Publications by authors named "Nazife Sule Yasar Bilge"

Objective/aim: Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), is common in women of childbearing age and is associated with obstetric complications. The aim of this study was to evaluate the course of pregnancy and its results in SLE patients with a history of pregnancy.

Methods: Pregnant patients with SLE who applied to the Rheumatology outpatient clinic of between 2010 and 2020 were retrospectively screened.

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  • The study investigates the effectiveness of two common immunosuppressive agents, methotrexate (MTX) and azathioprine (AZA), as first-line treatments for patients with Takayasu's arteritis (TAK), analyzing patient outcomes and safety.
  • A total of 301 TAK patients from 10 centers were included; findings revealed similar remission and relapse rates between MTX and AZA, but a significantly higher rate of vascular surgery in the AZA group compared to MTX.
  • The study also noted that patients on MTX were more likely to receive lower doses of glucocorticoids post-treatment compared to those on AZA, indicating different management outcomes between the
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  • - The study investigated the occurrence of spondyloarthritis (SpA) features in 350 patients with Takayasu arteritis (TAK), finding that 8.8% had additional SpA-related conditions, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) or psoriasis.
  • - Patients with both TAK and SpA displayed earlier onset of disease symptoms and required more aggressive biological treatments for active vasculitis compared to those with TAK alone.
  • - The research highlighted the overlap between TAK and SpA, suggesting a potential link in their pathogenesis, possibly related to an MHC class I allele similar to that seen in spondyloarthritis.
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Objective: Neurologic involvement in Behçet disease (BD) is a rare manifestation. Herein, we aimed to evaluate the clinical features and treatment choices of neuro-Behçet (NB) patients.

Methods: There were records of 800 BD patients between 1998 and 2021.

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Objectives: Pulmonary involvement other than pulmonary artery involvement in Behcet's disease still remains an area of investigation. The aim of this study was to evaluate pulmonary involvement associated with Behcet's disease.

Method: We retrospectively investigated all Behcet's disease patients in terms of pulmonary involvement.

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Primary Sjogren's syndrome is a chronic autoimmune disease with glandular and extraglandular features. Renal involvement is less frequent when compared with other systemic manifestations. Glomerulonephritis is a relatively rare manifestation of primary Sjogren's syndrome.

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  • The study aimed to compare the effectiveness and safety of TNF inhibitors and tocilizumab (TCZ) in treating Takayasu arteritis in patients who didn't respond to standard immunosuppressive drugs.
  • A total of 111 patients participated, receiving various biologic treatments, with similar remission rates and glucocorticoid (GC) reduction between the two treatment groups after follow-up.
  • The findings indicate that both TNF inhibitors and TCZ have comparable drug survival rates and outcomes in managing Takayasu arteritis, suggesting that either option is viable for treatment.
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  • Spondyloarthritis (SpA) encompasses a variety of diseases that can lead to conditions like acute anterior uveitis (AAU), which is a common complication; this study investigates the prevalence and contributing factors of AAU among Turkish SpA patients.
  • The research involved examining data from over 4,200 SpA patients, revealing that 11% had experienced at least one episode of uveitis, with higher occurrences linked to factors like older age, smoking, longer disease duration, and specific genetic markers.
  • The findings suggest that the presence of uveitis could be significant for diagnosing SpA, indicating a need for patients with uveitis to consult a rheumatologist for further assessment.
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Background/aim: Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF) is the prototype of hereditary autoinflammatory disorders and caused by mutations on the MEFV gene located on the short arm of chromosome 16. Although some MEFV variants are clearly associated with disease phenotype, there are numerous variants with unknown clinical association which are termed as variants of uncertain significance (VUS). Here, we present clinical correlations of VUS in a large cohort of adult FMF patients from three tertiary centers located in Central Anatolia.

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A 69-year old male patient attended our clinic with fatigue, fever, anuria, nephritic syndrome and severe renal failure. Kidney biopsy showed pauci-immune crescentic glomerulonephritis with an unusual association of suppurative interstitial nephritis. Though most patients with renal involvement linked to antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies associated vasculitis (AAV) have pauci-immune glomerulonephritis, only a few patients were identified to have atypical renal pathology.

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Background/aim: Peritonitis attacks of Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF) usually requires emergency medical admissions and it’s hard to distinguish a typical abdominal attack from surgical causes of acute abdomen. Therefore, history of abdominal surgery, particularly appendectomy, is very common in patients with FMF. However, history of appendectomy might also give some clues about the course of FMF in the adulthood.

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Objectives: Changes in microbiota composition affect the aetiology and patho-genesis of chronic diseases, including Behçet's disease (BD). However, no studies have analysed the potential gut microbiota changes among different clinical forms of BD. This study evaluated the intestinal microbiota composition of patients with BD and healthy controls and also compared differences between patients with BD with respect to eye, mucocutaneous, and vascular involvement.

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Objective: Persistent inflammation is an insidious and less studied feature of FMF. We investigated clinical determinants of persistent inflammation and its associations with individual damage items.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional analysis of 917 FMF patients, who fulfilled the Tel Hashomer criteria and had at least 6 months' follow-up.

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Objectives: Defining predictors of damage would improve patient care. We applied damage indexes to patients with familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) and identified the predictors of damage.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional analysis of 926 FMF patients, who fulfilled the Tel-Hashomer criteria and had at least six months of follow-up.

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Background/aim: Colchicine is the mainstay of treatment in FMF. However, in daily practice it is not easy to maintain effective colchicine doses in a substantial number of patients due to its side effects. In this study, we aimed to investigate prevalence and risk factors for colchicine side effects that limit optimal drug dosing and cause permanent discontinuation.

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Systemic vasculitic diseases can show recurrence after kidney transplantation, but de novo systemic vasculitis is rarely seen after kidney transplantation, and in literature, there are only a few cases. In general population, the incidence of isolated organ vasculitis is unknown, and according to the best of our knowledge, there is no information about de novo isolated organ vasculitis after renal transplantation. We report, most probably, the first case of a 40-year-old woman who was restarted on dialysis treatment after renal transplantation and developed isolated gastrointestinal vasculitis and intestinal hemorrhage under immunosuppressive treatment.

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Article Synopsis
  • Scientists studied special cells in the blood called CECs to see how they relate to a disease called Behçet's disease (BD) that can affect blood vessels.
  • They looked at 60 people, including those with BD and healthy individuals, to measure the different types of CECs.
  • The results showed some differences in the levels of certain cells between patients with vascular issues and other groups, suggesting these cells may help doctors understand and track blood vessel problems in BD better.
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Introduction/objectives: Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is characterized by recurrent attacks of fever, serositis, and arthritis, but some patients may experience long-term complications of disease such as infertility/subfertility. The published data about FMF-associated infertility is still limited. The aim of this study is to investigate the frequency and to determine potential factors for FMF-associated infertility/subfertility.

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Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is characterized by recurrent short-lived/self-limiting inflammatory attacks. Besides these, a substantial number of patients with FMF present with a variety of other inflammatory diseases; however, this issue has not been systematically studied previously. Hence, we aimed to investigate the frequency of inflammatory comorbid diseases in a large FMF cohort.

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Background/aim: The TReasure registry, created in 2017, is an observational multicenter cohort that includes inflammatory arthritis patients. This article reviews the methodology and objectives of the TReasure registry established to collect data from rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and spondyloarthritis (SpA) patients.

Methodology: Fifteen rheumatology centers in Turkey will contribute data to the TReasure database.

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