A case of granulomatous rosacea

A 49-year-old housewife had complained of an itchy facial rash for four years. She denied using steroid creams and skin lighteners. On examination, dark grey papules were found on her face, with some coalescing into plaques (see Figures 1 and 2). A skin biopsy revealed many perifollicular non-caseating granulomas (see Figure 3). Periodic Acid-Schiff stains for fungi, Ziehl-Neelson stains for M tuberculosis, and Fite-Ferraco stains for M leprae were negative

A case of vulval schistosomiasis

While schistosomiasis is endemic in South Africa, cutaneous manifestations are relatively uncommon. This case report describes the clinical findings in a patient with vulval schistosomiasis. Schistosomiasis should be considered in the differential diagnosis of genital lesions in residents in endemic areas or visitors to these areas.South African Family Practice Vol. 49 (9) 2007: pp. 42-4

A comparison of cervical smear adequacy using either the cytobrush or the Ayre spatula: a practice audit

Background: To obtain an adequate cervical (Papanicolaou) smear, the transformation zone, including the squamo-columnar junction, should be sampled as carcinoma develops preferentially in this transformation zone. The Ayre spatula has been widely used but is not very effective. Other sampling devices have been developed to improve efficiency, including the cytobrush. The purpose of this study was to compare the adequacy of cervical smears taken with the Ayre spatula as opposed to the cytobrush. Methods: This was a retrospective analytical study. One sampler, an experienced general practitioner, took the smears in the period 1990 to 2004. Initially, the Ayre spatula was used to consecutively sample the cervix and thereafter, a cytobrush alone was used. Two groups were thus formed for comparison. The presence of endocervical cells was accepted as an indicator of an adequate smear. A Cusco speculum was used to visualize the cervix. The sample was smeared onto a slide and fixated with an alcohol aerosol spray. Results: A total of 4561 smears were taken and 247 had no endocervical cells. A further 34 smears were classified as unsatisfactory due to the presence of degeneration (19), insufficient squamous cells (7), inflammatory exudate (4), excess blood (3) and/or a thick slide (1).The cytobrush group was similar demographically to the Ayre spatula group: 1981 (99%) and 2490 (98%) respectively were non pregnant; 67 (3%) and 110 (4%) were nulliparous, 1008 (50%) and 1370 (54%) were para 1 – 5, and 931 (46%) and 1075 (42%) were para 6 or more; 0 (0%) and 2 (0.1%) were aged between 10 – 19 years, 1496 (75%) and 2012 (78%) between 20 – 49, and 510 (25%) and 541 (21%) were aged 50 years or more. Of 2006 smears taken with a cytobrush, 1955 (97.5%) contained endocervical cells compared with 2325 (91%) of 2555 smears taken with an Ayre spatula. The difference was significant with an Odds Ratio of 4.56 (95% Confidence Interval 3.42-6.42). Conclusion: The cytobrush is significantly more efficacious than the Ayre spatula in obtaining adequate cervical smears. Use of the cytobrush will ensure less repeat smears with a consequent reduction in workload for samplers and laboratories. Although very few smears lacked sufficient squamous cells (an indicator of adequate ectocervical sampling), current best practice is that the cytobrush be used together with a wooden spatula to ensure adequate sampling of both the endocervical and ectocervical components of the transformation zone. For full text, click here: South African Family Practice2006;48(9): 15-15

Towards a method for rigorous development of generic requirements patterns

We present work in progress on a method for the engineering, validation and verification of generic requirements using domain engineering and formal methods. The need to develop a generic requirement set for subsequent system instantiation is complicated by the addition of the high levels of verification demanded by safety-critical domains such as avionics. Our chosen application domain is the failure detection and management function for engine control systems: here generic requirements drive a software product line of target systems. A pilot formal specification and design exercise is undertaken on a small (twosensor) system element. This exercise has a number of aims: to support the domain analysis, to gain a view of appropriate design abstractions, for a B novice to gain experience in the B method and tools, and to evaluate the usability and utility of that method.We also present a prototype method for the production and verification of a generic requirement set in our UML-based formal notation, UML-B, and tooling developed in support. The formal verification both of the structural generic requirement set, and of a particular application, is achieved via translation to the formal specification language, B, using our U2B and ProB tools

Hawking temperature in the eternal BTZ black hole: an example of Holography in AdS spacetime

We review the relation between AdS spacetime in 1+2 dimensions and the BTZ black hole. Later we show that a ground state in AdS spacetime becomes a thermal state in the BTZ black hole. We show that this is true in the bulk and in the boundary of AdS spacetime. The existence of this thermal state is tantamount to say that the Unruh effect exists in AdS spacetime and becomes the Hawking effect for an eternal BTZ black hole. In order to make this we use the correspondence introduced in Algebraic Holography between algebras of quasi-local observables associated to wedges and doble cones regions in the bulk of AdS spacetime and its conformal boundary respectively. Also we give the real scalar quantum field as a concrete heuristic realization of this formalism.Comment: 29 page

