Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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 51,768 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the humoral immune status and the effect of antibiotic treatment in Bulgarian patients with early Lyme disease. METHODS: A total of 34 early Lyme disease patients was examined, 16 with erythema migrans and 18 with non-specific systemic symptoms. Serum samples from all patients and from 12 healthy controls were tested for total immunoglobulins (IgG, IgA and IgM), hemolytic activity of complement (CH50) and immune complexes (ICs). The patients were treated with doxycycline (100 mg orally, twice daily for 10 to 15 days, in one or two courses). RESULTS: The patients showed significantly increased IC levels (P<0.01 for patients with erythema migrans and P<0.001 for patients with non-specific symptoms). There were no significant changes in the levels of total hemolytic complement and total immunoglobulins (IgG, IgA and IgM). The clinical outcome was satisfactory in 21 of the 34 patients (61.8%) after treatment with doxycycline for 10 to 15 days. The rest of the patients (38.2%) failed to respond to the therapy, and continued to report various complaints, such as arthralgia, myalgia, paresthesia, headache, fatigue or recurrent rash. All of these had elevated levels of IC. After a second course of treatment with the same antibiotic regimen these patients had resolution of symptoms (12 patients) or improvement (1 patient). CONCLUSIONS: Immunologic investigation may be useful in determining treatment strategy in Lyme disease. Elevated IC levels may indicate a need for more prolonged antibiotic therapy.
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PMID:Early Lyme disease: Humoral immune status and treatment. 1186 74

Dermatomyositis and polymyositis are the two major idiopathic inflammatory myopathies. The Bohan and Peter's criteria are still useful despite the probably different pathogenesis of the two myopathies. Cutaneous manifestations of dermatomyositis include heliotrope rash and Gottron's papules. The heliotrope rash, with or without edema, in a distribution involving periorbital skin is very suggestive of the diagnosis. Papules may be found overlying the "kneedle" of the hand or the elbows, knees, feet. Periungueal erythema with telangiectasis were characteristic but not pathognomonic. Scalp involvement is common. Skin lesions of dermatomyositis may precede the development of the myopathy and may persist after the control of the myositis. Some patients have an amyopathic dermatomyositis with normal muscle-enzyme, magnetic resonance scan and muscle biopsy. Muscle disease affects the proximal muscles, is generally symmetrical and symptoms are fatigue, weakness and sometimes myalgia. Proximal dysphagia reflects an involvement of striated muscle of the pharynx or proximal esophagus. Camptocormia reflects a severe involvement of paravertebral muscle. Other systemic features may be seen: pulmonary involvement (mostly interstitial pneumonitis and hypoventilation), arthralgias or arthritis, cardiac involvement, vasculatis and calcinosis particularly in children or adolescents with dermatomyositis. Malignant disease is associated with idiopathic inflammatory myopathies with a frequency of approximatively 10 to 15% in dermatomyositis and 5 to 10% in polymyositis and is strongly correlated with age, more than 50% of the patient over 65 years old were found to have a cancer. In the absence of malignant disease, the mainstay therapy for dermatomyositis and polymyositis is systemic corticosteroids (mostly 1mg/kg). In the lake of response or high dose dependance, intravenous immunoglobulins or immunosuppressive drugs like methotrexate or azathioprine may be discuss. Cyclophosphamide show some effectiveness in interstitial pneumonitis. Cyclosporin might be effective in children, less in adults. The efficacy of tacrolimus, mycophenolate mofetil, leflunomide and anti-TNF therapy need some prospective studies to determine if there are of value in idiopathic inflammatory myositis.
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PMID:[Dermatomyositis and polymyositis: clinical aspects and treatment]. 1196 87

In the United States, intermittent or chronic mono- or oligoarthritis, particularly affecting the knee, is the most common manifestation of late Lyme disease (LD). Lyme arthritis (LA) can usually be prevented by early treatment of acute LD. However, the erythema migrans rash may go undetected in children and in the dark skin of African Americans, leading to delayed treatment and a relatively increased incidence in LA. Virtually all untreated patients with LA have high levels of serum immunoglobulin G antibodies, and sometimes low levels of immunoglobulin M antibodies, to Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) by ELISA and Western blot. These responses may persist for many years after antibiotic treatment, and therefore, serologic results do not accurately distinguish between active or past infection. Most patients with LA respond well to standard courses of antibiotic treatment, but a small percentage have persistent knee synovitis, in some cases possibly related to the triggering of intrasynovial autoimmunity. Other patients develop a syndrome of diffuse arthralgia, myalgia, fatigue, and subjective cognitive difficulty during or soon after LD, which persists despite antibiotic treatment. Patients with this post-treatment, post-LD syndrome were recently studied in a placebo-controlled double-blind antibiotic trial. There was no evidence of Borrelial infection in these patients by culture or detection of Bb DNA in blood or spinal fluid. Furthermore, there was no difference in responsiveness of these patients to a 3-month course of antibiotic compared with placebo treatment. Thus, LA caused by active Bb infection, post-treatment LA with persistent knee synovitis and post-LD syndrome are distinct and distinguishable clinical entities.
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PMID:Lyme arthritis and post-Lyme disease syndrome. 1211 71

