Lack of evidence of foetal microchimerism in female Spanish patients with systemic sclerosis.

Our objective was to study the presence of microchimerism in a series of 47 female Spanish patients with scleroderma (SSc) and to compare with a control group. Polymerase chain reaction was used to identify Y-chromosome sequences in DNA extracted from peripheral blood cells. Y-chromosome sequences were found in DNA from peripheral blood cells in four out of 47 (8.

[Primary Sjögren's syndrome: clinical and immunological characteristics of 114 patients].

Background: To analyze the clinical and immunological characteristics of a series of 114 patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome (PSS), and to evaluate the different diagnostic criteria and the association to lymphoproliferative disorders.

Patients And Method: We included 114 patients (108 female and 6 male) with a diagnosis of PSS. All patients fulfilled the 1993 European Community criteria for the diagnosis of PSS and 76 patients fulfilled the San Diego Criteria.

Respiratory failure due to muscle weakness in inflammatory myopathies: maintenance therapy with home mechanical ventilation.

Polymyositis and dermatomyositis are idiopathic inflammatory myopathies. Respiratory complications are a common feature, but ventilatory insufficiency is rare in these patients. We describe here three patients diagnosed with inflammatory myopathy (polymyositis) with respiratory failure due to muscle weakness who did not respond to immunosuppressive therapy.