Born in the Purple: An Exceptional Case of Cutis Marmorata Telangiectatica Congenita

A full-term, 2-day-old female neonate with a congenital non-tender reticular patch that did not disappear with local warming was referred to our department for consultation. The family history as well as the antenatal course and delivery were unremarkable. On examination, we evidenced a fixed, marbled, bluish to deep purple lesion with a fishnet appearance extending over the right side of her body, face, and scalp. There was presence of atrophy of the involved skin, along with ulceration above the right lateral malleolus. Upon blanching, the lesions could not be emptied completely

Born in the Purple: An Exceptional Case of Cutis Marmorata Telangiectatica Congenita

A full-term, 2-day-old female neonate with a congenital non-tender reticular patch that did not disappear with local warming was referred to our department for consultation. The family history as well as the antenatal course and delivery were unremarkable. On examination, we evidenced a fixed, marbled, bluish to deep purple lesion with a fishnet appearance extending over the right side of her body, face, and scalp. There was presence of atrophy of the involved skin, along with ulceration above the right lateral malleolus. Upon blanching, the lesions could not be emptied completely

Examination of influential factors which mitigate the impact of crisis on employee performance

Organizations & employees in Greece are affected by the on-going financial crisis which has far-reaching negative impacts on many aspects of the economic life. This paper examines the impact of the financial crisis on employee performance in Greece. Data is collected from a heterogeneous sample of employees from public and private sector. Participants report their job satisfaction and organizational commitment, the change of their working conditions and the problems they have experienced during the last six years since the crisis has started. Results show that pay and extrinsic satisfaction, as well as, job security and affective commitment are the factors influencing employee perception about the deterioration of working conditions. Furthermore, the findings indicate that employees in the public sector feel less satisfied with their payment, but equally insecure with private sector’s employees. Permanent and open-ended contract staff, as well as, full time employees are more secure and satisfied with their payment and more affective committed than people with more flexible type of employment. The results of this study indicate that it is important for managers to develop management policies to improve employee satisfaction and commitment as these relate to performance increase

Multiple Primary Melanomas in a Young Patient

A 45-year-old HIV-negative Caucasian man with no reported past medical history was referred to our Department with a large (7 cm in diameter) oozing nodule on the occipital region of the scalp with spontaneous periodical bloody or purulent discharge. The lesion had appeared over a period of six months, had an irregular color, non-specific dermoscopic features, and resembled squamous cell carcinoma. The physical examination revealed three more atypical melanocytic lesions (on the abdomen, back, and buccal mucosa), and multiple swollen occipital, postauricular, as well as superficial and deep cervical lymph nodes. After clinical evaluation, the patient reported having another in situ melanoma (submammary region) excised 7 years ago. All the lesions were excised and sent for histopathologic examination, which was compatible with primary cutaneous melanoma. Total body computed tomography revealed the presence of multiple visceral metastases, and the patient was referred to an oncologist. He did not consent to proceed to genetic testing

The current role of radiotherapy in chloroma: Report of two cases and review of the literature

Chloroma (myeloid sarcoma) is a rare extramedullary manifestation of haematologic malignancy, most com­monly acute myeloid leukemia(AML).It can occur in association with Myelogenous leukemia myeloproliferative disorders, and myelodysplasia.Myeloid sarcoma has different modalities of presentation and can affect any organ. We report two cases which has been irradiated in the Radiotherapy Oncology Department in Aristotle University Hospital AHEPA of Thessaloniki

Detecting the stages of hyperplasia formation in the breast ducts using ultrasound B-scan images

Presented at the 2006 3rd IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging: From Nano to Macro, Arlington, VA, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ISBI.2006.1625064A stochastic decomposition algorithm of the RF Echo into its coherent and diffuse components is used towards estimating the structural parameters of the hyperplastic stages of the breast tissue leading to early breast cancer detection. The discrimination power of the various parameters is studied under a host of conditions such as varying resolution and SNR values using a point scatterer model simulator that mimics epithelium hyperplastic growth in the breast ducts. It is shown that three parameters, in particular, the number of coherent scatterers, the Rayleigh scattering degree and the energy of the diffuse scatterers, prove to show very high ability to discriminate between various stages of hyperplasia even in cases of low resolution and SNR values. Values of Az>0.942 were obtained for resolution less than or equal to 0.4mm even in low SNR values, then it drops below the 0.9 range as the resolution exceeds the 0.4mm range

