Crusted (Norwegian) scabies treated with oral ivermectin : a case report and overview

Crusted (Norwegian) scabies is a severe and highly contagious form of infestation caused by the mite Sarcoptes scabiei var. hominis. It occurs in a subgroup of patients who are either immunocompromised or physically or mentally debilitated. Due to its atypical clinical presentation as well as difficulties associated with its management it presents a number of challenges both from a therapeutic aspect as well as from public health perspective. Failure to diagnose this condition may give rise to a massive epidemic when the patient is in an institutional setting. We describe a case of crusted scabies which occurred in a nursing home leading to an institutional outbreak. She received a combination of oral ivermectin and topical scabicidal with good results. This case highlights the importance of being alert to the possible diagnosis of crusted scabies and gives an overview of the condition as well as management strategies.peer-reviewe

Increasing Market Interconnection: an Analysis of the Italian Electricity Spot Market

We estimate the benefits (in terms of savings to end-users)resulting from an improved interconnectivity in the Italian electricity spot market. The market is currently divided into two geographic zones \u2013 North and South \u2013 with limited inter-zonal transmission capacity that often induces congestion, and hence potential inefficiency. By simulating a fully interconnected market, we predict that the total spot market expenditure would reduce substantially. Moreover, since savings do not increase linearly with the size of new transmission capacity, even a slight increment to transmission capacity is found to substantially reduce endusers' expenditures. Finally, our analysis shows that the (partly State owned) dominant firm in the market is not maximizing short-term profits

Natural compounds for pediatric cancer treatment

There is a tremendous need in clinics to impair cancer progression through noninvasive therapeutic approaches. The use of natural compounds to achieve this is of importance to improve the quality of life of young patients during their treatments. This review will address the "status of the art" related to the potential of natural compounds that are undergoing investigation in combination with standard therapeutic protocols in preclinical and clinical studies and their importance for pediatric cancer treatment. The early studies of drug discovery of these natural compounds discussed here include the main targets, the cellular signaling pathways involved, and the potential modes of action. We also focus on some promising natural compounds that have shown excellent results in vitro and in vivo: Chebulagic acid, Apigenin, Norcantharidin, Saffron/Crocin, Parthenolide, Longikaurin E, Lupeol, Spongistatin 1, and Deoxy-variolin B. Additionally, we introduce the effects of several compounds from nutraceutical and functional foods, to underline their potential use as adjuvant therapies to improve therapeutic benefits. For this purpose, we have selected several compounds: Agaritine, Ganoderma and GL6 peptide, Diallyl trisulfide and Ajoene from garlic, Epigallocatechin gallate from green tea, Curcumin, Resveratrol, and Quercetin

Effect of Disorder and Notches on Crack Roughness

We analyze the effect of disorder and notches on crack roughness in two dimensions. Our simulation results based on large system sizes and extensive statistical sampling indicate that the crack surface exhibits a universal local roughness of $\zeta_{loc} = 0.71$ and is independent of the initial notch size and disorder in breaking thresholds. The global roughness exponent scales as $\zeta = 0.87$ and is also independent of material disorder. Furthermore, we note that the statistical distribution of crack profile height fluctuations is also independent of material disorder and is described by a Gaussian distribution, albeit deviations are observed in the tails.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

Ultrasonografía musculo-esquelética con doppler de poder asociado al modo B en el equino

Ultrasonography, in equine medicine, is a fundamental technique for the diagnosis of lameness and in the evaluation of the decrease in sporting performance. In spite of the great development of B Mode, there is little use of Color Doppler and specifically of Power Doppler or Power Angio in the evaluation of musculoskeletal conditions in the equine. The objective of this work was to analyze the scope, advantages and limitations of the ultrasonographic study with Power Doppler associated to B Mode in the evaluation of 122 musculoskeletal disorders in sport equines, between 2 and 15 years old, of both sexes and different breeds. A Sonoscape E2 portable ultrasound scanner with a 7-11 Mhz linear probe and a 2.5-5 Mhz convex probe was used. Of all the musculoskeletal lesions evaluated (n:122), the presence of Power Doppler signal was observed in 46/122 being grade I (29/46), followed by grade II (13/46) and finally grade III (4/46). Although this is a preliminary study and more results are needed to be able to apply statistical analysis, according to the authors’ experience, Power Doppler complementing B-mode ultra sonographic studies has proven to be a very useful tool for diagnosis, follow-up of the evolution of lesions, evaluation of therapeutic response and as a predictive value of possible future lesions.La ultrasonografía, en medicina equina, es una técnica fundamental para el diagnóstico de las claudicaciones y en la evaluación de la disminución del rendimiento deportivo. A pesar del gran desarrollo del Modo B es escasa la utilización del Doppler Color y específicamente del Doppler de Poder o power angio en la evaluación de las afecciones músculo-esqueléticas en el equino. El objetivo de este trabajo fue analizar los alcances, ventajas y limitaciones del estudio ultrasonográfico con Doppler de Poder asociado al Modo B en la evaluación de 122 afecciones músculo-esqueléticas en equinos deportivos, de entre 2 y 15 años, de ambos sexos y distintas razas Se utilizó un ecógrafo portátil Sonoscape E2 con sonda lineal de 7-11 Mhz y convexa de 2,5-5 Mhz. De la totalidad de las lesiones músculo-esqueléticas evaluadas (n:122) se observó presencia de señal con el Doppler de Poder en 46/122 siendo la más observada la de grado I (29/46), seguida del grado II (13/46) y por último de grado III (4/46). Si bien este es un estudio preliminar y faltan más resultados para poder aplicar análisis estadísticos, según la experiencia de los autores, el Doppler de Poder complementando los estudios ultra-sonográficos en Modo B, ha demostrado ser una herramienta de gran utilidad para el diagnóstico, seguimiento de la evolución de las lesiones, evaluación de la respuesta terapéutica y con valor predictivo de posibles lesiones futuras

Metal-Organic-Framework-based nanofiltration membranes for selective multi-cationic recovery from seawater and brines

Nanofiltration (NF) is gaining a role of increasing importance in Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD)/Minimal Liquid Discharge (MLD) systems, enhancing the efficiency of downstream technologies to recover valuable minerals from seawater and brines. However, often the purity of the recovered minerals does not meet market specifications, making ZLD/MLD currently economically unfeasible. To such end, in this study, a novel positively charged NF membrane was developed to enhance magnesium and calcium selectivity. The membrane comprised: (i) an ultrafiltration substrate and (ii) an active layer that incorporated NH2-MIL-101(Al) and ZnO nanoparticles in a chitosan matrix. The influence of different loadings of NH2-MIL-101(Al) and ZnO on membrane structure, selectivity and water permeability was investigated. Initial filtration tests with single-salt solutions at 1000 ppm (NaCl, Na2SO4, MgCl2, CaCl2) showed that the membrane with 35%wt of ZnO presented the highest rejections of MgCl2 (90.10%) and CaCl2 (86.49%). Selectivity towards MgCl2 and CaCl2 was higher than those of commercial membranes (NF90 and NF270) and the positively charged membranes introduced in recent literature. The novel synthesized membrane in this work was also tested with synthetic seawater and brine at a trans-membrane pressure of 30 bar. Results highlighted the intriguing competitiveness of the novel membrane in terms of magnesium and calcium selectivity with NF90 and NF270 within the field of both seawater and brine valorization