Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:4.1.2.13 (aldolase)
 3,461 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

In eight women with polymyositis (three patients), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) (three patients), rheumatoid arthritis (one patient) and shoulder-hand syndrome (one patient), weakness developed during high dose prednisone therapy. These women were studied using serial functional and manual muscle tests, determination of serum glutamic oxaloacetic transminase (SGOT), creatine phosphokinase (CPK) and serum aldolase levels, and urinary excretion of creatine. Insidious onset of weakness was characteristic. Myalgias were seen in five patients and unusual sudden weakness in two. Weakness was always most severe in the pelvic girdle muscles; there was a lesser involvement of shoulder girdle and distal muscles. Serum muscle enzyme levels were normal in all cases, but urinary creatine excretion was invariably increased and proved to be the most sensitive laboratory indicator for clinical diagnosis and for monitoring patient improvement. Serial urinary creatine excretion and serum enzyme studies were of value in differenting steroid myopathy from a flare of myositis in patients with connective tissue disease. Diagnosis and effective management were achieved by the use of readily available laboratory and clinical procedures without resorting to muscle biopsy.
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PMID:Steroid myopathy in connective tissue disease. 97 43

Eosinophilic fasciitis is a rare connective tissue disease in children characterized by hardening and thickening of the skin and soft tissues, peripheral eosinophilia, elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and hypergammaglobulinemia. In this study, we report three pediatric patients with eosinophilic fasciitis whose clinical presentation and response to therapy differed from those reported in the literature. All three patients were female. Two of them had Raynaud's phenomenon as an initial feature, and the third had hepatosplenomegaly. Muscle involvement with weakness was present in two patients, as documented not only by increased aldolase levels at the time of presentation but also by inflammatory changes in the muscle biopsy. Serum immunoglobulin G levels were increased only in the most severely involved patient. Peripheral eosinophilia was present in all three cases. All three patients responded well to prednisone therapy. Two patients had a uni-phasic course, and one required further therapy to control a postinfection relapse. In summary, we found that Raynaud's phenomenon and hepatosplenomegaly can be part of the spectrum of clinical manifestations of childhood eosinophilic fasciitis. Identification as eosinophilic fasciitis and not scleroderma, despite hand involvement and Raynaud's phenomenon, can suggest that the illness may be steroid responsive.
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PMID:Faces of eosinophilic fasciitis in childhood. 1704 31

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most common psychiatric disorders. Recent studies have shown a strong association between MDD and peripheral inflammation, shown by a higher incidence of depression in patients with inflammatory diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus erythematosus. Dermatomyositis (DM), an idiopathic inflammatory connective tissue disease that is associated with inflammation, predominantly affects the skin and skeletal muscle. The association between DM and MDD in the context of inflammation has seldom been reported. Here we report a 30- year- old Caucasian female with symptoms of depression dating back to 2 years. These symptoms started after cutaneous manifestations of DM. In the past two years, her DM symptoms have worsened that paralleled an increase of depressive symptoms. Also, during the course of the patient's DM, we tracked elevated inflammatory markers including creatine kinase and aldolase, whereas C-reactive protein, C3, and C4 were in a high normal range which correlated with worsening of depression. Hence, a temporal relationship between the onset of MDD and DM symptoms suggests that inflammation may be a common mechanism linking these two conditions.
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PMID:Major Depressive Disorder Following Dermatomyositis: A Case Linking Depression with Inflammation. 2971 2

A 37-year-old woman presented to our rheumatology-dermatology clinic with a rash, muscle weakness and fatigue. She has had prior diagnoses of cutaneous lupus and lichen planus based on skin biopsies. She did not respond to topical steroids, hydroxychloroquine and dapsone. Clinically, she had sharply demarcated photo-distributed erythema over the upper back, chest and upper arms, along with hyperkeratotic follicular papules on bilateral upper arms, shoulders, posterior neck, behind the ears, chest including breasts, abdomen and right buttock. Investigations revealed a high titre ANA, elevated creatinine kinase, aldolase and positive anti-MJ/nuclear matrix protein 2 (NXP-2). A skin biopsy showed findings of connective tissue disease. The diagnosis of Wong-type dermatomyositis was made. She responded to therapy with mycophenolate mofetil, rituximab and IVIG.
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PMID:A case of Wong-type dermatomyositis treated with rituximab and IVIG. 3267 16