A Nationwide Digital Multidisciplinary Intervention Aimed at Promoting Pneumococcal Vaccination in Immunocompromised Patients.

Immunocompromised patients (IPs) are at high risk for infections, some of which are vaccine-preventable. The Israeli Ministry of Health recommends pneumococcal conjugate vaccine 13 (PCV13) and pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine 23 (PPSV23) for IP, but vaccine coverage is suboptimal. We assessed the project's effectiveness in improving the pneumococcal vaccination rate among IP.

Development and efficacy of a computerized decision support system for osteoporosis management in the community.

Unlabelled: Computerized alerts for primary care physicians, provided during visits of patients who met treatment guidelines based on their electronic medical records, are an efficient method to raise awareness to many otherwise missed cases, especially after fracture.

Purpose: Measure the efficacy of an automated real-time alert which was developed to assist osteoporosis management in the community.

Methods: The study population included treatment naïve patients with T-score ≤ - 2.

Ocular adverse effects of systemic treatment with isotretinoin.

Objective: To examine whether isotretinoin therapy could result in deleterious ocular effects, as previously described in case report studies.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: The study was conducted using the electronic medical databases of a large health maintenance organization in Israel.

The bleeding risk and natural history of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura in patients with persistent low platelet counts.

Background: No firm data are available on the natural history of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) or on mortality rates or frequency of major bleeding episodes associated with this condition. The disease is thought to have a relatively benign course, despite the frequent occurrence of very low platelet counts. This prevailing conception often guides therapeutic decisions.

Dermatoglyphics in Darier's disease.

Background: Darier's disease is an acantholytic dyskeratotic genodermatosis with autosomal dominant inheritance. A predictive diagnostic marker for this disorder would be beneficial because of the relatively late onset and the large number of sporadic cases of the disease. The dermatoglyphic features of patients with Darier's disease were examined to determine whether they have a common pattern.

Immunologic abnormalities associated with primary anetoderma.

Background And Design: Primary anetoderma is a rare cutaneous elastolytic disorder, the etiopathogenesis of which has not yet been established. Six patients with primary anetoderma were studied in an attempt to assess the role of the immunologic system in the elastolytic process. The investigation included the medical history, physical examination, routine blood tests, specific tests for collagen diseases, prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time, thyroxine, indirect immunofluorescence test, and skin biopsies for histopathologic study and direct immunofluorescence.

Primary anetoderma associated with a wide spectrum of autoimmune abnormalities.

Although the underlying pathologic mechanisms of primary anetoderma have not yet been identified, data suggest the participation of an immunologic mechanism in some cases. In a woman with clinical and histopathologic features of primary anetoderma (Jadassohn-Pellizzari type) of 30 years' duration, laboratory investigation disclosed positive antinuclear factor, hypocomplementemia, hypergammaglobulinemia, granular deposits of immunoreactants along the dermoepidermal junction, and fibrillar deposits in the papillary dermis. In addition, she was found to have autoimmune hemolysis and circulating lupus anticoagulant associated with recurrent deep-vein thrombosis and a history of Graves' disease (starting 5 years after onset of primary anetoderma).

The clinical and histopathological spectrum of IgA-pemphigus--report of two cases.

Two new cases of neutrophilic bullous disease exhibiting bound and circulating intercellular IgA in vivo in both direct and indirect immunofluorescence (IF), for which the term IgA-pemphigus was recently proposed, are presented. The first case showed a unique constellation of clinical and histopathological features not previously described for IgA-pemphigus, resembling both dermatitis herpetiformis and pemphigus, for which the designation IgA-herpetiform pemphigus seems most appropriate. The second case showed clinical and histopathological features mimicking subcorneal pustular dermatosis for which the previously used term IgA-pemphigus foliaceus seems most appropriate.