Angiogenesis is important in the pathogenesis of systemic inflammatory rheumatic diseases, a family of related disorders that includes rheumatoid arthritis and systemic sclerosis. Rheumatoid arthritis is the rheumatic disease in which the role of angiogenesis has been studied most extensively. However, whereas rheumatoid arthritis is characterized by excessive angiogenesis, the situation is not...

INTRODUCTION S ystemic sclerosis (scleroderma) is an autoimmune disorder of unclear etiology that leads to fibrosis and vascular injury of the skin and multiple organs, including the lungs, heart, gastrointestinal tract, kidneys, and the musculoskeletal system. It is classified as either diffuse or limited cutaneous based on the extent of skin thickening. In the diffuse form of systemic scleros...

Background and Objective: Systemic sclerosis is an autoimmune disorder with orofacial manifestations, including tooth decay. Lactobacilli can inhibit biofilm formation and growth of cariogenic pathogens, such as Streptococcus mutans. We aimed to assess the salivary levels of S. mutans and Lactobacilli as indicators of dental caries development in patients with systemic sclerosis. Methods: In t...

Hospital Physician January 2008 33 S ystemic sclerosis, or scleroderma, is a rare connective tissue disease of unknown etiology. The word scleroderma, derived from the Greek words scleros for hard and derma for skin, refers to the hallmark finding of chronic hardening and thickening of the skin that occurs in this disease. The clinical manifestations of systemic sclerosis range from localized s...

Nephrogenic fibrosing dermopathy/nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF) is an emerging scleromyxedema-like cutaneous disorder of unknown cause that is seen in patients with renal failure, and the number of reported cases has grown significantly since its first recognition. Recent case reports associated the use of gadolinium (Gd3+)-based contrast agents with the development of NSF. Herein is repor...

We report a rare association of Adie's tonic pupil in a patient with systemic sclerosis who was otherwise systemically stable. This paper is an effort to unravel whether the tonic pupil and systemic sclerosis are an association by chance (which may be the case) or systemic sclerosis is the source of the tonic pupil.

14. Shulman HM, Sullivan KM, Weiden PL, et al. Chronic graft-versus-host syndrome in man. Am J Med 1980;69:204-17. 15. Kumagai Y, Shiokawa Y, Medsger TA, Rodnan GP. Clinical spectrum of connective tissue disease after cosmetic surgery. Arthritis Rheum 1984;27:1-12. 16. Maslen CL, Hall ND, Woolf AD, Maddison PJ. Enhanced oxidative metabolism of neutrophils from patients with systemic sclerosis. ...

Paraproteinemia potentially causes peripheral neuropathy via an unknown underlying pathogenetic mechanism. We report a case of pathologically proven amyloid neuropathy with AL amyloidosis with an IgA kappa light chain, which was initially diagnosed as neuropathy associated with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance. This case indicates that in cases of neuropathy with paraproteinem...

BACKGROUND Occupational exposure to crystalline silica is a potential risk factor for various systemic autoimmune diseases including systemic sclerosis. The etiology of systemic sclerosis is not conclusively known, but there are epidemiological studies that show the relationship between exposure to crystalline silica and risk of systemic sclerosis. Here we report, for the first time, two cases ...