The term biologics have been used as a collective term for biological therapies. Therapeutic agents with biologic properties, including monoclonal antibodies and soluble cytokine receptors have been in use against rheumatic diseases for some time now. Treatment of rheumatic diseases has undergone a remarkable change over the last 10 years. This can be credited to an increased understanding of t...

BACKGROUND Pediatric rheumatic diseases are chronic illnesses that can cause considerable disease burden to children and their families. There is limited epidemiologic data on these diseases in East Africa. The aim of this study was to assess the spectrum of pediatric rheumatic diagnoses in an in-patient setting and determine the accuracy of ICD-10 codes in identifying these conditions. METHO...

Many rheumatic diseases affect women of childbearing age. It is well known that during pregnancy, some patients with inflammatory arthritis such as rheumatoid arthritis go into remission, whereas in others, pregnancy aggravates disease activity. Unfortunately, the flares of rheumatic diseases during pregnancy may result in fetal loss, intrauterine growth retardation, and premature delivery. Fur...

Systemic rheumatic diseases have significant morbidity and mortality, due in large part to concurrent infections. The lung has been reported among the most frequent sites of infection in patients with rheumatic disease, who are susceptible to developing pneumonia sustained both by common pathogens and by opportunistic microorganisms. Patients with rheumatic disease show a peculiar vulnerability...

Autoimmune diseases are considered the 3rd leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the industrialized countries. Autoimmune thyroid diseases (ATDs) are associated with high prevalence of nonorgan-specific autoantibodies, such as antinuclear antibodies (ANA), antidouble-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid (anti-dsDNA), antiextractable-nuclear antigens (anti-ENAs), rheumatoid factor (RF), and anti...

Vitamin D has some well-known effects on calcium, phosphate and bone metabolism, but it has recently shown to have many other effects, which may potentially be relevant to patients with extra-skeletal rheumatic diseases. Such effects may be justified by: 1) the presence of the vitamin D receptors also on extra-osseous cells, such as cartilage cells, sinoviocytes, muscle cells; 2) the proven rol...