Neuropsychiatric manifestations of Sydenham's chorea: a systematic review.

Aim: Sydenham's chorea is a post-streptococcal, autoimmune, neuropsychiatric movement disorder. Sydenham's chorea is a major criterion for diagnosis of acute rheumatic fever with the implication of potential long-term sequelae including cardiac complications. It is well established that there is psychiatric comorbidity in Sydenham's chorea, but there are variations in the literature regarding the nature and prevalence of psychiatric diagnoses associated with Sydenham's chorea.

Temporal artery biopsy: are we doing it right?

Purpose: Temporal artery biopsy (TAB) is the gold standard for diagnosing temporal arteritis; however, sensitivity is relatively poor (30-40 per cent). The British Society of Rheumatology (BSR) guidelines state two major factors that can improve sensitivity: TAB specimen size > 10mm; and pre-biopsy steroid treatment < 7 days. Owing to the low sensitivity, TA treatment is often commenced/continued despite negative histology.

Pneumatosis Intestinalis of the Small Bowel; Radiological and Intra-operative findings.

Pneumatosis Intestinalis is defined as the infiltration of gas into the bowel wall. It is a radiological and intra-operative finding of varying aetiology which varies from benign to life threatening conditions. We describe here a case of a 67 year old woman who presented with diffuse abdominal pain and was found to have Pneumatosis Intestinalis.

Notch 1 and 3 receptor signaling modulates vascular smooth muscle cell growth, apoptosis, and migration via a CBF-1/RBP-Jk dependent pathway.

Vascular smooth muscle cell (SMC) fate decisions (cell growth, migration, and apoptosis) are fundamental features in the pathogenesis of vascular disease. We investigated the role of Notch 1 and 3 receptor signaling in controlling adult SMC fate in vitro by establishing that hairy enhancer of split (hes-1 and -5) and related hrt's (hrt-1, -2, and -3) are direct downstream target genes of Notch 1 and 3 receptors in SMC and identified an essential role for nuclear protein CBF-1/RBP-Jk in their regulation. Constitutive expression of active Notch 1 and 3 receptors (Notch IC) resulted in a significant up-regulation of CBF-1/RBP-Jk-dependent promoter activity and Notch target gene expression concomitant with significant increases in SMC growth while concurrently inhibiting SMC apoptosis and migration.