Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C1762617 (weakness)
 37,932 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Polymyositis (PM) appears with indolent proximal muscle weakness and is an inflammatory disease with breakdown of muscle cells. In our study the protein charge concentrations of the contractile proteins in the A and I bands were determined, applying a microelectrode technique. Patients with PM show a lower protein charge concentration than healthy control subjects which may be caused by the breakdown and removal of the proteins in the contractile filaments. A tool to judge the state of the disease as well as an aid in diagnosis may have been found in this method.
 ...
PMID:Patients with polymyositis show changes in muscle protein charges. 262 84

This article reviews the clinical features and emphasises the treatment of polymyositis and dermatomyositis. Pharmacological intervention with corticosteroids and immunosuppressive agents is discussed. In addition, strategies regarding the initiation and subsequent tapering of these drugs are provided, and an algorithmic approach to the management of myositis is provided. Therapeutic modalities for patients with refractory disease are considered, and the potential adverse effects of such treatment are discussed. Since patients with myositis often have disease-related complaints other than muscle weakness, a practical treatment approach for these problems is also outlined.
 ...
PMID:Current management of polymyositis and dermatomyositis. 265 93

The case is reported of a 69-year-old woman who for the last 2 years of her life had severe muscle weakness (with elevated muscular enzymes), thyroid abnormalities (autoantibodies and increase in TSH) and a slowly growing mass in the anterior mediastinum. She died in cardiogenic shock. The diagnosis of "nodular polymyositis" (painful nodules palpable in the muscles) with heart involvement was strongly suspected. The thyroid abnormalities were considered to be "biological thyroiditis" i.e. a "disease" frequent in normal females (5-10%) and, after differential diagnosis of anterior mediastinal masses, the diagnosis of thymoma was adopted in view of its frequent association with autoimmune diseases. Moreover, in rare cases of thymoma associated with polymyositis, histology has disclosed "giant cell polymyositis". Autopsy revealed giant cell polymyositis, a thymoma and lymphocytic infiltration of the thyroid.
 ...
PMID:[Cachexia, pain and muscle weakness in a 69-year-old woman]. 271 Nov 56

Dermatomyositis in childhood is an uncommon disease, affecting muscle and skin. The disease usually has an insidious onset; the proximal muscle groups are classically more affected than the distal group. If left untreated, the disease will either spontaneously arrest or will progress until the child is completely bedridden, with death secondary to hypoventilation and aspiration. For a definitive diagnosis 3 or 4 of the following criteria (plus rash) are required: 1) symmetrical limb girdle weakness; 2) muscle biopsy evidence of myositis and muscle necrosis; 3) elevation of muscle enzymes; 4) electromyographic changes of myositis. The main pathologic feature of juvenile dermatomyositis is vasculitis affecting small arteries and veins of muscle, skin and gastrointestinal tract. Whether muscle from patients with polymyositis contains a specific auto antigen or is contaminated with an immunogenic infectious agent such as a virus (coxsackie virus, for instance) remains unclear. Childhood dermatomyositis is almost uniformly responsive to steroid treatment; there is a good chance of remission with minimal risk of secondary complications with an initial low dosage of prednisone (1 mg/kg/day). The use of additional drugs such as azathioprine, methotrexate or cyclophosphamide is reserved for patients who are either not completely responsive to steroids or difficult to wean off steroids. Cyclosporine A has been proposed to achieve a reduction in steroid dosage.
 ...
PMID:[Dermatomyositis in children]. 271 39

Since the popularization of routine creatine kinase (CK) measurement, an increasing number of patients with unexplained CK elevation ("asymptomatic hyper-CK-emia") are being identified. We studied 19 patients with persistent CK elevation of unknown etiology with electromyography (EMG) and muscle biopsy. Needle EMG was abnormal in 14 patients. Muscle biopsy was positive in all individuals with abnormal EMG and in one patient with normal EMG. Diagnoses included polymyositis in five patients, morphologically nonspecific myopathy in three, mitochondrial myopathy in two, and sarcoid myopathy, central core disease, multicore disease, inclusion body myopathy, and McArdle's disease in one case, respectively. Five patients with abnormal biopsies developed weakness within 1 year of presentation. We conclude that persistent asymptomatic CK elevation represents mild or early myopathy in a majority of cases.
 ...
PMID:Asymptomatic hyper-CK-emia: an electrophysiologic and histopathologic study. 272 51

Colchicine may produce a neuromuscular disorder even when given in customary doses. We report the electrodiagnostic features in eight pathologically proven cases of colchicine-induced myoneuropathy. Myopathic motor unit potentials and early recruitment were found in proximal limb and truncal muscles, frequently with fibrillations, positive sharp waves, or complex repetitive discharges. These electromyographic findings correlated with the course of the weakness, which rapidly resolved within weeks of drug discontinuation, indicating that the major functional disturbance in the patients was myopathy. The accompanying signs of axonal neuropathy persisted longer, with little functional consequence. Although often misrecognized as polymyositis, colchicine myoneuropathy was identifiable by the rapid clinical and electrophysiologic improvement following drug withdrawal as well as by its distinctive morphology.
 ...
PMID:Electrodiagnosis of human colchicine myoneuropathy. 272 61

