Musculoskeletal Manifestations Observed in Patients Diagnosed With Chikungunya Virus in 2 Municipalities of the Brazilian Amazon Region.

Background: Chikungunya virus fever is an emerging disease that is rapidly spreading and becoming a global public health issue because of its clinical manifestations that cause physical limitations and high rates of chronification. No studies have characterized musculoskeletal manifestations in Brazilian patients with chikungunya.

Objective: To describe the musculoskeletal manifestations of patients with chikungunya infection in municipalities of the Brazilian Amazon region.

Mortality from systemic erythematosus lupus in Brazil: evaluation of causes according to the government health database.

Objective: To characterize the causes of mortality in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in Brazil between 2002 and 2011.

Methods: An exploratory ecological study of a time series using data from the Mortality Information System of DATASUS, the Department of the Unified Health System (Brazil's National Health System).

Results: Brazil's SLE mortality rate was 4.

Correlation between clinical symptoms and peripheral immune response in HAM/TSP.

HTLV-1 infects principally CD4+ T cells that are the main reservoirs of the virus in vivo, which play an important role in the immunological response. Most of the infected patients are asymptomatic. However, 2-3% of patients will develop HAM/TSP or Adult T lymphoma.

IL28B gene polymorphisms and Th1/Th2 cytokine levels might be associated with HTLV-associated arthropathy.

The present study is the first investigation of the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs - rs8099917, rs12979860 and rs8103142) of the IL28B gene and the development of human T-lymphotropic virus (HTLV)-associated arthropathy (HAA). Individuals with HAA exhibited low interleukin (IL) 6 (p<0.05) and high IL-10 (p<0.

The role of environmental factors in the pathogenesis of non-organ-specific autoimmune diseases.

The immune system must be able to discriminate between self and non-self. However, mechanisms of doing so sometimes fail, causing the activation and clonal expansion of autoreactive lymphocytes and the development of autoimmune conditions. Although some autoimmune diseases have heritable components, these components are not sufficient to develop an autoimmune condition.

Pure red cell aplasia and primary antiphospholipid syndrome: a unique association.

Pure red cell aplasia (PRCA) is a disease with important relationships to autoimmune mechanisms. Although some autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus, have been associated with PRCA, until this point no studies have described the association between PRCA and primary antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). This is the first case report of PRCA associated with primary APS in a 39-year-old man with acute heart failure secondary to an anaemic condition that was diagnosed as pure red cell aplasia.

Primary antiphospholipid syndrome with and without Sneddon's syndrome.

The main objective of this study was to compare clinical and laboratory data obtained from patients with primary antiphospholipid syndrome (PAPS) with and without Sneddon's syndrome (SS). A transverse study with 54 (85.2% female) PAPS patients (Sapporo criteria) was performed.

Behçet's disease associated with celiac disease: a very rare association.

There are common findings between Behçet's disease (BD) and celiac disease (CD); however, association in the same patient is a rarity. We relate the third case in the literature of this overlap in a 40-year-old woman with history of obstipation since her childhood. She also presented asymmetric polyarthralgia, loss of weight, anemia, oral recurrent aphthas (>3/year) and genital ulcerations, inflammatory lower back pain, bowel bleeding and abdominal colic.

Faraway from the silk route: demographic and clinical features of Behçet's disease in 106 Brazilian patients.

To describe clinical and epidemiological data of Behçet's disease (BD) in Brazil, we retrospectively reviewed records of all patients seen between 2006 and 2007 at the BD outpatient clinic of University of Sao Paulo. One hundred and six patients fulfilled the International Study Group for Behçet's Disease diagnostic criteria and they were included in this study. There was a female/male ratio of 2.

Excellent response to the clinical treatment of tophaceous gout.

Gout continues to be a health problem around the world, and the treatment may turn into a real challenge when the patient presents a certain degree of chronic renal failure (CRF). We discuss a case of tophaceous gout in a 68-year-old male patient without urolithiasis and with uric acid (UA) underexcretion and CRF (creatinine clearance of 42 ml/min). Uricosuric treatment with benzbromarone and urinary alkalinization was administered, and acute gouty attacks improved substantially.