Christians Must Reach Out to the Oppressed

This paper recommends that the Catholic Church reflect on its past and current exclusion of women from the diaconate and exclusion of those who identify as LGBTQI from full participation in the Church. This paper argues the early Catholic church was enriched and broadened by women who served in many roles including as leaders of the church in their communities. In the two millennium since then women, individually and collectively, have continued to enrich the church both theologically and as exemplars of Jesus’ message to serve the poor. This paper also argues that Saint Paul did not condemn same-sex attraction in his letters. Instead, he was condemning pedophiles. Later, the church became virulently homophobic, with church leaders wrongly citing Paul’s condemnation of pedophiles as the basis for its rejection of people with same-sex attraction. The church later expanded its exclusionary practices to encompass all LGBTQI people, which is inconsistent with Jesus’ message to reach out to the oppressed. This paper recommends that the church welcome women as eligible for the diaconate and that it gather the LGBTQI community within its loving embrace without prejudice

Pemphigus vulgaris: a rare case report

Pemphigus Vulgaris (PV) is an organ-specific autoimmune disorder affecting skin and mucous membranes with a characteristic of intraepithelial blistering. The first common sign of this disease is involvement of oral mucosa followed by skin involvement. We here in report a rare case one such recently seen by us, where oral lesions and skin lesions in a 24 year old female patient presenting with a five months history of multiple fluid filled lesions all over the body, who is known case of psychosis finally diagnosed as having pemphigus vulgaris

Evaluation of drug use health related quality of life and pharmacoeconomics in autoimmune skin disorders: focus on blistering skin disorders-a prospective observational study

Background: Autoimmune skin disorders (ASDs) are complex diseases triggered by autoantibodies action against epidermal antigens or the dermo epidermal junction. Although rare, they present high morbidity, affecting the quality of life (QoL) of patients and financial status of patient.Methods: This prospective, observational study was carried out in department of dermatology for 2-3 months after ethical approval. Drug usage pattern, heath related QoL (HRQOL) by using DLQI (Dermatology life quality index) and cost were evaluated in patients with ASDs. Statistical analysis was done using Microsoft excel office 2019 and rechecked with SPSS (version 23.0). P<0.001 was considered as statistically significant.Results: Out of 73 patients enrolled, 32 were male and 41 were female with the mean age was 48.27±14.93 years; 55% patients had autoimmune blistering skin disorders (AIBDs) and 45% having other ASDs (OADs). Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) (35%) being the most common among all ASDs. Systemic steroid (60.27%), topical steroid (79.45%), levocetirizine (63%) were most commonly prescribed drugs. Mean DLQI score at baseline and after treatment was 11.64±2.49 and 6.8±2.75 respectively. It was highly significant statistically (p<0.0001). Total cost of illness per month was 813.64±481.21 INR. Maximum percentage variation in cost was seen with prednisolone (1706.28%).Conclusions: ASDs have a female bias and inflict severe impairment to the QoL of patients. Appropriate drug therapy with corticosteroids and other adjuvant drug lead to positive impact on QoL. There was very wide price variation of different brands of the same generic most commonly prednisolone and levocetirizine

Investigation of soluble adhesion molecules in cancer: beneficial approach or expensive toy? The case of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1)

Adhesion molecules are key topobiological components in almost any kind of cell-cell and cell-matrix interaction in both human physiology and pathology. Heterogeneous processes as platelet adhesion to subendothelial matrix components or leukocyte extravasation at sites of tissue damage are at least in part mediated by adhesion molecules and their corresponding receptors (counter receptors). Using a multitude of modem analytical and preparative approaches ranging from "simple" immunohistochemistry to cloning and gene transfer, in vitro studies provided detailed data on a variety of adhesion molecules and their receptors. However, compared to the speedy accumulation of basic knowledge the evaluation of the diagnostic usefulness of adhesion molecules is still in its infancy.Biomedical Reviews 1994; 3: 73-75

