The objective of this study was to characterize organ damage in lupus patients enrolled in the Dallas Regional Autoimmune Disease Registry (DRADR). Retrospective chart review was carried out on 99 patients with 4 or more diagnostic criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and 15 with less than 4 of these criteria, who were designated as having incomplete lupus (ILE). The majority of patients (84%) were African American or Hispanic/Latino; mean disease duration was 9.5 years. The mean damage score was 1.57 (range 0 to 8) and a damage score greater than 0 was present in 64% of the patients. The ILE group had lower mean damage scores (0.67) than the SLE group (1.67; P=0.04), explained in part by the shorter disease duration in the ILE patients (4.33 years vs. 10.24 years; P=0.003). The most prevalent damage category was renal, present in 24% of patients. Malignancies occurred in individuals who were significantly older than those who had renal or peripheral vascular damage (P=0.0007). The findings confirm clinical impressions that the DRADR includes a high-risk lupus population. The ILE patients have less damage but also shorter disease duration, suggesting that this might represent an earlier disease stage. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that ILE patients include a subset that is likely to experience progressive organ damage. Longitudinal study of these patients has significant likelihood of tracking the changes that are correlated with disease progression to SLE.
Background: Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases worldwide and has been increasing in prevalence over the last few decades. Magnesium ion has an inhibitory action on smooth muscle contraction, histamine release from mast cells and acetylcholine release from cholinergic nerve terminals. Magnesium has been shown to relax bronchial smooth muscles and influence the function of respiratory muscles. Hypomagnesemia have been associated with diminished respiratory muscle power.Aim: To assess the serum Mg levels in bronchial asthma patients during stable and exacerbating clinical conditions. Subjects and methods: 60 Subjects were enrolled, 40 patients diagnosed as bronchial asthma and 20 healthy individuals as a control group. The asthmatic patients were divided into group (I) chronic stable bronchial asthma and group (II) acute exacerbation of bronchial asthma.Results: Serum Mg levels were significantly lower in asthmatic patients compared with healthy controls and significantly lower in asthmatic patients during exacerbation compared with stable asthmatics. There was a positive correlation between serum Mg levels and each of FEV1/FVC ratio and FEV1.Conclusion: Hypomagnesemia was found in patients with chronic stable asthma and also in those with acute asthma exacerbation compared to control. Serum mg levels were significantly lower in asthmatic patients during exacerbations compared with stable asthmatics.
This review describes the characteristics of a number of pathologies, which are considered from the point of view of chronobiology, that is, the way in which biological processes are expressed throughout the 24-hour day. This perspective is a relatively new way of thinking about disease and additionally about how to treat diseases. It has called attention to the importance of not only the quantity of a drug that is administered but also when it is administered. In addition, the review presents an overview of the emerging clinical strategies known as chronotherapeutics, that is, the effects of the daily scheduling of drug administration and the consequences of the activity and efficacy of therapies that are applied in this manner. This article also reviews innovative ways in which physicians are applying time-specified drug treatment (chronopharmacology) for sleep disorders. Here, we present a systematic description of chronopharmacology as well as definitions of key terms that, we believe, will be helpful for newcomers to the field. It is hoped that greater awareness of this new perspective on pharmacology will promote its adoption by researchers and clinicians.
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