Suchergebnisse

Our paper is a comparative analysis of Alexander Dugin's The Fourth Way and Karl Popper's The Open Society. Both works of the two thinkers are viewed as completely concrete (and real) conceptual frameworks, offering two radically different models of perception of the world, the individual and community relations, of the international relations. Our analysis takes into consideration both the internal, that is the "intimate enemies of democracy", and the new (old) enemies of the open society that "relapse" through the Fourth Way. Our theoretical research is focused on the parallel between the negative starting premises for the functioning of the Open Society – historicism, utopian social engineering, collectivism and chieftainism – studied in relation to the same principles, which, respectively, are the foundation of the Fourth Political Theory. The article also considers another important problem: the thesis, that the internal, autoimmune diseases of the Open Society, are in fact the preconditions, on which the doctrines of its external opponents are based.

Women, Work, and Autoimmune Disease is a book for women who live with chronic illness, encouraging them to stay employed to preserve their independence and sense of self. Rich with information and inspiration, it is the voice of warmth, wisdom, understanding, and compassion. Filled with tips, tricks and first-person accounts from women who have made similar choices in their own lives, this unique book is a resounding call for self-reliance and resilience. The book identifies the factors that making working particularly difficult for women with autoimmune disease, and then offers practical sugg

Autoimmune hepatitis (AH) and primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) are autoimmune diseases (AIDs) targeting cellular components of the liver. Being rare diseases, limited data are available about familial risks among these AIDs (concordant) or between them and other AIDs (discordant). We aimed to carry out an unbiased study on these AIDs based on medically diagnosed patients. We collected data on patients diagnosed in Swedish hospitals with AH, PBC and other AIDs and calculated familial standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) for concordant and discordant familial relative risks. The number of AH patients was 6,269, of whom 43.0% were male; patient numbers for PBC were 4,269, with 17.8% males. AH accounted for 0.8% and 0.6% of all hospitalized AIDs in Sweden. For AH only the familial risk between siblings was significant (3.83). For PBC the risks for offspring of parents (9.05) and siblings (10.88) were high, but only risk for females was significant. Spousal risks were very high, 5.91 and 6.07 for AH. Risk for AH was 2.21 in families of PBC, and it was 2.47 for PBC in families of AH patients. Among other AIDs, 14 showed a significant association with AH, compared to 16 AIDs with PBC. The surprising finding in this nation-wide family study on medically diagnosed patients was the high risk for AH (6.0) between spouses, which exceed the risk between siblings, suggesting the existence of strong environmental risk factors. AH and PBC were associated with multiple other AIDs. The results call attention to environmental factors in AID etiology which should also be in focus in taking anamnestic data from patients. ; The study was supported by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, grant No 856620. HT receives salary from GeneWerk GmbH. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Exposure to Libby Amphibole: The clinical picture of autoimmune disease
Karen Lee Morrissette and Jean C. Pfau from the Center for Asbestos-Related Disease discuss the clinical presentation and complexity of the autoimmune disease progression among those exposed to Libby Amphibole. The Center for Asbestos Related Disease (CARD) opened in 2000 to provide asbestos health screening and ongoing care for those exposed to Libby Amphibole asbestos at the Superfund site in Libby, Montana. A vermiculite mine, open for a seventy-year period ending in 1990 and at one time producing up to 80% of the world's vermiculite supply, was naturally contaminated by asbestiform fibers – tremolite, winchite, and richterite – a combination now known as Libby Amphibole. Not only were mine workers exposed, but also their families and most of the nearby town of Libby. In 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared the area an environmental public health emergency, the first designation of its kind in the US.

BACKGROUND: Autoimmune disease-associated variants are preferentially found in regulatory regions in immune cells, particularly CD4+ T cells. Linking such regulatory regions to gene promoters in disease-relevant cell contexts facilitates identification of candidate disease genes. RESULTS: Within four hours, activation of CD4+ T cells invokes changes in histone modifications and enhancer RNA transcription that correspond to altered expression of the interacting genes identified by promoter capture Hi-C (PCHi-C). By integrating PCHi-C data with genetic associations for five autoimmune diseases we prioritised 245 candidate genes with a median distance from peak signal to prioritised gene of 153 kb. Just under half (108/245) prioritised genes related to activation-sensitive interactions. This included IL2RA, where allele-specific expression analyses were consistent with its interaction-mediated regulation, illustrating the utility of the approach. CONCLUSIONS: Our systematic experimental framework offers an alternative approach to candidate causal gene identification for variants with cell state-specific functional effects, with achievable sample sizes. ; This work was funded by the JDRF (9-2011-253), the Wellcome Trust (089989, 091157, 107881), the UK Medical Research Council (MR/L007150/1, MC_UP_1302/5), the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/J004480/1) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's 7th Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. 241447 (NAIMIT). The Cambridge Institute for Medical Research (CIMR) is in receipt of a Wellcome Trust Strategic Award (100140).

