Association Between Patient and Physician Sex and Physician-Estimated Stroke and Bleeding Risks in Atrial Fibrillation

Background

Physicians treating nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (AF) assess stroke and bleeding risks when deciding on anticoagulation. The agreement between empirical and physician-estimated risks is unclear. Furthermore, the association between patient and physician sex and anticoagulation decision-making is uncertain.

Localized Kaposi''s sarcoma in a patient with pemphigus vulgaris

We report the case of a patient with a 13-year history of pemphigus vulgaris (PV) treated with immunosuppressive agents, prednisone and mycophenolate mofetil who had developed lesions of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) on a sole plaque of PV that had been previously treated with intralesional injections of steroids. The lesions were surgically removed and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) demonstrated human herpesvirus-8 (HHV-8) DNA. There were neither recurrences nor later dissemination of KS following gradual decrease of the immunosuppressive therapy. We suggest that the treatment with intralesional steroids may have influenced the local reactivation of a latent infection of the virus, determining the appearance of this localized KS.     

Chemical composition of a new variety of the Andean lupin (Lupinus mutabilis cv. Inti) with low-alkaloid content

The chemical composition of the seeds of the low-alkaloid variety “Inti” of the Andean lupin (Lupinus mutabilis) grown in the south of Chile was examined. The contents of (% of dry weight) total alkaloids, protein, lipids, and oligosaccharides were found to be 0.0075, 51.0, 16.0, and 14.7%, respectively. The low levels of the sulfur amino acids (2.38% of total protein) made them the first amino acids to limit the protein quality of these lupin seeds. The fatty acid pattern was C16:0,13.9%; C18:0, 3.0%; C18:1, 41.8%; C18:2, 38.9%; and C18:3,2.6% of total fatty acids. The α-galactoside amounted to 13.5% of dry weight (raffinose, 2.49%; stachyose, 10.1%, verbascose, 0.85%). It can be stated that “Inti” is highly interesting as a potential protein energy crop for a temperate climate.