The expression of cytokines and chemokines in the blood of patients with severe weight loss from anorexia nervosa: An exploratory study

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a serious, potentially life-threatening disorder characterized by severe weight loss, dysregulated eating, and often excessive exercise. While psychiatric illnesses such as depression are associated with increased levels of pro-inflammatory mediators, evidence for such disturbances in patients with AN has been less clear. To elucidate further immune responses in AN, we assayed a panel of cytokines and chemokines in the blood of patients undergoing inpatient treatment, testing the hypothesis that metabolic disturbances in this disease would lead to a pattern of immune disturbances distinct from that of other psychiatric diseases. For this purpose, we evaluated patients by the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) and the Eating Disorders Examination-Questionnaire and assessed cytokines and chemokines by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Patients reported a moderate level of depression (mean BDI-II = 22.6) but exhibited few immunologic abnormalities of the kind associated with major depressive disorder [e.g., increased interleukin (IL)-6]; RANTES showed the most frequent elevations and was increased in 4 of the patients studied. Together, these findings suggest that features of AN such as loss of adipose tissue and excessive exercise may attenuate cytokine production and thus modulate the experience of illness that impacts on core features of disease

Pathogenic effector functions of ACPA: Where do we stand?

Pathophysiology and treatment of rheumatic disease

Response to: 'Comment on editorial 'Pathogenic effector functions of ACPA: where do we stand'' by Holmdahl

Pathophysiology and treatment of rheumatic disease

Response to: "How to communicate in science" by Klareskog et al

Pathophysiology and treatment of rheumatic disease

Physiological role for enhanced renal thromboxane production in murine lupus nephritis

To investigate the physiologic significance of enhanced renal thromboxane production in murine lupus nephritis, we measured renal hemodynamics and eicosanoid production in MRL- lpr/lpr mice from 8 to 20 weeeks of age. Over this age range, MRL- lpr/lpr mice develop an autoimmune disease with nephritis similar to huma systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). In these studies, glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and PAH clearance (C PAH) decreased progressively with age in MRL- lpr/lpr mice, but not in controls. This impairment of renal hemodynamics was associated with increased renal thromoboxane production, as well as increased excretion of both thromboxane B 2 (T×B 2) and 2,3-dinor T×B 2 in urine. There was an inverse correlation between renal thromboxane production in MRL- lpr/lpr mice and both GFR and C PAH. Furthermore, there were positive correlations between thromboxane production by the kidney and both the severity of renal hispathology and serum anti-DNA antibody levels measured in individual animals. Enhanced urinary excretion of T×B 2 and the development of renal dysfunction also conincidede temporally with the appearance of increased levels of interleukin 1β (IL-1β) mRNA in renal cortex. Acute administration of the specific thromboxane receptor antagonist GR32191 to MRL- lpr/lpr mice restored GFR to normal in early stages of the autoimmune disease. However, in animals with more advanced nephritis, the effect of acute thromboxane receptor blockade on renal hemodynamics was less marked. We conclude that thromboxane A 2 is an important mediator of reversible renal hemodynamic impairment in murine lupus, especially in the early phase of disease

L'evasione di Pietro e la morte del tiranno. Echi Intertestuali in At 12

(Résumé de l'ouvrage) Una raccolta di studi con cui l'Associazione Biblica Italiana e le EDB intendono onorare la memoria di mons. Fusco, vescovo di Nardò-Gallipoli e illustre biblista. Il volume segue gli ambiti di interesse che hanno caratterizzato la sua ricerca e vede il contributo di insigni studiosi italiani e stranieri