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Antiphospholipid antibody-related central nervous system involvement in undifferentiated connective tissue disease.
No full textAbnormalities of autonomic nervous system in hyperadrenergic orthostatic hypotension: description of a case
No full textHigh dose intravenous immunoglobulin therapy for rheumatic diseases: clinical relevance and personal experience
No full textSafety of Rituximab in different rheumatic autoimmune diseases. A single centre experience in 85 cases. 2008
No full textVirus-prokaryote-nanoflagellate-microzooplankton interactions in surface waters of the Mediterranean Sea
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Circulating levels of interleukin 10 and other cytokines in rheumatoidarthritis treated with cyclosporin A or combination therapy.
No full textStructured report improves radiology residents’ performance in reporting chest high-resolution computed tomography: a study in patients with connective tissue disease
No full textPURPOSE The study aimed to evaluate the performance of radiology residents (RRs) when using a dedi-cated structured report (SR) template for chest high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) in patients with suspected connective tissue disease–interstitial lung disease (CTD–ILD), compared to the traditional narrative report (NR). METHODS We retrospectively evaluated 50 HRCT exams in patients with suspected CTD–ILD. A chest-devoted radiologist reported all HRCT exams as the reference standard, pointing out pulmonary fibrosis findings (i.e., honeycombing, traction bronchiectasis, reticulation, and volume loss), the presence and pattern of ILD, and possible other diagnoses. We divided 4 RRs into 2 groups according to their expertise level. In each group, RRs reported all HRCT examinations alterna-tively with NR or SR, noting each report’s reporting time. The Cohen’s Kappa, Wilcoxon, and McNemar tests were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS Regarding the pulmonary fibrosis findings, we found higher agreement between RRs and the reference standard reader when using SR than NR, regardless of their expertise level, except for volume loss. RRs’ accuracy for “other diagnosis” was higher when using SR than NR, moving from 0.48 to 0.66 in the novel group (P = .035) and from 0.44 to 0.80 in the expertise group (P < .001). No differences in accuracy were found between ILD presence and ILD pattern. The reporting time was significantly lower (P = .001) when using SR than NR. CONCLUSION SR is of value in increasing the reporting of critical chest HRCT findings in the complex CTD–ILD scenario and should be used early and systematically during residency
TNF-alpha gene polymorphisms in rheumatoid arthritis patient treated with anti-TNF- alpha agents: preliminary results
No full textCirculating levels of interleukin 10 and other cytokines in rheumatoid arthritis treated with cyclosporin A or combination therapy.
No full textOBJECTIVE: To assess longitudinally over a 12 month period circulating serum levels of interleukin 10 (IL-10) and cytokines IL-3, IL-4, IL-6, and IL-12 in a cohort of patients with early onset rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treated with either cyclosporin A (CyA) or with combination therapy of CyA plus hydroxychloroquine as disease modifying antirheumatic drugs.
METHODS: We studied 8 patients receiving CyA and 12 patients receiving CyA plus hydroxychloroquine. IL-3, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, and IL-12 were determined by ELISA at entry, after 2 weeks, after one month, after 6 months, and after 12 months. Rheumatoid factor levels and the possible appearance of monoclonal gammopathies over time were studied by immunofixation and immunoblotting techniques.
RESULTS: The pooled data show that at entry only the median baseline levels of IL-10 (3.9 vs 1.6 pg/ml; p < 0.01) and IL-6 (16.9 vs 1.4 pg/ml, p < 0.001) were higher in patients than in controls. IL-4 was not detectable. Some patients at entry (those with the longest disease duration) had detectable levels of IL-3. Only levels of IL-10 decreased significantly between entry and final values, in monotherapy and combination therapy as well. A single transient monoclonal band was observed after 6 months of treatment, which disappeared afterwards. No difference was seen in any of the cytokines between the CyA and the CyA plus hydroxychloroquine treated patients.
CONCLUSION: During treatment with either CyA or CyA plus hydroxychloroquine, IL-10 levels decreased significantly. No additive effect of the 2 drugs was detected
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