Psoriasis vulgaris and Poland's syndrome in the same patient

Most common anomalies associated with Poland's syndrome are in the chest wall. This type of anomaly causes important psychological distress, especially in adolescent girls. A 19-year-old female with Poland's syndrome having psoriatic plaques on her trunk, knees, and elbows is reported in this paper. Such an association of Poland's syndrome with psoriasis has not been described previously.     

Comparative study for determination of Mycobacterium tuberculosis susceptibility to first- and second-line antituberculosis drugs by the Etest using 7H11, blood, and chocolate agar

We investigated the performance of blood and chocolate agar as alternatives to Middlebrook 7H11 agar for testing the susceptibility of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to first-and second-line drugs by the Etest method. A total of 39 strains of M. tuberculosis including 22 multidrug-resistant M. tuberculosis strains and 17 susceptible strains were tested. In conclusion, our results showed that chocolate agar gave insufficient growth, needing up to 21 days of incubation, while results on blood agar were comparable to those on Middlebrook 7H11 agar and can be further explored as an alternative for Etest-based susceptibility testing of M. tuberculosis.     

Gefährdungsbeurteilung bei Epilepsie

Clinical Epileptology -     

Subthreshold micropulse laser versus intravitreal anti-VEGF for diabetic macular edema patients with relatively better visual acuity

AIM: To compare the effects of yellow (577 nm) subthreshold micropulse laser (SML) and intravitreal (IV) anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) treatment in patients with diabetic macular edema (DME) with relatively better visual acuity [best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) ≤0.15 logMAR]. METHODS: The medical records of 76 eyes of 47 patients underwent IV (0.5 mg) anti-VEGF injection or SML for the DME with relatively better BCVA were reviewed. The IV group received three consecutive monthly IV anti-VEGF injections, then were retreated as needed. The laser treatment group was treated at baseline and 3mo, and then retreated at 6 and 9mo if needed. All participants were followed up for one year. The mean BCVA and mean central macular thickness (CMT) values changes over the follow-up were evaluated. RESULTS: Twenty-four and 23 patients were assigned to the SML and IV subgroups, respectively. The mean number of treatments was 3.64±0.76 in SML group and 5.85±1.38 in IV group (P<0.05). The subgroups were similar with regard to the mean BCVA score at baseline and at the 1st and 3rd months, but the score of SML group was better than that of IV group at the 6th, 9th, and 12th months (P<0.05). The decrease in the mean CMT values from baseline values was higher in SML group at the 6th, 9th, and 12th months (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Yellow SML treatment is superior to IV anti-VEGF injection in DME patients with relatively better BCVA for increasing visual acuity and decreasing CMT at 6, 9, and 12mo. SML can be a good alternative first-line therapy for DME with BCVA ≤0.15 logMAR.