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ABSTRACT: It has recently been demonstrated in a study on 15 patients that plucked hair can be used as a substrate for direct immunofluorescence (DIF) in pemphigus.
Our aim was to assess the sensitivity of DIF on plucked hairs in pemphigus vulgaris (PV) patients with positive DIF of oral mucosa.
One hundred and ten new PV patients were enrolled in the study. They all showed the typical clinical and histological findings as well as positive DIF of the oral mucosa, diagnostic for PV. Approximately 30 hairs were obtained in the same way as for the trichogram. The hairs with their outer root sheaths (ORS) were processed for DIF in order to detect immunoglobulin G and C3.
Immunodeposits favouring PV were demonstrated in the ORS of 100 cases showing a sensitivity of 91%.
Regarding the relatively high sensitivity of DIF on plucked hair in PV patients with positive oral mucosal DIF in our study, it seems that hair plucking is a suitable alternative to the more invasive techniques of skin or mucosal biopsy for obtaining specimens for DIF in PV.
Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology 09/2008; 23(2):129-31. · 2.98 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) is an autoimmune blistering disease which is known to involve the female genital tract, but the frequency at which this occurs is unknown. There are few reports in the literature of the cytological appearance of PV on cervicovaginal smears.
To evaluate involvement of the female genital tract and the appearance of cervicovaginal Papanicolaou (Pap) smears in PV.
The study included 77 patients with PV who attended between April 2005 and February 2007. Each patient was subjected to gynaecological examination and cervicovaginal Pap smear.
Genital lesions were observed in 39 patients (51%). Of these, the labia minora were involved in 36 patients (92%), the labia majora in 11 (28%), the vagina in 14 (36%) and the cervix in six (15%). Cervicovaginal Pap smears of 20 of 77 patients (26%) showed PV. Of 72 satisfactory Pap smears, the cervical Pap smear was normal in 25 patients (35%), inflammatory in 43 patients (60%), and dysplastic (low-grade squamous intraepithelial neoplasia) in four patients (6%).
Involvement of the female genital tract with PV might not be as infrequent as was previously thought; it is probably the second most common mucosal site of PV after the oral mucosa. Genital lesions may be missed and the need for thorough pelvic examination should not be overlooked.
British Journal of Dermatology 04/2008; 158(3):478-82. · 3.67 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: In lupus erythematosus, dramatic periorbital edema and erythema without any evidence of other significant cutaneous or systemic involvement is unusual. We describe two patients with severe periorbital edema and erythema as the sole manifestation of cutaneous lupus erythematosus.
Dermatology online journal 02/2006; 12(2):14.
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ABSTRACT: The design of a super-resolution array antenna controlled by the Cramer-Rao bound (CRB) using the genetic algorithm (GA) is demonstrated. The GA continuously optimizes the estimation error under detection and resolution conditions. The work presented in this paper focuses on optimization of array sensor locations for a class of Direction-Finding (DF) signal processing techniques known as subspace-based algorithm, and a CRB approach to synthesize the location of the sensors is introduced. Preliminary results indicate that the proposed approach can provide significant decreases in detection and resolution error.
Personal Mobile Communications Conference, 2003. 5th European (Conf. Publ. No. 492); 05/2003
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ABSTRACT: The term evidence-based medicine (EBM) is increasingly being used. Physicians, journal editors, insurance companies, and patients are applying its tenets to clinical decision making. Although there are concerns about the overly zealous application of EBM to clinical situations, many of the basic concepts are important in improving decision making.
To define evidence-based medicine and to review potential problems in basing decision making entirely on less-than-ideal evidence.
We reviewed the EBM literature and looked for examples in dermatology of pitfalls in decision making based on poor evidence.
Following a definition of EBM, we review problems inherent in anecdotes and uncontrolled trials, including the placebo effect. Examples of medical practice that have been altered by doing more rigorous studies are provided.
Concepts of EBM as currently defined should be considered by dermatologic surgeons in assessing the available information for clinical decision making.
Dermatologic Surgery 07/2001; 27(6):511-4. · 1.80 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Acanthamoebae are potential pathogens which can cause serious infections of humans. A non-radioactive rDNA probe and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification procedures which are specific, rapid, sensitive and safe for the detection of Acanthamoeba have been developed. A restriction fragment (126 bp; ArDNA-a) from a variable region of the cloned 26S rDNA unit of Acanthamoeba castellanii (from plasmid pAR2) was labelled by biotinylation. Cells and DNAs were incubated with the labelled rDNA probe to define conditions providing the highest hybridization specificity for Acanthamoeba by both colorimetric and chemiluminescent assays. Four recent isolates of Acanthamoeba, Acanthamoeba polyphaga, various bacteria, Herpes simplex virus, other eukaryotic amoebae and human cell lines, were sources of DNA for testing. The rDNA probe was found to be highly specific for Acanthamoeba and is capable of directly detecting about 250 cells without prior DNA purification. PCR primers for this unique ArDNA-a fragment have also been designed. Amplification of the targeted sequence by PCR using those primers yielded a single product which was specifically generated for Acanthamoeba template DNA and not DNA from the other control cells. This PCR procedure provided increased sensitivity with the direct detection of as few as 10 Acanthamoeba cells.
