Striking Differences in Kendo Headgear.

Background:  Kendo, a martial art developed by the samurai, is rooted deep in Japanese culture with traditional armor that has seen little change over the past centuries. Despite its century-old design, kendo helmets are manufactured without third-party testing to verify their quality and effectiveness against head trauma.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of different helmet stitching patterns and padding materials in mitigating impact forces that could lead to sports-related concussions (SRC) in kendo, and to assess variations in safety performance across different genders and kendo ranks (Dan and Kyu).

Twists and Turns: A Chiropractic Roller Coaster Experience Unraveling the Intricacies of Bilateral Vertebral Artery Dissection.

The primary insult in vertebral artery dissections (VADs) involves a tear in the vertebral artery intima, resulting in potential thrombus formation and an elevated risk of cerebrovascular events, such as stroke. Despite its relatively low overall incidence rate, VADs contribute to a significant proportion of ischemic strokes within the younger population. VAD has been associated with various risk factors including but not limited to neck trauma from chiropractic manipulation and significant neck movements.

Using Initial Biopsies and Vertical Sections to Improve Trainees' Confidence in Performing Mohs Surgery.

Background: Tissue preservation and tumor clearance are hallmarks of Mohs micrographic surgery, but no standardized method currently exists to guide trainees on how to balance the two.

Objective: The authors provided residents and fellows with additional histologic information to enhance their surgical decision-making without changing the standard methodology of Mohs surgery.

Methods And Materials: Trainees were provided initial biopsy slides (IS) and frozen vertical sections (VS) of the first Mohs layer.

Ceftriaxone Resistance in Campylobacter Gastroenteritis.

Annually, millions of people worldwide are exposed to a species of bacteria that commonly causes gastroenteritis and in cases of immunocompromised individuals, can also lead to life-threatening complications. After stool cultures are obtained, the usual treatment for infectious diarrhea involves metronidazole and quinolones such as ciprofloxacin or levofloxacin. Quinolones are a family of broad-spectrum antibiotics known to be effective against various gram-negative infections that also include However, due to adverse side effects and bacterial resistance risks that may exist with medication use, they are no longer used as a first line.

Different COVID-19 treatments' impact on hospital length of stay.

Importance: COVID-19 has adversely affected global healthcare infrastructure since 2019. Currently, there are no large-scale published reports on the efficacy of combination therapy of dexamethasone, remdesivir, and tocilizumab on COVID-19 patients.

Objectives: Is the combination therapy of dexamethasone, remdesivir, and tocilizumab superior to other treatments on hospitalized COVID-19 patients?

Design: This is a retrospective, comparative effectiveness study.

Significance of Basal Cell Carcinomas Exhibiting Intravascular Invasion.

Intravascular invasion of tumor cells can be associated with metastasis in many cancers. Basal cell carcinomas (BCCs), however, rarely metastasize; therefore, the clinical impact of intravascularly invasive BCC (IVBCC) is currently unclear. Because of these facts and the rarity of IVBCC, questions have arisen on whether IVBCC truly exists.

MOC-31 Antibody Immunolabeling During Mohs Surgery.

Background: Ber-EP4 is an antibody that labels basal cell carcinoma (BCC) by targeting epithelial cell adhesion molecule (Ep-CAM). MOC-31, a monoclonal mouse antibody, also targets Ep-CAM and is currently used to differentiate several extracutaneous epithelial tumors. However, the utility of MOC-31 has not been fully described in cutaneous tumors and in Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS).

Peritumoral matrilin-2 staining may be useful in distinguishing basal cell carcinoma from folliculocentric basaloid proliferation.

Background: Folliculocentric basaloid proliferation (FBP) is a benign and reactive proliferation which can histopathologically mimic basal cell carcinomas (BCCs). The incidental presence of FBP during the excision of a BCC can occasionally lead to excessive tissue removal. One distinguishing feature of BCCs is that they invade the stroma, whereas FBPs generally do not.

Topical timolol may improve overall scar cosmesis in acute surgical wounds.

Acute wounds created by dermatologists following the removal of nonmelanoma skin cancers are closed either by primary or secondary intention, and the best cosmetic outcome is preferentially desired. One parameter that determines the overall cosmesis of the healed wound is its vascularity. Vascular tone results from a complex interplay of a variety of chemokines in the body and their interaction with receptors located on endothelial cell surfaces.

Histological Mohs Maps Improve the Accuracy of Dermatology Residents' Interpretations of Mohs Slides: A Pilot Study.

Background: Effective Mohs surgery depends on accurate histopathological identification and mapping of tumor burden to ensure complete removal of tumor.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether using a photograph of the histopathological slide as the Mohs map improves mapping accuracy.

Materials And Methods: Single-blinded pilot study.

Patient Satisfaction After Mohs Surgery is not Dependent on Seeing Post-Mohs Defect Prior to Repair.

Background: Optimizing patient satisfaction and scar outcomes is important for the practicing Mohs surgeon.

Objective: To evaluate whether showing or not showing patients their post-Mohs defect prior to repair influences scar satisfaction.

Materials And Methods: Fifty patients with a nonmelanoma skin cancer on their head or neck requiring Mohs micrographic surgery were randomized to either see or not see their post-Mohs defect in the mirror prior to repair.

Drug-associated skin lesions in a patient with myelofibrosis receiving ruxolitinib.

Ruxolitinib, a small molecule JAK-1/2 inhibitor, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in November 2011, as the first therapeutic for the treatment of intermediate and high-risk myelofibrosis.

