Our goal in the present work was to determine whether male patients with untreated hypogonadism have an increased risk of developing rheumatic/autoimmune disease (RAD), and, if so, whether there is a relation to the type of hypogonadism. We carried out neuroendocrine, genetic, and rheumatologic investigations in 13 such patients and 10 healthy male 46,XY normogonadic control subjects. Age and b...

BACKGROUND MEDLINE searches (1966-June 1969) failed to identify references that give detailed descriptions of the oral manifestations of dermatomyositis (DM). However, several reports predating MEDLINE provided more complete descriptions of oral lesions associated with DM. OBSERVATIONS We describe 5 cases of juvenile DM with oral manifestations, primarily in the form of gingival telangiectase...

Results 32 children were included in the review with the diagnoses of Benign Joint Hypermobility Syndrome (BJHS), juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), Juvenile Dermatomyositis (JDM) and Chronic Pain Syndrome (CPS). The mean follow up was 6 months of which 80% had maintained or increased their muscle strength since discharge. There was 100% school attendance and return to sport and 25% were doin...

Background Methotrexate (MTX) is the first line of therapy for patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM). The mechanisms of action of MTX in childhood autoimmunity are not fully elucidated. The primary target sites of inflammation of JIA and JDM i.e. joint and muscle, respectively do not represent sites from which samples can be easily obtained to moni...

Intravenous supra-pharmacological doses of corticosteroids are used in various inflammatory and autoimmune conditions because they are cumulatively less toxic than sustained steroid treatment at lower quantitative dosage. Their action is supposed to be mediated through non-genomic actions within the cell. Common indications for use in children include steroid resistant and steroid dependent nep...

Results More than 4000 determinations of ferritin requested by the study unit were performed between January 2004 and December 2007 by the central laboratory of the study hospital. Hyperferritinemia was found in 408 determinations in 87 patients. The most common specific diagnoses in patients with hyperferritinemia were the following: systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA) (48.3%), syste...

Dermatomyositis (DM) is an idiopathic inflammatory myopathy with bimodal onset age distribution. The age of onset is between 5-18 yr in juvenile DM and 45-64 yr in adult DM. DM has a distinct clinical manifestation characterized by proximal muscle weakness, skin rash, extramuscular manifestations (joint contracture, dysphagia, cardiac disturbances, pulmonary symptoms, subcutaneous calcification...

Over the past decades, the role of exercise training in rheumatic diseases has been largely explored. Currently, physical activity is well known to benefit patients with osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, systemic sclerosis, idiopathic inflammatory myopathy, fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis. Therefore, exercise training has been considered a valuable tool for treat...

BACKGROUND While vascular and immune abnormalities are common in juvenile and adult dermatomyositis (DM), the molecular changes that contribute to these abnormalities are not clear. Therefore, we investigated pathways that facilitate new blood vessel formation and dendritic cell migration in dermatomyositis. METHODS Muscle biopsies from subjects with DM (9 children and 6 adults) and non-myosi...