We report a rare case that developed orbital myositis before appearance of zoster rashes. A 54 year-old man came to our hospital with a 4-day history of left orbital shooting pain extending to left temporal area. Neurological examinations demonstrated mild left proptosis and hyperemic conjunctiva without ophthalmoplegia. Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed left orbital myositis and ...

OBJECTIVE To test the a priori hypothesis that acute and chronic work exposures to the World Trade Center (WTC) site on or after September 11, 2001 were associated with risk of new-onset systemic autoimmune diseases. METHODS A nested case-control study was performed in WTC rescue/recovery workers who had received a rheumatologist-confirmed systemic autoimmune disease diagnosis between Septemb...

Antisynthetase Syndrome (ASS) is a rare chronic autoimmune disorder, associated with interstitial lung diseases (the most important feature), such as Dermatomyositis (DM) and Polymyositis (PM). The cause of ASS unknown. hallmark the presence serum autoantibodies directed against aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (anti-ARS involved in protein synthesis). Anti -Jo1 common (20% - 30%); anti-PL12 present ...

Polymyositis (PM) is an acquired, systemic, connective tissue disease characterized by the proximal muscle weakness and infiltration of mononuclear cells into the affected muscles. To understand its etiology and immunopathogenesis, appropriate animal model is required. It has been demonstrated that immunization with native human skeletal C protein induces severe and reproducible experimental au...

Thirty-two patients with polymyositis were categorised into 4 groups: (1) 'pure' polymyositis, (2) dermatomyositis, (3) myositis associated with autoimmune 'overlap syndrome', and (4) those with associated malignancy. Serum from each patient was examined for a range of antinuclear antibodies. Seventeen patients had ANA detected by immunofluorescence, 18 patients had raised DNA binding (greater ...

The idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIMs) are a heterogeneous group of chronic systemic disorders characterized by muscle inflammation and progressive muscle weakness. The major clinical variants are dermatomyositis (DM) including a distinct juvenile (JDM) subtype, polymyositis (PM), and inclusion body myositis (IBM) (Engel & Hohlfeld, 2004). IBM is divided into sporadic IBM (sIBM), the mos...

OBJECTIVE To devise new tools to assess activity and damage in patients with idiopathic myopathies (IIM). METHODS An international multidisciplinary consensus effort to standardize the conduct and reporting of the myositis clinical trials has been established. Two tools, known as the myositis intention to treat index (MITAX) and the myositis disease activity assessment visual analogue scale (...

Inflammatory myositis is reported in 4-16% of adult systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of myositis in a cohort of pediatric SLE patients in the southeastern United States. A retrospective chart review was performed of 55 SLE patients evaluated by Pediatric Rheumatologists in Alabama since January 1, 2008. Patients were defined as h...

The aim of this retrospective study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of intravenous immune globulin (IVIg) as immunomodulatory treatment in patients with inflammatory myopathies. We analyzed six patients, observed in a single-center from 2004 to 2012, affected by polymyositis (PM), dermatomyositis (DM) or inclusion body myositis (IBM) and treated with IVIg. IVIg has been successfully used...

New insight into the immunological function of the thymus has added to the significance of the rare primary neoplasms of this organ. It has long been known that thymomas are associated with a high incidence of certain systemic diseases, the best recognized of which are myasthenia gravis (Castleman, 1955), pure red-cell aplasia (Havard and Scott, 1960), and hypo-y-globulinaemia (Gafni, Michaeli,...