OBJECTIVE Avascular necrosis of bone (AVN) is an important complication of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Corticosteroid therapy has been underlined as a main risk factor for osteonecrosis. However, AVN development in patients who have never received corticosteroid and the absence of AVN in the majority of the patients, who received corticosteroid, propose a role for non-corticosteroid ris...

.............................................................................. 5 Introduction ..................................................................................... 11 1 Depression ............................................................................... 13 2 The stress response ................................................................ 16 2.1 The HPA axis ..............

BACKGROUND There is conflicting evidence regarding the benefit of adjunctive corticosteroid therapy in patients with Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia. We hypothesised that corticosteroid therapy could reduce mortality and length of stay (LOS) in such patients. METHODS Adult patients with M. pneumoniae pneumonia from January 2010 to December 2013 were identified from the Japanese Diagnosis Proc...

BACKGROUND The current guidelines recommend 21-day adjunctive corticosteroid therapy for HIV-1-infected pneumocystis pneumonia patients (HIV-PCP) with moderate-to-severe disease. Whether shorter adjunctive corticosteroid therapy is feasible in such patients is unknown. METHODS We conducted a retrospective study to elucidate the proportion of patients with moderate and severe HIV-PCP who requi...

The authors describe the scientific rationale for using an inhaled corticosteroid with an inhaled long-acting beta 2-agonist. They discuss the clinical trials demonstrating that using an inhaled corticosteroid with an inhaled long-acting beta 2-agonist provides greater overall asthma control compared with increasing the dose of inhaled corticosteroid. In addition, they review the clinical trial...