Muir-Torre syndrome appropriate use criteria: Effect of patient age on appropriate use scores.

Background: Muir-Torre syndrome (MTS) is a rare inherited syndrome, with an increased risk of sebaceous and visceral malignancy. Prior reports suggest screening for mismatch repair (MMR) deficiency may be warranted in patients <50 years and when sebaceous neoplasms are located on a non-head and neck location. Previously, appropriate use criteria (AUC) were developed for clinical scenarios in patients >60 years concerning the use of MMR protein immunohistochemistry (MMRP-IHC).

Appropriate use criteria in dermatopathology: Initial recommendations from the American Society of Dermatopathology.

Background: Appropriate use criteria (AUC) provide physicians guidance in test selection, and can affect health care delivery, reimbursement policy, and physician decision-making.

Objectives: The American Society of Dermatopathology, with input from the American Academy of Dermatology and the College of American Pathologists, sought to develop AUC in dermatopathology.

Methods: The RAND/UCLA appropriateness methodology, which combines evidence-based medicine, clinical experience, and expert judgment, was used to develop AUC in dermatopathology.

Appropriate use criteria in dermatopathology: Initial recommendations from the American Society of Dermatopathology.

Background: Appropriate use criteria (AUC) provide physicians guidance in test selection, and can affect health care delivery, reimbursement policy and physician decision-making.

Objectives: The American Society of Dermatopathology, with input from the American Academy of Dermatology and the College of American Pathologists, sought to develop AUC in dermatopathology.

Methods: The RAND/UCLA appropriateness methodology, which combines evidence-based medicine, clinical experience and expert judgment, was used to develop AUC in dermatopathology.

Review of the current medical literature and assessment of current utilization patterns regarding human papillomavirus in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry in dermatopathology.

Human papillomaviruses have been implicated in many cutaneous diseases. Practicing dermatopathologists often consider using immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization to help clarify the histologic diagnosis, particularly in cases with borderline or nondiagnostic features. We reviewed the current evidence behind the use of these two techniques in dermatopathology.

Review of the current medical literature and assessment of current utilization patterns regarding mismatch repair protein immunohistochemistry in cutaneous Muir-Torre syndrome-associated neoplasms.

Muir-Torre syndrome is a clinical variant of Lynch syndrome defined by the synchronous or metachronous occurrence of at least one sebaceous neoplasm and at least one Lynch syndrome-related internal cancer. Although screening guidelines for patients with colorectal carcinomas have been established, screening guidelines for cutaneous Muir-Torre associated neoplasms are not currently available. As such, we reviewed the current evidence for the use of MLH1, MSH2, MSH6 and PMS2 immunohistochemistry when cutaneous Muir-Torre associated neoplasms are encountered.

Combined Cutaneous Rosai-Dorfman Disease and Localized Cutaneous Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis Within a Single Subcutaneous Nodule.

Rosai-Dorfman disease (RDD) is a reactive multisystem histiocytosis that typically presents with cervical lymphadenopathy and systemic symptoms. Cutaneous involvement occurs in approximately 10% of cases, and 3% of cases are limited to the skin without nodal or other extranodal involvement. Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is a clonal histiocytosis with a wide spectrum of presentations ranging from isolated skin or bone disease to multisystem involvement.

Reliability assessment and validation of the postacne hyperpigmentation index (PAHPI), a new instrument to measure postinflammatory hyperpigmentation from acne vulgaris.

Background: There are no validated outcome measures for postinflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH).

Objective: We sought to determine the reliability and validity of an outcome measure for PIH after acne in patients with skin of color.

Methods: A postacne hyperpigmentation index (PAHPI) was developed.

Mitotic rate in cutaneous melanomas ≤1 mm in thickness: a prospective study.

The mitotic rate (MR) of malignant melanoma (MM) refers to the number of mitoses per square millimeter. Studies have suggested that it is an independent prognostic variable predicting survival in patients with MM, and it was recently included in the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) recommendations for diagnosis and treatment of MM. The AJCC melanoma staging committee recommends using the "hot-spot" approach to determine the MR, whereby it is reported as the maximum dermal mitotic figures identified in a 1-mm area of the melanoma.

West Nile virus antibodies in permanent resident and overwintering migrant birds in south-central Kansas.

Unlabelled: We conducted serological studies, using epitope-blocking ELISAs directed at West Nile virus (WNV) and flavivirus antibodies, of wild birds in south-central Kansas, the first for this state, in the winters of 2003-04 through 2005-06. Overwintering migratory species (primarily the American tree sparrow and dark-eyed junco) consistently showed significantly lower seropositivity than permanent residents (primarily the northern cardinal). The cardinal showed annual variation in seropositivity between winters.

Carbon substrate utilization, antibiotic sensitivity, and numerical taxonomy of bacterial isolates from the Great Salt Plains of Oklahoma.

The current work extends the phenotypic characterization of a bacterial culture collection from the Great Salt Plains of Oklahoma. This barren expanse of mud flats is typically crusted with thalassohaline salt evaporites. The initial account of the aerobic heterotrophic bacteria from the Great Salt Plains described 105 halotolerant isolates that represented 47 phylotypes.