Tinea Corporis Gladiatorum Presenting as a Majocchi Granuloma

Background. Wrestlers are at increased risk of developing cutaneous infections, including fungal infections caused by dermatophytes. Erythematous lesions due to tinea infections can be mistakenly diagnosed as an inflammatory dermatitis and incorrectly treated with potent topical corticosteroid treatments which cause localized skin immunosuppression. This can eventuate in a Majocchi granuloma which then becomes refractory to topical antifungal therapy. To our knowledge, this is the first case of tinea corporis gladiatorum presenting as a Majocchi granuloma. Observations. A 20-year-old wrestler presented with a 4-year history of a large pruritic, scaly erythematous plaque with follicular papules, and pustules on his right forearm. The lesion had the clinical appearance of a Majocchi granuloma. He had been treated with potent topical corticosteroids and topical antifungal therapy. KOH and fungal culture of the lesion were negative. An erythematous scaly lesion in the scalp was cultured and grew Trichophyton tonsurans. Oral Terbinafine therapy was initiated and complete resolution of both lesions occurred within 6 weeks. Conclusion. The purpose of this report is to inform dermatologists that tinea corporis gladiatorum can present as a Majocchi granuloma and needs to be considered in the differential diagnosis of persistent skin lesions in wrestlers

Launch Risk Acceptability: The Public Speaks

The perspective of those assuming risk has become increasingly important to launch agencies. The IAASS white paper "An ICAO for Space?" proposed four ultimate goals of any international regulatory framework. The first of these was to "Ensure that citizens of all nations are equally protected from "unreasonable levels" of risk from overflight by missiles, launch vehicles and returning spacecraft". A key component of this concept is the issue of what is an "unreasonable level" of risk from the perspective of those assuming the risk

Atomic-Level Understanding of “Asymmetric Twins” in Boron Carbide

Recent observations of planar defects in boron carbide have been shown to deviate from perfect mirror symmetry and are referred to as “asymmetric twins.” Here, we demonstrate that these asymmetric twins are really phase boundaries that form in stoichiometric B_4C (i.e., B_(12)C_3) but not in B_(13)C_2. TEM observations and ab initio simulations have been coupled to show that these planar defects result from an interplay of stoichiometry, atomic positioning, icosahedral twinning, and structural hierarchy. The composition of icosahedra in B_4C is B_(11)C and translation of the carbon atom from a polar to equatorial site leads to a shift in bonding and a slight distortion of the lattice. No such distortion is observed in boron-rich B_(13)C_2 because the icosahedra do not contain carbon. Implications for tailoring boron carbide with stoichiometry and extrapolations to other hierarchical crystalline materials are discussed

A Model of Gas-Phase Transport During the Initial Stages of Sintering of Silicon Carbide

New Jersey 08854 Carbon, which is often used as an additive to silicon carbide powder, is thought to facilitate densification during sintering by aiding the removal of the native SiO 2 layer, which is present on the starting SiC powder. The mechanism is the reduction of SiO 2 to SiC with the formation of primarily CO gas, which diffuses out from the porous compact at a temperature below the normal sintering temperature. It has been found beneficial to hold the compact at an intermediate temperature to allow time for the CO and other gases to diffuse out before the pores close. We investigate this process using a computational model based on codiffusion of multiple gas species, which enables prediction of the gas and condensed phase compositions as a function of time and position in the specimen. The results are used to determine the optimum holding time for complete SiO 2 removal as a function of key parameters, such as specimen thickness, particle size, temperature, etc., as well as the necessary amount of C additive. The results of the modeling are consistent with the experimentally observed spatial variation of density and composition in SiC compacts

Constraints on the minimal supergravity model from the b->s+\gamma decay

The constraints on the minimal supergravity model from the b->s+\gamma decay are studied. A large domain in the parameter space for the model satisfies the CLEO bound, BR(b->s+\gamma)<5.4X10^{-4}. However, the allowed domain is expected to diminish significantly with an improved bound on this decay. The dependence of the b->s+\gamma branching ratio on various parameters is studied in detail. It is found that, for A_t<0 and the top quark mass within the vicinity of the center of the CDF value, m_t^{pole}=174\pm17 GeV, there exists only a small allowed domain because the light stop is tachyonic for most of the parameter space. A similar phenomenon exists for a lighter top and A_t negative when the GUT coupling constant is slightly reduced. For A_t>0, however, the branching ratio is much less sensitive to small changes in m_t, and \alpha_G.Comment: 12 pages, plain tex file, three figures avaliable upon request, CTP-TAMU-03/94, NUB-TH.7316/94, and CERN-TH.3092/9

Genomic Profiling of Childhood Tumor Patient-Derived Xenograft Models to Enable Rational Clinical Trial Design.

Accelerating cures for children with cancer remains an immediate challenge as a result of extensive oncogenic heterogeneity between and within histologies, distinct molecular mechanisms evolving between diagnosis and relapsed disease, and limited therapeutic options. To systematically prioritize and rationally test novel agents in preclinical murine models, researchers within the Pediatric Preclinical Testing Consortium are continuously developing patient-derived xenografts (PDXs)-many of which are refractory to current standard-of-care treatments-from high-risk childhood cancers. Here, we genomically characterize 261 PDX models from 37 unique pediatric cancers; demonstrate faithful recapitulation of histologies and subtypes; and refine our understanding of relapsed disease. In addition, we use expression signatures to classify tumors for TP53 and NF1 pathway inactivation. We anticipate that these data will serve as a resource for pediatric oncology drug development and will guide rational clinical trial design for children with cancer

Atomic-Level Understanding of “Asymmetric Twins” in Boron Carbide

Recent observations of planar defects in boron carbide have been shown to deviate from perfect mirror symmetry and are referred to as “asymmetric twins.” Here, we demonstrate that these asymmetric twins are really phase boundaries that form in stoichiometric B4C (i.e., B12C3) but not in B13C2. TEM observations and ab initio simulations have been coupled to show that these planar defects result from an interplay of stoichiometry, atomic positioning, icosahedral twinning, and structural hierarchy. The composition of icosahedra in B4C is B11C and translation of the carbon atom from a polar to equatorial site leads to a shift in bonding and a slight distortion of the lattice. No such distortion is observed in boron-rich B13C2 because the icosahedra do not contain carbon. Implications for tailoring boron carbide with stoichiometry and extrapolations to other hierarchical crystalline materials are discussed

Multi-Lepton Signals of the Higgs Boson

The possibility of searching for the Higgs boson in channels with multiple non-resonant leptons is evaluated in light of recent advances in multi-lepton search techniques at the LHC. The total multi-lepton Higgs signal exceeds the four lepton gold-plated resonant mode, but is spread over many channels with same-sign di-lepton, tri-lepton, and four lepton final states. While any individual channel alone is not significant, the exclusive combination across multiple channels is shown to provide a sensitivity competitive with other discovery level searches for the Higgs boson. We estimate that with 5 inverse femtobarn of data, existing non-optimized multi-lepton searches at the LHC could exclude the Higgs boson to 95% CL at a few times the predicted Standard Model cross section in the mass range 120-150 GeV. Refinements focused specifically on the Higgs boson signal are suggested that would further increase sensitivity. We illustrate the possibility of discerning patterns in production and decay modes using correlations across multiple channels by comparing sensitivities to Standard Model, Fermi-phobic, and b-phobic Higgs bosons.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures, 4 table