Background: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune connective tissue disorder with periods of remission and relapses. The complexity of clinical presentation of the SLE patients leads to incorrect evaluation of disease activity. Mean platelet volume (MPV) has been studied as a simple inflammatory marker in several diseases. There are very few studies in the literature about platele...

BACKGROUND Cellulitis is a common bacterial infection of the superficial skin. Procalcitonin is one of the precursor proteins of calcitonin, its levels are elevated in bacterial infection, and it has been established as a diagnostic marker for severe bacterial infections. OBJECTIVE This study evaluated the clinical usefulness of procalcitonin for predicting disease severity and prognosis of c...

Subclinical atherosclerosis is increased in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), as chronic systemic inflammation leads to accelerate atherosclerosis and increase arterial stiffness in theses patients. This study aimed to evaluate the association of serum interleukin-6 (sIL-6) and serum pentraxin 3(sPTX3) with subclinical atherosclerotic in patients with recent-onset rheumatoid arthritis. S...

INTRODUCTION Monitoring of disease activity and the best therapeutic approach are a challenge in Takayasu arteritis (TA). When associated with acute coronary syndromes (ACS), the best interventional treatment has not been established. The objective of this study was to describe the baseline characteristics, clinical manifestations, treatment and long-term outcome of patients with TA and ACS. ...

OBJECTIVE Tumor necrosis factor alpha was recently implicated as an important mediator of communication between the peripheral and cerebral immune systems in an animal model of chronic inflammation. The purpose of this study was to examine by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H-MRS) the influence of inflammation on cerebral metabolism in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHO...

A 33-year-old woman presented in January 1980 with symptoms of persisting severe pain in the lower abdomen and weight loss. During menstruation there was worsening of the pain, nausea and vomiting. She had periods of headache, which impressed as a vascular headache. Seven years previously she consulted an internist because of general malaise. He found no cause; however the erythrocyte sedimenta...

The role of sex steroid regulation in gonadal maturation is a very complex process that is far from being fully understood. Hence, we have investigated seasonal changes in gonadal expression of estrogen receptors (ERs) in Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua L.), a batch spawner, throughout the annual reproductive cycle. Three nuclear ER partial cDNA sequences (esr1, esr2a, and esr2b) were cloned and all...

OBJECTIVE This study was designed to evaluation the diagnostic value of procalcitonin (PCT) in patients with spinal infection, compare to the classical biomarkers such as C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), white blood cell (WBC) count. METHODS All patients who were diagnosed as a spinal infection between January, 2013 and July, 2014 were included in this study. Se...

Introduction: Inflammation has been shown to play a role in the pathogenesis of breast cancer. The inflammatory basis of breast cancer has not been evaluated in our environment. Objective: The purpose of this present study is to compare the level of some systemic inflammation markers in patients with breast cancer to those of apparently healthy populace in Benin City, Nigeria. Methodology: This...