The Course and Prognosis of Pemphigus: A Review of 42 Patients

Pemphigus is a rare, chronic and life-threating autoimmune disease. The objective of this retrospective study was to evaluate the course and prognosis of pemphigus patients treated in our clinics. Medical records of 42 patients followed up regularly, and diagnosed at the Department of Dermatology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Dicle, from July 1994 to January 2004 were reviewed retrospectively. Of 42 patients with pemphigus, 38 had been treated with combination of methylprednisolone and azathioprine. Four patients had been treated with methylprednisolone alone. The initial doses ranged from 80 to 300 mg of methylprednisolone and 100-150 mg of azathioprine daily. No remission was obtained in 5 cases treated with combined therapy of methylprednisolone and azathioprine. Of 42 patients, 5 died during the study period. All of the patients who died were those patients with pemphigus vulgaris. In 4 patients, death occurred due to reasons related to the disease or treatment. Twenty nine patients were in complete remission with no therapy for duration varying between 4 months and 8 years

A case control study of serum vitamin D levels in alopecia areata

Background: Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disorder of anagen hair follicle leading to distressing and relapsing non-scarring hair loss. Vitamin D is an immunomodulator and plays a role in regulating normal hair cycle. Recent evidence suggests inconsistent association between vitamin D deficiency and alopecia areata.Methods: This case control study included 70 newly diagnosed cases of alopecia areata and 70 healthy controls. Competitive chemiluminescence immunoassay was used to determine and compare the serum vitamin D (25‑hydroxyvitamin D) levels between these groups. Also, the serum vitamin D levels correlation with severity of the disease was studied. ANOVA test and student t test were used for the statistical analysis.Results: Serum Vitamin D levels were significantly decreased in alopecia areata patients than in controls (p<0.05). There was no stastically significant relationship between serum 25-OH Vitamin D levels and severity of the disease (p=0.06).Conclusions: Prevalence of serum 25 (OH) deficiency was significantly higher in alopecia areata group. However no significant relation was found with disease severity

The prevalence of pemphigus chr. vulgaris

Autori su na osnovu pregledane dokumentacije hospitaliziranih bolesnika na Odjelu za kožne i spolne bolesti Opće bolnice u Osijeku prikazali učestalost kroničnog vulgarnog pemfigusa, u periodu od 1970 do 1985. godine. Dobiveni rezultat, koji iznosi 0,526%, autori uspoređuju s postotkom oboljelih od drugih dermatoza koji su liječeni na Odjelu u istom periodu, te zaklju­čuju da je kronični vulgarni pemfigus vrlo rijetka bolest.The authors evaluated the documents of all hospitalised patients at the Dermatology and Venerology Department of the General Hospital Osijek treated during the period from 1970-1985. The results showed prevalence of Pemphigus chr. vulgaris of only 0.526%. It can be concluded that the prevalence of Pemphigus chr. vulgaris is very low, in comparison to other dermatoses treated at our Department within the same period

Evaluation of the profile of alopecia areata and the prevalence of thyroid function test abnormalities and serum autoantibodies in Iranian patients

BACKGROUND: The study aimed at evaluating the prevalence of thyroid function abnormalities in patients with alopecia areata (AA) and its association with other autoimmune diseases and various autoimmune antibodies. METHOD: We retrospectively analyzed medical records of 123 patients with AA. The main site of involvement, pattern, and extent of alopecia as well as presence of the similar disease in first-degree family members and serologic status of patients were recorded. RESULTS: Participating in the study were 57 males and 66 females (6 to 59 years old). In the majority of patients (69.9%) the disease was manifested in the first two decades of life. Patients with family members having alopecia were recorded in 24.4%. Thyroid function abnormalities were found in 8.9% of patients. Positive autoimmune antibodies were associated with AA in 51.4% of patients with no significant association between the severity and duration of disease and presence of these antibodies. CONCLUSION: The incidence of positive auto-immune antibodies in Iranian patients is higher than previous reports. Concerning the female:male ratio, thyroid function tests and the prevalence of alopecia in first-degree relatives, our results are compatible with previous data obtained from different ethnic populations. Previous reports documented that a greater severity and longer duration of AA were seen in the early onset forms; however our result are relatively different which could be explained by differences in genetic factors