OBJECTIVE: To explore the potential association between asbestos exposure and risk of autoimmmune disease, we conducted a case-control study among a cohort of 7,307 current and former residents of Libby, Montana, a community with historical occupational and environmental exposure to asbestos-contaminated vermiculite. METHODS: Cases were defined as those who reported having one of three systemic autoimmune diseases (SAIDs): systemic lupus erythematosus, scleroderma, or rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Controls were randomly selected at a 3:1 ratio from among the remaining 6,813 screening participants using frequency-matched age and sex groupings. RESULTS: The odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for SAIDs among those >= 65 years of age who had worked for the vermiculite mining company were 2.14 (95% Cl, 0.90-5.10) for all SAIDs and 3.23 (95% CI, 1.31-7.96) for RA. In this age group, exposure to asbestos while in the military was also an independent risk factor, resulting in a tripling in risk. Other measures of occupational exposure to vermiculite indicated 54% and 65% increased risk for SAIDs and RA, respectively. Those who had reported frequent contact with vermiculite through various exposure pathways also demonstrated elevated risk for SAIDs and RA. We found increasing risk estimates for SAIDs with increasing numbers of reported vermiculite exposure pathways (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: These preliminary findings support the hypothesis that asbestos exposure is associated with autoimmune disease. Refined measurements of asbestos exposure and SAID status among this cohort will help to further clarify the relationship between these variables.

Understanding COVID-19 vaccination attitudes is of paramount importance in order to estimate and influence the willingness to vaccinate. A cross-sectional study was performed in the spring of 2021 in Romania by sending a web-based questionnaire to patients with rheumatic autoimmune diseases in order to assess their willingness to vaccinate against SARS CoV-2 and to identify factors that might influence their decision. Variables derived from the questionnaire were analyzed in univariable and multivariable analysis. 71 patients, of which 60 (84.5%) women, were included in the study, with a 53.5% (38 subjects) willingness to vaccinate. A positive association was observed between the willingness to vaccinate and the patients' trust in authorities, trust in the healthcare system and the choice of scientific sources of information in their decision making. A positive correlation was observed between the intention to vaccinate and the global VAX score, as well as the subscale VAX scores (p0.05). Global VAX score emerged as a predictive factor for the intention to vaccinate on logistic regression (p0.05). The present study underlines the importance of reliable scientific sources of information for pa-tients with autoimmune diseases and how the general attitude about vaccination becomes a pre-dictive factor for accepting COVID-19 vaccine. Understanding COVID-19 vaccination attitudes is of paramount importance in order to estimate and influence the willingness to vaccinate. A cross-sectional study was performed in the spring of 2021 in Romania by sending a web-based questionnaire to patients with rheumatic autoimmune diseases in order to assess their willingness to vaccinate against SARS CoV-2 and to identify factors that might influence their decision. Variables derived from the questionnaire were analyzed in univariable and multivariable analysis. 71 patients, of which 60 (84.5%) women, were included in the study, with a 53.5% (38 subjects) willingness to vaccinate. A positive association was observed between the willingness to vaccinate and the patients' trust in authorities, trust in the healthcare system and the choice of scientific sources of information in their decision making. A positive correlation was observed between the intention to vaccinate and the global VAX score, as well as the subscale VAX scores (p0.05). Global VAX score emerged as a predictive factor for the intention to vaccinate on logistic regression (p0.05). The present study underlines the importance of reliable scientific sources of information for pa-tients with autoimmune diseases and how the general attitude about vaccination becomes a pre-dictive factor for accepting COVID-19 vaccine. Understanding COVID-19 vaccination attitudes is of paramount importance in order to estimate and influence the willingness to vaccinate. A cross-sectional study was performed in the spring of 2021 in Romania by sending a web-based questionnaire to patients with rheumatic autoimmune diseases in order to assess their willingness to vaccinate against SARS CoV-2 and to identify factors that might influence their decision. Variables derived from the questionnaire were analyzed in univariable and multivariable analysis. 71 patients, of which 60 (84.5) women, were included in the study, with a 53.5% (38 subjects) willingness to vaccinate. A positive association was observed between the willingness to vaccinate and the patients' trust in authorities, trust in the healthcare system and the choice of scientific sources of information in their decision making. A positive correlation was observed between the intention to vaccinate and the global VAX score, as well as the subscale VAX scores (p0.05). Global VAX score emerged as a predictive factor for the intention to vaccinate on logistic regression (p0.05). The present study underlines the importance of reliable scientific sources of information for pa-tients with autoimmune diseases and how the general attitude about vaccination becomes a pre-dictive factor for accepting COVID-19 vaccine.