Pfeifer-Weber-Christian's panniculitis is a rare syndrome characterized by fever, arthralgias, fatigue and recurrent nodular panniculitis. It has been associated with pancreatic diseases, trauma, connective tissue diseases, alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency, systemic lupus erythematosus, infections, lymphoproliferative diseases and neoplasias. We report the case of a 43-year-old obese male patient who presented with asthenia, arthralgias, intermittent fever, skin erythema and a large hard-elastic tumor of the right calf. Laboratory analysis revealed increased values of the immunophlogosis parameters and positivity for serum antinuclear antibodies. Surgical drainage of the abscess-like tumor mass, revealed leakage of a sterile, subflavious, oily and thick liquid; a skin biopsy showed intra and perivascular infiltration by neutrophils, diagnostic for leukocytoclastic vasculitis. Treatment with prednisone induced clinical improvement and normalization of the laboratory data. The clinical picture, laboratory data and efficacy of prednisone therapy confirmed that the patient developed Pfeifer-Weber-Christian's panniculitis in the clinical setting of an antinuclear antibody-positive leukocytoclastic vasculitis.
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PMID:Pfeifer-Weber-Christian's panniculitis in an obese patient with antinuclear antibody-positive leukocytoclastic vasculitis. 1215 46

Recombinant interferon beta-1b (INF-beta-1b) has been proven to be an effective means of treating relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS). Adverse reactions to interferon therapy have been well documented. The most common side effects are transient influenza-like symptoms, including fever, fatigue, nausea, and myalgia. Cutaneous necrosis has occasionally been reported, mostly involving small and limited lesions. This article describes an MS patient who developed multiple large, deep cutaneous ulcers on INF-beta-1b injection sites, which subsequently required surgical treatment. Vessel thrombosis in the subcutaneous fatty layer and the clinical appearance of livedoid erythema beside the ulcers indicated that INF-3-1b may have caused skin necrosis through its vascular effects.
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PMID:Skin necrosis following a recombinant interferon-beta-1b injection. 1255 67

A 14-year-old girl was admitted to the hospital because of persistent throat pain, fever, fatigue, 25 pound weight loss, and leukopenia. On physical examination she was thin, ill-appearing, and had necrotic papules on the face and palpable cervical lymph nodes. Presumptive differential diagnosis included occult malignancy and infection. Numerous investigative procedures failed to elucidate a source. Vasculitis was eventually appreciated after repeat skin biopsy. Numerous serologic studies were performed and were notable for a very low level of the second component of complement without direct evidence of lupus erythematosus (LE) or other autoimmune conditions. A diagnosis of C2 deficiency-associated vasculitis was made. She was treated with high-dose prednisone and cyclophosphamide with resolution of her symptoms. Two years later she returned with marked malar erythema. Antinuclear and Smith antibodies were then detected and a diagnosis of LE was made. She was treated with hydroxychloroquine and sun-avoidance measures with clearance of the malar rash.
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PMID:Necrotic facial papules in an adolescent: C2 deficiency with eventual development of lupus erythematosus. 1286 53

Lyme Disease (Borreliosis) is a multisystem inflammatory disease caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi, transmitted by the bite of ixodes infected ticks. We would like to present our experience with the treatment of borreliosis in collaboration with the Warsaw Medical Academy's Department of Infectious Disease. Fifty-nine children (aged between 14 months to 16 years) were hospitalized or ambulatory treated due to borreliosis during 5 years between 1997 and 2001. Erythema migrans was observed in 50 cases. The main localisations of erythema were: face, neck and chest. One patient showed erythema in several other localisations. Erythema migrans returned in two cases after therapy with Amoxicillin in one case at 6 months, in the other one 12 months later. The incubation period of erythema migrans in children varied from 4 to 30 days. Seven cases from the 59 occurred with central nervous system manifestations. These were children between 6 and 16 years of age. The most frequent (65.5%) clinical manifestations of the central nervous system were meningitis and facial nerve palsy, depression and headaches were observed in 6% of cases. In one case admission to hospital was the result of leucopaenia (2800/mm3), bradycardia, headache and fatigue. The positive serologic test results (Elisa assay) were confirmed in two independent laboratories. We had one patient (5 years old boy) with arthritic manifestations. The diagnosis of Lyme disease was based on clinical manifestations and positive serologic test results (Elisa assay). In the acute stage Elisa assay was positive in 33% only. The erythema migrans cases received treatment with Amoxicillin for two weeks, whilst patients with neuroborreliosis were treated for 4 weeks with Ceftriaxon.
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PMID:[Borreliosis in children - clinical manifestation, diagnosis and treatment]. 1313 Jan 69

