Dermatologist Characteristics Associated With Outlier Performance of Destruction for Benign Lesions.

Background: Destruction of a benign skin lesion should not be billed to Medicare if the lesion is solely a cosmetic concern. Reducing unnecessary benign destructions could lower Medicare costs.

Objective: Evaluate benign destruction rates relative to premalignant destruction rates and identify factors associated with frequent benign destruction among dermatologists.

Warmer Temperatures Are More Predictive Than Solar Radiation for the Number of Skin Cancer Removal Procedures.

Background: Solar radiation is the primary risk factor for skin cancer, with personal exposure influenced by environmental and behavioral factors. At higher temperatures, behavioral changes increase solar radiation exposure.

Objectives: Examine the relationships between solar radiation, ambient temperature, age, and skin cancer.

Years of dermatology experience and geographic region are associated with outlier performance of excision or destruction for nonmelanoma skin cancer.

Introduction: Treatments for nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) include excision (surgical removal) and destruction (cryotherapy or curettage with or without electrodesiccation) in addition to other methods. Although cure rates are similar between excision and destruction for low-risk NMSCs, excision is substantially more expensive. Performing destruction when appropriate can reduce costs while providing comparable cure rate and cosmesis.

Conserved anti-inflammatory effects and sensing of butyrate in zebrafish.

Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are produced by microbial fermentation of dietary fiber in the gut. Butyrate is a particularly important SCFA with anti-inflammatory properties and is generally present at lower levels in inflammatory diseases associated with gut microbiota dysbiosis in mammals. We aimed to determine if SCFAs are produced by the zebrafish microbiome and if SCFAs exert conserved effects on zebrafish immunity as an example of the non-mammalian vertebrate immune system.