Eccrine porocarcinoma of the head: An important differential diagnosis in the elderly patient

Background: Eccrine porocarcinoma is a rare malignant tumor of the sweat gland, characterized by a broad spectrum of clinicopathologic presentations. Surprisingly, unlike its benign counterpart eccrine poroma, eccrine porocarcinoma is seldom found in areas with a high density of eccrine sweat glands, like the palms or soles. Instead, eccrine porocarcinoma frequently occurs on the lower extremities, trunk and abdomen, but also on the head, resembling various other skin tumors, as illustrated in the patients described herein. Observations: We report 5 cases of eccrine porocarcinoma of the head. All patients were initially diagnosed as having epidermal or melanocytic skin tumors. Only after histopathologic examination were they classified as eccrine porocarcinoma, showing features of epithelial tumors with abortive ductal differentiation. Characteristic clinical, histopathologic and immunohistochemical findings of eccrine porocarcinomas are illustrated. Conclusion: Eccrine porocarcinomas are potentially fatal adnexal malignancies, in which extensive metastatic dissemination may occur. Porocarcinomas are commonly overlooked, or misinterpreted as squamous or basal cell carcinomas as well as other common malignant and even benign skin tumors. Knowledge of the clinical pattern and histologic findings, therefore, is crucial for an early therapeutic intervention, which can reduce the risk of tumor recurrence and serious complications. Copyright (c) 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel

No association between islet cell antibodies and coxsackie B, mumps, rubella and cytomegalovirus antibodies in non-diabetic individuals aged 7–19 years

Viral antibodies were tested in a cohort of 44 isletcell antibody-positive individuals age 7–19 years, and 44 of their islet cell antibody-negative age and sex-matched classmates selected from a population study of 4208 pupils who had been screened for islet cell antibodies. Anti-coxsackie B1-5 IgM responses were detected in 14 of 44 (32%) of the islet cell antibody-positive subjects and in 7 of 44 (16%) control subjects. This difference did not reach the level of statistical significance. None of the islet cell antibody-positive subjects had specific IgM antibodies to mumps, rubella, or cytomegalovirus. There was also no increase in the prevalence or the mean titres of anti-mumps-IgG or IgA and anti-cytomegalovirus-IgG in islet cell antibody-positive subjects compared to control subjects. These results do not suggest any association between islet cell antibodies, and possibly insulitis, with recent mumps, rubella or cytomegalo virus infection. Further studies are required to clarify the relationship between islet cell antibodies and coxsackie B virus infections

Informal Interference in the Judiciary in New Democracies: A Comparison of Six African and Latin American Cases

This paper assesses the extent to which elected power holders informally intervene in the judiciaries of new democracies, an acknowledged but under-researched topic in studies of judicial politics. The paper first develops an empirical strategy for the study of informal interference based on perceptions recorded in interviews, then applies the strategy to six third-wave democracies, three in Africa (Benin, Madagascar and Senegal) and three in Latin America (Argentina, Chile and Paraguay). It also examines how three conditioning factors affect the level of informal judicial interference: formal rules, previous democratic experience, and socioeconomic development. Our results show that countries with better performance in all these conditioning factors exhibit less informal interference than countries with poorer or mixed performance. The results stress the importance of systematically including informal politics in the study of judicial politics

Judicial disagreement need not be political: dissent on the Estonian Supreme Court

I investigate the non-unanimous decisions of judges on the Estonian Supreme Court. I argue that since judges on the court enjoy high de jure independence, dissent frequently, and are integrated in the normal judicial hierarchy, the Estonian Supreme Court is a crucial case for the presumption that judicial disagreement reveals policy preferences. I analyse dissenting opinions using an ideal point response model. Examining the characteristics of cases which discriminated with respect to the recovered dimension, I show that this dimension cannot be interpreted as a meaningful policy dimension, but instead reflects disagreement about the proper scope of constitutional redress

A Survey on Continuous Time Computations

We provide an overview of theories of continuous time computation. These theories allow us to understand both the hardness of questions related to continuous time dynamical systems and the computational power of continuous time analog models. We survey the existing models, summarizing results, and point to relevant references in the literature

Some like it cold: understanding the survival strategies of psychrophiles

Much of the Earth's surface, both marine and terrestrial, is either periodically or permanently cold. Although habitats that are largely or continuously frozen are generally considered to be inhospitable to life, psychrophilic organisms have managed to survive in these environments. This is attributed to their innate adaptive capacity to cope with cold and its associated stresses. Here, we review the various environmental, physiological and molecular adaptations that psychrophilic microorganisms use to thrive under adverse conditions. We also discuss the impact of modern “omic” technologies in developing an improved understanding of these adaptations, highlighting recent work in this growing field.http://embor.embopress.org/content/15/5/508hb201