Differing reports of pain perception by different personalities in a patient with chronic pain and multiple personality disorder.

There have been several reports of patients with chronic pain (CP) and dissociative or multiple personality disorder (MPD). This report describes a patient with MPD in whom 4 different personalities reported different perceptions of pain. Psychological testing was used to confirm the diagnosis of MPD.

Sensitization in atopic and non-atopic hairdressers with hand eczema.

To investigate the capability of atopics to be sensitized to contact allergens, 143 hairdressers with hand eczema, who had been patch tested with the hairdresser's series, were studied. The 125 women and 18 men were grouped according to their personal atopic status. There were 45 eczematous atopics, 32 mucous membrane atopics and 66 non-atopics.

Superantigenic exotoxin-secreting potential of staphylococci isolated from atopic eczematous skin.

Although the deleterious effect of Staphylococcus aureus on atopic eczema is well recognized, the mechanism of this effect may be more complex than pyogenic infection alone. We have shown that the majority of S. aureus cultures isolated from atopic eczema produced exotoxins with superantigenic properties, although this was no more frequent than in a control group, and was not restricted to one particular superantigen.

Identification of spheroplast-like agents isolated from tissues of patients with Crohn's disease and control tissues by polymerase chain reaction.

Mycobacterium paratuberculosis has been isolated from tissue taken from patients with Crohn's disease and has been implicated in the etiology of this disease. On culture, the organisms appear initially as cell wall-deficient, spheroplast-like forms that are difficult to identify by conventional techniques. Here we examine 30 unidentified cultures by the polymerase chain reaction using primers specific for M.

Patients with atopic eczema do become sensitized to contact allergens.

Sensitization to contact allergens in atopics was assessed by grouping 989 patients, who were routinely patch tested, by their personal atopic status. Sensitization to > or = 1 allergens occurred in 38% of the 191 patients with existing atopic eczema, in 53% of the 120 with a past history of atopic eczema, in 54% of the 156 with only mucous membrane atopy and in 50% of the 510 who were not atopic. Sensitization to perfume, a common environmental allergen, was similar in all 4 groups, as was nickel among women.

Polymerase chain reaction for detection of Mycobacterium leprae in nasal swab specimens.

The polymerase chain reaction based on the selective amplification of a 531-bp fragment of the gene encoding the proline-rich antigen of Mycobacterium leprae was applied to nasal swab specimens from leprosy patients, occupational contacts, and endemic and nonendemic controls. To prevent false-positive amplification, we used dUTP and uracil-DNA-glycosylase in all polymerase chain reactions. False-negative reactions were detected by using a 531-bp modified template as an internal control.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA in tissue affected by sarcoidosis.

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA in granulomatous tissues from patients with sarcoidosis and from controls matched for age, sex, and tissue by using the polymerase chain reaction.

Design: Single blind control trial.

Subjects: 16 patients with sarcoidosis who had undergone diagnostic biopsy of lung, skin, or lymph node and 16 patients with squamous cell carcinoma or Hodgkin's disease to act as controls.

Polymerase chain reaction for diagnosis of meningococcal meningitis.

Meningococcal disease is normally suspected on clinical grounds but confirmed by isolation of Neisseria meningitidis from blood or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), or by detection of gram-negative diplococci in CSF. After parenteral antibiotics are started the isolation rate of meningococci from blood cultures drops from 50% to less than 5% and the chances of CSF being positive by culture or microscopy are also reduced. We used the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in a blinded study to detect meningococcal DNA in 54 CSF samples from patients with meningococcal disease or from controls.

Topically applied verapamil hydrochloride inhibits tuberculin-induced delayed-type hypersensitivity reactions in human skin.

Calcium channel antagonists have been reported to possess inhibitory effects on lymphocyte migration and activation in vitro, and on cell-mediated immune reactions in the skin of experimental animals. We have therefore studied the effects of topically applied 8% (w/v) verapamil hydrochloride in propylene glycol on tuberculin-induced delayed-type hypersensitivity reactions in the skin of normal human volunteers. There was significant inhibition of the tuberculin reactions by the verapamil preparation compared to vehicle controls, as determined by forearm skin fold thickness measurement and assessment of the density of mononuclear cell infiltrates in skin biopsies.

Mycobacteria in Crohn's disease: DNA probes identify the wood pigeon strain of Mycobacterium avium and Mycobacterium paratuberculosis from human tissue.

Mycobacterium paratuberculosis is known to cause Johne's disease, a granulomatous ileitis in ruminants, and may be involved in some cases of Crohn's disease. Like M. paratuberculosis, the wood pigeon strain of Mycobacterium avium may also show mycobactin dependence on primary isolation that is attenuated on further subculturing.

Unilateral subungual hyperkeratosis following a cerebrovascular incident in a patient with psoriasis.

The prevalence of nail abnormalities in psoriasis is reported to be between 50 and 90% of affected adults. These include pitting, nail discoloration, onycholysis and subungual hyperkeratosis. Although nail changes may be associated with neurological disease, there are no previous reports of psoriatic nail changes following cerebrovascular events.

Phylogenetic and epidemiological analysis of Neisseria meningitidis using DNA probes.

The genetic relationships between various serotypes and serogroups of meningococcal strains were investigated by restriction fragment-length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis using a number of random DNA probes and a probe containing a truncated copy of the meningococcal insertion sequence IS1106. The data were used to estimate genetic distance between all pairs of strains and to construct phylogenetic trees for meningococcal strains. B15:P1.