Clinical Characterization and Prognostic Risk Factors of Susac Syndrome: A Retrospective Multicenter Study.

Background And Objectives: Susac syndrome (SuS) is a rare disorder characterized by encephalopathy, branch retinal artery occlusion, and sensorineural hearing loss, often accompanied by vertigo. Recent updates to diagnostic criteria and treatment guidelines have been made. This study examines clinical manifestations; disease activity; and risk factors of disability, dependency, and return to work in patients with SuS.

Interplay between conformational flexibility, intermolecular H-bonding and 3d-metal cation extraction ability in a series of thiacalix[4]arene lower rim disubstituted Schiff base derivatives.

The rational design of organic ligands with the aim to control their binding abilities towards different metal ions can be considered as one of the key concepts in supramolecular coordination chemistry. Regarding the macrocyclic compounds of thiacalix[4]arene family, this can be achieved the targeted modulation of macrocyclic platform rigidity as well as the proper choice of appended binding sites. Four macrocyclic salen-type ligands based on lower rim disubstituted thiacalix[4]arene derivatives, adopted in a cone conformation, bearing highly coordinating iminophenolic or catecholic groups and two -CH- moieties as spacers but presenting different abilities to form H-bonds, were chosen to elucidate the interplay between the conformational flexibility of the macrocyclic ligands, propensity to participate in the intermolecular H-bonding and the extraction ability of 3d-metal cations.

Longitudinal safety and efficacy of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine in children aged 4-11 years with juvenile-onset autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases: A prospective multicenter study.

This prospective, longitudinal, multicenter study assessed the safety and efficacy of the Pfizer-BioNTech BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine among children 4-11 years-old with autoimmune inflammatory rheumatologic disease (AIIRD), compared to healthy controls. The study was conducted from 11/2021-12/2022 at 4 tertiary pediatric rheumatology units in Israel. Participants received at least 2 vaccine doses.

A novel inhibitory pathway of synovial inflammation exerted by glucocorticoids and tumor necrosis factor inhibitors via lymphocyte activation gene-3 up-regulation: an ex-vivo study.

Objective: To investigate the impact of glucocorticoids (GCs) and anti-rheumatic drugs on the lymphocyte activation gene-3 (LAG-3) and on programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) expression on synovial and peripheral cells ex-vivo.

Methods: Synovial fluid mononuclear cells (SFMCs) from psoriatic arthritis (PsA, n = 26) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA, n = 13) patients, SFCs from osteoarthritis (OA, n = 5) patients and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of healthy donors (n = 14) were co-cultured with GCs, glucocorticoid receptor antagonist RU486, methotrexate (MTX) and biologics. LAG-3 and PD-1 expressions on immune subsets were analyzed by flow cytometry.