Rheumatology international
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Review Meta Analysis
Association between the rs7574865 polymorphism of STAT4 and rheumatoid arthritis: a meta-analysis.
The aim of this study was to determine whether the rs7574865 polymorphism of STAT4 (signal transducers and activators of transcription 4) confers susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in populations with different ethnicities. A meta-analysis was conducted on the T allele of the STAT4 rs7574865 polymorphism in 15 studies containing 16,088 RA patients and 16,509 normal control subjects. Meta-analysis revealed an association between RA and the STAT4 rs7574865 T allele in all subjects (OR = 1.271, 95% CI = 1.197-1.350, P < 0.001). ⋯ Stratification of RA patients according to the presence of anti-CCP antibody revealed a statistically significant association between the T allele and RA in both anti-CCP-positive and -negative RA patients versus controls. Europeans had the lowest (21.4%) and Asians had the highest (32.0%) prevalence of the T allele among the populations studied. In conclusion, this meta-analysis confirms that the STAT4 rs7574865 polymorphism is associated with RA susceptibility in different ethnic groups, and that its prevalence is ethnicity dependent.
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Review Case Reports
Dermatomyositis associated with acute myelocytic leukemia.
Polymyositis (PM) and dermatomyositis (DM) are inflammatory myopathic diseases characterized by symmetric, proximal myopathy with or without a distinct cutaneous eruption. They have long been recognized to be associated with cancer. The common cancers associated with DM/PM include ovarian, lung, pancreatic, breast, and stomach cancer. ⋯ In our review of literature we could find only seven such reported cases. We present here a case presenting with DM and diagnosed to be suffering from AML on admission. This happens to be the second reported case of DM and AML with no latent period between the two diseases.
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The association between clinical parameters and forearm bone mineral density (BMD) in postmenopausal females with radiographic hand OA has not been determined. We investigated the difference in forearm BMD between radiographic hand OA and non-radiographic hand OA, and also the association between clinical parameters of patients and the level of forearm BMD. A total of 180 postmenopausal patients with hand OA were enrolled in this study. ⋯ This study shows that the BMD levels of the distal radius in patients with radiographic hand OA are significantly lower when compared to those of controls. Forearm BMD levels are positively associated with age and K-L radiological grade in total hand OA, whereas age and menopausal duration are closely related with radiographic hand OA. The presence of osteoporosis in the distal radius in radiographic hand OA may be influenced by age, BMI, and stiffness on the AUSCAN index.
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Sjögren's syndrome (SjS) is a systemic autoimmune disease that mainly affects the exocrine glands and usually presents as persistent dryness of the mouth and eyes. Lung disease in SjS has been reported to occur early following clinical presentation of the disease. In this study, technetium-99m diethylene triamine penta-acetic acid (Tc-99m DTPA) aerosol inhalation scintigraphy was used to assess the pulmonary membrane permeability in patients with primary SjS. ⋯ The clearance half time of Tc-99m DTPA radioaerosols in patients with SjS (20.49 +/- 2.56 min) was faster when compared to normal controls (42.32 +/- 13.28 min) (P = 0.000) which means that there is a significant increase in lung permeability in patients with SjS compared to the controls. There is also a significant difference between PI of patients with SjS (0.34 +/- 0.09) and that of controls (0.42 +/- 0.07) (P = 0.012). According to the results of our preliminary study, one can detect pulmonary involvement by Tc-99m DTPA aerosol inhalation scintigraphy in patients with primary SjS.
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PFAPA is a periodic fever disease, of unknown etiology, characterized by aphthous stomatitis, pharyngitis and cervical adenitis. To inquire whether genes implicated in other auto-inflammatory diseases might be involved in its pathogenesis, predominant mutations in the genes causing familial Mediterranean fever, TNF receptor-associated periodic fever syndrome, Crohn's disease and Muckel-Wells syndrome were analyzed in PFAPA patients. Patients (n = 57) with PFAPA, according to previously published criteria were recruited, at the Meyer Children Hospital during 2006-2007. ⋯ Clinical symptoms were equally manifested in carriers and non-carriers. The high carrier rate of MEFV mutations in our PFAPA cases compares well with that of the general population in Israel. It is debated whether MEFV mutations, when mediated by the presence of additional modifiers, may expose a transient fever condition, namely PFAPA.