National resident survey in dermatopathology: The role of slide scanners in resident learning.

Background: Dermatology residents gain exposure to dermatopathology through a variety of educational modalities. While virtual pathology applications have risen dramatically, resident utilization of digital libraries, slide scanner availability, and comfort with virtual slides are not well-known. This study aims to assess the current landscape of educational resources used by dermatology residents.

A Second Case of Localized Cutaneous Amyloid Elastosis: Expanding the Discussion of Associations With a Unique Histopathologic Entity.

Amyloid elastosis is an exceedingly rare form of amyloidosis characterized by amyloid material deposited on dermal elastic fibers. Most reported cases have been associated with systemic amyloid light-chain amyloidosis. A single previously reported case of amyloid elastosis showed evidence that the amyloid material was derived from light-chain proteins and was associated with a monoclonal plasma cell infiltrate but failed to demonstrate systemic involvement.

Fast Evaluation of Herbal Substance Class Composition by Relative Mass Defect Plots.

A holistic, nontargeted mass spectrometric analysis of any herbal material and preparation is intimately connected to fast chemical profiling and visualization of secondary plant metabolite classes or single compounds. High-resolution mass spectral data enable a broad variety of analytical possibilities. Often a fast and comprehensive overview on compound classes (phytochemical profiling) is needed before single-substance considerations.

Septolobular panniculitis in disseminated Lyme borreliosis.

Lyme disease classically evolves through clinical manifestations according to the stage of illness. Because many of the systemic symptoms are non-specific, and because serology may yield false negative results, cutaneous findings merit even greater importance to diagnosis. The prototypical skin lesion, erythema migrans (EM), occurs early and is the only independent diagnostic clinical feature according to the guidelines of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Skin metastasis: from conceptual to practical guidelines.

Of the outward manifestations of visceral malignancy, cutaneous metastases are of particular interest for their impact on identification, prognosis, and management of the primary tumor. Their diagnosis is often challenging and requires high clinical suspicion. The infrequency and clinicopathologic variability of cutaneous metastases can impede their recognition by physical exam and even histopathology.

Hemoglobin S and C affect protein export in Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes.

Malaria is a potentially deadly disease. However, not every infected person develops severe symptoms. Some people are protected by naturally occurring mechanisms that frequently involve inheritable modifications in their hemoglobin.

TRAIL activates JNK and NF-κB through RIP1-dependent and -independent pathways.

The death receptor (DR) ligand TRAIL is being evaluated in clinical trials as an anti-cancer agent; however, many studies have found that TRAIL also enhances tumor progression by activating the NF-κB pathway in apoptosis-resistant cells. Although RIP1, cFLIP and caspase-8 have been implicated in TRAIL-induced JNK and NF-κB activation, underlying mechanisms are unclear. By examining the kinetics of pathway activation in TRAIL-sensitive lymphoma cells wild-type or deficient for RIP1, TRAF2, cIAP1/2 or HOIP, we report here that TRAIL induces two phases of JNK and NF-κB activation.

Multiple drugs compete for transport via the Plasmodium falciparum chloroquine resistance transporter at distinct but interdependent sites.

Mutations in the "chloroquine resistance transporter" (PfCRT) are a major determinant of drug resistance in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. We have previously shown that mutant PfCRT transports the antimalarial drug chloroquine away from its target, whereas the wild-type form of PfCRT does not. However, little is understood about the transport of other drugs via PfCRT or the mechanism by which PfCRT recognizes different substrates.

Substantial increase in mutations in the genes pfdhfr and pfdhps puts sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine-based intermittent preventive treatment for malaria at risk in Burkina Faso.

Objective: Sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) is widely used as intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) for malaria in pregnant women in Sub-Saharan Africa. There are reports of wide-spread SP resistance in countries where SP had once been used as a first-line treatment. It is unclear whether the development of SP resistance also affects countries where SP is mainly used in the context of IPT, as is the case in Burkina Faso.

Haemoglobin S and C affect the motion of Maurer's clefts in Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes.

The haemoglobinopathies S and C protect carriers from severe Plasmodium falciparum malaria. We have recently shown that haemoglobin S and C interfere with host-actin remodelling in parasitized erythrocytes and the generation of an actin network that seems to be required for vesicular protein trafficking from the Maurer's clefts (a parasite-derived intermediary protein secretory organelle) to the erythrocyte surface. Here we show that the actin network exerts skeletal functions by anchoring the Maurer's clefts within the erythrocyte cytoplasm.

Aspergillus PCR testing: results from a prospective PCR study within the AmBiLoad trial.

Objectives: Invasive fungal infection (IFI) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in severely immunocompromised patients and is difficult to diagnose. The significance of molecular methods for diagnosis of IFI is still controversial. In a subset of patients treated within the AmBiLoad Trial, samples were investigated prospectively by a nested Aspergillus PCR assay to re-evaluate the significance of PCR in this setting.