Acid-fast bacteria as causative agents of skin and soft tissue infections: case presentations and literature review

Acid-fast bacteria can be implicated in skin and soft tissue infections. Diagnostic identification can be challenging or not feasible by routine laboratory techniques, especially if there is no access to the Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) technology. Here, we present two cases of skin and soft tissue infections caused by two different acid-fast bacteria, Nocardia brasiliensis and Mycobacterium marinum. They both grew on Löwenstein–Jensen medium, Sabouraud agar medium and blood agar medium. Both bacteria appeared acid-fast by Ziehl–Neelsen stain and Gram-positive by Gram stain. The identification was performed by MALDI-TOF MS and gene analysis. N. brasiliensis and nontuberculous mycobacterium M. marinum represent rare pathogens that cause severe skin and soft tissue infections. Failure to identify the causative agent and subsequent inappropriate or inadequate treatment may lead to severe complications or even disseminated disease, especially in immunocompromised individuals

The accuracy of pulse oximetry in measuring oxygen saturation by levels of skin pigmentation: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background During the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been concerns regarding potential bias in pulse oximetry measurements for people with high levels of skin pigmentation. We systematically reviewed the effects of skin pigmentation on the accuracy of oxygen saturation measurement by pulse oximetry (SpO2) compared with the gold standard SaO2 measured by CO-oximetry. Methods We searched Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase, EBSCO CINAHL, ClinicalTrials.gov, and WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (up to December 2021) for studies with SpO2–SaO2 comparisons and measuring the impact of skin pigmentation or ethnicity on pulse oximetry accuracy. We performed meta-analyses for mean bias (the primary outcome in this review) and its standard deviations (SDs) across studies included for each subgroup of skin pigmentation and ethnicity and used these pooled mean biases and SDs to calculate accuracy root-mean-square (Arms) and 95% limits of agreement. The review was registered with the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/gm7ty). Results We included 32 studies (6505 participants): 15 measured skin pigmentation and 22 referred to ethnicity. Compared with standard SaO2 measurement, pulse oximetry probably overestimates oxygen saturation in people with the high level of skin pigmentation (pooled mean bias 1.11%; 95% confidence interval 0.29 to 1.93%) and people described as Black/African American (1.52%; 0.95 to 2.09%) (moderate- and low-certainty evidence). The bias of pulse oximetry measurements for people with other levels of skin pigmentation or those from other ethnic groups is either more uncertain or suggests no overestimation. Whilst the extent of mean bias is small or negligible for all subgroups evaluated, the associated imprecision is unacceptably large (pooled SDs > 1%). When the extent of measurement bias and precision is considered jointly, pulse oximetry measurements for all the subgroups appear acceptably accurate (with Arms < 4%). Conclusions Pulse oximetry may overestimate oxygen saturation in people with high levels of skin pigmentation and people whose ethnicity is reported as Black/African American, compared with SaO2. The extent of overestimation may be small in hospital settings but unknown in community settings

Predictors of single word spelling in English-speaking children: a cross sectional study

Background: The study aimed to explore to what extent variables associated with lexical and sublexical spelling processes predicted single word spelling ability, and whether patterns of lexical and sublexical processes were different across ages. Methods: Beginning (mean age 7-years, N=144) and advanced (mean age 9-years, N=114) English-speaking spellers completed tasks associated with sublexical processing (phonological ability and phonological short-term memory), lexical processing (visual short-term memory, visual attention span), and factors known to predict spelling (e.g., rapid automatised naming). Results: Phonological ability, rapid automatised naming, visual short-term memory and visual attention span were significant predictors of spelling accuracy for beginning spellers, while for more advanced spellers, only visual attention span was a significant predictor. Conclusions: The findings suggested that for beginning spellers, both lexical and sublexical processes are important for single word spelling, but with increasing literacy experience, lexically related variables are more important