The patient was a 49-year-old woman. Since her age of 42, she noticed a proximal weakness of both legs. She also experienced pedal paresthesia and urinary frequency. Physical examination disclosed a diffuse goiter and bilateral Babinski sign. Results of EMG and muscle pathology were compatible with the diagnosis of polymyositis. Treatment with prednisolone improved muscle weakness, urinary difficulties and struma. 7 years later, HTLV-I antibody happened to be strongly positive both in serum and CSF. Then most of her neurological problems were attributed to HAM. However, recent studies of re-biopsy muscle specimens disclosed scattered necrotic fibers, phagocytosis and endomysial or perivascular infiltration of inflammatory cells. These infiltrating cells were classed mostly as helper/inducer T cells. These observations suggested the coexistence of polymyositis in the present case as well. So far, the combination of HAM and polymyositis has not been reported. It seems important to decide if HTLV-I could induce chronic polymyositis as in the case of HIV infections.
 ...
PMID:[HTLV-I associated myelopathy (HAM) complicated with chronic polymyositis]. 274 79

A retrospective study, paying particular attention to the clinical and evolutive aspects of the disease, was performed on 44 subjects affected by polymyositis/dermatomyositis (PM/DM) and hospitalized at the Institute of Medical Clinics of the 1st School of Medicine of Naples University. On the basis of the different clinical pictures, the cases were classified into the following groups: primary PM (4); primary DM (19); DM/PM associated with malignancy (6); childhood DM/PM (3); PM/DM associated with connective tissue disorders (12). Diagnosis was established in terms of the following criteria: a) symmetrical and mostly proximal bilateral muscle weakness (100%); b) elevation of serum enzymes (86.3%); c) electromyographic findings of myopathy sometimes with fibrillation potentials, increased insertional irritability and pseudo-myotonic discharges (93.1%); d) muscle biopsy changes compatible with a clinical form of polymyositis (83.3% out of 30 cases); e) dermatological manifestations including particularly pink or lilac edema-erythema over the periorbital areas, wine-red maculae, Gottron's sign, "poikiloderma vasculare atrophicans", telangiectasias and skin vasculitis (86.3%). An involvement of the extraneural apparatus and organs was present in 40 patients; the most damaged was the osteoarticular apparatus, followed by esophagus, lung, heart and kidney; such pathology was rarely present in the childhood form. A follow-up of the disease has been performed in 36 cases and the therapy consisted fundamentally of high dose corticosteroids (mostly prednisone), associated, in a minority of cases, with methotrexate. A clinical improvement was observed in most cases and a remission of the disease in part of the latter. However, a worsening of the illness was noticed only in the patients suffering from PM/DM associated with malignancy, and mortality rate was 11.1% in all.
 ...
PMID:[Clinico-developmental aspects in 44 cases of polymyositis/dermatomyositis]. 278 12

A case of polymyositis with repeated dysphagia and muscle weakness associated with peculiar findings of skin was reported. The patient was a 67-year-old man. His birth and development was normal. There was no family history of neuromuscular disease. On 26th March 1987 he was admitted to a hospital because of dysarthria and dysphagia after fever and diagnosed as having viral myositis. His conditions improved spontaneously with bed rest and he left hospital on 14th April. On 23rd April he had chill and sore throat with fever. On 27th he was admitted to the same hospital because of dysarthria and muscle weakness of the proximal portion of the upper limbs. These symptoms also improved with bed rest. He had repeated these symptoms several times and then he was admitted to our hospital on 12th June. On examination he showed the skin pigmentation under the right eye and the eruption in the back of hands and the buttocks. Muscle weakness was observed in the proximal portion of the upper limbs and the neck flexor. Laboratory tests in admission were as follows: sGOT 49 mU/ml, sGPT 104 mU/ml, LDH 1064 mU/ml, CPK 565 mM/ml, aldolase 25.2 IU/1/37 degrees C. Electromyography showed the typical myogenic changes and biopsy of left biceps brachii revealed inflammatory cells in the muscle fiber which are specific to polymyositis. Immuno-histochemical study is performed to analyse the subpopulation of mononuclear cells in biopsied muscle and skin. Mononuclear cells infiltrated into perimysium, endomysium and epidermis were positive for T11 and T8, but less positive for T4, B1 and Leu11. On the basis of these findings he was diagnosed as having "polymyositis syndrome".
 ...
PMID:[A case of polymyositis with repeated dysphagia and muscle weakness associated with peculiar findings of skin]. 280 15

Murine polymyositis (PM) induced by coxsackievirus B1 (CVB1) has been used as a model of human PM. Our study was undertaken to investigate the role of T cells in CVB1 induced PM by examining disease development in neonatally thymectomized mice. Clinical weakness and histological inflammatory myositis occurred in 42.7% of sham operated animals but only 7.7% of thymectomized mice. These experiments demonstrate the importance of T cells in the pathogenesis of this virus induced autoimmune disorder.
 ...
PMID:T cells are required for coxsackievirus B1 induced murine polymyositis. 283 72


<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next >>