Recognition and Relevance of Anti-DFS70 Autoantibodies in Routine Antinuclear Autoantibodies Testing at a Community Hospital.

Antinuclear autoantibodies (ANA) displaying a dense fine speckled pattern (DFS, ICAP AC-2) on HEp-2 cells are frequently observed in clinical laboratory referrals, often associated with anti-DFS70 specificity. Anti-DFS70 positive patients rarely develop systemic autoimmune rheumatic disease (SARD), especially in the absence of clinical evidence or additional anti-extractable nuclear antigen (ENA) antibodies, prompting suggestions that an isolated DFS70-specific ENA may be an exclusionary finding for SARD. In this study, the frequency and diagnostic significance of anti-DFS70 autoantibodies was investigated in a community hospital cohort of patients undergoing routine ANA testing.

Symptomatic hypercalcemia in a patient with chronic tophaceous gout: a case report.

Hypercalcemia has been widely associated with granulomatous processes. This is due to enhanced extra-renal conversion of calcidiol to calcitriol by activated macrophages within the granuloma. Symptomatic hypercalcemia due to granulomatous disorders is not common, with the incidence in sarcoidosis ranging from 10-20%.

Alveolar hemorrhage and pulmonary hypertension in systemic sclerosis: a continuum of scleroderma renal crisis?

Alveolar hemorrhage occurs as a complication of systemic inflammatory diseases. In addition to alveolar hemorrhage, patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) may suffer from digital infarction, pulmonary hypertension, and renal crisis. Although a common pathogenesis of this disease that explains the variety of problems during a patient's illness has yet to be identified, the unique characteristics of SSc may alter our approach to alveolar hemorrhage in this patient population.