et al. ; [Aim]: Based on the ability of apoptosis to induce immunological tolerance, liposomes were generated mimicking apoptotic cells, and they arrest autoimmunity in Type 1 diabetes. Our aim was to validate the immunotherapy in other autoimmune disease: multiple sclerosis. [Materials & methods]: Phosphatidylserine-rich liposomes were loaded with disease-specific autoantigen. Therapeutic capability of liposomes was assessed in vitro and in vivo. [Results]: Liposomes induced a tolerogenic phenotype in dendritic cells, and arrested autoimmunity, thus decreasing the incidence, delaying the onset and reducing the severity of experimental disease, correlating with an increase in a probably regulatory CD25+ FoxP3- CD4+ T-cell subset. [Conclusion]: This is the first work that confirms phosphatidylserine-liposomes as a powerful tool to arrest multiple sclerosis, demonstrating its relevance for clinical application. ; This work was supported by a grant from the Spanish Government (FIS PI15/00198) co-financed with the European Regional Development funds (FEDER) and by CERCA Programme, Generalitat de Catalunya. CIBER of Diabetes and Associated Metabolic Diseases (CIBERDEM) is an initiative from Instituto de Salud Carlos III. This work has been supported by positive discussion through A FACTT network (Cost Action BM1305: www.afactt.eu). COST is supported by the EU Framework Programme Horizon 2020. S Rodriguez-Fernandez and J Navarro-Barriuso are supported by grants from the AGAUR, Generalitat de Catalunya. ; Peer Reviewed

Background: Pernicious anemia (PA) is an autoimmune disease (AID) which is caused by lack of vitamin B12 (cobalamin) due to its impaired uptake. PA is a multifactorial disease which is associated with a number of other AID comorbidities and which is manifested as part of autoimmune polyglandular syndrome. Due to the shortage of family studies on PA, we planned to address the problem by assessing familial risks for concordant PA between family members and for discordant PA in families of other AID patients. Methods: We collected data on patients diagnosed with AIDs from the Swedish hospitals and family data from a population register. We calculated standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) in families for concordant and discordant risks. Results: The number of PA patients in the offspring generation (for which the familial risk was calculated) was 7701; 278 (3.6%) patients had a family history of PA. The population prevalence of PA was 0.9/1000. The familial risk for PA was 3.88 when any first-degree relative was the proband, equal for men and women. The familial risk was two times higher between siblings than between offspring and parents which may be due to complex genetic background. Associations of PA with 14 discordant AIDs were significant; these included some AIDs that have previously been described as comorbidities in PA patients and several yet unreported associations, including rheumatoid arthritis and other AIDs. Conclusions: The familial risks for PA were high suggesting multifactorial genetic etiology. The results call for further population-level studies to unravel mechanisms of familial PA which may help to understand the etiology of this disease. ; is study was supported by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program (grant no. 856620), Swedish Research Council (2016-01176 (to Jan Sundquist) and 2018-02400 (to Kristina Sundquist)), Swedish Heart- Lung Foundation, and ALF project grant, Lund University, Sweden.

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) represents the most common autoimmune pathology in pediatric age. Evidence suggests that it is a complex disorder, influenced by multiple genetic and environmental factors. There is an association described among siblings and first-degree relatives. In this report, we present two families; in the 1st family we found a mother with Rheumatoid Arthritis + Celiac Disease (CD), two twin daughters, one with JIA + CD and the other one with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus + CD; in the 2nd family, we found 3 sisters with JIA with different subtypes, all of them with CD. Despite the clear genetic relationship, in our enviroment we have difficulty studying genes and understanding the genotypic presentation of our population. Therefore, multicentric studies with governmental and / or private support are needed. ; La artritis idiopática juvenil (AIJ) representa la patología autoinmune más frecuente en la edad pediátrica. La evidencia sugiere que se trata de un trastorno complejo, influenciado por múltiples factores genéticos y ambientales. Existe asociación descrita entre hermanos y familiares de primer grado. En este reporte, presentamos dos familias; en la 1ra familia encontramos una madre con Artritis Reumatoide + Enfermedad Celiaca (EC), dos hijas gemelas, una con AIJ + EC y la otra con Lupus Eritematoso Sistémico + EC; en la 2da familia hallamos 3 hermanas con AIJ con diferentes subtipos de presentación, todas con EC. A pesar de la clara relación genética, en nuestro medio se dificulta la capacidad de estudiar los genes implicados y comprender la presentación genotípica de nuestra población. Por tanto, se necesitan estudios multicéntricos, con apoyo gubernamental y/o privado para la realización de los mismos.