1,721,012 research outputs found

    Kaposi's sarcoma in kidney transplant recipients treated with cyclosporin

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    We report the clinical and histological features and the course of Kaposi's sarcoma in three transplant patients treated with cyclosporin. Four months after cyclosporin treatment was stopped the lesions in all three patients had completely healed

    Role of topical immunotherapy in the treatment of alopecia areata. Quality analysis of articles published between January 1977 and January 1988 about three treatments

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    We conducted a survey of clinical trials to assess the scientific evidences presented for the practical use of dinitrochlorobenzene, squaric acid dibutylester, and diphencyprone in the treatment of alopecia areata. Twenty-six papers published between January 1977 and January 1988, in English, French, and Italian were selected. We used a standardized protocol of evaluation, which focused principally on the reporting of methods. Twelve papers were uncontrolled studies. Of the controlled studies, 11 had a self-controlled design, two studies involved the use of parallel concurrent controls, and seven were randomized trials. With regard to criteria for entry, follow-up schedules, and criteria for evaluation of response to treatment, the studies were scored generally poorly; therapeutic regimen, patients' characteristics, withdrawals, and description of side effects in these studies were rated more highly. In light of our results, further and better-designed studies are needed for acceptance of dinitrochlorobenzene, squaric acid dibutylester, and diphencyprone in current therapy

    Dietary factors and the risk of psoriasis : Results of an Italian case-control study

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    We have conducted a case-control study to explore the relation between the consumption of selected foods and psoriasis. The out-patient services of nine teaching hospitals and five general hospitals in northern and southern Italy took part. Cases were newly diagnosed psoriatics with a history of skin problems of no more than 2 years. As controls, we selected subjects with newly diagnosed skin conditions, other than psoriasis, who were seen in the same out-patient clinics. Inclusion of cases and controls was limited to the age group 16-65 years. A total of 316 psoriatics and 366 controls were recruited. Anthropometric measures, including height and weight, were obtained. Diet was assessed by a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire. Psoriasis appeared to be positively associated with body mass index (chi 2(1) trend 4.3, P < 0.05). Significant inverse relations with psoriasis were also observed for the intake of carrots (chi 2(1) trend 4.8, P < 0.05), tomatoes (chi 2(1) trend 26.3, P < 0.01), fresh fruit (chi 2(1) trend 11.7, P < 0.01) and index of beta-carotene intake (chi 2(1) trend 9.1, P < 0.01). Although largely explorative, these results provide some evidence for a potential role of diet in psoriasis

    Fast, simple and highly sensitive double-rounded polymerase chain reaction assay to detect medically relevant fungi in dermatological specimens

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    Background. Early detection of fungal infection is essential for beginning of prompt and specific therapy. In this study we describe a rapid and sensitive procedure to detect, by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays, a wide range of medically important opportunistic and pathogenic fungi in dermal specimens from dermatomycoses-affected patients. Materials and methods. Three primer pairs, amplifying fragments of the highly conserved gene coding for small ribosomal RNA (18S rDNA) and the adjacent internal transcribed spacer (ITS) rDNA, previously published by others, were probed on DNA from pure cultures of medically relevant human and animal fungal species. In order to evaluate the specificity of the assay, amplifications of control DNAs from other eukaryotes and prokaryotes were also carried out, and they gave negative results. Results. These primer sets, in single amplification or double-rounded PCR assays, allowed specific amplification when applied to a wide number of fungal DNA from human and animal tissue specimens, including dermatophytes (genera Trichophyton, Microsporum), several yeast species (Candida, Saccharomyces, Cryptococcus, Malassezia) and moulds (Aspergillus, Penicillium). The PCR assay was able to detect as little as 10 pg of fungal DNA, corresponding to approximately 25 fungal genomes per sample specimen. A small-scale DNA extraction method was also developed. This simple, time-saving and sensitive procedure was successfully applied to 40 human and veterinary specimens, and the diagnosis was confirmed with cultural techniques, being shown to work even in the presence of other lesions or contaminating organisms. Conclusions. This method allows early recognition of fungal pathogen cells in clinical samples as an alternative tool to conventional detection techniques

    A UNIQUE CYTOPLASMIC STRUCTURE IN PAPULAR HISTIOCYTOMA

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    Intracytoplasmic granules with a unique and highly complex ultrastructure, have been observed within the cellular infiltrate of the lesions of two patients with papular histiocytosis. Examination of serial sections has enabled construction of a three-dimensional model of these granules, which appear to be composed of an elaborate arrangement of membranes and vesicles. Two hypotheses (endocytosis and exocytosis) are proposed for the mode of formation of these unique cytoplasmic structures

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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