The emergence of certain skin conditions belonging to the group of mucocutaneous paraneoplastic syndromes may indicate the future appearance of a previously unknown malignancy. Sweet's Syndrome and relapsing polychondritis are included in this group. Sweet's Syndrome and relapsing polychondritis are very rarely found together in the same patient. This dual occurrence is more commonly found in c...

Relapsing polychondritis is an immune-mediated disease associated with inflammation in cartilaginous structures and other tissues throughout the body, particularly the ears, nose, eyes, joints, and respiratory tract. Although association with other conditions is seen in about one-third of the cases, liver involvement is not usually observed in those patients. We described a case of liver involv...

Kawasaki disease (KD) is a multisystem vasculitis of childhood with cardiac, renal, pulmonary and neurological complications. Hemorrhagic serous effusions, liver dysfunction and relapsing course in spite of treatment are rare. We report an atypical case of KD with a relapsing course, hemorrhagic effusions and hepatic dysfunction, that required two repeated courses of intravenous immunoglobulin ...

A 28 year old albino man presented with a cicatricial alopecic plaque on the vertex. The patient had multiple hairs emerging from a single dilated follicular opening. Following inflammatory changes, new tufted hair appeared in spite of several periods of antibiotic treatment, and the disorder followed a relapsing and destructive course. Tufted hair folliculitis (THF) is a relapsing localiz...

Genome sequencing projects on two relapsing fever spirochetes, Borrelia hermsii and Borrelia turicatae, revealed differences in genes involved in purine metabolism and salvage compared to those in the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi. The relapsing fever spirochetes contained six open reading frames that are absent from the B. burgdorferi genome. These genes included those for hypox...

Uric acid (UA) is a hydrophilic antioxidant product associated with multiple sclerosis (MS). We conducted a randomized case-control study to evaluate the serum level of UA in different phases of MS in comparison with levels in a healthy control population. Serum UA was checked in 130 patients with relapsing-remitting MS (85 patients in remitting and 45 patients in relapsing phase) and 50 age-ma...

Interferon-β is a first-line therapy used to prevent relapses in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. The clinical benefit of interferon-β in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis is attributed to its immunomodulatory effects on inflammatory mediators and T cell reactivity. Here, we evaluated the production of hepatocyte growth factor, a neuroprotective and neuroinflammation-suppressive med...

BACKGROUND We examined (1) patient characteristics and disease-modifying drug (DMD) exposure in late-onset (LOMS, ≥50 years at symptom onset) versus adult-onset (AOMS, 18-<50 years) MS and (2) the association between interferon-beta (IFNβ) and disability progression in older relapsing-onset MS adults (≥50 years). METHODS This retrospective study (1980-2004, British Columbia, Canada) included ...

OBJECTIVE To assess the efficacy of levamisole in frequently relapsing nephrotic syndrome and steroid-dependent nephrotic syndrome. STUDY DESIGN Retrospective analysis of hospital case records. SETTING Pediatric nephrology department of a tertiary referral pediatric hospital. PARTICIPANTS 62 children with frequently relapsing nephrotic syndrome and 35 children with steroid-dependent nephr...

INTRODUCTION Relapsing polychondritis is a rare multisystem autoimmune disease of uncertain etiology characterized by recurrent episodes of inflammation and progressive destruction of cartilaginous tissues. Its respiratory, cardiovascular, renal and neurological complications are life-threatening, and it is thus important to recognize the disease and its complications early. Relapsing polychond...