Objective. Different sets of diagnostic criteria have been proposed for Sjogren's syndrome (SS), but none have been validated with a large series of patients or in a multicenter study. We conducted the present study involving 26 centers from 12 countries (11 in Europe, plus Israel), with the goals of reaching a consensus on the diagnostic procedures for SS and defining classification criteria to be used in epidemiologic surveys and adopted by the scientific community.Methods. The study protocol was subdivided into two parts. For part I, questionnaires regarding both ocular and oral involvement were developed; they in-

Selenium administration significantly improved quality of life, reduced ocular involvement, and slowed progression of the disease in patients with mild Graves' orbitopathy. (Funded by the University of Pisa and the Italian Ministry for Education, University and Research; EUGOGO Netherlands Trial Register number, NTR524.).

Objective-To develop criteria for disease activity in systemic sclerosis (SSc) that are valid, reliable, and easy to use. Methods-Investigators from 19 European centres completed a standardised clinical chart for a consecutive number of patients with SSc. Three protocol management members blindly evaluated each chart and assigned a disease activity score on a semiquantitative scale of 0-10. Two of them, in addition, gave a blinded, qualitative evaluation of disease activity ("inactive to moderately active" or "active to very active" disease). Both these evaluations were found to be reliable. A final disease activity score and qualitative evaluation of disease activity were arrived at by consensus for each patient; the former represented the gold standard for subsequent analyses. The correlations between individual items in the chart and this gold standard were then analysed. Results-A total of 290 patients with SSc (117 with diVuse SSc (dSSc) and 173 with limited SSc (lSSc)) were enrolled in the study. The items (including -factorsthat is, worsening according to the patient report) that were found to correlate with the gold standard on multiple regression were used to construct three separate 10-point indices of disease activity:

No abstract

After 20 years of follow-up, 60% of patients treated with 131I for a single hyperfunctioning nodule are hypothyroid. Factors increasing the risk of hypothyroidism are age, 131I uptake and MMI pretreatment. The prognostic value of this last factor, however, depends on the degree of suppression of the extranodular thyroid parenchyma at the scan.