Innovative tracking, active search and follow-up strategies for new leprosy cases in the female prison population.

Background: Regarding the leprosy transmission through the upper airways, overcrowded locations such as prisons can become a risk to get sick. Like the leprosy hidden endemic demonstrated in male prison population, being interesting to assess the leprosy scene also among confined women.

Methods: A prospective descriptive study conducted at Female Penitentiary, Brazil.

Predictors of sudomotor dysfunction in patients with type 1 diabetes without clinical evidence of peripheral neuropathy.

Aim: To investigate the frequency of foot sudomotor dysfunction determined by the electrochemical skin conductance test (ESC) and its independent predictors in individuals with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D) and no clinical evidence of diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN).

Methods: Adults with T1D for longer than 5 years and without DPN defined by the Michigan Neuropathy Screening Instrument and Neuropathy Disability Score were assessed for foot sudomotor dysfunction by ESC. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between foot sudomotor dysfunction (ESC < 70 µS) and demographic, clinical, and biochemical variables.

Clinical and immunohistopathological aspects of venous ulcers treatment by Low-Intensity Pulsed Ultrasound (LIPUS).

The immunological mechanisms that are triggered by Low-Intensity Pulsed Ultrasound (LIPUS) in wound healing are unknown. In the present study, experimental groups were used to assess the treatment of chronic venous ulcers with 30mW/cm(2) SATA peripheral LIPUS three times per week compared to a daily treatment of 1% silver sulfadiazine (SDZ). The ulcers of the SDZ group (n=7) (G1) and LIPUS group (n=9) (G2) were photographed five times three months, and the images were analyzed using ImageJ software to quantify the total area (S), fibrin/sphacel area (yellow) and granulation area (red).

Tactile threshold detection in leprosy patients with an electronic algometer.

Objective: To propose an electronic method for sensitivity evaluation in leprosy and to compare it to the Semmes-Weinstein monofilaments.

Methods: Thirty patients attending the Dermatology outpatient clinic of HCFMRP-USP were consecutively evaluated by both the electronic aesthesiometer and Semmes-Weinstein monofilaments on hand and foot test points. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was calculated to determine the variability of the electronic measures and the Kappa coefficient was calculated to determine the agreement between methods according to their categories (altered and non-altered tactile sensitivity).