Serum interleukin-17 levels are associated with nephritis in childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus

OBJECTIVES: To determine the serum interleukin-17 (IL-17) levels in childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus patients and to evaluate the association between IL-17 and clinical manifestations, disease activity, laboratory findings and treatment. METHODS: We included 67 consecutive childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus patients [61 women; median age 18 years (range 11-31)], 55 first-degree relatives [50 women; median age 40 years (range 29-52)] and 47 age- and sex-matched healthy controls [42 women; median age 19 years (range 6-30)]. The childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus patients were assessed for clinical and laboratory systemic lupus erythematosus manifestations, disease activity [Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI)], cumulative damage [Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics/American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Damage Index] and current drug use. Serum IL-17 levels were measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using commercial kits. RESULTS: The median serum IL-17 level was 36.3 (range 17.36-105.92) pg/mL in childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus patients and 29.47 (15.16-62.17) pg/mL in healthy controls (p=0.009). We observed an association between serum IL-17 levels and active nephritis (p=0.01) and migraines (p=0.03). Serum IL-17 levels were not associated with disease activity (p=0.32), cumulative damage (p=0.34), or medication use (p=0.63). CONCLUSION: IL-17 is increased in childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus and may play a role in the pathogenesis of neuropsychiatric and renal manifestations. Longitudinal studies are necessary to determine the role of IL-17 in childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus. .

Ansiedade social e atribuição de emoções a faces neutras / Social snxiety and attribution of affect to neutral faces

Trabalhos anteriores têm revelado vieses no reconhecimento de emoções e padrões diferenciais de ativação cerebral no transtorno de ansiedade social. No presente estudo, foi investigada a atribuição de emoções a faces neutras em 22 indivíduos com ansiedade social e 20 voluntários controles. Através do método da escolha forçada, participantes atribuíram emoções de alegria, medo, raiva ou tristeza a faces neutras. Verificou-se que homens e mulheres com ansiedade social atribuíram mais frequentemente emoções de raiva e tristeza às faces neutras, respectivamente. A atribuição de raiva por homens pode estar associada à tendência masculina em detectar sinais de hostilidade no ambiente social, enquanto que o aumento na atribuição de tristeza pelas mulheres pode estar associado à facilitação na identificação de emoções negativas. Os resultados sugerem que a ansiedade social afeta diferentemente os sexos e têm implicações importantes sobre o uso da face neutra como condição de base ou controle nas neurociências comportamentais.

Previous research has revealed facial emotion recognition biases and distinctive patterns of brain activation in social anxiety disorder. We investigated the attribution of emotion to neutral facial displays in 22 subjects with social anxiety and 20 healthy controls. Using a forced choice paradigm, participants labeled neutral faces as happy, fearful, angry or sad. The most frequent emotional labels attributed by males and females to neutral faces were anger and sadness, respectively. These findings are discussed according to the notion that the attribution of anger by men may be associated with the male tendency to detect hostile environmental signs, whereas the increased attribution of sadness by females might be associated with facilitated identification of negative affect. The results suggest that social anxiety disorder differentially affects males and females and has important implications concerning the use of the neutral face as a baseline or control condition in behavioral neuroscience.