High frequency of cutaneous manifestations including vitiligo and alopecia areata in a prospective cohort of patients with chronic graft-vs-host disease.

Aim: To determine the frequency and the characteristics of cutaneous manifestations, especially vitiligo and alopecia areata, in patients with chronic graft-vs-host disease (cGVHD).

Methods: 50 patients with cGVHD were prospectively enrolled in the observational study protocol and evaluated by an experienced dermatologist. The evaluation was focused on the clinical spectrum of skin and adnexal involvement, and the cutaneous GVHD score was determined according to National Institutes of Health (NIH) Consensus criteria.

Patients with coronary artery disease and diabetes need improved management: a report from the EUROASPIRE IV survey: a registry from the EuroObservational Research Programme of the European Society of Cardiology.

Background: In order to influence every day clinical practice professional organisations issue management guidelines. Cross-sectional surveys are used to evaluate the implementation of such guidelines. The present survey investigated screening for glucose perturbations in people with coronary artery disease and compared patients with known and newly detected type 2 diabetes with those without diabetes in terms of their life-style and pharmacological risk factor management in relation to contemporary European guidelines.

Parkinsonian syndrome and ataxia as a presenting finding of acquired hepatocerebral degeneration.

The term "acquired hepatocerebral degeneration" (AHD) was coined to describe clinical entity distinct from genetically defined Wilson's disease. AHD is chronic neurological disorder, characterized by extrapyramidal and neuropsychiatric symptoms accompanied with advanced liver disease with portosystemic shunts. In majority of AHD cases, extrapyramidal symptoms appear in the presence of known liver disease.

Clinical rating scales.

In Parkinson's disease (PD), rating scales are used to assess the degree of disease-related disability and to titrate long-term treatment to each phase of the disease. Recognition of non-motor symptoms required modification of existing widely used scales to integrate non-motor elements. In addition, new scales have been developed for the assessment of non-motor symptoms.

Rare infections mimicking MS.

The diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS), despite well defined clinical criteria is not always simple. On many occasions it is difficult to differentiate MS from various non-MS idiopathic demyelinating disorders, specific and infectious inflammatory diseases or non-inflammatory demyelinating diseases. Clinicians should be aware of various clinical and MRI "red flags" that may point to the other diagnosis and demand further diagnostic evaluation.

Diagnostic imaging in acute disseminated encephalomyelitis.

Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis is an idiopathic inflammatory demyelinating disease of the CNS that is particularly difficult to differentiate from the first episode of multiple sclerosis, so called clinically isolated syndrome. Currently, no diagnostic criteria exist that could reliably differentiate these two diseases. More importantly no single clinical, neuroimaging or cerebrospinal fluid feature defines a disorder with absolute certainty.

Genetic polymorphism of metabolic enzymes P450 (CYP) as a susceptibility factor for drug response, toxicity, and cancer risk.

The polymorphic P450 (CYP) enzyme superfamily is the most important system involved in the biotransformation of many endogenous and exogenous substances including drugs, toxins, and carcinogens. Genotyping for CYP polymorphisms provides important genetic information that help to understand the effects of xenobiotics on human body. For drug metabolism, the most important polymorphisms are those of the genes coding for CYP2C9, CYP2C19, CYP2D6, and CYP3A4/5, which can result in therapeutic failure or severe adverse reactions.