Matrilin-2 is proteolytically cleaved by ADAMTS-4 and ADAMTS-5.

Matrilin-2 is a widely distributed, oligomeric extracellular matrix protein that forms a filamentous network by binding to a variety of different extracellular matrix proteins. We found matrilin-2 proteolytic products in transfected cell lines in vitro and in mouse tissues in vivo. Two putative cleavage sites were identified in the unique domain of matrilin-2; the first site was located between D851 and L852 in the middle of the domain and the second, at the boundary with the coiled-coil domain at the C-terminus.

Bone marrow cell mobilization by the systemic use of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (GCSF) improves wound bed preparation.

Innovative approaches are needed to accelerate the healing of human chronic wounds not responding to conventional therapies. An evolving and promising treatment is the use of stem cells. Our group has previously described the use of expanded (in vitro) autologous stem cells aspirated from human bone marrow and applied topically in a fibrin spray to human acute and chronic wounds.

Diagnostic utility of cytokeratin 17 immunostaining in morpheaform basal cell carcinoma and for facilitating the detection of tumor cells at the surgical margins.

Background: The morpheaform subtype of basal cell carcinoma (BCC) often presents a diagnostic histological challenge, and its true margin may be difficult to determine with accuracy. This tumor may also be difficult to distinguish from other adnexal neoplasms having a benign clinical course. Previous work has shown that cytokeratin 17 (CK17 or K17) expression is high in BCC.

Diabetic foot ulcer calluses show histological similarities to HPV infection without evidence of HPV involvement by nested PCR.

A number of studies have reported an association between callus formation and the development of foot ulcers in diabetic patients. However, it has been noted that calluses may continue to form in spite of bed rest and, presumably, excellent patient compliance with offloading. Additionally, the authors have noted that, histologically, calluses in the diabetic foot often resemble lesions induced by human papillomavirus (HPV).

3-(Arylthiomethyl)isoxazole-4,5-dicarboxamides: chemoselective nucleophilic chemistry and insecticidal activity.

A collection of 91 3-(arylthiomethyl)isoxazole-4,5-dicarboxamides was prepared starting from dimethyl 3-(chloromethyl)isoxazole-4,5-dicarboxylate. The thioether moieties in these compounds were subsequently oxidized to give the corresponding 3-(arylsulfonylmethyl)isoxazole-4,5-dicarboxamides. By carefully controlling stoichiometry and reaction conditions, the C4 and C5 carbomethoxy groups could be differentially derivatized to carboxamides.

The utility of the DNA microarray scanner to simplify the immunofluorescence evaluation of autoimmune bullous diseases.

A DNA microarray scanner was used as a digital fluorescence microscope to simplify the diagnosis of autoimmune bullous diseases. Frozen sections of skin biopsies were taken from 3 patients with bullous pemphigoid and 1 patient each with lichen planus pemphigoides, linear immunoglobulin (Ig) A disease, and dermatitis herpetiformis. After incubation with cyanine-labeled antibodies, the tissues were scanned at 5-mum resolution using an instrument originally designed to study gene expression.

Autologous bone marrow-derived cultured mesenchymal stem cells delivered in a fibrin spray accelerate healing in murine and human cutaneous wounds.

The nonhematopoietic component of bone marrow includes multipotent mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) capable of differentiating into fat, bone, muscle, cartilage, and endothelium. In this report, we describe the cell culture and characterization, delivery system, and successful use of topically applied autologous MSC to accelerate the healing of human and experimental murine wounds. A single bone marrow aspirate of 35-50 mL was obtained from patients with acute wounds (n = 5) from skin cancer surgery and from patients with chronic, long-standing, nonhealing lower extremity wounds (n = 8).

Immunophenotype of conjunctival melanomas: comparisons with uveal and cutaneous melanomas.

Objective: To characterize the immunophenotypic expression pattern of conjunctival melanomas, with the use of standard melanoma markers as well as microphthalmia transcription factor and p75 neurotrophin receptor.

Design: Eleven conjunctival melanomas, including 1 caruncular melanoma, were immunolabeled with a panel of antibodies that included S100, tyrosinase, melan-A, HMB-45 and HMB-50 combination, microphthalmia transcription factor, and p75 neurotrophin receptor. The results were tabulated on the basis of intensity and pervasiveness of labeling and compared with a previous study of uveal melanomas.

Relationship of uveal and cutaneous malignant melanoma in persons with multiple primary tumors.

Uveal and cutaneous melanomas differ in tumor biology, immunophenotypes and the demographic correlates of their occurrence. As a means to examine the possibility of some shared etiologic factors, we wished to learn if the 2 cancers occurred in the same individual more often than would be expected by chance. Data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program from 1973-1998 were utilized for this purpose.

Immunophenotypic differences between uveal and cutaneous melanomas.

Objective: To determine the immunophenotypic differences between uveal and cutaneous melanomas, employing standard melanoma markers as well as p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR) and microphthalmia transcription factor (MITF).

Design: Fifteen uveal melanomas (5 spindle, 5 epithelioid, and 5 mixed uveal subtypes) were immunolabeled with a panel of antibodies that included S100, tyrosinase, melan-A, HMB-45 and HMB-50 combination, MITF, and p75NTR. The results were tabulated on the basis of intensity and pervasiveness of the labeling and compared with a prior study on cutaneous spindle and epithelioid melanomas.