Second week methyl-prednisolone pulses improve prognosis in patients with severe coronavirus disease 2019 pneumonia: An observational comparative study using routine care data.

Objective: To analyze the effects of a short course of methyl-prednisolone pulses (MP) during the second week of disease (week-2) in patients with severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia.

Methods: Comparative observational study using data collected from routine care at Hospital Universitario Cruces, Barakaldo, Bizkaia, Spain in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. We compared patients who received week-2-MP (125-250 mg/d x3) with those who did not, with the end-points time to death and time to death or endotracheal intubation.

Ankle-brachial index and arterial vascular events in systemic lupus erythematosus patients: a 5-year prospective cohort.

Objectives: To determine the potential predictive value in patients with systemic lupus erythematous of the ankle-brachial index (ABI) for the occurrence of arterial vascular events.

Methods: 216 lupus patients from a prospective clinical cohort were evaluated using the ABI at the start of the study and then followed up for 5 years. Abnormal ABI was defined as an index ≤0.

Effectiveness and safety of medium-dose prednisone in giant cell arteritis: a retrospective cohort study of 103 patients.

Objectives: To compare the effectiveness and safety of medium-dose (MD) and high-dose (HD) prednisone regimens and to identify factors related to remission with a target maintenance dose of prednisone in patients with giant cell arteritis (GCA).

Methods: Retrospective cohort study conducted in an autoimmune diseases unit. Patients received ≤ 30 mg (MD group) or >30 mg (HD group) of daily prednisone as monotherapy or combined with methylprednisolone pulses and/or methotrexate, at the discretion of the physician.

Clinical Manifestations and Outcomes of Syphilis-associated Uveitis in Northern Spain.

Purpose: To describe the clinical characteristics and to assess visual prognosis of patients with syphilis-associated uveitis in northern Spain.

Methods: Retrospective review of clinical records in eight general uveitis referral centers.

Results: Since the year 2000, 50 patients have been diagnosed: 31 men and 19 women; median age was 41 (19-76) years.

Registry of the Spanish network of Behçet's disease: a descriptive analysis of 496 patients.

Objectives: To describe the clinical features of a large cohort of 496 Spanish patients with Behçet's disease (BD) and to analyse if patient's sex influenced the initial and cumulated prevalence of disease manifestations.

Methods: Retrospective and descriptive study of 496 patients recruited in sixteen centres on the frame of the Spanish Registry of Behçet Disease Project Group. Demographic and clinical data are presented in addition to treatments and their related adverse effects.

No evidence of association between common autoimmunity STAT4 and IL23R risk polymorphisms and non-anterior uveitis.

Objective: STAT4 and IL23R loci represent common susceptibility genetic factors in autoimmunity. We decided to investigate for the first time the possible role of different STAT4/IL23R autoimmune disease-associated polymorphisms on the susceptibility to develop non-anterior uveitis and its main clinical phenotypes.

Methods: Four functional polymorphisms (rs3821236, rs7574865, rs7574070, and rs897200) located within STAT4 gene as well as three independent polymorphisms (rs7517847, rs11209026, and rs1495965) located within IL23R were genotyped using TaqMan® allelic discrimination in a total of 206 patients with non-anterior uveitis and 1553 healthy controls from Spain.

Evaluation of the IL2/IL21, IL2RA and IL2RB genetic variants influence on the endogenous non-anterior uveitis genetic predisposition.

Background: Recently, different genetic variants located within the IL2/IL21 genetic region as well as within both IL2RA and IL2RB loci have been associated to multiple autoimmune disorders. We aimed to investigate for the first time the potential influence of the IL2/IL21, IL2RA and IL2RB most associated polymorphisms with autoimmunity on the endogenous non-anterior uveitis genetic predisposition.

Methods: A total of 196 patients with endogenous non-anterior uveitis and 760 healthy controls, all of them from Caucasian population, were included in the current study.

Macular hole secondary to toxoplasmic retinochoroiditis.

Ocular toxoplasmosis causes abnormalities in the vitreous that are responsible for several types of well-known complications including retinal detachment and epiretinal membranes. We report on a patient who developed toxoplasmic panuveitis with a full-thickness macular hole (MH) and was successfully treated with vitreoretinal surgery. A 35-year-old Hispanic female presented with a 2-week history of loss of visual acuity and metamorphopsia in her right eye.

[Uveitis: diagnostic approach].

A 32 year-old woman was referred from the Ophthalmology Department to rule out a possible systemic disease. Her only past medical history of relevance was a tuberculosis contact during childhood. She complained of floaters and progressive blurring of vision in both eyes for some months, as well as arthralgia and cough.

Efficacy of rituximab in 164 patients with biopsy-proven lupus nephritis: pooled data from European cohorts.

Objective: To present a pooled analysis of the efficacy of rituximab from European cohorts diagnosed with biopsy-proven lupus nephropathy (LN) who were treated with rituximab.

Methods: Consecutive patients with biopsy-proven LN treated with rituximab in European reference centers were included. Complete response (CR) was defined as normal serum creatinine with inactive urinary sediment and 24-hour urinary albumin <0.

Sarcoid intermediate uveitis following etanercept treatment: a case report and review of the literature.

Purpose: To describe a case of sarcoid uveitis subsequent to anti-TNFα therapy and review previously reported cases.

