Takayasu arteritis (TA) and ulcerative colitis (UC), both immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, rarely occur together. This report describes TA in a 29-year old female patient who was being treated for UC for three years. As she had left-side neck pain and headache, she was diagnosed with TA and her response to tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitor was assessed by fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (¹⁸F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT). Positive responses to the TNF inhibitor were seen by PET/CT for the TA and by endoscopy for the UC. We conclude that TNF inhibitors are effective treatments for both TA and UC. We found that PET/CT is a useful for diagnosing and assessing TA.
Colitis, Ulcerative* ; Diagnosis* ; Electrons* ; Endoscopy ; Female ; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18* ; Headache ; Humans ; Neck Pain ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Positron-Emission Tomography and Computed Tomography ; Takayasu Arteritis* ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; Ulcer*

PURPOSE: Drug-induced liver injury is one of the serious adverse reactions resulting in severe morbidity and discontinuation of medications. Previously, IL-10 gene polymorphism has been reported to be associated with diclofenac-induced hepatitis. In this study, we aimed to investigate the associations between genetic polymorphisms of immune-regulating cytokines (IL-10 and TGF-β1) with antituberculosis drugs (ATD)-induced liver injury. METHODS: We enrolled 80 patients with ATD-induced liver injury and 238 ATD-tolerant controls. Two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) of IL-10 (-1082A>G, rs1800896; -819T>C, rs1800871) and one promoter SNP of TGF-β1 gene (-509C>T, rs1800469) were genotyped in both groups. Genotype frequencies of these SNPs were compared between case and control groups. RESULTS: In 2 promoter SNPs of IL-10 gene, there was no significant difference of genotype frequencies between patients with ATD-induced liver injury and controls. In addition, the genotype frequency of TGF-β1 -509C>T SNP in ATD-induced liver injury patients were not different from those of controls. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, there was no significant association between IL-10 and TGF-β1 gene polymorphisms and ATD-induced liver injury. These findings suggest that IL-10 and TGF-β1 do not play important role in the development of ATD-induced liver injury.
Antitubercular Agents ; Cytokines ; Drug-Induced Liver Injury ; Genotype ; Hepatitis ; Humans ; Interleukin-10* ; Liver* ; Polymorphism, Genetic* ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Transforming Growth Factor beta1

Atypical femoral fractures are characterized by a subtrochanteric or diaphyseal location. Recent studies have suggested that long-term treatment with bisphosphonates might be associated with the occurrence of atypical femoral fractures. The present report describes a case involving a 60-year-old woman with left buttock pain that was unassociated with trauma. Her hip pain was initially considered to be a symptom of her underlying rheumatoid arthritis, but a plain radiography, bone scintigraphy, and magnetic resonance imaging revealed an insufficiency fracture in the lateral shaft of the left proximal femur. She had been treated with a bisphosphonate for 4.5 years because of a previous vertebral fracture. Her chronic, long-term rheumatoid arthritis and history of bisphosphonate administration were considered to be associated with the development of her atypical femoral fracture.
Alendronate ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid* ; Buttocks ; Diphosphonates ; Female ; Femoral Fractures* ; Femur ; Fractures, Stress ; Hip ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Middle Aged ; Radiography ; Radionuclide Imaging

Deficiency of hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase is a purine nucleotide disorder and is the most common genetic cause of uric acid overproduction. This disease has a wide range of spectrum with regard to neurological features depending on the extent of the enzymatic deficiency. Complete deficiency of hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase, called Lesch-Nyhan syndrome, is presented with hyperuricemia and characteristic neurological manifestation and self-mutilation. Partial hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase--deficient patients are presented with a various intensities of the aforementioned symptoms, from almost normal neurologic manifestation to a severe form along with hyperuricemia. We report a twenty-year-old man with complete hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase mutation and Lesch-Nyhan sydrome, who manifested gouty arthritis without neurologic symptom.
Arthritis, Gouty* ; Humans ; Hyperuricemia ; Hypoxanthine Phosphoribosyltransferase ; Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome* ; Neurologic Manifestations* ; Uric Acid

Endocannabinoids can affect multiple cellular targets, such as cannabinoid (CB) receptors, transient receptor potential cation channel, subfamily V, member 1 (TRPV1) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma). The stimuli to induce adipocyte differentiation in hBM-MSCs increase the gene transcription of the CB1 receptor, TRPV1 and PPARgamma. In this study, the effects of three endocannabinoids, N-arachidonoyl ethanolamine (AEA), N-arachidonoyl dopamine (NADA) and 2-arachidonoyl glycerol (2-AG), on adipogenesis in hBM-MSCs were evaluated. The adipocyte differentiation was promoted by AEA whereas inhibited by NADA. No change was observed by the treatment of non-cytotoxic concentrations of 2-AG. The difference between AEA and NADA in the regulation of adipogenesis is associated with their effects on PPARgamma transactivation. AEA can directly activate PPARgamma. The effect of AEA on PPARgamma in hBM-MSCs may prevail over that on the CB1 receptor mediated signal transduction, giving rise to the AEA-induced promotion of adipogenesis. In contrast, NADA had no effect on the PPARgamma activity in the PPARgamma transactivation assay. The inhibitory effect of NADA on adipogenesis in hBM-MSCs was reversed not by capsazepine, a TRPV1 antagonist, but by rimonabant, a CB1 antagonist/inverse agonist. Rimonabant by itself promoted adipogenesis in hBM-MSCs, which may be interpreted as the result of the inverse agonism of the CB1 receptor. This result suggests that the constantly active CB1 receptor may contribute to suppress the adipocyte differentiation of hBM-MSCs. Therefore, the selective CB1 agonists that are unable to affect cellular PPARgamma activity inhibit adipogenesis in hBM-MSCs.
Adipocytes* ; Adipogenesis ; Dopamine* ; Endocannabinoids ; Ethanolamine ; Felodipine ; Glycerol ; Humans ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells* ; PPAR gamma ; Receptor, Cannabinoid, CB1 ; Receptors, Cannabinoid* ; Signal Transduction ; Transcriptional Activation