BACKGROUND We aimed to describe the recent clinical characteristics of Takayasu arteritis (TA). METHODS AND RESULTS We enrolled 106 consecutive TA patients and compared the clinical characteristics of patients with TA onset before 1999 and after 2000, patients with onset at age less than 39 years and more than 40 years, patients with monophasic and relapsing-remitting clinical course, and pat...

Glucocorticosteroids are used as anti-inflammatory agents in a range of diseases, however, their mechanism of action is unknown. Recently, inhibition of arachidonic acid metabolism has been suggested as one possible mechanism of action. A series of experiments were undertaken in nonasthmatic humans to examine the effects of oral prednisolone and dexamethasone and inhaled budesonide on the excre...

Background Corticosteroids are active agents, which are especially applicated orally in the dermatological emergency medicine. Due to German anaphylaxis guidelines patients emergency kit must contain a corticosteroid with a Prednisolone-equivalent of at least 100 mg. Due to different reasons, a liquid corticosteroid is to be recommended. At the present time, there is no comparable liquid remedy...

Background—Children with diYcult asthma experience frequent symptoms despite treatment with high dose inhaled steroids. Persistent symptoms may result from persistent airway inflammation which can be monitored by measuring exhaled nitric oxide (NO). This study aimed to assess the role of airway inflammation, using NO as a surrogate, in children with diYcult asthma and to investigate the respons...

Nephrotic syndrome is a frequently encountered disease in children. It mostly responsive to high-dose steroids, with some requiring steroid-sparing immunosuppressive regimens, or further, renal biopsy if resistant steroid therapy. However, nephrotic children post-allogeneic bone marrow transplant rarely encountered. The authors report here child who developed for β-thalassaemia major, the suspi...

OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to determine whether physicians' treatment preferences are influenced by patients' age. METHODS We mailed a survey to a random sample of rheumatologists practicing in the US. The survey included a scenario describing a hypothetical patient with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) on hydroxychloroquine, sulfasalazine and low-dose prednisolone, who presents with...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effects of i.v. CYC on the number of circulating endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) in patients with SSc, and the potential association of the EPC response with CYC's effect for treating interstitial lung disease (ILD). METHODS This open-label, prospective study involved 12 patients with SSc and alveolitis (CYC group). All patients received six courses of i.v. CYC (...

Objective. The dosage, duration, and the benefits of high-dose steroid treatment and outcome in biliary atresia (BA) remain controversial. In this study, we evaluated the impact of high-dose steroid therapy on the outcome of BA after the Kasai procedure. Methods. Intravenous prednisolone administration was started 1 week after surgery, followed by 8 to 12 weeks of oral prednisolone. Total bilir...

PURPOSE Recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) is one of the most common ulcers of the oral cavity with a reported prevalence of 5- 50%. There is still no definitive treatment for RAS; however, immunosuppressive and immunomodulant agents have been proposed. In this study, we compared the therapeutic effects of 5 mg/d prednisolone with 0.5 mg/d colchicine in the treatment of RAS. METHODS In a dou...

The knowledge on PK behavior of steroid drugs such as prednisolone or prednisone has indeed been expanding but at a rather slow pace. First, convenient, rapid, and specific determination of plasma levels of these steroids was largely indebted to the breakthrough of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Second, prednisolone is non-linearly protein-bound. Since unbound prednisolone is th...