Digital image analysis of erythema development after experimental thermal injury to human skin: effect of postburn topical local anesthetics (EMLA).

Unlabelled: Local anesthetics inhibit edema and improve circulation in experimental burns. We evaluated the effect of topical local anesthetics on human skin burns in volunteers using computerized color analysis that allowed repeated noninvasive quantitative measurements. A standardized partial-thickness burn (1 cm2) was induced in one forearm of 10 healthy volunteers and in the opposite forearm a week later.

Understanding and managing common baldness.

Background: Society places importance on physical attributes especially the appearance of our hair. Common baldness or androgenetic alopecia is a normal physiological process of hair loss in genetically predisposed individuals. Premature or accelerated hair loss can engender considerable negative thoughts and anxiety associated with feelings of diminished attractiveness.

Topical wound anaesthesia in children--a temporary postoperative pain relief.

Background: Administration of local anaesthetics into the surgical wound may modulate pain at the peripheral level. A previous study in adults has shown good analgesic effects of topical lidocaine in wounds after herniorrhaphy.

Methods: Postoperative pain relief after topical administration of 10% lidocaine aerosol in the surgical wound was investigated in a randomised, double-blind study in children undergoing inguinal hernia repair.

Vibrotactile stimulus order effects in somatosensory cortical areas of rhesus monkeys.

This study demonstrated effects of stimulus order on single-cell responses in the macaque primary and secondary somatosensory and 7b cortical areas. As part of a study of tactile attention, two monkeys (Macaca mulatta) received similar constant amplitude, sinusoidal tactile vibration patterns (125 Hz) at two glabrous skin, hand locations. The stimuli started asynchronously with offsets of 150 or 300 ms.

Effect of a comprehensive quality management process on compliance with protocol in an emergency medical dispatch center.

Study Objective: Modern emergency medical dispatch provides appropriate resource responses with the use of an emergency medical dispatch priority reference system (EMDPRS). The EMDPRS is a systematic protocol for all aspects of the dispatch process, including interrogating the caller, matching responses with severity, and providing pre-arrival care. We tested the hypothesis that appropriate performance feedback would increase dispatcher compliance with the protocol.

Hirsutes. II: Treatment.

The treatment of hirsutes includes cosmetic measures, such as bleaching, plucking, electrical epilation and, more recently, laser epilation. Pharmacological therapy consists of anti-androgens and includes the androgen receptor blockers spironolactone and cyproterone acetate. Other drugs reducing androgen expression include oral contraceptives and corticosteroids.

Field evidence for mechanical transmission of rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) by flies (Diptera:Calliphoridae) among wild rabbits in Australia.

Field collected flies were screened for the presence of rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) by applying reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) in which primers specific to the capsid protein of the virus were used. The virus was detected in flies from locations where rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD) was reported and also soon after the release of RHDV in a 'clean' area. Oral and/or anal excretions of flies (flyspots) were found to contain viable virus and oral inoculation of rabbits revealed that a single flyspot was able to cause RHD.

Re-design of Saccharomyces cerevisiae flavocytochrome b2: introduction of L-mandelate dehydrogenase activity.

Flavocytochrome b2 from Saccharomyces cerevisiae is an l-lactate dehydrogenase which exhibits only barely detectable activity levels towards another 2-hydroxyacid, l-mandelate. Using protein engineering methods we have altered the active site of flavocytochrome b2 and successfully introduced substantial mandelate dehydrogenase activity into the enzyme. Changes to Ala-198 and Leu-230 have significant effects on the ability of the enzyme to utilize l-mandelate as a substrate.

L-Mandelate dehydrogenase from Rhodotorula graminis: cloning, sequencing and kinetic characterization of the recombinant enzyme and its independently expressed flavin domain.

