multivariate regression was done to identify independent GOA associations with statistical significance p<0.05. Ethical approval was obtained for the study. There were 180 participants with mean age 59.7±9.1 years. Twenty-eight patients (15.6%) had GOA of which 26 were female. The hip/knee/spine pattern was the commonest while hand OA was rare. Comparisons showed that GOA patients were significantly older with longer pain duration, higher pain score, more Heberden's nodes, and greater fatigue. There were no significant differences between both groups in levels of inflammatory markers and other laboratory parameters. Further analysis identified joint stiffness as the only independent association of GOA (OR 3.34, p=0.01). A 15.6% frequency of GOA was identified among knee OA sufferers with the hip/knee/spine pattern most frequent. Nigerians with GOA are predominantly females with a large joint phenotype. Joint stiffness was the only independent association of GOA observed. Key Points • Generalized osteoarthritis occurs in 15.6% of Nigerian patients with knee osteoarthritis. • Females are predominantly affected with a large joint phenotype involving the hip/knee/spine. • Joint stiffness is an independent association of generalized osteoarthritis.
Publisher: AIP Publishing
Date: 11-2022
DOI: 10.1063/5.0124416
Abstract: One of the many ways of cavitation utilized for process intensification is through acoustically inducing it. As acoustic cavitation gained traction in recent industrial works, numerical modeling became an important study tool to scrutinize and optimize acoustic cavitation applications. However, available hydrodynamic cavitation models are found incapable of accurately predicting acoustic cavitation structures and flow features. This could source from the oversimplification of the Rayleigh–Plesset equation or from obscure effects of empirical model constants. To address this issue, new mass transfer source terms for Zwart–Gerber–Belamri model were derived based on the consideration of Rayleigh–Plesset's second-order derivatives. In addition, a design of experiments statistical approach, coupled with Monte Carlo simulations, was implemented to assess the influence of empirical model constants on the model's performance by examining variations in litude and frequency responses. Moreover, a set of optimized model constants was obtained: evaporation constant = 17.359 88, condensation constant = 0.1, Bubble Radius = 25 × 10−6 m, and Nucleation Site Volume Fraction = 5 × 10−4, to obtain a maximum pressure and frequency of 3.62 bar and 4128.73 Hz, respectively. The new model, with the new constants, was configured into ANSYS Fluent 22.1 and validated against experimental values. The new model resulted with maximum pressure and frequency of 3.48 bar and 4894.56 Hz, respectively, validating the statistical model and showing drastic improvement in qualitatively and quantitatively capturing acoustic cavitation.
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 28-05-2021
DOI: 10.1136/ANNRHEUMDIS-2021-220418
Abstract: To investigate baseline use of biologic or targeted synthetic (b/ts) disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and COVID-19 outcomes in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We analysed the COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance physician registry (from 24 March 2020 to 12 April 2021). We investigated b/tsDMARD use for RA at the clinical onset of COVID-19 (baseline): abatacept (ABA), rituximab (RTX), Janus kinase inhibitors (JAKi), interleukin 6 inhibitors (IL-6i) or tumour necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi, reference group). The ordinal COVID-19 severity outcome was (1) no hospitalisation, (2) hospitalisation without oxygen, (3) hospitalisation with oxygen/ventilation or (4) death. We used ordinal logistic regression to estimate the OR (odds of being one level higher on the ordinal outcome) for each drug class compared with TNFi, adjusting for potential baseline confounders. Of 2869 people with RA (mean age 56.7 years, 80.8% female) on b/tsDMARD at the onset of COVID-19, there were 237 on ABA, 364 on RTX, 317 on IL-6i, 563 on JAKi and 1388 on TNFi. Overall, 613 (21%) were hospitalised and 157 (5.5%) died. RTX (OR 4.15, 95% CI 3.16 to 5.44) and JAKi (OR 2.06, 95% CI 1.60 to 2.65) were each associated with worse COVID-19 severity compared with TNFi. There were no associations between ABA or IL6i and COVID-19 severity. People with RA treated with RTX or JAKi had worse COVID-19 severity than those on TNFi. The strong association of RTX and JAKi use with poor COVID-19 outcomes highlights prioritisation of risk mitigation strategies for these people.
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 09-2022
DOI: 10.1136/RMDOPEN-2022-002587
Abstract: We investigated prolonged COVID-19 symptom duration, defined as lasting 28 days or longer, among people with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (SARDs). We analysed data from the COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance Vaccine Survey (2 April 2021–15 October 2021) to identify people with SARDs reporting test-confirmed COVID-19. Participants reported COVID-19 severity and symptom duration, sociodemographics and clinical characteristics. We reported the proportion experiencing prolonged symptom duration and investigated associations with baseline characteristics using logistic regression. We identified 441 respondents with SARDs and COVID-19 (mean age 48.2 years, 83.7% female, 39.5% rheumatoid arthritis). The median COVID-19 symptom duration was 15 days (IQR 7, 25). Overall, 107 (24.2%) respondents had prolonged symptom duration (≥28 days) 42/429 (9.8%) reported symptoms lasting ≥90 days. Factors associated with higher odds of prolonged symptom duration included: hospitalisation for COVID-19 vs not hospitalised and mild acute symptoms (age-adjusted OR (aOR) 6.49, 95% CI 3.03 to 14.1), comorbidity count (aOR 1.11 per comorbidity, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.21) and osteoarthritis (aOR 2.11, 95% CI 1.01 to 4.27). COVID-19 onset in 2021 vs June 2020 or earlier was associated with lower odds of prolonged symptom duration (aOR 0.42, 95% CI 0.21 to 0.81). Most people with SARDs had complete symptom resolution by day 15 after COVID-19 onset. However, about 1 in 4 experienced COVID-19 symptom duration 28 days or longer 1 in 10 experienced symptoms 90 days or longer. Future studies are needed to investigate the possible relationships between immunomodulating medications, SARD type/flare, vaccine doses and novel viral variants with prolonged COVID-19 symptoms and other postacute sequelae of COVID-19 among people with SARDs.
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
No related grants have been discovered for Basel Al Bishtawi.