No abstract available.
Arthritis*

No abstract available.
Arthritis*

No abstract available.
Rheumatic Diseases*

No abstract available.
Rheumatic Diseases*

PURPOSE: To evaluate the optimal pulse sequences in the detection of erosions and for the discrimination of theeffusion from pannus. MATERIALS AND METHODS: MR studies were performed in thirteen patients with clinical diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis. We used a 1.5T MR unit with single or dual 3 inch coil. We compared coronal images at the same location, obtained with pulse sequences of T2, T2 with fat saturation, and postcontrast T1 with fat suppression. Erosions were assessed by comparing the count of the numbers of erosions depending on each imaging method. A four point scoring systems was used for the comparison of conspicuitof lesion. RESULTS: T2WI with fat suppression and postcontreat T1WI with fat suppresison were better than conventional T2WI in the detection of erosions. The pannus had a heterogeneous signal on T2WI, some of which were enhanced after the intravenous injection of MR contrast a gents. CONCLUSION: We suggest that the fat suppression TIWI with enhacnement or the fat suppression T2WI were better than conventional T2WI for detecting both bone erosion and pannus. The postcontrast MR imaging may often be helpul in distinguishing pannus from the effusion.
Arthritis, Rheumatoid* ; Diagnosis ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Humans ; Injections, Intravenous ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Wrist*

Panniculitis, Lupus Erythematosus*

No abstract available.

The third complementarity determining region (CDR3) of the immunoglobulin (Ig) kappa () chain is known to be located at the center of antigen binding groove and critical for antibody specificity. Ig chain has been characterized by limited junctional diversity due to the absence of N-region addition resulting in relative conservation of CDR3 lengths with 9 or 10 amino acids. CDR3 region of 11 amino acids is only possible with N-region addition. Recently, x transcripts with 11 amino acids CDR3 was found to be expressed in normal individuals, and in autoimrnune disease such as rheumatoid arthritis, the fraction of 11 amino acids CDR3 of humkv325-derived chains was overexpressed compared to conventional adult peripheral B cells. However, the significance of this bias is difficult to interpret without a clear understanding of normal repertoire of CDR3 length during development. The purpose of this study is to determine whether developmental regulation of CDR3 amino acids codon lengths exists in chains expressed in the fetal liver, cord blood, and adult peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL). Lymphocytes were seperated from fetal liver, cord blood and adult PBL and cDNA was generated from extracted mRNA. PCR-based CDR3 finger- printing assay was performed with VI-IV family specific primers. CDR3 length diversity of Ig x chain increases as the development proceeds. The length diversity most frequently occured in Vlll family derived transcripts including 11 amino acids CDR3. transcripts with 11 amino acids CDR3 were consitently expressed in both fetal and adult Ig repertoire. These results support the hypothesis that v chain CDR3 length is developmentally regulated and implicates the diversity of antigen-antibody specificity generation.
Adult ; Amino Acids ; Antibody Specificity ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; B-Lymphocytes ; Bias (Epidemiology) ; Codon ; Complementarity Determining Regions ; DNA, Complementary ; Fetal Blood ; Humans* ; Immunoglobulin kappa-Chains* ; Immunoglobulins* ; Liver ; Lymphocytes ; RNA, Messenger ; Sensitivity and Specificity

Wegener's granulomatosis is a systemic necrotizing vasculitis of unknown cause. The disease is characterized by the involvement of the upper airway, the lung, and the kidney. Skin lesions are frequent and the most common lesion is purpura distributed on the limbs and trunk. A 34-year-old female showed recurrent purpuric macules on the both lower extremities and buttocks. The patient. showed nasal septal perforation with saddle nose deformity and C-ANCA positivity. Histopathologic findings of purpuric lesion revealed the features of necrotizing vasculitis. The histologic specimen from the nasal cavity showed chronic inflammation with granuloma formation and kidney showed focal necrotizing glomerulonephritis. Therefore, we treated the patient with prednisolone and cyclophosphamide having diagnosed Wegener's granulomatosis.
Adult ; Antibodies, Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic ; Buttocks ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Cyclophosphamide ; Extremities ; Female ; Glomerulonephritis ; Granuloma ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Kidney ; Lower Extremity ; Lung ; Nasal Cavity ; Nasal Septal Perforation ; Nose ; Prednisolone ; Purpura ; Skin ; Vasculitis ; Wegener Granulomatosis

No abstract available.
Coronary Vasospasm* ; Heart Arrest* ; Verapamil*