A case of Tinea nigra associated to a bite from a European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus,Leporidae): the role of dermoscopy in diagnosis

We report a case of Tinea nigra in an adolescent living in Itapema, Santa Catarina, Brazil, who presented a hyperchromic macule on the palm of the left hand, close to another erythematous macule caused by a rabbit bite. The patient received guidance on accidents and animal bites and evolved well treated with topical butenafine for the dermatomycosis. The authors also highlight the efficacy of the dermoscopic exam in diagnosing Tinea nigra with animal bite lesions and other traumas.     

Treating Legg-Perthes Disease

Treatment for Legg-Perthes disease should provide dynamic maintenance of the femoral head in the acetabulum, with the hip in moderate abduction and some internal rotation, and minimize stress of body weight on the avascular femoral head. The trilateral socket hip abduction orthosis accomplishes both goals while allowing the patient to be ambulatory and to participate in normal daily activities.     

Hepatocyte Composition-Based Model as a Mechanistic Tool for Predicting the Cell Suspension: Aqueous Phase Partition Coefficient of Drugs in In Vitro Metabolic Studies

This study is an extension of a previously published microsome composition-based model by Poulin and Haddad (Poulin and Haddad. 2011. J Pharm Sci 100:4501–4517), which was converted to the hepatocyte composition-based model. The first objective was to investigate the ability of the composition-based model to predict nonspecific binding of drugs in hepatocytes suspended in the incubation medium in in vitro metabolic studies. The hepatocyte composition-based model describes the cell suspension-aqueous phase partition coefficients, which were used to estimate fraction unbound in the incubation medium (fu_inc) for each drug. The second objective was to make a comparative analysis between the proposed hepatocyte composition-based model and an empirical regression equation published in the literature by Austin et al. (Austin RP, Barton P, Mohmed S, Riley RJ. 2004. Drug Metab Dispos 33:419–425). The assessment was confined by the availability of experimentally determined in vitro fu_inc values at diverse hepatocyte concentrations for 92 drugs. The model that made use of hepatocyte composition data provides comparable or superior prediction performance compared with the regression equation that relied solely on physicochemical data; therefore, this demonstrates the ability of predicting fu_inc also based on mechanisms of drug tissue distribution. The accuracy of the predictions differed depending on the class of drugs (neutrals vs. ionized drugs) and species (rat vs. human) for each method. This study for hepatocytes corroborates a previous study for microsomes. Overall, this work represents a significant first step toward the development of a generic and mechanistic calculation method of fu_inc in incubations of hepatocytes, which should facilitate rational interindividual and interspecies extrapolations of fu_inc by considering differences in lipid composition of hepatocytes, for clearance prediction in the physiologically-based pharmacokinetics (PBPK) models. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. and the American Pharmacists Association J Pharm Sci 102:2806–2818, 2013     

Long-Term Tobacco Smoking and Mucociliary Clearance

The rate of mucociliary clearance was estimated from the removal of inhaled radioactive particles in 79 elderly subjects of whom 50 had healthy lungs and 29 had respiratory impairment that was obstructive in 13 and restrictive in 16. The 29 impaired subjects had on the average a faster clearance than the normal group, a difference that almost approached significance (5% level) at six hours after the inhalation of the aerosol. The obstructed subjects showed the fastest clearance with the restricted group intermediate between these and the normal group. No significant difference was found between the rates of clearance of smokers, nonsmokers, and exsmokers in either healthy or “diseased” groups.     

Is mortality among under‐five children in Nairobi slums seasonal?

Objective  To investigate the seasonal pattern of overall mortality among children aged below 5 years living in two informal settlements in Nairobi City.
Methods  We used data collected from January 2003 to December 2005 in the Nairobi Urban Health and Demographic Surveillance System on demographic events (birth, death, and migration). Analyses of seasonal effects on under-five mortality are based on Poisson regression controlling for sex, age, study site and calendar year.
Results  During the study period, there were 17 878 children below 5 years in the study sites. Overall 436 under-five deaths were recorded. The overall death rate for the under-five children was 19.95 per 1 000 person years. There is a significant seasonal variation of under-five mortality. The mortality risk was significantly higher in the second and third quarters of year than in the fourth quarter (RR = 1.6, CI: 1.3–2.2 and RR = 1.5, CI: 1.1–2.0).
Conclusion  This paper demonstrates that overall mortality among under-five children in the urban poor is seasonal. Overall during the second quarter of the year, the death rate increases by nearly twofold. This evidence generated here may help to support well targeted interventions in reducing under-five mortality in the slums.     

The effect of peripheral administration of growth hormone on AD-like cognitive deficiency in NBM-lesioned rats

Over-expression of blood–brain barrier P-glycoprotein is considered as a major hurdle in the treatment of various CNS disorders. A down-regulation strategy is considered as one means to counteract disease- or therapy-associated induction of P-glycoprotein. Here, we evaluated whether a targeting of P-glycoprotein can be achieved in mouse brain capillary endothelial cells using siRNA. A 4-day treatment paradigm with once daily hydrodynamic intravenous injections of siRNA resulted in a significant reduction of the P-glycoprotein-labeled area in the hippocampal hilus and parietal cortex. P-glycoprotein expression proved to be down-regulated in these brain regions by 31 and 16%, respectively. An impact of siRNA administration on density of brain capillaries was excluded by quantification of the endothelial cell marker GLUT-1. In conclusion, the study provides first preliminary evidence that a down-regulation of P-glycoprotein can be achieved in brain capillary endothelial cells by administration of siRNA in vivo.