J Rheumatol
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To determine the prevalence of IgG antiendothelial cell antibodies (AECA) in patients with scleroderma (systemic sclerosis, SSc) and to correlate it with clinical spectrum and autoantibody profile. ⋯ IgG-AECA appears to be an important marker for disease severity in scleroderma.
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To investigate the relationship between control points and symptom and distress severity in fibromyalgia (FM). ⋯ Positive control points are a common feature (63%) in FM, and appear to be a marker for a generally low pain threshold rather than a disproportionate increase in severe symptoms or distress. Control point positivity should not be used to disqualify a diagnosis of FM. Control point measurements do not add much to FM diagnosis or assessment and, perhaps, should be abandoned. At the least, they should be designated "high threshold" points rather than control points. Dolorimetry is considerably less useful in FM assessment than the manual tender point examination.