Publications by authors named "Sofia Barreira"

: Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a common extra-muscular manifestation of idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIMs), often associated with a poorer prognosis and increased mortality risk. : This retrospective study aimed to characterize lung involvement and treatment response in an IIM cohort at a Portuguese tertiary center, followed between June 2016 and March 2024. We analyzed data from high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) scans and pulmonary function tests (PFTs) to assess associations with autoantibody profiles and treatment regimens.

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  • A task force of healthcare professionals created evidence-based recommendations for managing Raynaud's phenomenon and digital ulcers in patients with systemic sclerosis and other connective tissue diseases.
  • The recommendations include 5 main principles and 13 specific suggestions, with a focus on coordinated team care and shared decision-making between patients and healthcare providers.
  • Nifedipine is recommended as the first-line treatment, with other medications like sildenafil and tadalafil as second-line options, while non-drug interventions are advised but lack strong evidence.
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  • The study aimed to compare proliferative (PLN) and membranous (MLN) lupus nephritis (LN) in terms of clinical presentation and long-term health outcomes, focusing on predictors for chronic kidney disease (CKD).
  • A multicenter observational approach involved analyzing data from 260 patients with biopsy-confirmed PLN, MLN, and mixed LN, and used Cox regression to identify CKD predictors over an average follow-up of 8 years.
  • Results indicated that MLN patients generally had better kidney function, with lower serum creatinine and more normalized complement levels, while an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) of 75 mL/min/1.73 m2 after one year was the strongest
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is a colonial marine hydroid that shows remarkable biological properties, including the capacity to regenerate its entire body throughout its lifetime, a process made possible by its adult migratory stem cells, known as i-cells. Here, we provide an in-depth characterization of the genomic structure and gene content of two species, and , placing them in a comparative evolutionary framework with other cnidarian genomes. We also generated and annotated a single-cell transcriptomic atlas for adult male and identified cell-type markers for all major cell types, including key i-cell markers.

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Objectives: During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a significant impact on the management of non-COVID-19 related diseases, potentially increasing the incidence of paraneoplastic syndromes such as cancer-associated myositis (CAM).The aim of this study is to determine the incidence of CAM in our cohort before and after the COVID-19 pandemic onset.

Methods: We included patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathy (IIM), diagnosed between June 2016 and June 2023.

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Objectives: To compare the prevalence of anxiety and depression in patients with GCA with that in the general population, using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and to identify independent predictors of these psychiatric manifestations in patients with GCA.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study including all patients diagnosed with GCA followed during 1 year in a vasculitis outpatient clinic. The HADS and 36-item Short Form (SF-36) questionnaires were prospectively collected.

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This Dataset Brief describes the computational prediction of protein structures for the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi. Here, we report the proteome-scale generation of 15,333 protein structure predictions using AlphaFold, as well as an updated implementation of publicly available search, manipulation, and visualization tools for these protein structure predictions through the Mnemiopsis Genome Project Portal (https://research.nhgri.

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is a colonial marine hydroid that exhibits remarkable biological properties, including the capacity to regenerate its entire body throughout its lifetime, a process made possible by its adult migratory stem cells, known as i-cells. Here, we provide an in-depth characterization of the genomic structure and gene content of two species, and , placing them in a comparative evolutionary framework with other cnidarian genomes. We also generated and annotated a single-cell transcriptomic atlas for adult male and identified cell type markers for all major cell types, including key i-cell markers.

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Aims: To characterise the idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) module of the Rheumatic Diseases Portuguese Register (Reuma.pt/myositis) and the patients in its cohort.

Methods: Reuma.

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N6-methyldeoxyadenosine (6mA) is a chemical alteration of DNA, observed across all realms of life. Although the functions of 6mA are well understood in bacteria and protists, its roles in animal genomes have been controversial. We show that 6mA randomly accumulates in early embryos of the cnidarian Hydractinia symbiolongicarpus, with a peak at the 16-cell stage followed by clearance to background levels two cell cycles later, at the 64-cell stage-the embryonic stage at which zygotic genome activation occurs in this animal.

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Intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) immunotherapy is recommended for non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer after transurethral resection. BCG-associated musculoskeletal adverse events are rare. We report two cases of BCG reactive arthritis that were unusually severe and refractory.

