Delayed diagnosis of adult-onset mastocytosis.

Urticaria pigmentosa is most frequently observed in children. The associated symptomatology in mastocytosis is vague and not always diagnostic, and Darier's sign is often negative, making the diagnosis challenging. We describe a case of a 61-year-old man with extensive brown papules and macules in different locations of the body that slowly progressed in the last 10 years with a previous anaphylactic reaction after an ant bite.

Indeterminate Cell Histiocytosis Mimicking Rosacea.

Indeterminate cell histiocytosis (ICH) is a rare proliferative disorder of histiocytes, which display morphologic and immunophenotypic characteristics of both Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) and non-Langerhans cell histiocytosis (NLCH). We describe an unusual clinical presentation of ICH mimicking rosacea and provide a relevant review of the literature.

A Rare Presentation of Nodular Amyloidosis on the Lower Back.

Primary localized cutaneous amyloidosis (PLCA) occurs when amyloid is deposited only within the skin and there is no evidence of systemic involvement. Nodular amyloidosis is the rarest subtype of PLCA. It typically involves the acral regions but can sometimes present on the head and neck.

Anti-Thymocyte Globulin Prophylaxis Induces a Decrease in Naive Th Cells to Inhibit the Onset of Chronic Graft-versus-Host Disease: Results from the Canadian Bone Marrow Transplant Group (CBMTG) 0801 Study.

Anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) is an established approach to decrease chronic GVHD (cGVHD), yet the exact mechanism is uncertain. To better understand the mechanism of action of ATG in preventing cGVHD, we evaluated the day 100 immune reconstitution of known cGVHD cellular biomarkers using patients from the randomized Canadian Bone Marrow Transplant Group (CBMTG) 0801 trial, which demonstrated a significant impact of ATG on cGVHD. In a separate companion biology study, we evaluated the impact of ATG prophylaxis on cGVHD cellular markers at day 100 in 40 CBMTG 0801 patients.

The TLR9 agonist (GNKG168) induces a unique immune activation pattern in vivo in children with minimal residual disease positive acute leukemia: Results of the TACL T2009-008 phase I study.

: Preclinical studies show that TLR9 agonists can eradicate leukemia by induction of immune responses against AML and ALL. These studies demonstrated that TLR9 agonists induce an immediate NK response followed by adaptive T and B cells responses resulting in long term anti-leukemia immunity. : The Therapeutic Advances in Childhood Leukemia and Lymphoma Phase I consortium performed a pilot study on 3 patients with MRD positive acute leukemia after an initial remission on conventional chemotherapy (TACL T2009-008) with the TLR 9 agonist (GNKG168).

Higher levels of free plasma mitochondrial DNA are associated with the onset of chronic GvHD.

Toll-like receptor-9 (TLR9) responsive B cells have previously been associated with the onset of extensive chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGvHD). We hypothesized that the onset of cGvHD associated with a higher level of plasma-free mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), a putative TLR9 agonist. Plasma cell-free mtDNA levels were measured in 39 adult patients post-HSCT with and without cGvHD.

Practice Patterns in the Treatment and Monitoring of Acute T Cell-Mediated Kidney Graft Rejection in Canada.

Background: One of the goals of the Canadian National Transplant Research Program (CNTRP) is to develop novel therapies for acute rejection that could positively affect graft outcomes with greater efficacy or less toxicity. To develop innovative management strategies for kidney graft rejection, new modalities need to be compared with current clinical practices. However, there are no standardized practices concerning the management of acute T cell-mediated rejection (TCMR).

Heterogeneity of chronic graft-versus-host disease biomarkers: association with CXCL10 and CXCR3+ NK cells.

Chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) remains one of the most significant long-term complications after allogeneic blood and marrow transplantation. Diagnostic biomarkers for cGVHD are needed for early diagnosis and may guide identification of prognostic markers. No cGVHD biomarker has yet been validated for use in clinical practice.

Fluoroscopy-induced chronic radiation dermatitis: a report of three cases.

We report these cases to emphasize the importance of recognizing fluoroscopy as a cause of radiation dermatitis. The diagnosis of fluoroscopy-induced chronic radiation dermatitis should be raised when patients present with morpheaform, telangiectatic, or ulcerative skin findings in the characteristic locations.

The response of the tidepool sculpin, Oligocottus maculosus, to hypoxia in laboratory, mesocosm and field environments.

Animals living in the intertidal zone experience regular, predictable fluctuations in physical parameters including temperature, oxygen and salinity and rely on behavioural, physiological and biochemical mechanisms to cope with environmental variation. In the present study, behavioural strategies induced by aquatic hypoxia (e.g.

