Re: Leukocytoclastic Vasculitis: A peculiar presentation of scrub typhus

NON

Re: Porphyria Cutanea Tarda in a Patient with Myelofibrosis

NON

Re: Extramammary Paget disease - diagnostic and therapeutic challenges

NON

Central Venous Catheter-Related Infection in Critically Ill Patients

Letter to the Edito

Drip Pricing When Consumers Have Limited Foresight: Evidence from Driving School Fees

This paper empirically investigates the add-on or drip pricing behavior of firms. We present a model in which consumers purchase a base product and, with some probability, an add-on product from the same firm, but are not always attentive to their possible need for the add-on product. We show that a loss leader pricing strategy emerges whereby firms price the base product below, and the add-on above, standalone pricing levels. We test the implications of the model in the Portuguese market for driving instruction where students frequently pay for repeat driving exams and additional lessons upon failing their initial exam. Relying on a detailed, nationwide data set on student characteristics and preferences, school attributes including fees and costs, and market demographics for a cross-section of local markets with differing numbers of school competitors, we find evidence in support of the model predictions. Most notably, prices for the base course of instruction, but not the add-on repeat courses, decline in the number of competitors a firm faces. We complement these results with survey evidence on possible sources of consumer inattention that the observational data does not speak to. The consumer survey suggests that approximately one quarter of students are inattentive to repeat fees when making their school choice driven both by an underestimation of fail propensities and an unawareness of the actual cost of a repeat exam. This result has important policy implications regarding the cross-subsidization of students who are aware of the add-on by those who are not

Dormancy within Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilms: an immunoproteomic characterization

Dormant bacteria within biofilms contribute to biofilm heterogeneity. Consequently, physiological heterogeneity of biofilms may influence host immune response and tolerance to antibiotics. Recently, we described an in vitro model to modulate dormancy in S. epidermidis biofilms. Here, we present a study based on immunoproteomics, where we compared the reactive profile of S. epidermidis biofilm proteins with prevented and induced dormancy, to human sera. A total of 19 immunoreactive proteins were identified by MALDI-TOF/TOF. Most of these proteins present molecular functions, such as catalytic activity and ion binding. CodY and GpmA proteins were more reactive to sera when biofilm dormancy was induced, while FtnA and ClpP were more reactive when dormancy was prevented. This is the first work identifying protein immunoreactivity differences between bacterial biofilms with induced or prevented dormancy. Considering the importance of dormancy within biofilms, further studies on these proteins may provide insights into the mechanisms related to dormancy and help improving current understanding on how dormancy affects the host immune response

Enhancing the cognitive interview with an alternative procedure to witness-compatible questioning: category clustering recall

The Cognitive Interview (CI) is one of the most widely studied and used methods to interview witnesses. However, new component techniques for further increasing correct recall are still crucial. We focused on how a new and simpler interview strategy, Category Clustering Recall (CCR), could increase recall in comparison with witness-compatible questioning and tested if a Revised Cognitive Interview (RCI) with CCR instead of witness-compatible questioning and without the change order and change perspective mnemonics would be effective for this purpose. Participants watched a mock robbery video and were interviewed 48 hours later with either the CI or the RCI. Recalled information was classified as either correct, incorrect or confabulation. Although exclusion of the change order and change perspective mnemonics in the RCI group might have caused a slight decrease in recall during the last interview phases, the RCI group generally produced more correct information than the CI group, with a lower number of confabulations. Further analyses revealed CCR was largely responsible for this increase in correct recall. CCR is a very promising interview technique which allowed the interviewer to obtain more detailed information without additional questions and may have, in certain situations, several practical advantages over a questioning phase.N/

Zebrafish as a disease model for studying human Rett Syndrome

Background: Rett syndrome (RTT) is a severe neurological disorder that affects almost exclusively females. This disease is characterized by normal growth and intellectual development until around the first year, then progression in development starts to slow down, with loss of purposeful use of the hands, distinctive hand movements, slowed brain and head growth, problems with walking, seizures, and intellectual disability. Mutations in the X-linked genes methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MECP2) and cyclin-dependent kinase-like 5 (CDKL5) were described in RTT and recently several bone diseases related with decreased bone mass were also described in those patients, starting early in life. Because zebrafish was largely validated as a model for human diseases, the main objective of this work was to investigate if zebrafish can be a good model to study RTT

Epidural Abscess Related to Brucellar Spondylodiscitis Diagnosis by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)

The localized forms of brucellosis, particularly osteoarticular, by their symptomatology usually nonspecific, still continue to be a diagnosis challenge, being fundamental to raise a high degree of suspicion based on a careful epidemiological history. The authors describe the case of a 69 year old farmer that was admitted due to an insidious lower back pain with irradiation to the left lower limb accompanied by nocturnal sweating, anorexia and weight loss. The imaging studies revealed a spondylodiscitis in L3-L4 with an associated epidural abscess. The diagnosis of brucellosis was brought on by the occupational exposure to sheep and was confirmed by a positive PCR to Brucella in the product gathered by aspiration from the epidural abscess and also by the serology (ELISA and Rose Bengal). Despite the initial therapy with doxycycline, rifampicin and gentamycin (the last one for 1 week), the patient had a clinical and imagiologic worsening, determining surgical decompression. After the surgery, antiobiotherapy with doxycyline and rifampicin was maintained and a cycle of gentamicin was started, this time for a month, with a favorable clinical evolution.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Ácidos fenólicos, alcoóis fenológicos, secoiridoides, flavonoides e tocoferóis em azeites virgens.

Comunicação da qual só está disponível o resumo.As características excepcionais do azeite virgem extra devem-se não só ao seu perfil em ácidos gordos mas também à presença de compostos de natureza fenólica que contribuem para o seu valor nutricional. Os estudos mais actuais evidenciam diversos benefícios para a saúde destes compostos, o que levou a União Europeia a aprovar uma alegação nutricional em 2012 sobre “polifenóis do azeite”. Os compostos fenólicos do azeite virgem apresentam também propriedades sensoriais, nomeadamente pela sua contribuição para o sabor amargo. Além disso, contribuem para a estabilidade oxidativa do azeite, pelo que, quando presentes em elevada quantidade, aumentam o seu tempo de vida. A sua avaliação nos azeites pode vir a ter uma importância fundamental para a diferenciação de azeites de elevada qualidade nutricional e sensorial. No presente trabalho, estudaram-se os compostos fenólicos de natureza hidrofílica e lipofílica, em azeites provenientes das cultivares ‘Cobrançosa’ e ‘Galega Vulgar’. Por HPLC-FLD, foram quantificados alfa, beta e gama tocoferóis (fenóis lipofílicos). Nos azeites de ambas as cultivares, os teores de alfa-tocoferol foram sempre superiores a 200 mg kg-1, apresentando os azeites ‘Galega Vulgar’ maiores teores de gama tocoferol. Relativamente ao perfil em compostos fenólicos (hidrofílicos), avaliados por HPLCDAD, foi possível quantificar os teores de hidroxitirosol, tirosol, ácido vanílico, vanilina, ácido o-cumárico, luteolina e apigenina. Identificou-se ainda a presença de 3,4-DHPEA-EDA, p-HPEA-EDA, 3,4-DHPEA-EA e p-HPEA-EA. O composto fenólico maioritário nos azeites foi o 3,4-DHPEA-EDA, representando em alguns azeites mais de 50 % do total de compostos fenólicos. Foram encontrados baixos teores de hidroxitirosol e tirosol, como é expectável em azeites recentemente extraídos. Os azeites ‘Cobrançosa’ apresentaram, em geral, teores mais elevados de flavonóides.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio