Cleveland Clinic journal of medicine
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Myasthenia gravis is a prototypical antibody-mediated autoimmune neuromuscular disorder. Treatments have improved over the past 30 years, leading to significantly fewer deaths and better quality of life. Future research should further elucidate its pathogenesis, reveal better ways to diagnose it, and yield new treatments.
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Review Case Reports
Antisynthetase syndrome: not just an inflammatory myopathy.
In recent years, antisynthetase syndrome has been recognized as an important cause of autoimmune inflammatory myopathy in a subset of patients with polymyositis and dermatomyositis. It is associated with serum antibodies to aminoacyl-transfer RNA synthetases and is characterized by a constellation of manifestations, including fever, myositis, interstitial lung disease, "mechanic's hands," Raynaud phenomenon, and polyarthritis. Physicians should be familiar with its variety of clinical presentations and should include it in the differential diagnosis in patients presenting with unexplained interstitial lung disease.
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Assessment of the jugular venous pressure is often inadequately performed and undervalued. Here, we review the physiologic and anatomic basis for the jugular venous pressure, including the discrepancy between right atrial and central venous pressures. We also describe the correct method of evaluating this clinical finding and review the clinical relevance of the jugular venous pressure, especially its value in assessing the severity and response to treatment of congestive heart failure. Waveforms reflective of specific conditions are also discussed.