Zinc protects against Shiga-toxigenic Escherichia coli by acting on host tissues as well as on bacteria.

Background: Zinc supplements can treat or prevent enteric infections and diarrheal disease. Many articles on zinc in bacteria, however, highlight the essential nature of this metal for bacterial growth and virulence, suggesting that zinc should make infections worse, not better. To address this paradox, we tested whether zinc might have protective effects on intestinal epithelium as well as on the pathogen.

Ultraviolet irradiation induces the accumulation of chondroitin sulfate, but not other glycosaminoglycans, in human skin.

Ultraviolet (UV) light alters cutaneous structure and function. Prior work has shown loss of dermal hyaluronan after UV-irradiation of human skin, yet UV exposure increases total glycosaminoglycan (GAG) content in mouse models. To more fully describe UV-induced alterations to cutaneous GAG content, we subjected human volunteers to intermediate-term (5 doses/week for 4 weeks) or single-dose UV exposure.

Animal models of acute photodamage: comparisons of anatomic, cellular and molecular responses in C57BL/6J, SKH1 and Balb/c mice.

Human cutaneous photodamage is a major medical problem that includes premature aging and fragility of the skin. Nonxenografted animal models have not been comparatively evaluated for how well they resemble the changes seen in human skin. Here, we sought to identify a suitable mouse model that recapitulates key anatomic, cellular and molecular responses observed in human skin during acute UV exposure.

Reliability and convergent validity of two outcome instruments for pemphigus.

A major obstacle in performing multicenter controlled trials for pemphigus is the lack of a validated disease activity scoring system. Here, we assess the reliability and convergent validity of the PDAI (pemphigus disease area index). A group of 10 dermatologists scored 15 patients with pemphigus to estimate the inter- and intra-rater reliability of the PDAI and the recently described ABSIS (autoimmune bullous skin disorder intensity score) instrument.