Case report: a 10-year-old girl with primary hypoparathyroidism and systemic lupus erythematosus.

Objectives Hypoparathyroidism is a rare disease in children that occurs as a result of autoimmune destruction of the parathyroid glands, a defect in parathyroid gland development or secondary to physical parathyroid gland disturbance. Typical symptoms of hypoparathyroidism present as hypocalcaemia and hyperphosphatemia due to decreased parathyroid hormone secretion and may lead to nerve and muscles disturbances resulting in clinical manifestation of tetany, arrhythmias and epilepsy. Currently, there is no conventional hormone replacement treatment for hypoparathyroidism and therapeutic approaches include normalising mineral levels using an oral calcium supplement and active forms of vitamin D.

Endothelial progenitor cell levels in juvenile idiopathic arthritis patients: effects of anti-inflammatory therapies.

Background: Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), similarly to other arthritides, can be associated with damage of endothelial layer of which structure and function is dependent on reparative properties of endothelial progenitor cells (EPC). To date, it remained unknown whether EPC numbers are altered in young JIA patients and whether on-going anti-inflammatory therapies could exert positive effects on these progenitor cells.

Methods: We performed a quantitative analysis of EPC numbers in 25 patients diagnosed with JIA according to International League of Associations for Rheumatism (ILAR) criteria [age 11.

Subclinical cardiovascular system changes in obese patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

Objective: We aimed to determine the prevalence of excess body mass in juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) children and to investigate the influence of obesity into the early, subclinical changes in cardiovascular system in these patients.

Methods: Fifty-eight JIA patients, aged median 13 years, were compared to 36 healthy controls. Traditional cardiovascular risk factors and inflammatory markers (hsCRP, IL-6, TNF α, adiponectin) were studied together with IMT (intima-media thickness), FMD (flow mediated dilation), and LVMi (left ventricle mass index) as surrogate markers of subclinical atherosclerosis.