Coexistence of four autoimmune diseases in one patient: the kaleidoscope of autoimmunity.

Genetic, immune, hormonal, and environmental factors are associated with the multifactorial origin of autoimmunity. When one or more of these factors are altered, a "switch" from one autoimmune condition to another can occur, developing the so called "kaleidoscope phenomenon" of autoimmunity. We present the case of a 30-year-old woman with myasthenia gravis and hypothyroidism probably resulting from autoimmune thyroiditis.

[Medicine: conflicts of interest in research].

A conflict of interest is a set of conditions in which professional judgment concerning a primary interest (patient's welfare, research integrity, ethics, education) tends to be influenced by a secondary interest. Among secondary interests are intellectual conflicts of interest that include the desire for faculty advancement, competition for sponsored research funding, to win prestigious research prizes, as well as financial conflicts of interest that arise when medical investigators own equity in a company that sponsors the study they conduct or when they serve as consultants to companies or are members of the company's advisory boards. Ethical conflicts of interest predominate in undeveloped countries.