Methylprednisolone induced morning lymphocytosis: A prospective study in patients with immune mediated inflammatory disorders.

Introduction: Contrasting with the lymphopenia classically reported after administration of glucocorticoids, a lymphocytosis has been sometimes observed in patients after glucocorticoid administration. We here determine prospectively the timing and magnitude of methylprednisolone (mPDN)-induced lymphocytosis and study the effects of concomitant propranolol administration on lymphocyte count (Ly).

Methods: Ly was measured before and 24 to 72hours after initiating mPDN treatment in 20 patients with immune-mediated inflammatory disorders (IMID).

Preventing fraud in biomedical research.

Scientific fraud represents, to varying degrees, an increasingly important part of medical literature and is estimated to make up nearly 20% of this literature. The increase in the number of articles accessible in preprint without peer review during the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in the accessibility of fraudulent articles. In recent years, the viral increase in the number of predatory journals has contributed to polluting the scientific literature with articles whose content is unverifiable.

Case Report: Comorbid Hyper-IgD Syndrome and Hidradenitis Suppurativa - A New Syndromic Form of HS? A Report of Two Cases.

Hidradenitis Suppurativa (HS) is a chronic suppurative disease of the pilosebaceous unit. The current model of HS pathophysiology describes the condition as the product of hyperkeratinisation and inflammation at the hair follicular unit. Environmental factors (such as smoking and obesity), gender, genetic predisposition, and skin dysbiosis are considered the main pathogenic drivers of the disease.

Rapid Progression of Angioimmunoblastic T Cell Lymphoma Following BNT162b2 mRNA Vaccine Booster Shot: A Case Report.

Since nucleoside-modified mRNA vaccines strongly activate T follicular helper cells, it is important to explore the possible impact of approved SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines on neoplasms affecting this cell type. Herein, we report and discuss unexpected rapid progression of lymphomatous lesions after administration of a BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine booster in a man recently diagnosed with AITL.

CD3CD4 Lymphocytic Variant Hypereosinophilic Syndrome: Diagnostic Tools Revisited.

Background: Identification of patients with lymphocytic variant hypereosinophilic syndrome (L-HES) is challenging, and has important prognostic and therapeutic implications.

Objective: This study was undertaken to assess diagnostic tools for L-HES and to develop evidence-based diagnostic recommendations.

Methods: Biomarkers of T-cell-driven disease were compared between patients with L-HES versus idiopathic HES (I-HES) variants.

Laser Doppler imaging evaluation of nitroglycerin patch application in systemic sclerosis patients.

Recent studies suggest the use of topical nitroglycerin (NTG) application in systemic sclerosis (SSc)-associated Raynaud phenomenon (RP). With the current study, we aimed to characterize for the first time the microvascular response to a NTG patch (Trinipatch 5 mg/24 h) applied to the hand dorsum in patients with SSc using Laser Doppler imaging (LDI) at baseline and following a cold challenge. The study included 21 patients with SSc and 13 controls.

Eosinophilia Associated With CD3CD4 T Cells: Characterization and Outcome of a Single-Center Cohort of 26 Patients.

Lymphocytic variant hypereosinophilic syndrome is characterized by marked over-production of eosinophilopoietic factor(s) by dysregulated T cells leading to eosinophil expansion. In most cases, these T cells are clonal and express a CD3CD4 phenotype. As this is a rare disorder, presenting manifestations, disease course, treatment responses, and outcome are not well-characterized.

Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome With Complete Kawasaki Disease Features Associated With SARS-CoV-2 Infection in a Young Adult. A Case Report.

A severe multisystem inflammatory syndrome associated with Kawasaki disease manifestations (MIS-C) has been recently reported in children with signs of recent infection with SARS-CoV-2. We here reported the case of a young adult woman who presented the complete manifestations of Kawasaki disease associated with a severe myocarditis, acute respiratory distress syndrome and hemodynamic instability a few weeks after a transient anosmia. The detection of specific antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in the absence of detection of the virus suggested that the syndrome was the result of a delayed immune response to a recent COVID-19 infection.

Outcome of permanent vascular access for haemodialysis in patients with end-stage renal disease in Cameroon: results from the pilot experience of the Douala general hospital.

Background Chronic Kidney disease is a major health problem in the world. Native arteriovenous Fistula (AVF) is well established as the best vascular access for haemodialysis. Little is known about the outcome of AVF in sub-Saharan Africa.

Methylprednisolone-Induced Lymphocytosis in Patients with Immune-Mediated Inflammatory Disorders.

Background: Transient acute reversible lymphopenia occurring within hours after glucocorticoid administration is a well-known phenomenon. The objective of this study was to establish the impact of chronic methylprednisolone (mPDN) administration on lymphocyte counts in patients with immune-mediated inflammatory disorders.

Methods: The charts of 44 women and 17 men (median age, 59 years) with several immune-mediated inflammatory disorders receiving oral mPDN for at least 4 months were reviewed.

Positron emission tomography scanning in anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies-associated vasculitis.

