21,793 research outputs found
Majocchi’s Granuloma by Trichophytum rubrum in a kidney transplant patient - A case report
Introduction: Trichophytum rubrum is a filamentous fungus, with worldwide distribution, that usually causes
superficial infections of skin and nails, namely tinea pedis, tinea corporis, tinea cruris and onychomycosis.
Rarely, severe dermatophytosis can occur, presenting as deep dermatophytosis, Majocchi’s Granuloma or
extensive dermatophytosis.
Objectives and Methods: Case report of Majocchi’s Granuloma in a kidney transplant patient.
Results: A case of a 55-year-old woman who underwent a kidney transplant 7 months before, under
immunosuppressive therapy with tacrolimus and mycophenolate mofetil. She attended a Dermatology
consultation to clarify skin lesions that appeared 6 months earlier. The skin exam revealed hard and painful
plaque lesions on both legs, with an ulcer on the left leg lesion, violaceous papular lesions on the dorsum of
the left foot and toes and a hard consistency nodule on the left leg. Some of the toe nails presented dystrophy
or onycholysis. The patient denied any previous trauma or contact with plants or soil.
Biopsies of lesions of the left leg and foot dorsum where sent for histology and mycological culture and toe
nails for mycological culture. The histological examinations showed, in the reticular dermis and reaching the
hypodermis, suppurative granulomas with multinucleated giant cells and areas of necrosis. PAS (Periodic Acid-
Schiff) and GMS (Grocott’s Methenamine Silver) staining revealed multiple spores and septate hypha within the
granulomas but not in the stratum corneum. No remnants of hair follicles where found.
Culture of skin biopsies were positive for Tricophytum rubrum but nails´ culture was negative.
Identification was further confirmed by sequencing of ITS region of ribosomal DNA (GenBank accession
number MK967277).
Oral Itraconazole 100mg bid and topic Sertoconazole where initiated. The patient was observed one month
after and reported general malaise, tiredness, exertional dyspnea, whitish stools and increased abdominal
volume. The physician chose to discontinue itraconazole and initiate oral terbinafine 250mg id. After two
months on oral terbinafine, there was regression of the legs´ and left foot lesions with ulcer healing and
disappearance of the left leg nodule.
Conclusion: Diagnosis of deeper dermatophytosis is difficult, in part because there is no specific clinical
presentation and, in many cases, it is even polymorphic. However, especially in patients with
immunodeficiency, this hypothesis should be weighed. Confirmation is achieved by finding hyphae compatible
with dermatophytes in the dermis and a positive culture for a dermatophyte.
Treatment should include systemic antifungal agents, to which topical medication may be associated. Multiple
therapeutic regimens have been proposed, but randomized trials or large case series are lacking. Antifungal
therapy should be continued until the lesions are completely resolved. Surgical treatment has been reported as
an option for highly localized lesions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
An Unparalleled Sexual Dimorphism of Sperm Whale Encephalization
The sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus (Linnaeus, 1758) is the largest toothed whales and possesses the highest absolute values for brain weight on the planet (together with the killer whale Orcinus orca). Former calculations of the encephalization quotient (EQ), which is used to compare brain size of different mammalian species, showed that the sperm whale brain is smaller than expected for its body mass. However, the data reported in the literature and formerly used to calculate the sperm whale EQ suffered from a potential bias due to the tendency to measure mostly larger males of this extreme sexually dimorphic species. Accordingly, we found that the brains of female sperm whales are close to the absolute weight range of the males, but, given the much lower body mass of females, their EQ results more than double of what reported before for the whole species, and is thus nearly into the primate range (female EQ = 1.28, male EQ = 0.56). This sexual dimorphism is unique among mammals. Female sperm whales live in large families in which social interactions and inter-individual communication are essential, while adult males live solitarily. Thus the particular sex-specific behavior of SWs may have led to a maternally-driven social evolution, and eventually contributed to achieve female EQ values (but not male EQs) among the highest ever calculated for mammals with respect to their large body mass
Introduction: Examined Live – An Epistemological Exchange Between Philosophy and Cultural Psychology on Reflection
Besides the general agreement about the human capability of reflection, there is a large area of disagreement and debate about the nature and value of “reflective scrutiny” and the role of “second-order states” in everyday life. This problem has been discussed in a vast and heterogeneous literature about topics such as epistemic injustice, epistemic norms, agency, understanding, meta-cognition etc. However, there is not yet any extensive and interdisciplinary work, specifically focused on the topic of the epistemic value of reflection. This volume is one of the first attempts aimed at providing an innovative contribution, an exchange between philosophy, epistemology and psychology about the place and value of reflection in everyday life.
