Transient myeloproliferative disorder with vesiculopustular eruption: Early smear is useful for quick diagnosis

We report a male infant with Down syndrome who had a transient myeloproliferative disorder associated with skin lesions. He was transferred to a neonatal intensive care unit because of low body weight, fetal edema, disseminated intravascular coagulation, and 10% blast cells in the peripheral blood. On postnatal day (PD) 1, erythema with small papules, vesicles, and pustules appeared on the entire body. A smear preparation from the pustules on PD 2 showed 10% blast cells. A biopsy specimen taken on PD 5 revealed subcorneal pustules containing neutrophils and eosinophils. Genetic analyses detected a somatic mutation (197G>T, Glu295Stop) in exon 2 of GATA-1. On PD 10, the eruptions resolved spontaneously and the population of blast cells in peripheral blood decreased to 1%. The number of blast cells in pustules decreased markedly after three days. Therefore, we recommend that cytologic examination should be performed as early as possible.ArticleJournal of American Academy of Dermatology. 60(5):869-871 (2009)journal articl

In vivo effects of interferon-Γ and anti-interferon-Γ antibody on the experimentally induced lichenoid tissue reaction

We investigated the in vivo effect of recombinant interferon-Γ (IFN-Γ) and tumour necrosis factor Α (TNF-Α) treatment of mice on the development of the delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) reaction and lichenoid tissue reaction (LTR) following the local injection of cloned autoreactive T cells. Both the DTH reaction and the LTR were significantly enhanced by pre-treatment with IFN-Γ, but not with TNF-Ã. Induction of class II MHC antigens on keratinocytes was not essential for the enhancement by IFN-Γ. Administration of anti-IFN-Γ antibody reduced the DTH reaction and LTR, although complete inhibition was not observed with our treatment regimen. The ability of IFN-Γ to increase the number of the cloned T cells invading the epidermis in vivo , is in keeping with our previous observation that IFN-Γ treatment of cultured keratinocytes markedly increased the adherence reaction between T cells and keratinocytes in vitro.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/74579/1/j.1365-2133.1988.tb03202.x.pd

Improvement of Production Rate of YBCO Coated Conductors Fabricated by TFA-MOD Method

AbstractThe metal-organic deposition (MOD) method using trifluoroacetate (TFA) salts is considered to be an effective method for inexpensively fabricating YBa2Cu3O7-y (YBCO) coated conductors with high critical current density property. The long-length TFA-MOD YBCO coated conductors have been fabricated by multi-turn reel-to-reel system. Increasing the thickness per single coating in the multi-turn reel-to-reel system is a cost-effective technique for fabrication of the precursor films in the calcination process since it reduces the number of coatings and shortens the processing time. In this work, we have developed a new starting solution consisting of non-fluorine salts of yttrium propionate and copper 2-ethylhexanoate with focusing on increasing the thickness per single coating for a high-rate fabrication of the YBCO coated conductors by the TFA-MOD method. The critical thickness per single coating of the precursor film fabricated from the new starting solution was improved to 0.44μm/coat. Furthermore, the addition of diacetoneacrylamide in the new starting solution increased the critical thickness per single coating to 0.79μm/coat. High critical current of 791 A/cm-width with high critical current density of 2.7 MA/cm2 was obtained using the new starting solution with diacetoneacrylamide at the thickness per single coating of 0.49μm/coat

First isolation of Dysgonomonas mossii from intestinal juice of a patient with pancreatic cancer

ArticleARCHIVES OF MEDICAL RESEARCH. 37(7): 914-916 (2006)journal articl

Is the drug-induced hypersensitivity syndrome (DIHS) due to human herpesvirus 6 infection or to allergy-mediated viral reactivation? Report of a case and literature review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Drug-Induced Hypersensitivity Syndrome (DIHS) is a severe and rare systemic reaction triggered by a drug (usually an antiepileptic drug). We present a case of DISH and we review studies on the clinical features and treatment of DIHS, and on its pathogenesis in which two elements (Herpesvirus infection and the drug) interact with the immune system to trigger such a syndrome that can lead to death in about 20% of cases.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report the case of a 26-year old woman with fever, systemic maculopapular rash, lymphadenopathy, hepatitis and eosinophilic leukocytosis. She had been treated with antibiotics that gave no benefit. She was taking escitalopram and lamotrigine for a bipolar disease 30 days before fever onset. Because the patient's general condition deteriorated, betamethasone and acyclovir were started. This treatment resulted in a mild improvement of symptoms. Steroids were rapidly tapered and this was followed with a relapse of fever and a worsening of laboratory parameters. Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) DNA was positive as shown by PCR. Drug-Induced Hypersensitivity Syndrome (DIHS) was diagnosed. Symptoms regressed on prednisone (at a dose of 50 mg/die) that was tapered very slowly. The patient recovered completely.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The search for rare causes of fever led to complete resolution of a very difficult case. As DIHS is a rare disease the most relevant issue is to suspect and include it in differential diagnosis of fevers of unknown origin. Once diagnosed, the therapy is easy (steroidal administration) and often successful. However our case strongly confirms that attention should be paid on the steroidal tapering that should be very slow to avoid a relapse.</p

New Josephson Plasma Modes in Underdoped YBa2Cu3O6.6 Induced by Parallel Magnetic Field

The c-axis reflectivity spectrum of underdoped YBa2Cu3O6.6 (YBCO) is measured below Tc=59K in parallel magnetic fields H//CuO2 up to 7T. Upon application of a parallel field, a new peak appears at finite frequency in the optical conductivity at the expense of suppression of c-axis condensate weight. We conclude that the dramatic change originates from different Josephson coupling strengths between bilayers with and without Josephson vortices. We find that the 400cm^-1 broad conductivity peak in YBCO gains the spectral weight under parallel magnetic field; this indicates that the condensate weight at \omega =0 is distributed to the intra-bilayer mode as well as to the new optical Josephson mode.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Development of High Ic Long REBCO Tapes with High Production Rate by PLD Method

AbstractWe have been developing long REBa2Cu3O7-δ coated conductors with high performance by the combination of the IBAD and the PLD methods. To realize the low production cost for REBa2Cu3O7-δ coated conductors, growth conditions were optimized for long tape fabrication in the “in-plume PLD method”. As a result, the Ic performance was confirmed with a high production rate under the high oxygen gas pressure and high laser energy density of > 800 mTorr and > 3J/cm2, respectively. We successfully fabricated a 35 m long GdBa2Cu3O7-δ coated conductor with high Ic value of 619 A/cm-w by the production rate of 30 m/h