Generalized Pustular Figurate Erythema in Patients with COVID-19 Treated with Hydroxychloroquine: A Systematic Review

A severe distinctive cutaneous drug reaction, generalized pustular figu- rate erythema, closely linked with hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), has been documented. It is distinguishable from AGEP by its longer incubation, more varied morphology (initially urticarial and later targetoid, arcuate plaques), recalcitrance to therapy and longer disease course. Aim of the article is to review the recognized entity associated with ingestion of hy- droxychloroquine in patients infected with COVID-19. A systematic review using electronic search was performed. Inclusion criteria: n pa- tients with COVID-19 demonstrated by PCR, with typical clinical features of AGEP/ GPFE or atypical features associated with typical histopathology. We used the (JBI) Critical Appraisal Checklist for Case Reports for the qualitive assessment. We included 13 publications. Their overall quality was good to moderate. Only 27.3% of the patients had a severe COVID-19 course. The mean lag time between trigger exposure and rash development was 24 days. Only 15.38% of the reported AGEP were clinically typical, while the remaining 69.23 % were suggestive of GPFE. Unfortunate- ly, 2 patients died secondary to massive pulmonary embolism. In COVID-19 infection, we suggest reconsidering treating established COVID-19 em- pirically with HCQ, as both triggers can augment the subsequent cytokine storm, in- ducing a severe drug reaction and possibly increasing the risk of thrombo-embolic events

Generalized Pustular Figurate Erythema in Patients with COVID-19 Treated with Hydroxychloroquine: A Systematic Review

A severe distinctive cutaneous drug reaction, generalized pustular figu- rate erythema, closely linked with hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), has been documented. It is distinguishable from AGEP by its longer incubation, more varied morphology (initially urticarial and later targetoid, arcuate plaques), recalcitrance to therapy and longer disease course. Aim of the article is to review the recognized entity associated with ingestion of hy- droxychloroquine in patients infected with COVID-19. A systematic review using electronic search was performed. Inclusion criteria: n pa- tients with COVID-19 demonstrated by PCR, with typical clinical features of AGEP/ GPFE or atypical features associated with typical histopathology. We used the (JBI) Critical Appraisal Checklist for Case Reports for the qualitive assessment. We included 13 publications. Their overall quality was good to moderate. Only 27.3% of the patients had a severe COVID-19 course. The mean lag time between trigger exposure and rash development was 24 days. Only 15.38% of the reported AGEP were clinically typical, while the remaining 69.23 % were suggestive of GPFE. Unfortunate- ly, 2 patients died secondary to massive pulmonary embolism. In COVID-19 infection, we suggest reconsidering treating established COVID-19 em- pirically with HCQ, as both triggers can augment the subsequent cytokine storm, in- ducing a severe drug reaction and possibly increasing the risk of thrombo-embolic events

Repton model of gel electrophoresis in the long chain limit

Reptation governs motion of long polymers through a confining environment. Slack enters at the ends and diffuses along the polymer as stored length. The rate at which stored length diffuses limits the speed at which the chain can drift. This paper relates the rate of stored length diffusion to the conformation of the tube within which the polymer is confined. In the scaling limit of long polymer chains and weak applied electric fields, holding the product of polymer length times field finite, the tube length and stored length density take on their zero-field values. The drift velocity then depends only on the the polymer's end-to-end separation in the direction of the field.Comment: 14 pages,4 figure

Web based survey to measuring social interactions, values, attitudes and travel behavior

This paper presents the data collection methodology developed for Minerva research project. The aim of Minerva is to study the influence of values, attitudes and social interactions on travel behavior. For this purpose, a web based survey has been developed, which consists of several questionnaires to collect respondents’ values and attitudes; a two-day activity-travel diary; information about social interactions; and socio-demographic characteristics.To identify the social contacts, it is being used a contact diary methodology together with the activity-travel diary

The molecular genetic analysis of the expanding pachyonychia congenita case collection

BACKGROUND: Pachyonychia congenita (PC) is a rare autosomal dominant keratinizing disorder characterized by severe, painful, palmoplantar keratoderma and nail dystrophy, often accompanied by oral leucokeratosis, cysts and follicular keratosis. It is caused by mutations in one of five keratin genes: KRT6A, KRT6B, KRT6C, KRT16 or KRT17. OBJECTIVES: To identify mutations in 84 new families with a clinical diagnosis of PC, recruited by the International Pachyonychia Congenita Research Registry during the last few years. METHODS: Genomic DNA isolated from saliva or peripheral blood leucocytes was amplified using primers specific for the PC-associated keratin genes and polymerase chain reaction products were directly sequenced. RESULTS: Mutations were identified in 84 families in the PC-associated keratin genes, comprising 46 distinct keratin mutations. Fourteen were previously unreported mutations, bringing the total number of different keratin mutations associated with PC to 105. CONCLUSIONS: By identifying mutations in KRT6A, KRT6B, KRT6C, KRT16 or KRT17, this study has confirmed, at the molecular level, the clinical diagnosis of PC in these families

Colorimetric Measurement of Triglycerides Cannot Provide an Accurate Measure of Stored Fat Content in Drosophila

Drosophila melanogaster has recently emerged as a useful model system in which to study the genetic basis of regulation of fat storage. One of the most frequently used methods for evaluating the levels of stored fat (triglycerides) in flies is a coupled colorimetric assay available as a kit from several manufacturers. This is an aqueous-based enzymatic assay that is normally used for measurement of mammalian serum triglycerides, which are present in soluble lipoprotein complexes. In this short communication, we show that coupled colorimetric assay kits cannot accurately measure stored triglycerides in Drosophila. First, they fail to give accurate readings when tested on insoluble triglyceride mixtures with compositions like that of stored fat, or on fat extracted from flies with organic solvents. This is probably due to an inability of the lipase used in the kits to efficiently cleave off the glycerol head group from fat molecules in insoluble samples. Second, the measured final products of the kits are quinoneimines, which absorb visible light in the same wavelength range as Drosophila eye pigments. Thus, when extracts from crushed flies are assayed, much of the measured signal is actually due to eye pigments. Finally, the lipoprotein lipases used in colorimetric assays also cleave non-fat glycerides. The glycerol backbones liberated from all classes of glycerides are measured through the remaining reactions in the assay. As a consequence, when these assay kits are used to evaluate tissue extracts, the observed signal actually represents the amount of free glycerols together with all types of glycerides. For these reasons, findings obtained through use of coupled colorimetric assays on Drosophila samples must be interpreted with caution. We also show here that using thin-layer chromatography to measure stored triglycerides in flies eliminates all of these problems

Effects of signal bandwidth and noise on individual speaker identification

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of increasing spectral bandwidth from 3 to 10 kHz on individual speaker recognition in noisy conditions (þ5, 0, and 5 dB signal-to-noise ratio). Experiment 1 utilized h(Vowel)d (hVd) signals, while experiment 2 utilized sentences from the Rainbow Passage. Both experiments showed significant improvements in individual speaker identification in the 10 kHz bandwidth condition (6% for hVds; 10% for sentences). These results coincide with the extant machine recognition literature demonstrating significant amounts of individual speaker information present in the speech signal above approximately 3–4 kHz. Cues from the highfrequency region for speaker identity warrant further study