Atypical cases of scleroderma en coup de sabre.

Scleroderma en coup de sabre typically presents with a cutaneous induration, but involvement of the underlying bone, eye, and brain is common. We report on 4 pediatric cases with atypical initial clinical presentations. All cases were seen at the University of California San Francisco.

Acanthamoeba meningoencephalitis presenting as neuropsychiatric lupus in a pediatric patient.

We present the case of a 16-year-old patient with systemic lupus erythematosus who presented with altered mental status and regressive behaviour. She was worked up and empirically treated for common and opportunistic infectious agents. All work-up was negative and after an extensive course of antibiotics she was treated for neuropsychiatric lupus with cytoxan.

B lymphocyte stimulator expression in pediatric systemic lupus erythematosus and juvenile idiopathic arthritis patients.

Objective: To assess the expression of B lymphocyte stimulator (BLyS) in patients with pediatric systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) or juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA).

Methods: Blood samples collected from patients with pediatric SLE (n = 56) and patients with JIA (n = 54) at the beginning and end of a 6-month interval were analyzed for plasma BLyS protein levels by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and for blood leukocyte full-length BLyS and DeltaBLyS messenger RNA (mRNA) levels by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (normalized to 18S expression). Healthy siblings (n = 34) of these patients served as controls.