Contact sensitization to essential oils: IVDK data of the years 2010–2019

Background: Essential oils (EOs) are widely used in cosmetics, perfumes, massage fluids, aroma therapy and natural medicine. Some EOs contain contact sensitizers. Objectives: To describe the frequency of sensitization to EOs in dermatitis patients presenting in skin clinics including concomitant reactions, to evaluate the EO patch test preparations and to identify patient groups with an increased risk of EO sensitization. Patients and methods: Retrospective analysis of data from the Information Network of Departments of Dermatology (IVDK), 2010-2019. Results: Twelve EOs were patch tested in an aimed manner in 10 930 patients, of whom 908 (8.3%) reacted to at least 1 EO. Only 6 EOs elicited more than 1% positive patch test reactions: ylang ylang (I + II) oil (3.9%), lemongrass oil (2.6%), jasmine absolute (1.8%), sandalwood oil (1.8%), clove oil (1.6%) and neroli oil (1.1%). Concomitant reactions among EOs or to EOs and fragrances were frequent. Among EO-positive patients, women, leg dermatitis patients, patients aged 40 years or more, masseurs and cosmeticians were over-represented. Conclusions: Sensitization to EOs occurs, albeit infrequently in most cases. Masseurs and cosmeticians have an increased risk of sensitization to EOs. Keywords: clinical epidemiology; contact allergy; essential oils; fragrances; patch testin

High field superconducting properties of Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2 thin films

The film investigated grew phase-pure and highly textured with in-plane and out-of-plane full width at half maximum, FWHM, of = 0.74° and = 0.9°, Suppl. S1. The sample, however, does contain a large density of ab-planar defects, as revealed by transition electron microscope (TEM) images of focused ion beam (FIB) cuts near the microbridges, Fig. 1. These defects are presumably stacking faults (i.e. missing FeAs layers)20. The reason for this defect formation (also observed on technical substrates)21 is not fully understood. Possible reasons are a partial As loss during deposition22, and relaxation processes in combination with the Fe buffer layer23. Estimating the distance between these intergrowths leads to values varying between 5 and 10 nm. Between the planar defects, an orientation contrast is visible in TEM (inset Fig. 1b), i.e. the brighter crystallites are slightly rotated either around (010) (out-of-plane spread, ) or around (001) (in-plane spread, ) and enclosed by dislocation networks or small-angle GBs. Since the crystallites are sandwiched between planar defects, an in-plane misorientation is most likely. The out-of-plane misorientation, on the other hand, is visible as a slight tilt of the ab-planar defects with respect to each other, especially in the upper part of the sample. No globular or columnar precipitates were found

An Expert Position Paper from the Special Interest Group on Sensitive Skin of the International Forum for the Study of Itch

Sensitive skin is a frequent complaint in the general population, in patients, and among subjects suffering from itch. The International Forum for the Study of Itch (IFSI) decided to initiate a special interest group (SIG) on sensitive skin. Using the Delphi method, sensitive skin was defined as “A syndrome defined by the occurrence of unpleasant sensations (stinging, burning, pain, pruritus, and tingling sensations) in response to stimuli that normally should not provoke such sensations. These unpleasant sensations cannot be explained by lesions attributable to any skin disease. The skin can appear normal or be accompanied by erythema. Sensitive skin can affect all body locations, especially the face”. This paper summarizes the background, unresolved aspects of sensitive skin and the process of developing this definition

Shaping highly regular glass architectures: A lesson from nature

International audienceDemospongiae is a class of marine sponges that mineralize skeletal elements, the glass spicules, made of amorphous silica. The spicules exhibit a diversity of highly regular three-dimensional branched morphologies that are a paradigm example of symmetry in biological systems. Current glass shaping technology requires treatment at high temperatures. In this context, the mechanism by which glass architectures are formed by living organisms remains a mystery. We uncover the principles of spicule morphogenesis. During spicule formation, the process of silica deposition is templated by an organic filament. It is composed of enzymatically active proteins arranged in a mesoscopic hexagonal crystal-like structure. In analogy to synthetic inorganic nanocrystals that show high spatial regularity, we demonstrate that the branching of the filament follows specific crystallographic directions of the protein lattice. In correlation with the symmetry of the lattice, filament branching determines the highly regular morphology of the spicules on the macroscale