Assessment of the outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children and young people followed at Portuguese pediatric rheumatology clinics.

Introduction: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) generally appears to have milder clinical symptoms and fewer laboratory abnormalities in children. It remains unknown whether children and young people with inflammatory chronic diseases who acquire SARS-CoV-2 infection have a more severe course, due to either underlying disease or immunosuppressive treatments.

Objectives: To assess the epidemiological features and clinical outcomes of children and young people with inflammatory chronic diseases followed at Pediatric Rheumatology Clinics who were infected with SARS-CoV-2.

Classification of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics Versus American College of Rheumatology Criteria. A Comparative Study of 2,055 Patients From a Real-Life, International Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Cohort.

Objective: The new Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics (SLICC) 2012 classification criteria aimed to improve the performance of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) classification over the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 1997 criteria. However, the SLICC 2012 criteria need further external validation. Our objective was to compare the sensitivity for SLE classification between the ACR 1997 and the SLICC 2012 criteria sets in a real-life, multicenter, international SLE population.

Using the Juvenile Arthritis Disease Activity Score based on erythrocyte sedimentation rate or C-reactive protein level: results from the Portuguese register.

Objective: Our aims were to evaluate the correlation between Juvenile Arthritis Disease Activity Score 27-joint reduced count (JADAS27) with erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and JADAS27 with C-reactive protein (CRP) scores and to test the agreement of both scores on classifying each disease activity state. We also aimed at verifying the correlation of the 2 scores across juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) categories and to check the correlation between JADAS27-ESR and clinical JADAS27 (JADAS27 without ESR).

Methods: A nationwide cohort of patients with JIA registered in the Portuguese Register, Reuma.

Prognostic value of antinuclear antibodies in juvenile idiopathic arthritis and anterior uveitis. Results from a systematic literature review.

Aims: To analyze the prognostic role of antinuclear antibodies (ANA) for the onset of uveitis in the context of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), its correlation with uveitis course and severity and its prognostic role for the development of arthritis in children with uveitis.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review analysis of the literature on the prognostic value of ANA on JIA associated uveitis and its complications. We included series published between January 1990 and December 2011 reporting the prognostic value of ANA positivity on uveitis in consecutive patients diagnosed with JIA.

Portuguese recommendations for the use of biological therapies in children and adolescents with juvenile idiopathic arthritis--December 2011 update.

Objective: To update the Portuguese recommendations in order to assist the rational and safe prescribing of biological therapies in children and adolescents with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) as more evidence and experience with these drugs are available.

Methods: The recommendations were formulated by Rheumatologists and Pediatricians, with experience in Pediatric Rheumatology, based on literature evidence and consensus opinion. The evidence was sought through a MEDLINE search.

Bilateral MR imaging of the hand and wrist in early and very early inflammatory arthritis: tenosynovitis is associated with progression to rheumatoid arthritis.

Purpose: To identify bilateral hand and wrist findings of synovial inflammation associated with progression to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in very-early-RA cohort (VERA) (duration, <3 months) and early-RA cohort (ERA) (duration, <12 but >3 months), to test tenosynovitis as a magnetic resonance (MR) imaging additional parameter for improving diagnostic accuracy of the 2010 American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism (ACR/EULAR) RA classification criteria, and to evaluate the symmetry of joint and tendon involvement.

Materials And Methods: With institutional review board approval and informed consent, 32 women and three men (mean age, 45 years) with untreated recent-onset inflammatory arthritis participated in this prospective study and underwent MR imaging of both wrists and hands. After 12-month follow-up, 25 patients fulfilled the criteria for RA (10 VERA and 15 ERA patients).

[Practical guide for the use of biological agents in rheumatoid arthritis - December 2011 update].

The authors review the practical aspects of biological therapy use for rheumatoid arthritis patients, commenting safety issues before and after treatment initiation and the best treatment strategies to optimize efficacy.

Rituximab use in pediatric autoimmune diseases: four case reports.

Rituximab (RTX) is currently used in many diseases, but its efficacy and safety in juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus (SLEj) is still unknown. In this chapter we present four case reports of children treated with RTX: three SLE and one immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). Two of the three SLEj patients had class IV lupus nephritis (LN) and hematologic manifestations (pancytopenia), both reaching complete recovery of blood counts and improvement of LN with RTX treatment.

[Fibrous dysplasia of bone--a case of polyostotic fibrous dysplasia].

Fibrous Dysplasia FD of bone is a rare non-inheritable congenital disease characterized by a focal proliferation of fibrous tissue in the bone marrow leading to osteolytic lesions deformities and fractures. FD can be presented in a monostotic or polyostotic form this last one is usually more severe. FD primarily affects adolescents and young adults and in some cases in an asymptomatic way.