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The Indian Journal of Tuberculosis Oct 2023Tuberculosis continues to be a major public health concern worldwide with almost 20-40% of the world's population being affected yearly. Cutaneous Tuberculosis (TB) is a...
Tuberculosis continues to be a major public health concern worldwide with almost 20-40% of the world's population being affected yearly. Cutaneous Tuberculosis (TB) is a rare and underdiagnosed entity that manifests in about 1-1.5% of extrapulmonary tuberculosis cases worldwide. Dermoscopy is a non-invasive tool which will be a useful aid to histopathology in the confirmation of the diagnosis alongside culture, and molecular techniques. This is a cross-sectional descriptive study that was conducted at a tertiary care center in Mumbai, India. A total of 31 patients were enrolled in this study; 14 males and 17 females. The mean duration of disease was 4.3 months and the average age was 31 years. There were 10 cases of lupus vulgaris, 7 scrofuloderma, 5 papulonecrotic tuberculid (PNT), 3 tuberculosis verrucosa cutis (TBVC), and 2 cases each of erythema induratum of Bazin, lichen scrofulosorum and resolved lupus vulgaris. All the lesions demonstrated orange yellow background suggestive of dermal granuloma. Other key dermoscopic features noted include yellowish-white scales, patulous follicles, white structureless areas, milia-like cysts, white streaks, pigment globules, hairpin and linear vessels. Newer findings such as the crown of vessels and perifollicular pallor in lichen scrofulosorum, and radiating white streaks in PNT were also noted. Dermoscopy of infective granulomas such as cutaneous tuberculosis is a less explored field of dermatology. Newer dermoscopic features of each clinical variant of cutaneous TB have been described.
Topics: Male; Female; Humans; Adult; Tuberculosis, Cutaneous; Lupus Vulgaris; Cross-Sectional Studies; India
PubMed: 37968058
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijtb.2023.05.020 -
Journal of Drugs in Dermatology : JDD Nov 2023Hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia (HED) is a genetic disorder characterized by hypohidrosis, hypodontia, and hypotrichosis. Skin manifestations, including...
Hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia (HED) is a genetic disorder characterized by hypohidrosis, hypodontia, and hypotrichosis. Skin manifestations, including dyspigmentation and milia-like papules that coalesce into plaques, are difficult to treat. There is no cure for HED, therefore treatment is focused on managing symptoms and improving quality of life. There is limited evidence in the literature for safe and effective treatments improving HED-related facial skin aesthetics. The facial skin rashes caused by HED demonstrate an unmet clinical need in dermatology. Current therapies are limited to prevention methods such as keeping the skin cool by avoiding heat and applying topical moisturizers to help treat dry, pruritic skin. Herein we present a method for successful treatment of a 34-year-old African American male using fractional carbon dioxide CO2 ablative laser with laser-assisted drug delivery of triamcinolone 0.1% ointment that resulted in decreased milia-like papules, improved dyspigmentation, smoother skin tone, and high patient satisfaction. J Drugs Dermatol. 2023;22(11):1130-1132 doi:10.36849/JDD.7650.
Topics: Male; Humans; Adult; Ectodermal Dysplasia 1, Anhidrotic; Carbon Dioxide; Lasers, Gas; Quality of Life; Epidermal Cyst
PubMed: 37943264
DOI: 10.36849/JDD.7650 -
Recent Patents on Nanotechnology Nov 2023The convergence of diabetology and nanotechnology has emerged as a promising synergy with the potential to revolutionize the management and treatment of diabetes...
