Supplementary Material for: Treatment of Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis with the Combination of Infliximab and High-Dose Intravenous Immunoglobulin

<b><i>Background:</i></b> Therapeutic evidence for toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) is indicative for high-dose intravenous immunoglobulin yet inconclusive for corticosteroids. <b><i>Objective:</i></b> To describe the combination of corticosteroids, infliximab and a high-dose intravenous immunoglobulin course for TEN. <b><i>Patients and Methods:</i></b> In three patients (SCORTEN survival probabilities: 41.7%, 64.2%, 41.7%) disease control was evaluated by (a) employing quantitative image analysis to measure progression of skin detachment and (b) patients’ outcome (complete re-epithelization). Published cases of TEN treatments with infliximab were retrieved from PubMed. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Within 48 h skin disease progression was arrested in all patients. Two patients were discharged after 3 weeks without any sequels from skin or conjunctivae. One patient passed away on the ninth day, however with noticeably improved skin (mortality rate: 33% observed vs. 50% expected). A PubMed search retrieved five TEN patients treated successfully with infliximab. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> The described combination presents a feasible therapeutic alternative for TEN that warrants further evaluation

Pragmatic Coarse-Graining of Proteins:Models and Applications

The molecular details involved in the folding, dynamics, organization, and interaction of proteins with other molecules are often difficult to assess by experimental techniques. Consequently, computational models play an ever-increasing role in the field. However, biological processes involving large-scale protein assemblies or long time scale dynamics are still computationally expensive to study in atomistic detail. For these applications, employing coarse-grained (CG) modeling approaches has become a key strategy. In this Review, we provide an overview of what we call pragmatic CG protein models, which are strategies combining, at least in part, a physics-based implementation and a top-down experimental approach to their parametrization. In particular, we focus on CG models in which most protein residues are represented by at least two beads, allowing these models to retain some degree of chemical specificity. A description of the main modern pragmatic protein CG models is provided, including a review of the most recent applications and an outlook on future perspectives in the field.</p