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Background: Epipericardial fat necrosis (EFN) is a benign and self-limited condition of unknown cause with a good prognosis, usually affecting otherwise healthy patients. Clinically, it presents with severe acute left pleuritic chest pain, often leading the patient to the Emergency Room (ER).

Case Presentation: A 23-year-old male, smoker (5 pack-years), was evaluated in the ER due to left pleuritic chest pain, worsening with deep breathing and Valsalva maneuver.

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Background: Idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) are a rare heterogeneous group of diseases characterised by chronic skeletal muscle inflammation, but other organs are also frequently involved. IMM represent a diagnostic challenge and a multidisciplinary approach is important to ensure successful diagnosis and adequate follow-up of these patients.

Objective: To describe the general functioning of our multidisciplinary myositis clinic, highlighting the benefits of multidisciplinary team management in patients with confirmed or suspected IIM and to characterise our clinical experience.

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Objectives: Idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) are a group of rare disorders that can affect the heart. This work aimed to find predictors of cardiac involvement in IIM.

Methods: Multicenter, open cohort study, including patients registered in the IIM module of the Rheumatic Diseases Portuguese Register (Reuma.

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Recent studies have shown that people who are immunocompromised may inadvertently play a role in spurring the mutations of the virus that create new variants. This is because some immunocompromised individuals remain at risk of getting COVID-19 despite vaccination, experience more severe disease, are susceptible to being chronically infected and remain contagious for longer if they become infected and considering that immunocompromised individuals represent approximately 2% of the overall population, this aspect should be carefully considered. So far, some autoimmune rheumatic disease (ARD) patients with COVID-19 have been treated with antiviral therapies or anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody products.

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Purpose: To find ultrasound prognostic factors for shoulder pain.

Methods: This was an observational, prospective study, comparing the evolution of ultrasound findings with clinical outcomes, in patients with shoulder pain. Data were collected in two appointments, from February 2018 to March 2021.

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Article Synopsis
  • Antiviral therapies like nirmatrelvir/ritonavir and molnupiravir have been shown to alter the progression of COVID-19, particularly in patients at high risk for severe illness.* -
  • The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has approved nirmatrelvir/ritonavir for use in mild COVID-19 cases while molnupiravir is still awaiting full marketing authorization but is considered for select patients.* -
  • In two clinical cases, both antiviral treatments were effectively used on immunosuppressed patients with severe flare-ups of autoimmune diseases, with no significant side effects reported.*
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Autoantibodies are produced within germinal centers (GC), in a process regulated by interactions between B, T follicular helper (Tfh), and T follicular regulatory (Tfr) cells. The GC dysregulation in human autoimmunity has been inferred from circulating cells, albeit with conflicting results due to diverse experimental approaches. We applied a consistent approach to compare circulating Tfr and Tfh subsets in patients with different autoimmune diseases.

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Objectives: Patient centred care is an increasingly important paradigm. Applying a treat-to-target strategy to the impact of the disease in patients' lives seems a very promising tool to serve this purpose. We aimed to evaluate if maximum acceptable impact scores (target-values) defined at the population level provide an appropriate representation for most individual patients.

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Objective: To identify risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection and for severe/critical COVID-19, and to assess the humoral response after COVID-19 in these patients.

Methods: Nationwide study of adult patients with inflammatory RMDs prospectively followed in the Rheumatic Diseases Portuguese Register-Reuma.pt-during the first 6 months of the pandemic.

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Objective: To update the recommendations for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with biological and targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs and tsDMARDs), endorsed by the Portuguese Society of Rheumatology (SPR).

Methods: These treatment recommendations were formulated by Portuguese rheumatologists taking into account previous recommendations, new literature evidence and consensus opinion. At a national meeting, in a virtual format, three of the ten previous recommendations were re-addressed and discussed after a more focused literature review.

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Objectives: The purpose of this study was to review the frequency and clinical presentation of the rarest clinical manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Methods: A list of 6 rare SLE manifestations were defined: gastrointestinal, liver, pulmonary, cardiac, ocular and neurological manifestations. Each topic was assigned to a pair of authors to perform a literature search and article review.

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