Mo Yin Mok

..This article provides an overview on normal B-cell physiology and abnormal B-cell biology in SLE that form the immunological basis of B-cell-targeted therapy in the treatment of these patients with refractory diseases...

..We examined the relation between serum levels of Th17 (IL-17, IL-23), Th1 (IL-12, interferon-γ), Th2 (IL-10, IL-6, IL-4) cytokines and disease activity in patients with SLE...

..Poverty, education level, cultural and behavioural factors are confounders to ethnicity in determining clinical outcome of systemic lupus erythematosus...

..This study aims to measure the serum levels of soluble ST2 (sST2) and IL-33 in patients with SLE and to examine their association with disease activity...

..This study was undertaken to examine the relationship between coronary atherosclerosis, as assessed by the coronary artery calcium score (CACS), and conventional cardiovascular and disease-specific risk factors in SSc patients...

..Impaired coronary artery reserve has previously been demonstrated in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). Both micro- and macrovascular factors are probably contributory to the underlying pathogenesis...

..Results of previous studies on the level of circulating endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs), which are involved in vascular repair, in scleroderma (SSc) patients have been controversial...

..Multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) measured arterial calcium score (CS) reflecting underlying atherosclerosis and is closely associated with cardiovascular events...

....

..Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are prone to premature atherosclerosis. We hypothesize that depletion of circulating endothelial progenitor cells (EPC) related to RA can contribute to the development of atherosclerosis...

..However, the functional characteristics of directly isolated peripheral circulating blood pDCs in SLE have not been evaluated previously...

..Chinese patients with PMR have modestly different clinical profile compared to the Caucasian counterpart. RF and anti-CCP antibodies were more likely to be present in those who subsequently developed into RA...

..Therefore, despite the low-allele frequencies of the risk alleles of the gene in our two Asian populations, ITGAM was confirmed to be a risk factor related to disease susceptibility and probably severe manifestations of SLE...

..004 by trend). Serum NO(x) in SSc patients were elevated compared to healthy controls. Serum NO(x) level was determined by multiple factors including age, prednisolone use, and elevated PAP...

..We investigated the prevalence of valvular calcification in patients with RA and SLE and its relationship with arterial atherosclerotic calcification...

..These new genetic findings may help us to gain a better understanding of the disease and the functions of the genes involved...

..We examined the usefulness of INAH in the prevention of recurrences of TB in patients with SLE receiving high dose corticosteroid therapy...

..062 by survival analysis). It is concluded that MMF and prednisolone constitute an effective continuous induction-maintenance treatment for DPLN in Chinese patients...

..This study aims to identify the existence of, and relationship between autoantibody clusters and clinical subsets in Chinese SLE patients...

..For the region involving TET3 and that involving CDKN1B, multiple independent SNPs were identified, highlighting a phenomenon that might partially explain the missing heritability of complex diseases...

....

..We also discuss the burden of CVD, as evaluated using various surrogate markers in these patients, and their overall CVD mortality rate...

....

..Compared with established AS patients recognized by MNY criteria, patients fulfilling USpA defined by ESSG or ASAS criteria had earlier disease, as active disease and less irreversible functional deficit...

..We examined associations between ADM concentrations and vascular manifestations in a cohort of patients with SSc...

....

..The recent surge of interest in studying microRNA regulation in SLE pathogenesis will also be discussed...

..In SLE, the increased number of circulating pDCs supports a pathogenic role for these cells, and the decreased mDC number and CD83 expression may explain the susceptibility to infections in these patients...

..This project aims to compare the periodontal status of dentate Hong Kong Chinese with and without SSc...

..In addition, these measurements will facilitate trials of therapeutic strategies that, in addition to controlling conventional risk factors, prevent and treat cardiovascular disease in patients with SSc...

..Our patient was put on aspirin but suffered from recurrent bowel infarction 1.5 years later and eventually succumbed to septic complications...

....

..Most did not respond satisfactorily to nonsteroidal antiinflammatory agents alone, but responded to administration of corticosteroids, especially in high doses...