The convergence of diabetology and nanotechnology has emerged as a promising synergy with the potential to revolutionize the management and treatment of diabetes mellitus. Diabetes, a complex metabolic disorder affecting millions worldwide, necessitates innovative approaches to enhance monitoring, diagnosis, and therapeutic interventions. Nanotechnology, a burgeoning field that manipulates materials at the nanoscale, offers unprecedented opportunities to address the challenges posed by diabetes. This abstract explores the multifaceted interface between diabetology and nanotechnology, highlighting key areas of integration. Nanotechnology has paved the way for the development of advanced glucose monitoring systems with enhanced accuracy, sensitivity, and patient convenience. Miniaturized biosensors and implantable devices equipped with nanoscale materials enable continuous and real-time glucose monitoring, empowering individuals with diabetes to make timely and informed decisions about their dietary and insulin management. Furthermore, nanotechnology has facilitated breakthroughs in targeted drug delivery, addressing the limitations of conventional therapies in diabetes treatment. Nano-sized drug carriers can improve bioavailability, enable controlled release, and enhance the selectivity of therapeutic agents, minimizing side effects and optimizing treatment outcomes. Moreover, nanoengineered materials have opened avenues for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, offering the potential to restore damaged pancreatic islets and insulin-producing cells. The amalgamation of diabetology and nanotechnology also holds promise for early disease detection and prevention. Nanoscale diagnostic tools, such as biomarker-based nanoprobes and lab-onchip devices, offer rapid and accurate detection of diabetes-related biomolecules, enabling timely interventions and reducing the risk of complications. However, this compelling combination also presents challenges that warrant careful consideration. Safety, biocompatibility, regulatory approval, and ethical implications are crucial factors that demand meticulous evaluation during the translation of nanotechnology-based solutions into clinical practice. In conclusion, the integration of diabetology and nanotechnology represents a transformative paradigm that has the potential to reshape the landscape of diabetes management. By harnessing the unique properties of nanoscale materials, researchers and clinicians are poised to usher in an era of personalized and precise diagnostics, therapeutics, and preventive strategies for diabetes mellitus. As advancements in nanotechnology continue to unfold, the journey towards realizing the full potential of this compelling combination remains an exciting frontier in medical science.
PubMed: 37937555
DOI: 10.2174/0118722105253055231016155618 -
Cureus Sep 2023Background Cysts are common skin abnormalities that are mostly benign; however, sometimes malignant lesions may present clinically as cystic manifestations. Benign...
Background Cysts are common skin abnormalities that are mostly benign; however, sometimes malignant lesions may present clinically as cystic manifestations. Benign cutaneous cysts can be of different morphological types and their diagnosis relies on histological evaluations. The most common mode of treatment is surgical excision, which is curative. Methodology This is a retrospective cross-sectional study conducted at the Department of Histopathology, Chughtai Institute of Pathology, Lahore, Pakistan from 1st January 2020 to 31st December 2022. Non-probability consecutive sampling was done, and all the cases of benign cutaneous cysts were included. All cases were microscopically reviewed by two histopathologists, and variables like age, gender, site of the lesion, and histological diagnosis were noted. The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 29 (Released 2022; IBM Corp., Armonk, New York, United States). Results A total of 1160 recorded cases of benign cutaneous cysts were included. Overall gender distribution revealed males (n=489, 42.1%) and females (n=671, 57.8%). The age range was 3 to 91 years with a mean age of 37.56 ± 16.05 years. The three most common cysts were epidermal inclusion cysts (74.3%), trichilemmal cysts (15.1%), and dermoid cysts (6.3%). Other cysts were uncommon including hidrocystoma (1.9%), steatocystoma (0.3%), verrucous cysts (0.3%), comedones (0.6%), hybrid cysts (0.2%), milia (0.3%), and vellus hair cysts (0.2%). The most common site was back (23.5%) for epidermal inclusion cysts, scalp (74.4%) for trichilemmal cysts, and eye (33.8%) for dermoid cysts. Conclusion Benign cutaneous cysts have a broad morphological spectrum with a wide age range. Epidermal inclusion cysts, trichilemmal cysts, dermoid cysts, and hidrocystoma account for the four most common types. For each of the other cyst type, the prevalence was under 1%. Female gender predominated in epidermal inclusion cysts, trichilemmal cysts, and dermoid cysts while male gender was common in other cysts. Overall majority of the cysts presented in the head and neck area.
PubMed: 37868536
DOI: 10.7759/cureus.45548 -
Journal of Biomolecular Structure &... Oct 2023Nanoformulations (NFs) can be used as a novel drug delivery system to treat all cancer types. One of the major drawbacks of conventional anticancer drugs is that they...
