Computer-Aided Diagnosis of Melanoma Subtypes Using Reflectance Confocal Images.

Lentigo maligna (LM) is an early form of pre-invasive melanoma that predominantly affects sun-exposed areas such as the face. LM is highly treatable when identified early but has an ill-defined clinical border and a high rate of recurrence. Atypical intraepidermal melanocytic proliferation (AIMP), also known as atypical melanocytic hyperplasia (AMH), is a histological description that indicates melanocytic proliferation with uncertain malignant potential.

Oral Cryotherapy: Prevention of Oral Mucositis and Pain Among Patients With Colorectal Cancer Undergoing Chemotherapy.

Background: Evidence remains mixed on the benefits of oral cryotherapy in the prevention of oral mucositis and pain associated with fluorouracil-based chemotherapy.

Objectives: The intent of this article is to evaluate the effect of oral cryotherapy on the prevention of oral mucositis and pain among patients with colorectal cancer undergoing fluorouracil-based chemotherapy.

Methods: Using an experimental study design, the authors randomly assigned 80 patients to either the intervention (n = 40) or usual care group (n = 40).

Squamoid eccrine ductal carcinoma of the scalp.

An 85-year-old man presented with an ulcerated pruritic nodule on the scalp. Histology of a deep curette specimen showed the typical features of a squamoid eccrine ductal carcinoma: superficial squamous differentiation and deep ductal structures.

RCT of timolol maleate gel for superficial infantile hemangiomas in 5- to 24-week-olds.

Objective: Timolol maleate 0.5% gel is a safe and effective medication for treating superficial infantile hemangiomas (IHs) in infants with a median age of 9 weeks.

Methods: Forty-one infants who had superficial IHs without ulceration and not near mucosal surfaces were recruited and randomly assigned to placebo and treatment (timolol maleate 0.

Rapid effector function of circulating CD4+ T cells specific for immunodominant regions of the conserved serine/threonine kinase found in Streptococcus pneumoniae (StkP) in healthy adults.

Streptococcus pneumoniae is an encapsulated bacterium that causes significant global morbidity and mortality. There is emerging evidence that T cells contribute to the immunity that protects humans from S. pneumoniae-associated disease.

Tracking antigen-specific T-cells during clinical tolerance induction in humans.

Allergen immunotherapy presents an opportunity to define mechanisms of induction of clinical tolerance in humans. Significant progress has been made in our understanding of changes in T cell responses during immunotherapy, but existing work has largely been based on functional T cell assays. HLA-peptide-tetrameric complexes allow the tracking of antigen-specific T-cell populations based on the presence of specific T-cell receptors and when combined with functional assays allow a closer assessment of the potential roles of T-cell anergy and clonotype evolution.

Identification of a regulatory loop for the synthesis of neurosteroids: a steroidogenic acute regulatory protein-dependent mechanism involving hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis receptors.

Brain sex steroids are derived from both peripheral (primarily gonadal) and local (neurosteroids) sources and are crucial for neurogenesis, neural differentiation and neural function. The mechanism(s) regulating the production of neurosteroids is not understood. To determine whether hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis components previously detected in the extra-hypothalamic brain comprise a feedback loop to regulate neuro-sex steroid (NSS) production, we assessed dynamic changes in expression patterns of steroidogenic acute regulatory (StAR) protein, a key regulator of steroidogenesis, and key hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal endocrine receptors, by modulating peripheral sex hormone levels in female mice.

Copper Induces Apoptosis of Neuroblastoma Cells Via Post-translational Regulation of the Expression of Bcl-2-family Proteins and the tx Mouse is a Better Model of Hepatic than Brain Cu Toxicity.

The basic mechanism(s) by which altered Cu homeostasis is toxic to hepatocytes and neurons, the two major cell types affected in copper storage diseases such as Wilson's disease (WD), remain unclear. Using human M17 neuroblastoma cells as a model to examine Cu toxicity, we found that there was a time- and concentration-dependent induction of neuronal death, such that at 24 h there was a approximately 50 % reduction in viability with 25 muM Cu-glycine(2). Cu-glycine(2) (25:50 muM) treatment for 24 h significantly altered the expression of 296 genes, including 8 genes involved with apoptosis (BCL2-associated athanogene 3, BCL2/adenovirus E1B 19kDa interacting protein caspase 5, regulator of Fas-induced apoptosis, V-jun sarcoma virus 17 oncogene homolog, claudin 5, prostaglandin E receptor 3 and protein tyrosine phosphatase, non-receptor type 6).

Value of retinal vein pulsation characteristics in predicting increased optic disc excavation.

Background: Retinal vein pulsation is often absent in glaucoma, but can be induced by applying a graded ophthalmodynamometric force (ODF) to the eye, which is elevated in glaucoma.

Aim: To assess whether ODF has a predictive value in determining glaucoma progression.

Methods: 75 patients with glaucoma and suspected glaucoma were examined prospectively in 1996, and then re-examined at a mean of 82 months later.

Amyloid-beta-induced toxicity of primary neurons is dependent upon differentiation-associated increases in tau and cyclin-dependent kinase 5 expression.

It has previously been reported that amyloid-beta (Abeta) peptide is neurotrophic to undifferentiated but neurotoxic to differentiated primary neurons. The underlying reasons for this differential effect is not understood. Recently, the toxicity of Abeta to neurons was shown to be dependent upon the activation of cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5), thought to promote tau phosphorylation that leads to cytoskeletal disruption, morphological degeneration and apoptosis.

Amyloid-beta: a chameleon walking in two worlds: a review of the trophic and toxic properties of amyloid-beta.

Although much maligned, the amyloid-beta (Abeta) protein has been shown to possess a number of trophic properties that emanate from the protein's ability to bind Cu, Fe and Zn. Abeta belongs to a group of proteins that capture redox metal ions (even under mildly acidotic conditions), thereby preventing them from participating in redox cycling with other ligands. The coordination of Cu appears to be crucial for Abeta's own antioxidant activity that has been demonstrated both in vitro as well as in the brain, cerebrospinal fluid and plasma.