Long-term dermoscopic follow-up of melanocytic naevi: clinical outcome and patient compliance.

Background: Digital dermoscopy for the follow-up of melanocytic naevi (MN) is becoming more common in dermatological private practice.

Objectives: To evaluate the clinical outcome, including the patient's compliance, in a long-term follow-up of single MN.

Methods: Criteria for the selection of MN for follow-up: clinically suspicious without dermoscopically atypical features, or typical for the patient.

Difference between real and perceived power of dermoscopical methods for detection of malignant melanoma.

Clear proceedings in detection of malignant melanoma and monitoring of melanocytic nevi (MN) have been achieved by dermoscopy in recent years: sensitivity to 95% is possible for experts. Does patients' confidence in methods for detection of malignant melanoma most important for adherence in follow-up reflect this diagnostic power? A self-administered survey was performed in 210 consecutive patients at 13 private dermatological practices and the department of Dermatology of the University of Regensburg. Confidence was assessed by a 5-step ordinal scale ranging from 1 to 5 (higher values indicate higher confidence) and willingness-to-pay (wtp) as health-economic instrument for naked-eye inspection (NEI), handheld dermoscopy (HHD), digital dermoscopy (DD), and teledermoscopy (TD); additional, wtp for a hypothetical method promising 100% accuracy.

Principles of dermatoscopy of pigmented skin lesions.

There has been a dramatic increase in the incidence of malignant melanoma in most parts of the world. Because the tumor thickness is the most important prognostic factor for the prognosis of the malignant melanoma, the early detection of thin melanomas is essential. Dermatoscopy allows the physician to discriminate between melanocytic and nonmelanocytic lesions with high diagnostic accuracy and to detect initial malignant melanomas.

Alcohol consumption in heroin users, methadone-substituted and codeine-substituted patients--frequency and correlates of use.

This retrospective study aims to determine whether there is a difference in the additional consumption of alcohol between addicts treated with methadone or dihydrocodeine (DHC) and untreated addicts injecting heroin. 1685 patients admitted for opioid withdrawal between 1991 and 1997 were reviewed. Cross-reference tables and multiple logistic regression analyses were carried out.

Insulin analogues - state of the art.

The use of insulin analogues is rapidly expanding. At present, there are two short-acting analogues available for practical use, insulin aspart and insulin lispro, and one long-acting analogue, insulin glargine. Another long-acting analogue, insulin detemir, is still under development.

Prevalence of GB virus C/hepatitis G virus RNA and anti-E2 glycoprotein antibodies in homosexual men with HIV coinfection.

Background: The objective of this cross-sectional, nonrandomized, prospective study was to generate data on the prevalence of GB virus C (GBV-C)/hepatitis G virus (HGV) in a cohort of HIV-infected homosexuals from Munich.

Patients: A total of 71 HIV-infected homosexual men were analyzed for prevalence of GBV-C RNA and antibodies to the E2 envelope glycoprotein (E2Ab). 475 healthy volunteer blood donors in southern Bavaria served as a control group.

Mitochondrial disorders. A diagnostic challenge in clinical chemistry.

Mitochondria play a pivotal role in cellular metabolism and in energy production in particular. Defects in structure or function of mitochondria, mainly involving the oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS), mitochondrial biogenesis and other metabolic pathways, have been shown to be associated with a wide spectrum of clinical phenotypes. The ubiquitous nature of mitochondria and their unique genetic features contribute to the clinical, biochemical and genetic heterogeneity of mitochondrial diseases.

On the prognosis of IDDM patients with large kidneys.

Background: Approximately 10-30% of IDDM patients develop diabetic nephropathy depending on the metabolic control. Previous examinations on the significance of the kidney size prior to the manifestation of nephropathy produced varying results.

Methods: The present study, therefore, was designed to assess the correlation between sonographically determined kidney size and kidney function over 8 years in a follow-up examination, and to evaluate a potential risk pattern.

HLA-DQ-restricted, islet-specific T-cell clones of a type I diabetic patient. T-cell receptor sequence similarities to insulitis-inducing T-cells of nonobese diabetic mice.

We established a T-cell line and 20 CD4+ T-cell clones from the peripheral blood lymphocytes of a type I diabetic patient using a membrane preparation of a rat insulinoma cell line (beta membrane antigen [BMA]) as a source of antigen. The T-cell line and three selected clones proliferated specifically to stimulation with BMA and to membranes prepared from human islets, rat pancreas, and NOD pancreas, but not to control antigens. Proliferation-inhibition studies using human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-specific monoclonal antibodies revealed HLA-DQw1-restricted recognition of BMA.

Stabilized human insulin prevents catheter occlusion during continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion.

Obstruction of infusion sets is a major cause of metabolic deterioration or even ketoacidosis during continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII). 21 type I, CSII-treated patients were studied in a prospective, randomized cross over design during two periods of three months to assess the effects of Genapol stabilized human insulin (HOE 21 PH H-TRONIN) on obstruction frequency of PVC catheters in comparison with a neutral preparation of biosynthetic human insulin (BHI). In a total observation time of 9.