Pressure Induced Charge Disproportionation in LaMnO3_{3}

We present a total energy study as a function of volume in the cubic phase of LaMnO$_{3}$. A charge disproportionated state into planes of Mn$^{3+}$O$_{2}$/Mn$^{4+}$O$_{2}$ was found. It is argued that the pressure driven localisation/delocalisation transition might go smoothly through a region of Mn$^{3+}$ and Mn$^{4+}$ coexistence.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure, Conference Proceedings: Nanospintronics: Design and Realization (Kyoto, Japan 24-28 May, 2004

Serum lipophilic antioxidants levels are associated with leucocyte telomere length among US adults

Background: To examine the association between serum concentrations of antioxidant and telomere length (TL) in U.S adults. Methods: Participants of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) with data available on TL measures from 2001 to 2002 were included. Serum lipophilic antioxidants level was measured using high performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection. We used analysis of co-variance and multivariable-adjusted linear regression models, accounting for the survey design and sample weights. Results: Of the 5992 eligible participants, 47.5% (n = 2844) were men. The mean age was 46.9 years overall, 47.2 years in men and 46.6 in women (p = 0.071). In age, sex, race, education, marital status, adiposity, smoking, C-reactive protein adjusted linear regressions, antioxidant, serum α-carotene, trans-β-carotene, cis- β-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin and combined Lutein/zeaxanthin were positively and significantly associated with TL (all p < 0.001). Conclusions: Our findings support a possible positive association between serum concentrations of lipophylic antioxidant and TL. The implications of this association deserve further investigation

Serum lipophilic antioxidants levels are associated with leucocyte telomere length among US adults

Background: To examine the association between serum concentrations of antioxidant and telomere length (TL) in U.S adults. Methods: Participants of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) with data available on TL measures from 2001 to 2002 were included. Serum lipophilic antioxidants level was measured using high performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection. We used analysis of co-variance and multivariable-adjusted linear regression models, accounting for the survey design and sample weights. Results: Of the 5992 eligible participants, 47.5% (n = 2844) were men. The mean age was 46.9 years overall, 47.2 years in men and 46.6 in women (p = 0.071). In age, sex, race, education, marital status, adiposity, smoking, C-reactive protein adjusted linear regressions, antioxidant, serum α-carotene, trans-β-carotene, cis- β-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin and combined Lutein/zeaxanthin were positively and significantly associated with TL (all p < 0.001). Conclusions: Our findings support a possible positive association between serum concentrations of lipophylic antioxidant and TL. The implications of this association deserve further investigation

Lipid profile and left ventricular geometry pattern in obese children

Background: Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is an important risk factor for cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. Previous studies reported conflicting results concerning the relationship between serum lipid levels and left ventricular geometry pattern. We sought to explore the relationship between standard serum lipid profile measures with left ventricular geometry pattern in obese children. Patients and methods: In this cross-sectional study, a total of 70 obese children were examined. Fasting blood samples were taken to measure total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), triglycerides (TGs), glucose, and insulin. Based on these values TG/HDL ratio, BMI and HOMA index were calculated. We also measured the average 24-h ambulatory systolic blood pressure (SBP) and two-dimensional (2/D) transthoracic echocardiography was performed to determine left ventricular mass index (LVMI) and relative wall thickness (RWT). Multiple regression analyses were conducted to explore relationships between study variables and the LVMI or RWT as outcome variables. The final model with LVMI included TG/HDL ratio, BMI, 24 h-average SBP, age and sex, while for the RWT we included BMI, insulin, age and sex. Results: Our study included 70 children (65.71% boys and 34.29% girls) median age (14 years, IQR = 12-16)." We demonstrated independent and positive association of TG/HDL ratio, BMI and 24 h-average SBP with LVMI (effect = 3.65, SE = 1.32, p < 0.01; effect = 34.90, SE = 6.84, p < 0.01; effect = 0.32, SE = 0.12, p < 0.01, respectively). On the other hand, in model with RWT as outcome variable, only BMI and insulin were significantly linked (BMI: effect = 13.07, SE = 5.02, p = 0.01 Insulin: effect = 2.80, SE = 0.97). Conclusion: Increased TG/HDL ratio in obese children is associated with the development of eccentric left ventricular hypertrophy while increased BMI and insulin were associated with concentric left ventricular hypertophy

One-Loop Renormalization of a Self-Interacting Scalar Field in Nonsimply Connected Spacetimes

Using the effective potential, we study the one-loop renormalization of a massive self-interacting scalar field at finite temperature in flat manifolds with one or more compactified spatial dimensions. We prove that, owing to the compactification and finite temperature, the renormalized physical parameters of the theory (mass and coupling constant) acquire thermal and topological contributions. In the case of one compactified spatial dimension at finite temperature, we find that the corrections to the mass are positive, but those to the coupling constant are negative. We discuss the possibility of triviality, i.e. that the renormalized coupling constant goes to zero at some temperature or at some radius of the compactified spatial dimension.Comment: 16 pages, plain LATE