Interstitial lung disease in classic and skin-predominant dermatomyositis: a retrospective study with screening recommendations.

Objectives: (1) To determine the prevalence of interstitial lung disease (ILD) and isolated low diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO) in a large cohort of outpatients with dermatomyositis. (2) To compare the pulmonary abnormalities of patients with classic dermatomyositis and those with skin-predominant dermatomyositis.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Postirradiation Morphea: A Case Report With a Review of the Literature and Summary of the Clinicopathologic Differential Diagnosis.

: Postirradiation morphea is a rare complication of radiation therapy which often presents as an erythematous indurated plaque and may be mistaken for recurrent or metastatic carcinoma. Histologic examination is essential for distinguishing postirradiation morphea from malignant processes and from other types of radiation dermatitis and infectious cellulitis. We report a case of postirradiation morphea and review the postirradiation morphea literature.

Mycophenolate mofetil for interstitial lung disease in dermatomyositis.

Objective: To report our experience using mycophenolate mofetil as first-line treatment for dermatomyositis-associated interstitial lung disease.

Methods: We examined the medical records of all 16 dermatomyositis patients with interstitial lung disease seen in our outpatient university hospital dermatology clinic between May 26, 2006, and May 25, 2009. In this retrospective case series, we describe the clinical course of the 4 patients with definitive evidence of interstitial lung disease on radiologic imaging who were treated with mycophenolate mofetil and had pulmonary data available to document their outcome.

Cutaneous lupus and the Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus Disease Area and Severity Index instrument.

This article provides an overview of cutaneous lupus erythematosus, including classification schemes, disease subtypes, and therapy. It also describes the Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus Disease Area and Severity Index, a novel clinical outcome instrument that quantifies cutaneous activity and damage in cutaneous lupus erythematosus.

A randomized, double-blind comparison of the total dose of 1.0% lidocaine with 1:100,000 epinephrine versus 0.5% lidocaine with 1:200,000 epinephrine required for effective local anesthesia during Mohs micrographic surgery for skin cancers.

Objective: We sought to compare total lidocaine dose and patient comfort when using 1.0% lidocaine with 1:100,000 epinephrine versus 0.5% lidocaine with 1:200,000 epinephrine during Mohs micrographic surgery.

Role of DNA replication and repair in thymineless death in Escherichia coli.

Inhibition of DNA replication with hydroxyurea during thymine starvation of Escherichia coli shows that active DNA synthesis is not required for thymineless death (TLD). Hydroxyurea experiments and thymine starvation of lexA3 and uvrA DNA repair mutants rule out unbalanced growth, the SOS response, and nucleotide excision repair as explanations for TLD.