Our goal in the next sections is not to offer an exhaustive overview of recent work on epistemic reflection, nor to mimic all of the contributions made by the chapters in this volume. We will try to highlight some topics that have motivated a new resumption of this field and, with that, drawing on chapters from this volume where relevant.
Two elements defined the scope and content of this volume, on the one hand, the crucial contribution of Ernest Sosa, whose works provide original and thought-provoking contributions to contemporary epistemology in setting a new direction for old dilemmas about the nature and value of knowledge, giving a central place to reflection. On the other hand, the recent developments of cultural psychology, in the version of the “Aalborg approach”, reconsider the object and scope of psychological sciences, stressing that “[h]uman conduct is purposeful”
The Role and Work of Bomber Command: A Note by Air Marshal Sir Arthur Harris for the Prime Minister and Cabinet, 28 June 1942
Editor’s Note: Few senior Allied Commanders have been criticized as strongly as Air Marshal Sir Arthur Harris. And even those critics who recognize the vital contribution Harris and the Bomber Command made to the defeat of Nazi Germany are disturbed by the tone of Harris’ letters to Churchill and Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Portal. Harris never wavered in his conviction that Germany could be defeated by strategic bombing with ground roops assigned to a secondary role. This view underlay his arguments for assigning priority to strategic bombing. In pursuing the case Harris mixed careful argument and clear logic with emotional attacks on those who doubted his doctrines. The following note, written shortly after Harris assumed command, displays Harris at his best, arguing the case for Bomber Command “as the only means of bringing assitance to Russian in time” and the only means “which will make subsequent invasion a possible proposition.
An overview of the mid-infrared spectro-interferometer MATISSE: science, concept, and current status
MATISSE is the second-generation mid-infrared spectrograph and imager for the
Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) at Paranal. This new interferometric
instrument will allow significant advances by opening new avenues in various
fundamental research fields: studying the planet-forming region of disks around
young stellar objects, understanding the surface structures and mass loss
phenomena affecting evolved stars, and probing the environments of black holes
in active galactic nuclei. As a first breakthrough, MATISSE will enlarge the
spectral domain of current optical interferometers by offering the L and M
bands in addition to the N band. This will open a wide wavelength domain,
ranging from 2.8 to 13 um, exploring angular scales as small as 3 mas (L band)
/ 10 mas (N band). As a second breakthrough, MATISSE will allow mid-infrared
imaging - closure-phase aperture-synthesis imaging - with up to four Unit
Telescopes (UT) or Auxiliary Telescopes (AT) of the VLTI. Moreover, MATISSE
will offer a spectral resolution range from R ~ 30 to R ~ 5000. Here, we
present one of the main science objectives, the study of protoplanetary disks,
that has driven the instrument design and motivated several VLTI upgrades
(GRA4MAT and NAOMI). We introduce the physical concept of MATISSE including a
description of the signal on the detectors and an evaluation of the expected
performances. We also discuss the current status of the MATISSE instrument,
which is entering its testing phase, and the foreseen schedule for the next two
years that will lead to the first light at Paranal.Comment: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation conference, June
2016, 11 pages, 6 Figure
Kairomones: Finding the fish factor
The water flea Daphnia moves to deeper waters to avoid predators when it detects a chemical produced by fish
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