Localized Abdominal Idiopathic Lipodystrophy

Localized loss of subcutaneous tissue can occur after panniculitis, injections of corticosteroids and other drugs, or associated with infectious, autoimmune or neurologic diseases. The "idiopathic lipoatrophies" are a group of poorly characterized diseases, with focal disappearance of subcutaneous fat, and usually the thighs, abdomen or the ankles are affected. Three subtypes have been described based on clinical presentation: lipoatrophia semicircularis, annular lipoatrophy of the ankles and centrifugal lipodystrophy. We describe a 52-year-old female patient who developed a localized atrophy of the abdominal areas over a period of 3 months without any inflammatory signs over the evolution of the disease. The patient denied any previous local trauma or medication of any type. The atrophy stabilized, showing no progression over the last 6 years. The histopathological examination was normal except for the absence of subcutaneous fat, although the biopsy was taken down to the fascia. There was no clinical or serologic evidence of autoimmune diseases and laboratory testing for Borrelia burgdorferi infection was negative. Other causes of localized lipoatrophies were excluded and the final diagnosis was localized idiopathic lipodystrophy. Our patient is the second report on an abdominal lipodystrophy, with no previous inflammatory signs, absence of subcutaneous fat and no associated pathogenic factor. There is no established treatment for idiopathic lipodystrophy, and the lesions do not tend to resolve spontaneously

Úlcera Digital Atípica Causada por HSV-2

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Efficacy of Narrowband UVB vs. PUVA in Patients with Early-Stage Mycosis Fungoides

INTRODUCTION: Mycosis fungoides (MF) is a non-Hodgkin's T-cell lymphoma of the skin that often begins as limited patches and plaques with slow progression to systemic involvement. Narrowband ultraviolet (UV) B therapy has been proven to be an effective short-term treatment modality for clearing patch-stage MF. The effect of psoralen plus long-wave ultraviolet A (PUVA) in the treatment of patch- and plaque-type MF has also been thoroughly documented. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy and safety of narrowband UVB and PUVA in patients with early-stage MF. METHODS: We analysed the response to treatment, relapse-free survival and irradiation dose in 114 patients with histologically confirmed early-stage MF (stage IA, IB and IIA). RESULTS: A total of 95 patients were treated with PUVA (83.3%) and 19 with narrowband UVB (16.7%). With PUVA, 59 patients (62.1%) had a complete response (CR), 24 (25.3%) had a partial response (PR) and 12 (12.6%) had a failed response. Narrowband UVB led to CR in 12 (68.4%) patients, PR in 5 (26.3%) patients and a failed response in 1 (5.3%) patient. There were no differences in terms of time to relapse between patients treated with PUVA and those treated with narrowband UVB (11.5 vs. 14.0 months respectively; P = 0.816). No major adverse reactions were attributed to the treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Our results confirm that phototherapy is a safe, effective and well-tolerated, first-line therapy in patients with early-stage cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, with prolonged disease-free remissions being achieved. It suggests that narrowband UVB is at least as effective as PUVA for treatment of early-stage MF.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Infliximab in Recalcitrant Generalized Pustular Arthropatic Psoriasis

Generalized pustular psoriasis is an unstable inflammatory type of psoriasis, with widespread areas of erythema and sterile pustules, associated with fever and systemic symptoms. Infliximab is a monoclonal antibody with anti-TNFalpha activity, approved for use in psoriasis. We describe a male patient with a long history of stable arthropathic psoriasis, hospitalized with a generalized pustular psoriasis and acute exacerbation of articular complaints. The disease was resistant to multiple therapies (acitretin, methotrexate and corticosteroids), so the patient was started on infliximab, with a very rapid response of both cutaneous and articular symptoms. He had complete clearing of lesions at week 12, and marked improvement of the articular symptoms. No recurrence occurred at 8 months of follow-up with infliximab every 8 weeks. Infliximab had an extremely rapid therapeutic action response on a recalcitrant generalized pustular psoriasis. The articular response was also excellent, with significant improvement of quality of life

Annular Lichen Planus in Association with Crohn Disease

BACKGROUND: Lichen planus is an idiopathic inflammatory disease of the skin and mucous membranes. Although the etiology is not established, it has been associated with autoimmune diseases, viral infections, drugs and dental restoration materials. However, the association with inflammatory bowel disease has been very rarely reported in the literature. CASE REPORT: A 19-year-old female patient presented with annular lesions on her upper body and limbs, with a sharply defined border and non-atrophic skin in the center. The lesions were hyperpigmented and had been stable for over one year. The histopathology confirmed the diagnosis of annular lichen planus. She had weight loss, occasional diarrhea, and a severe anemia. The investigation of these symptoms led to the diagnosis of Crohn disease and a sickle cell trait. Therapy with systemic corticosteroids and mesalazine controlled the intestinal disease, with concomitant improvement of the skin lesions. CONCLUSIONS: As lichen planus can be associated with other immunological disorders, the association with inflammatory bowel disease should be considered in the evaluation of the patient

Hypertrophic Perianal Herpes Successfully Treated with Imiquimod

A infecção pelo vírus herpes simples tipo 2 (HSV-2) é frequente em pacientes infetados pelo vírus de imunodeficiência adquirida (VIH). Nestes casos, o herpes genital pode ter uma apresentação clínica atípica. As variantes hipertróficas e vegetantes são pouco habituais. Os autores relatam um caso de herpes hipertrófico perianal em paciente infetada pelo VIH, com resposta insatisfatória ao aciclovir e valaciclovir, tratado eficazmente com imiquimod tópico. O herpes genital hipertrófico é, frequentemente, refratário aos tratamentos antivirais. Na nossa experiência, o imiquimod é um tratamento eficaz, seguro e bem tolerado que deverá ser considerado na abordagem terapêutica destes pacientes

Open DRM and the future of media

This article offers an analysis of the various methods for implementing interoperable digital rights management platforms.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Interoperability mechanisms for registration and authentication on different open DRM platforms

The DRM interoperability problem is a very complex problem. Even big software companies have already admitted that DRM as it is today is too complex ? complex for end-users, complex for content providers and complex for content handling devices manufactures. There are different approaches to deal with this problem and there are different levels to address the problem. This article addresses the DRM interoperability issues from a security point of view, and as an example the authors take two open-specification DRM architectures ? MIPAMS and OpenSDRM ? to identify a strategy to interoperate some of the basic security mechanisms. In this article the authors will concentrate in the DRM components and user’s registration, authentication and verification process and will derive a mechanism to handle and support both