Dermatomyosite du sujet âgé: étude de 4 observations dans le sud tunisien

La dermatomyosite (DM) touche essentiellement l’adolescent et l’adulte jeune, elle est très rare chez le sujet âgé, le plus souvent associée à des complications iatrogènes et à une pathologie cancéreuse. Nous avons étudié les caractéristiques de la DM du sujet âgé à travers une étude rétrospective dans laquelle nous avons comparé 4 patients âgés de plus de 65 ans au début de la myosite avec 40 sujets jeunes.Pan African Medical Journal 2012; 13:2

Maladie de Takayasu et polyarthrite rhumatoïde: une association rare - à propos d’une observation

L’artérite de Takayasu ou maladie de Takayasu (MT) et la polyarthrite rhumatoïde (PR) et sont deux maladies inflammatoires chroniques et leur association a été rapportée dans la littérature à travers quelques observations de cas sporadiques. Nous rapportons une nouvelle observation d’une telle association. Une patiente âgée de 44 ans, diagnostiquée avec une polyarthrite rhumatoïde à facteur rhumatoïde positif, qui a développé des céphalées avec des vertiges de caractère permanent. L’examen révélait un pouls radial et huméral abolis à droite, un souffle carotidien bilatéral et une tension artérielle imprenable à droite. L’artériographie a confirmé la présence d’une atteinte de l’arc aortique type MT. Le diagnostic d’une maladie de Takayasu associée à une polyarthrite rhumatoïde était retenu. La patiente était traitée par une corticothérapie (prednisone à la dose de 0,5 mg/kg par jour) et un traitement de fond par Méthotrexate avec une bonne réponse initiale. A travers notre observation et une revue de la littérature, les caractéristiques épidémiologiques, étiopathogéniques, cliniques, thérapeutiques et évolutives de cette association seront discutées. Pan African Medical Journal 2012; 12:6

Coupling of microwave radiations to convective drying for improving fruit quality

[EN] The present study aims to find the best drying method to minimize the duration of the operation while respecting the nutritional value of the product. Experiments of convective drying and microwave radiation were respectively carried out with a convective dryer (heat temperature: 65 °C and air velocity: 1.3 m/s) and a microwave oven (power level: 100 W and frequency: 2450 MHz). Six coupling tests between the convective drying and microwave radiation were conducted. The only variable condition is the time output of tomatoes from the convective dryer or the microwave oven corresponding to an intermediate mass ratio (IMR) 0.5, 0.4 and 0.3. The microwave drying removes the bound water faster than convective drying. This explains the observed time savings due to convection-microwave and microwave-convection combined drying. The combination of convection drying and microwave drying to an IMR 0.5 preserved better the red color and the antioxidants of the tomato. Thus, the convection–microwave combined drying (IMR 0.5) proved most suitable for preserving the quality of tomatoes.This study was financed by the National Agency for Energy Control in the context of a Federated Research Project.Bahloul, N.; Balti, MA.; Guellouze, MS.; Kechaou, N. (2018). Coupling of microwave radiations to convective drying for improving fruit quality. En IDS 2018. 21st International Drying Symposium Proceedings. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 699-706. https://doi.org/10.4995/IDS2018.2018.7794OCS69970

Systemic Lupus Erythematosusmyositis Overlap Syndrome: Report of 6 Cases

The incidence of myositis in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is low among different series. Here we attempt to describe the main features of SLE/myositis overlap syndrome. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 174 patients with SLE seen over 15-year period. All the patients fulfilled the revised American Rheumatology Association criteria for SLE. Patients who met The Bohan and Peter criteria for definite myositis were included in this study. Among those patients, six patients had an associated myositis (3.4% overall). They were 6 women with a mean age of 29 years (20-41 years). At the initial evaluation, 3 patients (50%) were complained from myalgia, and all patients had symmetrical muscle weakness (proximal muscle weakness in 6 cases with distal muscle weakness in 2 cases). The muscle disease was severe in 1 case. Involvements of muscles of the pharynx and upper esophagus were noted in 4 patients (66.6%). The creatine kinase (CK) levels were elevated in 4 cases with a mean rate of 2153.5 UI/L. The electromyogram (EMG) revealed signs of myositis in 5 cases. Muscle biopsy, performed in 5 patients, revealed an inflammatory myopathy changes in 4 cases. Antinuclear antibodies (ANA) were positive in all cases. All our patients were treated with high doses of corticosteroids with favorable outcome. Relapse of SLE disease had occurred in 2 patients. The association SLEmyositis is rare with heterogeneous presentation. Through our observations and literature data we will specify the characteristics of this association

Coexistence of Behçet’s disease with ankylosing spondylitis and familial Mediterranean fever: a rare occurrence

Behçet's disease (BD) and familial Mediterranean fever (FMF), which are two separate diseases sharing some clinical features, may also coexist in the same patient. Further investigations are needed to understand whether this coexistence is due to either chance or geographical distribution patterns of these diseases or to common etiopathogenetic characteristics. Spondylarthritis as part of the clinical picture in these two diseases has been questioned and probably it is not a prominent characteristic of any of them. We report a 35- year-old Tunisian man who had an association of BD, FMF and Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) B27 positive ankylosing spondylitis. Although that spondylarthritis is an infrequent joint involvement of FMF and BD, it must be looked for in case of association of these diseases

Poor prognostic factors of lupus nephritis

The occurrence of renal involvement during the clinical course of systemic lupus erythematous (SLE) is generally considered to be the most important factor influencing the prognosis in terms of morbidity and mortality. The factors influencing prognosis in lupus nephritis (LN) are variable in literature. Our aim was to determine predictive factors of poor prognosis in LN among our population. In this retrospective study, 82 cases of LN observed over 18 years were studied. There were 12 males and 70 females with a mean age of 26.9 ± 11 years. At presentation, the mean proteinuria was 3.9 ± 4 g/day; the nephrotic syndrome, hematuria, leukocyturia and renal failure were observed in 67.1%, 63.4%, 56.1% and 37.8% of cases, respectively. LN was of class I, II, III, IV and V in 4.9%, 13.4%, 23.2%, 50% and 8.5% of the cases, respectively. Fifteen patients developed end-stage renal failure and/or died. The presence of hypertension, renal failure, massive proteinuria and high activity index score of LN was associated with poor renal prognosis