Publications by authors named "Mohammad Naffaa"

Background: Parvovirus B19 infection has been associated with various clinical entities including musculoskeletal manifestations and the development of different autoimmune diseases. The aim of our study is to examine the musculoskeletal manifestations associated with acute parvovirus B19 infection and the possible development of chronic autoimmune rheumatic diseases.

Patients And Methods: Retrospective cohort study that included adult hospitalized patients diagnosed with an acute parvovirus B19 infection between 1 January 2021 and 1 February 2024.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The review highlights how natural language processing (NLP) and large language models (LLMs) are transforming healthcare by analyzing unstructured clinical texts to improve disease detection, diagnosis, and patient management in rheumatology.
  • - Researchers screened 1491 articles and found 35 relevant studies that demonstrated high accuracy in using NLP tools to identify conditions like rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and gout from data sources like electronic medical records.
  • - While current applications show promise, particularly for common diseases, the review calls for further research to expand NLP's utility in diagnosing rarer and more complex rheumatological conditions.
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  • Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients are classified into late-onset (≥60 years) and early-onset (<60 years), but current treatment guidelines lack specific recommendations for late-onset patients regarding initial biologic therapy.
  • A study analyzed medical records from 2000 to 2017, including 3814 RA patients, to compare first biologic treatment survival times between late and early-onset groups.
  • Results showed that early-onset patients used biologics more frequently (16.9%) compared to late-onset patients (7.8%), but overall drug survival times for the first biologic treatment were similar across both groups, with only abatacept and golimumab showing longer survival times in early-onset patients
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Sarcoidosis is a chronic granulomatous disease of unknown cause characterized by the presence of non-caseating granulomas. The disease can affect any organ including the nervous system. Neurosarcoidosis occurs in about 5% patients with sarcoidosis.

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Introduction: Cryofibrinogen is an abnormal, cold-insoluble protein composed of a combination of fibrinogen, fibrin, and fibronectin. Cryofibrinogenemia can be essential (e.g.

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Objectives: Autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT) has been shown to improve long-term survival for early diffuse progressive SSc compared with CYC. CYC, however, does not provide a long-term benefit in SSc. The combination of MMF and rituximab is a potent alternative regimen.

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Aims: To examine whether biologic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) are associated with increased risk of malignancy among Israeli patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: We identified RA patients meeting specified inclusion and exclusion criteria from the Leumit healthcare services database between the years 2000 and 2017. Data were collected regarding bDMARD and conventional DMARD consumption, types of malignancies, and their temporal relation to RA diagnosis.

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Behcet's disease (BD) is a chronic, multi-systemic inflammatory disorder mainly characterized by recurrent oral and genital ulcers, skin lesions, and uveitis. As no pathognomonic laboratory test exists for BD, the diagnosis relies solely on clinical features. Over the years, great efforts have been invested in creating clinical diagnostic and classification criteria.

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Scleroderma renal crisis is a rare but serious complication of systemic sclerosis. It is usually associated with marked hypertension and carries significant risk for morbidity and mortality. Its occurrence prior to the development of skin sclerosis is exceedingly rare.

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Cognitive impairment is frequently reported among anti-phospholipid syndrome (APS) patients as well as anti-phospholipid antibody (aPL) carriers, but it is less studied than other manifestations of this condition. Moreover, the exact prevalence of cognitive impairment in these patients has not been accurately determined, mainly due to inconsistency in the tools used to identify impairment, small sample sizes, and variability in the anti-phospholipid antibodies measured and positivity cutoffs. The notion of a direct pathogenic effect is supported by the observation that the higher the number of aPLs present and the higher the load of the specific antibody, the greater the risk of cognitive impairment.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the lack of head-to-head trials comparing different biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) for treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA), making the choice largely dependent on rheumatologists' preferences.
  • Researchers conducted a retrospective analysis of 4,268 RA patients from 2000-2017, finding that only 19.2% received bDMARDs, with infliximab showing the longest average drug survival of 47.1 months, while golimumab had the shortest at 14.9 months.
  • Key factors linked to longer drug survival included being male, using concurrent conventional DMARDs, and starting bDMARD therapy in earlier calendar years.*
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  • Some vaccines, including those for SARS-CoV-2, can trigger or worsen immune-mediated diseases (IMDs) due to their unique mechanisms of action involving TLR agonism.
  • A study evaluated 27 cases of new-onset or flare-up of IMDs within 28 days of receiving SARS-CoV-2 vaccines across five major medical centers in Israel, the UK, and the USA, with most cases linked to the BNT-162b2 vaccine.
  • The majority of cases were mild to moderate in severity, with notable recovery in over 80% of patients, often with corticosteroid treatment, and a large number of IMD occurrences could not be directly linked to the specific vaccine administered.
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  • - The study investigates how serum magnesium levels affect 30-day mortality in patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), a widespread illness that impacts millions globally.
  • - An analysis of 3,851 hospitalized patients revealed that both low (hypomagnesemia) and high (hypermagnesemia) magnesium levels at admission significantly increased the risk of death within 30 days, while normal magnesium levels correlated with lower mortality rates.
  • - Interestingly, among normal magnesium levels, those at the higher end (2-2.4 mg/dl) had a higher mortality rate (30.3%) than those with slightly lower normal levels (1.35-2.0 mg/dl at 12.9%).
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In a patient with systemic multiorgan disease with overlapping features, the differential diagnosis included infectious diseases, malignancies, and systemic autoimmune or inflammatory diseases. We present an unusual case of a young male with B cell lymphoma who presented with symptoms mimicking systemic vasculitis and review the existing literature.

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Introduction: Timolol eye-drops are commonly used for the treatment of glaucoma. Despite being topically applied, some systemic absorption occurs with the resulting adverse reactions related to its beta-adrenoreceptor blocking activity

Case Presentation: We report the case of a 68 years old healthy male who was admitted to our department for further workup following two episodes of syncope. Medical history taking revealed that the episodes of syncope occurred soon after beginning treatment with intra-ocular timolol for glaucoma.

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Background: Community acquired pneumonia is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. The association between serum phosphorus levels on admission and the outcome of patients with community acquired pneumonia has not been widely examined. We aimed to investigate the prognostic value of serum phosphorus levels on admission on the 30- day mortality.

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We describe the case of a 53-year-old man who presented with abdominal pain, diarrhoea and hypomagnesaemia. The hypomagnesaemia proved to be due to gastrointestinal loss as urinary fractional excretion was very low, suggesting non-renal loss. Common causes were discarded and the hypomagnesaemia was attributed to chronic use of the proton pump inhibitor, omeprazole.

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