Methods: Review of the clinical records of the authors' patient and of the literature using the PubMed database.

Results: A 30-year-old woman presented with intermediate uveitis with snowballs in both eyes.

Rates of, and risk factors for, severe infections in patients with systemic autoimmune diseases receiving biological agents off-label.

Introduction: The purpose of this observational study was to analyze the rates, characteristics and associated risk factors of severe infections in patients with systemic autoimmune diseases (SAD) who were treated off-label with biological agents in daily practice.

Methods: The BIOGEAS registry is an ongoing Spanish prospective cohort study investigating the long-term safety and efficacy of the off-label use of biological agents in adult patients with severe, refractory SAD. Severe infections were defined according to previous studies as those that required intravenous treatment or that led to hospitalization or death.

Off-label use of rituximab in 196 patients with severe, refractory systemic autoimmune diseases.

Objectives: To analyse the safety and efficacy of the off-label use of rituximab in patients with severe, refractory systemic autoimmune diseases.

Methods: In 2006, the Study Group on Autoimmune Diseases of the Spanish Society of Internal Medicine created the BIOGEAS project, a multicenter study devoted to collecting data on the use of biological agents in adult patients with systemic autoimmune diseases refractory to standard therapies (failure of at least two immunosuppressive agents).

Results: One hundred and ninety-six patients with systemic autoimmune diseases treated with rituximab have been included in the Registry (158 women and 38 men, mean age 43 years).

Predictors of major infections in systemic lupus erythematosus.

Introduction: Infections commonly complicate the course of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Our aim is to investigate the clinical predictors of major infections in patients with SLE.

Methods: A nested case-control study design was used within the prospective Lupus-Cruces cohort.

[The antiphospholipid syndrome in the 21st century].

The antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is characterised by a great clinical variability, with diverse clinical presentations such as venous thromboembolism, preeclampsia, arterial thrombosis and renal and cerebral small vessel thrombosis. Given this wide spectrum of manifestations, it is very important to make an early diagnosis in order to start adequate medical therapy before irreversible damage ensues. Persistent positivity of lupus anticoagulant (LA), anticardiolipin antibodies (aCL) at high levels or the combined triple positivity of LA, aCL and anti-ss(2)GPI make the diagnosis of APS likely in the adequate clinical setting.

[Present role of homocysteine in clinical medicine].

There has been a great interest in the last decades about the clinical significance of elevated total plasma homocysteine (tHcy), and especially its possible association with an increased cardiovascular risk. Measurement of tHcy is clearly indicated when homocystinuria is suspected in young or adult patients (in the presence of a severe, atypical or progressive myopia with ectopia lentis and/or venous thromboembolism and/or severe, premature or atypical atherosclerotic vascular disease) and in the evaluation of vitamin B12 and/or folic acid deficiencies. The current evidence does not support either the screening measurement of tHcy or the treatment with vitamin B12 and/or folic acid supplementation in patients with cardiovascular disease.

Vitamin D deficiency in systemic lupus erythematosus: prevalence, predictors and clinical consequences.

Objectives: We aimed to establish the prevalence, predictors and clinical consequences of vitamin D deficiency in patients with SLE.

Methods: Cross-sectional study including patients fulfilling ACR criteria for the classification of SLE. Serum 25(OH)D levels at 30 and 10 ng/ml were the cut-off values for vitamin D insufficiency and vitamin D deficiency, respectively.

Transiently positive anticardiolipin antibodies and risk of thrombosis in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Fluctuations in the titers of anticardiolipin antibodies (aCL) have been reported in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, but their relation with thrombosis is not completely understood. Prospective inception cohort of 237 patients with SLE (American College of Rheumatology criteria). Positivity for antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) was defined according to Sapporo criteria.

Antimalarials may influence the risk of malignancy in systemic lupus erythematosus.

Background: Recent studies suggest that antimalarials have antineoplastic properties.

Objective: To investigate whether antimalarials decrease the risk of cancer in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Methods: An observational prospective cohort study was carried out.

Effect of antimalarials on thrombosis and survival in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Antimalarials have shown beneficial effects on systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) activity. Our aim was to investigate whether antimalarials protect against thrombosis and influence survival in SLE patients. A prospective cohort including 232 patients with SLE were included in the study at the time of lupus diagnosis.

High risk of tuberculosis in systemic lupus erythematosus?

The incidence and severity of tuberculosis (TB) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) varies greatly among different series. In addition, prospective data are scarce. The aim of this study is to analyse the frequency and severity of TB in our cohort of lupus patients.

Homocysteine, antiphospholipid antibodies and risk of thrombosis in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Cardiovascular disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is one of the most important causes of thrombosis in SLE. In addition, an association between hyperhomocysteinemia and increased cardiovascular risk has also been reported.

Antiphospholipid antibodies predict early damage in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

The aim of this study was to determine whether the different autoantibodies predict early damage in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The patients comprised a prospective inception cohort of 205 patients with SLE, 154 on follow-up for at least five years after diagnosis. Eight patients who died before the fifth year of disease course were included in analyses comprising survival.

[Plasma homocysteine levels in systemic lupus erythematosus].

Background And Objective: Cardiovascular disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). An association between hyperhomocysteinemia and increased cardiovascular risk has been reported. On the other hand, renal failure and deficiency of vitamin B12 and/or folic acid are common causes of hyperhomocysteinemia.