January 1958

My dear Brother: It does not require a great stretch of the imagination for me to hear you mutter: Didn\u27t I get one of these yellow sheets only a month ago? Why doesn\u27t he get back to work instead of cluttering up my mail? Well, thereby hangs a tale. A few weeks ago I spent an illuminating, and somewhat dismaying, evening with brother Theophilus in the Middle West. He has a good congregation of about five hundred members. It is an average parish, with the usual complement of saints and sinners, with the lines between them shifting back and forth. Theophilus has worked hard and the Lord of the Church has blessed his hands and his voice

Venous Leg Ulceration

Venous leg ulcers are among the most common leg ulcerations. Advancing age, sex, race, phlebitis, family history, obesity, prolonged standing, and number of pregnancies are risk factors. Although the main pathogenetic mechanism is venous hypertension, leading to vein wall damage and thereby a cascade of events resulting in ulceration, there is no consensus about progression from venous hypertension to ulceration

The efficacy and safety of omalizumab in refractory chronspontaneous urticaria: Real-life experience in Turkey

Introduction: This study used real-world data to evaluate the effectiveness and reliability of omalizumab in treating recalcitrant chronic spontaneous urticaria in Turkish patients. Methods: Study data were collected retrospectively from eight tertiary-care hospitals in Turkey. This study included 132 patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria that were resistant to H1 antihistamine treatment in a dose up to four times the licensed dose and were treated with 300 mg/month of omalizumab for 6 months. Results: The mean weekly urticarial activity score (UAS7) after omalizumab treatment improved significantly compared to the pretreatment score (p <0.001). Treatment response was detected primarily in the 1st and 2nd months after treatment. No significant association was observed between omalizumab’s treatment effectiveness and disease-related parameters or laboratory data. The mean dermatology life quality index was 23.12 ± 6.15 before treatment and decreased to 3.55 ± 3.60 6 months after treatment (p <0.001). No side effects were reported in 89.4% (118) of the patients. Conclusion: This study showed that UAS7 decreased significantly and quality of life improved in omalizumab-treated patients. Moreover, treatment effectiveness was mainly observed in the first 2 months after treatment. However, no association was observed between omalizumab treatment effectiveness and disease-related parameters or laboratory data

Burnout syndrome among dermatologists and assessment of prevalence and risk factors: A nationwide survey

Çalıkoğlu, Emel ( Aksaray, Yazar )Background: Burnout is a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a sense of low personal accomplishment. Increasing patient volumes and rising health-care systems' productivity targets also pose a risk of burnout in all specialties including dermatology. Objectives: The aim of the present study was to study burnout syndrome in dermatologists and determine related factors. Methods: Dermatologists who were actively working (n = 2005) were E-mailed a questionnaire via the Turkish Dermatology Society, and 422 (21%) completed it anonymously. The first part of the questionnaire comprised demographic and work-related characteristics, and the second part was formed by the Turkish version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). The MBI is a 22-item questionnaire for the assessment of burnout in the following three dimensions: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and low personal accomplishment. Results: Emotional exhaustion and depersonalization scores of residents were significantly higher (P < 0.001), and personal accomplishment scores were significantly lower (P < 0.001) than that of the other groups. Dermatologists in the private sector had significantly lower scores for emotional exhaustion (P < 0.001) and depersonalization (P < 0.001) and significantly higher scores for personal accomplishment (P < 0.001) than those working in the public sector. Emotional exhaustion and depersonalization scores were significantly higher in participants who worked on weekends, those intended to change workplace, and had at least one chronic illness (P < 0.05 for all comparisons). A positive correlation was found between emotional exhaustion and depersonalization (r = 0.691,P < 0.001), number of patients (r = 0.355,P < 0.001), and number of shifts (r = 0.344,P < 0.001), and there was a negative correlation between personal accomplishment (r = -0.485,P < 0.001), age (r= -0.301,P < 0.001), number of vacation days (r = -0.149, P= 0.002), and years in the profession (r = -0.288,P < 0.001). Conclusion: Our study sheds light on factors that influence burnout and also indicates a need for health-care reforms for dermatologists' satisfaction and burnout, as well as patient satisfaction and quality of care

A Rare Case of Zosteriform Cutaneous Metastasis from Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women and the second leading cause of cancer deaths, after lung cancer. Cutaneous breast cancer metastases often develop as direct involvement and local spread and often manifest as solid painless nodules in the anterior chest wall. Internal malignant skin metastases rarely present like soft nodules, telangiectasia-like lesions, neoplastic alopecia, erysipeloides carcinoma, erythema annulare-like, herpetiformis or zosteriform, target-like, pyodermic and morphea-like lesions. In this article, we present a 49-year-old female patient describing a sensation of burning pain with erythematous papules and plaques in a zosteriform distribution. The diagnosis of zosteriform cutaneous metastases from a breast cancer was made. Majority of these cases may be misdiagnosed as herpes zoster infection and can be treated with antiviral drugs. Therefore, cutaneous metastases should be kept in mind in the differential diagnosis of lesions in zosteriform distribution