German evidence-based guidelines for the treatment of Psoriasis vulgaris (short version)

Psoriasis vulgaris is a common and chronic inflammatory skin disease which has the potential to significantly reduce the quality of life in severely affected patients. The incidence of psoriasis in Western industrialized countries ranges from 1.5 to 2%. Despite the large variety of treatment options available, patient surveys have revealed insufficient satisfaction with the efficacy of available treatments and a high rate of medication non-compliance. To optimize the treatment of psoriasis in Germany, the Deutsche Dermatologische Gesellschaft and the Berufsverband Deutscher Dermatologen (BVDD) have initiated a project to develop evidence-based guidelines for the management of psoriasis. The guidelines focus on induction therapy in cases of mild, moderate, and severe plaque-type psoriasis in adults. The short version of the guidelines reported here consist of a series of therapeutic recommendations that are based on a systematic literature search and subsequent discussion with experts in the field; they have been approved by a team of dermatology experts. In addition to the therapeutic recommendations provided in this short version, the full version of the guidelines includes information on contraindications, adverse events, drug interactions, practicality, and costs as well as detailed information on how best to apply the treatments described (for full version, please see Nast et al., JDDG, Suppl 2:S1–S126, 2006; or http://www.psoriasis-leitlinie.de)

Żywieniowo-toksykologiczna ocena występowania węglowodorów kancerogennych w produktach wędzonych

Sources and degree of contamination of foodstuffs by cancerogenic hydrocarbons as result of flue gas smoking and drying are discussed. The authors point out to a possible connection between an increased occurence of cancer of the intestinal tract and a frequent uptake of smoked goods. The used method enables a detection of 0,01 μg of benzo(a)pyrene together with other polycyclic aromatic compounds in smoked goods. The benzo(a)pyrene content of industrially smoked meat products lies between 0.05 and 1.62 μg/kg. The necessity for the use of modern smoking technologies is discussed also with regard to the contamination of foods by cancerogenic hydrocarbons.W pracy przedyskutowano wskaźniki epidemiologiczne ukazujące możliwość istnienia przyczynowej zależności pomiędzy zwiększonym występowaniem raka przewodu pokarmowego a częstym spożywaniem produktów wędzonych. Wprowadzenie nowych technik wędzenia pozwoliło na znaczne zmniejszenie zawartości aromatycznych węglowodorów w produktach wędzonych, przemysłowo w porównaniu z produktami wędzonymi sposobem domowym. Dyskutowana jest sprawa wprowadzenia limitów określających dopuszczalną zawartość benzo(a)pirenu w wędzonych produktach, w nawiązaniu do możliwości występowania innych koncerogennych zanieczyszczeń w rodzaju związków N-nitrozowych i mykotoksyn

Picture quiz: Painless non-itching yellow-white spots on genital mucosa.

A 28 year old white man presented to the dermatology clinic because of raised, yellow-white coloured skin lesions on the glans of his penis that had been increasing in number over two years. Repeated attempts had been made to cure the affected areas with topical antimycotic drugs, antibiotics, and virostatic agents. Macroscopic inspection showed a penile mucosa covered by densely aggregated yellow-white, minute papules. Lesional swabs to look for colonisation with bacteria, fungi, or viruses were unremarkable

Minority Carrier Lifetime Measurements for Contactless Oxidation Process Characterization and Furnace Profiling

Contactless minority carrier lifetime (lifetime) measurements by means of microwave detected photoconductivity are employed for oxidation process characterization and furnace profiling. Characterization is performed on oxidized float zone substrates with high resistivity and outstanding bulk quality, suggesting that the measured effective lifetime is strongly dominated by interface recombination and therefore reflects the oxide quality. The applied approach requires neither test structures nor time consuming measurements and is therefore of particular interest if high throughput is required. The method is used to investigate the impact of oxidation furnace leakage as well as to analyze the oxidation homogeneity across a horizontal oxidation furnace. For comparison, capacitance-voltage measurements are conducted to characterize the oxide properties. It is found that any type of furnace leakage, which induces fixed oxide charges as well as interface states, has a heavy impact on the measured effective lifetime, especially on the shape of generation rate dependent lifetime curves. Furthermore, a distinct lifetime decrease towards the tube door of the oxidation furnace could be observed. The latter is even detectable in an ideal oxidation process, generating high quality oxides. Besides plain equipment characterization, the presented approach is suitable to optimize the oxidation process itself regarding different parameters like temperature, gas flow, pressure, or process time