Cardiac involvement in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and correlation of valvular lesions with anti-Ro/SS-A and anti-La/SS-B antibody levels.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence of morphologic and functional cardiac abnormalities in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and to correlate the findings with levels of anti-Ro/SS-A, anti-La/SS-B, and anti-cardiolipin antibody (aCL). Sixty-two patients with SLE were enrolled in this study. All patients underwent complete history taking, clinical assessment, and standard two-dimensional and Doppler echocardiography.

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha and neuropsychiatric lupus erythematosus: relation to single photon emission computed tomography findings.

Abstract This study was designed to highlight the relation of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) to neuropsychiatric lupus (NPLE) manifestations. The relation of TNF-α to the type of single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) findings in this context was also studied. Twenty-one systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) females, mean age 27.

Circulating interleukin-6, soluble interleukin-2 receptors, tumor necrosis factor alpha, and interleukin-10 levels in juvenile chronic arthritis: correlations with soft tissue vascularity assessed by power Doppler sonography.

Nineteen patients with juvenile chronic arthritis (JCA), ten with systemic (s)-JCA, and nine with polyarticular-onset (p)-JCA were examined for interleukin (IL)-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, IL-2R, and IL-10 levels. Power Doppler sonography (PDS) for the more affected knee was used in all of them to evaluate soft tissue vascularity. Serum levels of IL-6 were significantly higher in JCA patients than in controls (P<0.