Molecular and Cellular Probes 03/1994; 8(1):81-9. · 2.08 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Some properties of the RNA of myxamoebae-swarm cells of Physarum flavicomum undergoing microcyst formation, and during adenine inhibition of the developmental process, were compared. During the first 15 h incubation under encystment conditions, 11% more RNA was recovered from the adenine-inhibited cells (AIC) than from the normal control cells (NC), whereas the specific activity (SA) of the purified RNA from NC was 1.4 times higher than that from the AIC. Gel electrophoresis of purified total RNA revealed comigration of ribosomal RNAs (rRNA) of the myxamoebae with those of mouse kidney and liver, and diploid cells of P. flavicomum. In contrast to the apparently equivalent 18S and 28S pattern of the latter three RNAs, the quantity of the largest rRNA was significantly lower compared with that of the smaller (18S) rRNA in both NC and AIC myxamoebae-swarm cells. Total RNA from amoebae of a recent isolate of Acanthamoeba sp. quantitatively exhibited the same unusual pattern of rRNA distribution as the Physarum myxamoebae. A high pressure liquid chromatographic method was developed using a single solvent for the isocratic separation of the four major bases and seven methylated bases of RNA. Methylated adenine and guanine were detected in total RNA samples of myxamoebae of P. flavicomum. The mole % of uracil was slightly higher in the NC, whereas the mole % of adenine was slightly lower compared with that of the AIC. The guanine plus cytosine content of these purified total RNAs was about 61%.
Cytobios 02/1989; 57(230-231):131-9.
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ABSTRACT: Slime secreted by microplasmodia of the myxomycete Physarum flavicomum inhibited the uptake of glucose and amino acids, as well as growth and cell division of the bacterium Bacillus subtilis. Morphological changes such as production of chains, swollen cells, and/or cell lysis, occurred coincident with these physiological inhibitory events. These phenomena were all dependent on the concentration of slime present in the growth medium. Electron microscopy revealed that the cell walls of slime-inhibited cells were undergoing degradation and the process was most pronounced in the swollen cells. Isolated cell walls of B. subtilis were also found to undergo degradation upon incubation with slime. Boiled slime did not exhibit lytic activity on native cell walls, but boiled cell walls were degraded by native slime. The inhibitory effect of slime seemed to be, at least in part, due to an inherent peptidase (protease) activity. B. subtilis eventually overcomes the inhibition exhibited by slime due to the production of an antagonist of slime.
Cytobios 02/1977; 20(79-80):163-77.
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ABSTRACT: A haploid cell of the myxomycete Physarum flavicomum undergoes cytokinesis, producing a large population of cells. However, after syngamy, cytokinesis no longer occurs but karyokinesis does and subsequent growth results in the formation of a diploid syncytial plasmodium. Slime, which is produced by the plasmodium but not the haploid cells, was aseptically isolated and purified, and tested for its effect as a cytokinetic regulator. Slime (a viscous, high molecular weight, acidic glycoprotein) affected cytokinesis of the haploid myxamoebae growing in pure culture in soluble media, and the effect was concentration dependent. In simple media, a slime concentration of about 6 10(-5) mug protein per cell suppressed cytokinesis about 50%, unequally inhibited the synthesis of protein, RNA, and DNA, but stimulated respiration. The biological activity of slime was not species specific and it also affected the bacterium Bacillus subtilis by inhibiting cytokinesis, stimulating oxygen uptake, and producing an aberrant cell morphology. Slime was inactivated by heat, fragmentation, and incubation with dithiothreitol, mercaptoethanol, and the proteolytic enzyme papain (EC 3.4.22.2). The inhibitory effect of slime on cell division of haploid cells could not be achieved using mucin or various polyanions. The possible role of slime in the production of the diploid syncytium is discussed.
Canadian Journal of Microbiology 12/1975; 21(11):1866-76. · 1.36 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: The haploid phase (myxamoebae-swarm cells) of the myxomycete Physarum flavicomum grew readily in chemical defined liquid media. The minimal medium contained salts, glucose, biotin, thiamine, hematin, glycine, L-arginine and L-methionine. Cell yields of 1.4 times 10(7) cells/ml were obtained in this medium in aerobic shake culture. These cells consumed about 35 muliters of oxygen/mg protein-hr in the minimal medium. The morphology of cells maintained in this medium appeared to be "normal". L-valine replaced either glycine or L-methionine in the minimal medium but the growth rates and cell yields were reduced. Growth rates increased in media containing four, seven, or fourteen amino acids.
Archives of Microbiology 04/1975; 102(3):175-8. · 1.43 Impact Factor
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Canadian Journal of Microbiology 08/1974; 20(7):967-70. · 1.36 Impact Factor
