Introduction Imaging often plays a key role in establishing the presence, severity, and extent of inflammation of musculoskeletal tissues and can also help monitor disease complications, exclude other diagnoses, and assess treatment response. Imaging can provide early diagnosis and visualization…
Introduction Chronic pain in children and adolescents is commonly defined as any prolonged pain that lasts longer than the expected healing time (arbitrarily defined as greater than 3 months), or any recurrent pain that occurs at least three times throughout…
Introduction Pediatric rheumatic diseases are a broad group of disorders characterized by chronic inflammation, which may have a profound effect on the child’s well-being and may cause irreversible changes in several organs and systems. The aim of the management of…
The critical evaluation of clinical studies is essential for the practice of evidence-based medicine. This chapter will provide readers with sufficient knowledge of study design and data analysis to understand and to begin to assess the quality of clinical investigations.…
Immune defense against microbes is mediated by sequential and coordinated responses, termed innate and adaptive immunity . Innate immunity represents early response mechanisms that facilitate rapid reaction to invading pathogens in the first few hours or days after infection (see…
The immune system, the function of which is to protect against infections, is composed of two branches: a phylogenetically earlier one called innate immunity and a more recently evolved one called adaptive immunity. Innate and adaptive immunity are not two…
Introduction Pediatric rheumatology owes a great debt to meticulous clinical observations. In the 21st century, however, the practice of pediatric rheumatology requires skills beyond obtaining a thorough history and physical examination. In this chapter, we endeavor to build upon the…
Introduction Genetics is the study of the relationships between genetic variation (genotypes) and heritable traits (phenotypes). When these investigations are expanded to explore genotype–phenotype relationships across the entire genome, they are called genomics . Together, genetics and genomics investigations are…
Rheumatic diseases involve abnormalities of multiple organs and systems, but it is predominantly the musculoskeletal system that is affected. The musculoskeletal system consists of bones, joints, cartilage, tendons, ligaments, muscles, and associated connective tissues. This chapter is an overview of…
Why try to repurpose/reposition drugs for SLE patients? The term drug repurposing refers to using or testing a drug that has been approved by the regulatory authorities for one disease indication in another disease, in this case systemic lupus erythematosus…