Nanoformulations (NFs) can be used as a novel drug delivery system to treat all cancer types. One of the major drawbacks of conventional anticancer drugs is that they have poor specificity and higher toxicity towards normal cells. 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is a well-studied anticancer drug that has a significant role in various cancers, specifically colorectal cancer therapy. This study was performed to determine the functional groups, particle size, surface charge, heterogeneity, and stability of the NF. The NFs of 5-FU were prepared through the ultrasonication technique by increasing the surfactant (Tween-80) concentrations. Among all three NFs, nanoformulated 5-FU (n5-FU) showed the most effective particle size (10.72 nm) with a zeta potential of (-4.57 mV). The cytotoxicity and apoptosis profiles confirmed that n5-FU enhanced the anticancer effect of the pure drug in HCT-116 cells, as evident from MTT assay, fluorescence microscopy, and FACS analysis. In HCT-116 cells, the IC values of pure and n5-FU were obtained as 41.3 μM and 18.8 μM, respectively, indicating that n5-FU was more effective against the cancer cell line. The cellular uptake study was performed to check the intake of NF in cancer cells. However, the microtubule-affinity regulating kinase-4 (MARK-4), a cancer-target protein, was purified to study the inhibition and interaction studies. The inhibition assay confirmed the inhibitory potential of 5-FU against MARK-4 protein. the multi-spectroscopic, molecular docking and MD simulation studies were performed to analyse the conformational changes, binding studies, intermolecular interactions, and stability of MARK-4 protein upon binding 5-FU. This demonstrates that NF can enhance the effectiveness of anticancer drugs.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.
PubMed: 37850451
DOI: 10.1080/07391102.2023.2270704 -
Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) Sep 2023Convolutional neural network (CNN) models have been extensively applied to skin lesions segmentation due to their information discrimination capabilities. However, CNNs'...
Convolutional neural network (CNN) models have been extensively applied to skin lesions segmentation due to their information discrimination capabilities. However, CNNs' struggle to capture the connection between long-range contexts when extracting deep semantic features from lesion images, resulting in a semantic gap that causes segmentation distortion in skin lesions. Therefore, detecting the presence of differential structures such as pigment networks, globules, streaks, negative networks, and milia-like cysts becomes difficult. To resolve these issues, we have proposed an approach based on semantic-based segmentation (Dermo-Seg) to detect differential structures of lesions using a UNet model with a transfer-learning-based ResNet-50 architecture and a hybrid loss function. The Dermo-Seg model uses ResNet-50 backbone architecture as an encoder in the UNet model. We have applied a combination of focal Tversky loss and IOU loss functions to handle the dataset's highly imbalanced class ratio. The obtained results prove that the intended model performs well compared to the existing models. The dataset was acquired from various sources, such as ISIC18, ISBI17, and HAM10000, to evaluate the Dermo-Seg model. We have dealt with the data imbalance present within each class at the pixel level using our hybrid loss function. The proposed model achieves a mean IOU score of 0.53 for streaks, 0.67 for pigment networks, 0.66 for globules, 0.58 for negative networks, and 0.53 for milia-like-cysts. Overall, the Dermo-Seg model is efficient in detecting different skin lesion structures and achieved 96.4% on the IOU index. Our Dermo-Seg system improves the IOU index compared to the most recent network.
PubMed: 37761291
DOI: 10.3390/diagnostics13182924 -
JAMA Dermatology Nov 2023
Topics: Humans; Pruritus; Skin Abnormalities; Leg
PubMed: 37755837
DOI: 10.1001/jamadermatol.2023.3438 -
Toxics Sep 2023The evidence linking the use of household pesticides and the risk of lymphoma is scanty.
BACKGROUND
The evidence linking the use of household pesticides and the risk of lymphoma is scanty.
METHODS
We explored the hypothesis in a population-based case-control study on lymphoma conducted in Sardinia, Italy, in 1998-2004, including 325 cases and 465 population controls and data on lifetime frequency, seasonality, and years of use of household insecticides and potential confounders. We calculated the risk of lymphoma (all subtypes) and its major subtypes associated with using household insecticides in three time windows (up to 1978, from 1979-2001, and 2002 onwards) with unconditional logistic regression adjusting by age, sex, education, and occupational exposure to pesticides.
RESULTS
Household insecticides did not increase risk of lymphoma (all subtypes), Hodgkin's lymphoma, B-cell lymphoma, and the major B-cell lymphoma subtypes. The risk of multiple myeloma (MM) but not the other subtypes showed a non-significant upward trend ( = 0.203) with increasing quartiles of days of use in the time window when propoxur was the most popular household insecticide.
CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest no association between the household use of insecticides and the risk of lymphoma. Further studies are warranted to confirm or discard an association between MM risk and the use of propoxur.
PubMed: 37755762
DOI: 10.3390/toxics11090752 -
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Sep 2023
PubMed: 37734112
DOI: 10.1097/PRS.0000000000011071