Chronic hepatitis C virus infection is a common and serious disease. Although an estimated 2.7 million persons in the United States have this disease, most have not yet been diagnosed. Recent advances in treatment provide successful cure in 50 to 80 percent of cases. Current drug therapy consists of a combination of pegylated interferon and ribavirin. Although all patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection are potential candidates for treatment, pharmacologic therapy has a number of contraindications. Evaluation of suitability for treatment includes a thorough search for comorbid medical and psychiatric conditions that can be contraindications. Initial testing involves anti-hepatitis C virus antibodies, but definitive diagnosis of active disease requires detection of viral RNA. Most patients require a liver biopsy to determine the amount of hepatic fibrosis and ongoing hepatocellular inflammation. Viral genotype also should be determined: type 1 requires 12 months of treatment and does not respond as well as types 2 and 3, which require only six months of treatment. Common side effects of drug therapy include anemia, anorexia, depression, fatigue, fever, headache, myalgia, nausea, and erythema at the injection site.
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PMID:Management of hepatitis C: evaluating suitability for drug therapy. 1586 91

We report a case of dermatomyositis associated with prostatic carcinoma. A 69-year-old male was admitted to the Department of Internal Medicine with the chief complaint of general fatigue, appetite loss and facial anthema. Abdominal ultrasound demonstrated swollen periaortic lymph nodes and the margin of prostate was unclear. Prostatic carcinoma was suspected based on digital rectal examination, so he was admitted to our department. Serum prostate specific antigen level was 190 ng/ml. He was examined by a dermatologist because of deterioration of anthema. Dermatomyocitis was demonstrated by dermatoses (edema erythema at face, neck and limbs, nail fold thrombosis and poikiloderma), high serum level of creatine phosphokinase and a decrease in muscular strength (especially at the proximal musculus). There was no interstitial pneumonitis or malignancy of the digestive system. On needle biopsy of the prostate and quadriceps femoris muscle, prostatic carcinoma (poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma, Gleason score 5 + 5) and myositis were suspected. The stage of prostatic carcinoma was T4N1M1. The patient was treated by administration of diethylstilbestrol phosphate and prednisolone for prostatic carcinoma and dermatomyositis, respectively, but he died of multiple metastasis of the tumor 1 year and 5 months later. Dermatomyocitis is associated with malignancy more frequently than any other collagen disease. In Japan, it is frequently complicated by gastric, lung and mammory cancers, but rarely by prostatic carcinoma. To our knowledge, this is the fourth case of prostatic carcinoma associated with dermatomyocitis in Japan.
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PMID:[A case of dermatomyositis associated with prostatic carcinoma: a case report]. 1510 Nov 64

To test new treatment modalities, a pilot study with a novel noninvasive biophysical methodology (Delta-S DVD) that can artificially exert a "decrease of entropy" through the patented electromagnetic-driven delivery of "energy clusters" was designed. This process has been modulated and integrated by the body as a "self" source to support the energy-dependent functional stores, thus modifying reparative into regenerative mechanisms of liver parenchyma. Seven long-standing hepatitis C virus-positive (Child A-B) cirrhosis patients with overt symptoms and portal hypertension and failure or side effects of antiviral drug treatment underwent 40-min sessions of Delta-S DVD daily for six months and were followed up monthly. At the end of the first month, rapid improvement of symptoms and a decrease of portal hypertension were noted. At the end of treatment, all patients showed either a complete (80%) or a partial (20%) regression of fatigue (FISK score), peripheral edema, pruritus, and palmar erythema. As observed, despite having stopped beta-blockers, F1 esophageal varices disappeared (60%), whereas F2 decreased to F1. The Doppler ultrasound aspect of partial (40%) or total (20%) atrophy was either reduced (60%) or reverted to normal (20%), and the respiratory dynamics of the portal vein improved (80%) or normalized (20%), whereas gross scarring nodules disappeared in 40% of cases. These promising data pave the way for an innovative physiopathological approach with extensive clinical applications.
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PMID:Cirrhosis progression as a model of accelerated senescence: affecting the biological aging clock by a breakthrough biophysical methodology. 1524 89


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