Becker's melanosis in a woman.

Becker's melanosis is a relatively common, benign hamartoma, which is usually characterized by a hyperpigmented, hypertrichotic patch on the upper trunk or proximal upper extremities of males, with its onset during the peripubertal years. Commonly, there is an associated smooth muscle hamartoma on histology. We present a woman with a Becker's melanosis on the leg without hypertrichosis.

Erythema elevatum diutinum mimicking extensive keloids; quiz 386.

Goal: To describe a case of erythema elevatum diutinum (EED) that clinically mimicked extensive keloids.

Objectives: Upon completion of this activity, dermatologists and general practitioners should be able to: 1. Describe the clinical presentation and lesion appearance in EED.

The concentration levels of Cd, Pb, Hg, Cu, Zn and Se in blood of the population in the Czech Republic.

Knowledge of normal levels of concentrations of trace elements (Cd, Pb, Hg, Cu, Zn, and Se) in the population serves, among others, in design of regulations concerning health protection, determination of exposure limits and prevention of diseases caused by deficiency of trace elements. Concentrations of the named elements in whole blood of the Czech population were determined by means of atomic absorption spectrometry. The blood was collected during 1996-1998 from 1,216 blood donors (896 males and 320 females, average age 33 years) and 758 children (397 boys and 361 girls, average age 9.

Relation between concentration of lead, zinc and lysozyme in placentas of women with intrauterine foetal growth retardation.

Intrauterine foetal growth retardation (IUGR) implies increased risk of morbidity and mortality of the newborn. Aetiology of intrauterine retardation is probably multifactorial and may include maternal infection, malnutrition, placental dysfunction, hypertension, toxaemia, smoking, professional and environmental exposure. The work concentrates on the lead, zinc and lysozyme levels in blood and placental tissues of 50 females in the IUGR group and 43 females from a control group.

Health risk assessment in evaluation of metals in TSP.

The authors submit information on the prediction of the health risk assessment, they used for defining the air pollution by air particulates. Trace metal and toxic metal analysis is used in the cancer risk assessment. This approach gives a better view of adverse effects on health.

[Relation of metal and lysozyme levels in the placentas of women with intrauterine fetal growth retardation].

In a group of women who gave birth to a foetus with marked growth retardation and 27 women who were delivered of eutrophic neonates the lead, cadmium, zinc and lysozyme levels in placental tissue were assessed. The investigation revealed the following results: the lead level was in the investigated group significantly higher than in the control group (15.24 ng/g vs.

Visual contrast sensitivity deficits in Bohemian children.

Visual contrast sensitivity (VCS) tests have been used successfully in medical diagnosis and subclinical neurotoxicity detection. This paper reports VCS measurements in three studies of children in the Czech Republic. Study 1 compared children in standard schools and schools for the learning disabled.

[Foreign substances in maternal milk].

In 1984-1985 72 specimens of human milk were examined for hexachlorobenzene, DDE and polychlorinated biphenyls and 69 specimens for lead and cadmium. The residual levels (expressed in mg.kg-1 milk fat) were as follows: hexachlorobenzene 1.

Basophils in incontinentia pigmenti.

Incontinentia pigmenti is a rare genodermatosis of unknown etiology. A female infant with features typical of this disease was found to have basophils in early vesicular lesions. Mediators from these cells may be responsible for the accumulation of eosinophils in these lesions.

Bowel-bypass syndrome without bowel bypass. Bowel-associated dermatosis-arthritis syndrome.

A recurrent, episodic illness that occurs in as many as 20% of patients who undergo ileojejunal bypass surgery for morbid obesity has been well characterized and includes inflammatory cutaneous lesions with a histologic appearance like that of neutrophilic vasculitis, a nondeforming polyarthritis, and other systemic manifestations. Current concepts of pathogenesis center on overgrowth of bacterial flora in the bypassed bowel segment with subsequent development of a circulating immune complex disease. We report, for the first time to our knowledge, an identical clinicopathologic syndrome in four patients who have not had jejunoileal bypass surgery.

Spreading pigmented actinic keratosis.

We present four cases of spreading pigmented actinic keratoses, an only recently described pigmented lesion of sun-exposed areas, in which the histologic appearance is that of actinic keratosis with the additional feature of excessive melanin deposition in the lower epidermis and in the upper dermis. Clinically, it is a brown patch or plaque with a smooth surface, usually larger than 1 cm, that tends to spread centrifugally. Clinical differential diagnoses include seborrheic keratosis, melanocytic nevus, senile lentigo, lentigo maligna, and lentigo maligna melanoma.