Tools for evaluation of disease activity in patients with anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) include scoring clinical manifestations, determination of biochemical parameters of inflammation, and obtaining tissue biopsies. These tools, however, are sometimes inconclusive. 2-deoxy-2-[F]-fluoro-D-glucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) scans are commonly used to detect inflammatory or malignant lesions.

The Belgian Systemic Sclerosis Cohort: correlations between disease severity scores, cutaneous subsets, and autoantibody profile.

Objective: To report baseline and followup data on the first 438 patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) included in the Belgian Systemic Sclerosis Cohort.

Methods: According to LeRoy and Medsger's classification, 73 patients with limited SSc (lSSc), 279 with limited cutaneous SSc (lcSSc), and 86 with diffuse cutaneous SSc (dcSSc) were included. History was collected and clinical examination, blood tests, and paraclinical investigations were repeated.

Clinical management of the hypereosinophilic syndromes.

Hypereosinophilic syndromes (HESs) are rare disorders characterized by marked hypereosinophilia that is directly responsible for organ damage or dysfunction. Different pathogenic mechanisms have been discovered in patient subgroups leading to the characterization of myeloproliferative and lymphocytic disease variants. In the updated terminology, idiopathic HES is now restricted to patients with HES of undetermined etiology.

Clinical significance of Cryofibrinogenemia: possible pathophysiological link with Raynaud's phenomenon.

Objective: To describe the clinical findings and prevalence of patients with cryofibrinogenemia (CF) and to determine whether CF is associated with primary Raynaud's phenomenon.

Methods: Between June 2006 and December 2009, 227 patients were tested for CF in a single university hospital. Forty-five patients with primary Raynaud's phenomenon were tested for CF.

Mepolizumab as a corticosteroid-sparing agent in lymphocytic variant hypereosinophilic syndrome.

Background: Mepolizumab, a monoclonal anti-IL-5 antibody, is an effective corticosteroid-sparing agent for patients with Fip1-like 1/platelet-derived growth factor receptor α fusion (F/P)-negative hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES). Lymphocytic variant hypereosinophilic syndrome (L-HES) is characterized by marked overproduction of IL-5 by dysregulated T cells.

Objective: To determine whether patients with L-HES respond to mepolizumab in terms of corticosteroid tapering and eosinophil depletion to the same extent as corticosteroid-responsive F/P-negative patients with HES and a normal T-cell profile.

Safety of furosemide administration in an elderly woman recovered from thiazide-induced hyponatremia.

Background: Elderly women are at risk to develop severe hyponatremia after thiazide but not loop diuretic administration. In patients with previous thiazide-induced hyponatremia, the risk for recurrent hyponatremia after furosemide has not been established.

Methods: In order to determine how both diuretics affect water metabolism, we here compare the effects of a rechallenge with either amiloride-hydrochlorothiazide fixed association (AmHTZ; amiloride chlorhydrate 5 mg+hydrochlorothiazide 50 mg; Moduretic) or furosemide (F; 40 mg; Lasix) on water excretion in a 79 year old woman who was previously admitted for severe symptomatic hyponatremia secondary to a 5 days course of AmHTZ for systolic hypertension.

Optic neuropathy, renal failure and pulmonary sarcoidosis in a 50-year-old man: where is the link?

Eye disorders are frequently associated with renal diseases, mostly linked to underlying causes such as hypertension, diabetes or autoimmune diseases. Conversely, advanced uraemic states may also lead to progressive vision impairment. The present report concerns a 50-year-old patient who presented with a bilateral, painless, progressive vision loss, a moderate systemic inflammation and chronic renal failure due to hypertension nephrosclerosis.

Lymphocytic variant hypereosinophilic syndromes.

A large body of evidence establishing the existence of an underlying T-cell disorder in a subset of patients fulfilling hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES) diagnostic criteria has accumulated over the past decade, resulting in the definition of a novel HES variant termed "lymphocytic" HES. Although end-organ complications of hypereosinophilia are generally benign, with predominant cutaneous manifestations, long-term prognosis is overshadowed by an increased risk of developing T-cell lymphoma, as a result of malignant transformation of aberrant T cells years after HES diagnosis. Therapeutic strategies should target pathogenic T cells in addition to eosinophils, but the practical implications remain largely unexplored.

Hypereosinophilic syndromes.

Hypereosinophilic syndromes (HES) constitute a rare and heterogeneous group of disorders, defined as persistent and marked blood eosinophilia (> 1.5 x 10(9)/L for more than six consecutive months) associated with evidence of eosinophil-induced organ damage, where other causes of hypereosinophilia such as allergic, parasitic, and malignant disorders have been excluded. Prevalence is unknown.

Job of the Bible: leprosy or scabies?

Proposing a medical diagnosis a posteriori of a person who died a long time ago is not as impossible as it sounds if sufficient medical history is available.A whole book of the Bible is devoted to Job and his trials. The diagnosis of leprosy has been generally accepted by medieval commentators because the verses of the Book speak of ulcers disseminated over the skin, and also because leprosy is an exemplary sanction imposed by way of example by God to punish those who have committed a sin.