The l-mandelate dehydrogenase (L-MDH) from the yeast Rhodotorula graminis is a mitochondrial flavocytochrome b2 which catalyses the oxidation of mandelate to phenylglyoxylate coupled with the reduction of cytochrome c. We have used the N-terminal sequence of the enzyme to isolate the gene encoding this enzyme using the PCR. Comparison of the genomic sequence with the sequence of cDNA prepared by reverse transcription PCR revealed the presence of 11 introns in the coding region.

Anti-glomerular basement membrane (GBM)-antibody-mediated disease with normal renal function.

Background: This study compared the clinical and laboratory characteristics of patients with anti-glomerular basement membrane (GBM) disease and normal renal function, with those of patients with anti-GBM disease where there was renal impairment.

Methods: The medical records of the 14 patients who had presented with anti-GBM disease to our hospital in the past 20 years were reviewed.

Results: Five (36%) had a normal serum creatinine or creatinine clearance at presentation.

Hirsutes. I: Diagnosis.

Hirsutes, the coarse, androgen-dependent growth of hair in women, is a common problem faced by doctors. Whether a woman presents to a clinician or not depends on cultural and racial factors. The clinician must differentiate normal biological variation from cases of hirsutes.

Microscopic polyarteritis following a suppurative wound infection.

Bacterial and viral infections may be associated with the onset of a number of autoimmune diseases and relapses of these conditions. We describe a patient in whom there was a close temporal relationship between a suppurative wound infection and the onset of microscopic polyarteritis. The clinical features of this disease responded to treatment with high dose prednisolone and cyclophosphamide.

Practical cryosurgery.

Cryosurgery is a widely used modality for the treatment of superficial cutaneous lesions. It can be used for the treatment of benign, premalignant and malignant skin conditions.

Treating common nail problems.

This article is a follow up to the article There is something wrong with my nail (AFP, June 1997). Conditions of the nail often pose diagnostic and management problems. The former issues were addressed in the previous article while this article focuses on current management options for this difficult range of conditions.

There is something wrong with my nail.

Nail problems are a frequent source of concern to patients and are a relatively common presenting complaint to general practitioners. While tinea unguium and psoriasis are the main causes of nail problems for the majority of patients, there are numerous other causes of nail dystrophies. This article aims to discuss some of the commoner causes of nail dystrophy.

X-ray absorption and resonance raman spectroscopy of human myeloperoxidase at neutral and acid pH.

Myeloperoxidase (MPO), an important enzyme in the oxygen-dependent host defense system of human polymorphonuclear leukocytes, utilizes hydrogen peroxide to catalyze the production of hypochlorous acid, an oxidizing bactericidal agent. While MPO shows significant sequence homology with other peroxidases and this homology is particularly striking among the active-site residues, MPO exhibits unusual spectral features and the unique ability to catalyze the oxidation of chloride ions. We have investigated the MPO active-site with X-ray absorption (XAS) and resonance Raman (RRS) spectroscopies at neutral pH and also at the physiological acidic pH (pH approximately 3) and have compared these results with those of horseradish peroxidase (HRP).

Classical polyarteritis nodosa and microscopic polyarteritis with medium vessel involvement--a comparison of the clinical and laboratory features.

Microscopic polyarteritis may involve medium-sized and small blood vessels as well as arterioles, venules and capillaries. We have compared the clinical and laboratory features in patients with microscopic polyarteritis and medium vessel involvement, with the features found in patients with polyarteritis nodosa affecting medium vessels alone. In a 9-year period, 21 patients presented to our hospital with a form of polyarteritis.

Tactile-spatial and cross-modal attention effects in the second somatosensory and 7b cortical areas of rhesus monkeys.

This study analyzed neuronal responses in the second somatosensory (SII) and 7b cortical areas during a selective attention task. Cues directed attention to one of three simultaneous stimuli: vibrotactile stimuli applied to mirror sites on both hands or to a similarly timed auditory tone. Two stimulus patterns appeared with equal probability for the cued stimulus: a constant amplitude sinewave or the latter with a superimposed brief amplitude pulse midway in the trial.