Mycosis fungoides: cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.

Mycosis fungoides (MF) is the most common group of cutaneous T-cell lymphomas. It is a rare non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma of mature, skin-homing, clonal, malignant T lymphocytes, usually observed in mid to late adulthood, that initially presents in the skin as patches, plaques, tumors, or generalized erythema (erythroderma) and can involve the lymph nodes and peripheral blood. In this review, we survey the MF literature of the last decade and highlight the major trends.

Hydroa vacciniforme: a very rare photodermatosis.

Hydroa Vacciniforme (HV) is a rare, acquired and chronic paediatric disorder that is characterized by photosensitivity and recurrent crops of skin lesions on sun-exposed skin, such as the face, ears and hands that heal with vacciniforme scarring. The pathogenesis of HV is unknown. No chromosome abnormality has been identified so far. HV patients have no abnormal laboratory results. The histopathologic features are distinctive and demonstrate intraepidermal multilocular vesicles and cellular necrosis. Most cases remit spontaneously by late adolescence.

Immune status with empyema thoracis.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the humoral and cell mediated immune status of children with empyema thoracis. METHODS: Serum IgG, IgA, IgM, Complement C3 assay and cell mediated immunity (CMI) tests were performed in 33 patients of empyema thoracis, and 14 healthy age matched controls. RESULTS: The mean serum IgG and IgA levels in empyema thoracis and its subgroups were significantly raised as compared to controls. The overall values of IgG and IgA were 104% (p<0.001) and 114% (p<0.01) of normal mean, respectively. The mean serum IgM and complement C3 levels did not differ significantly in both the groups. The frequency of negative skin reaction to purified protein derivative (PPD) was significantly higher in children with empyema thoracis as compared to controls (p<0.05). The mean absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) was significantly decreased and serum adenosine deaminase (ADA) activity was significantly raised in empyema thoracis in comparison to controls. The overall ALC was 76.1% (p<0.01) and serum ADA activity was 169.4% (p<0.001) of normal mean, respectively. No significant differences were observed in the mean levels of immunoglobulins, complement C3 and CMI tests between pyothorax and pyopneumothorax and pleural fluid culture positive and negative cases. CONCLUSIONS: Thus, both humoral and cell mediated immunity were affected in empyema thoracis patients. However, CMI demonstrated more pronounced change in comparison to humoral immunity.

Use of antimony (V) arsenosilicate beads for estimation of iron content of ayurvedic and allopathic preparations.

A method has been developed for the standardization of Indian ayurvedic drugs containing iron, using inorganic ion exchange material antimony (V) arsenosilicate cation exchanger. The iron present in the drug was absorbed quantitatively on the columns of the exchanger, eluted with a suitable solvent and then titrated against a standardized EDTA solution.