Facial burning in women with leprosy, physiological or pathological?

Introduction: Eight peri-menopausal women, five with borderline lepromatous leprosy and three with borderline tuberculoid leprosy, self-referred complaining of 'burning of the face. Four were seen in 1993, three having been treated as 'menopausal'without betterment and four were seen in 1997.

Methods: Eight peri-menopausal women who self-referred because of facial burning', and seven women who self-referred for other problems had a careful review of clinical records and were assessed fully for leprosy including graded sensory skin testing of the face, and standard nerve function tests.

Growth and development of children of mothers with leprosy and healthy controls.

Introduction: In the pre-sulphone and early sulphone years children of leprous parents had been followed in a few prospective studies to observe the development of leprosy. No studies were made of the growth and development of these children.

Methods: A prospective, open-ended, cohort study began in 1975 with follow-up of both mothers and their children until 2003.

[The time is ripe for listening to the voice of the half of the world].

Has the world of women changed? So wonders a one-time champion of what was then called women's rights, and is now known as women's empowerment, in the Third World. She recalls her surprise when she listened to advocates of birth spacing as a young mother. She remembers the debates she attended: "Today development, tomorrow the Pill", "Women's education is the key to progress", the speculations of western feminists ignorant of the burden of traditions kept alive elsewhere.

Induction of heat shock protein 60 expression in human monocytic cell lines infected with Mycobacterium leprae.

Monocytic cell lines (HL-60 and THP-1) were infected with viable Mycobacterium leprae. Levels of human hsp60 were estimated by Western blot (immunoblot) assay and a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The results showed that infection of both of the cell lines induced the synthesis of human hsp60, which may be of significance in relation to autoimmune manifestations associated with mycobacterial infections.

Early detection of rifampin in human nerve tissue after an oral dose of 600 milligrams.

Rifampin in picogram quantities inhibited the ability of Mycobacterium bovis 44 BCG P3 to release 14CO2 from the oxidation of [14C]palmitic acid. By using these mycobacteria in a bioassay, samples of serum and posterior tibial nerve were assayed for inhibitory concentrations of rifampin. Within 8 to 12 h after ingestion of 600 mg of rifampin, the drug was detected in eight patients in concentrations ranging from 0.