Congenital telangiectatic atrophic patch on a healthy child.

Background: Rapidly involuting congenital hemangiomas (RICHs) are rare vascular tumors that have a proliferative phase in utero, present fully grown at birth, and have a fast involution phase after birth. Even rarer cases have completed involution in utero and present at birth as an atrophic plaque with redundant skin.

Case Report: We present one case of a RICH that underwent involution in utero and revise the diagnostic and management implications.

Repeated systematic surveillance of Kawasaki disease in Ontario from 1995 to 2006.

Background: Rising incidences of Kawasaki disease (KD) have been reported worldwide. Reported herein are the results of 4 triennial KD surveillances conducted in Ontario.

Methods: Between 1995 and 2006 all hospitals in Ontario were asked on 4 occasions to identify all patients with discharge diagnoses of KD and report incident cases.

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7 disrupts Stat1-mediated gamma interferon signal transduction in epithelial cells.

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O157:H7 is a clinically important bacterial enteropathogen that manipulates a variety of host cell signal transduction cascades to establish infection. However, the effect of EHEC O157:H7 on Jak/Stat signaling is unknown. To define the effect of EHEC infection on epithelial gamma interferon (IFN-gamma)-Stat1 signaling, human T84 and HEp-2 epithelial cells were infected with EHEC O157:H7 and then stimulated with recombinant human IFN-gamma.

Escherichia coli shiga-like toxins induce apoptosis and cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase via in vitro activation of caspases.

Shiga-like toxin-producing Escherichia coli causes hemorrhagic colitis and hemolytic-uremic syndrome in association with the production of Shiga-like toxins, which induce cell death via either necrosis or apoptosis. However, the abilities of different Shiga-like toxins to trigger apoptosis and the sequence of intracellular signaling events mediating the death of epithelial cells have not been completely defined. Fluorescent dye staining with acridine orange and ethidium bromide showed that Shiga-like toxin 1 (Stx1) induced apoptosis of HEp-2 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner.