Unilateral nevoid hyperkeratosis of the nipple: a report of two cases.

Nevoid hyperkeratosis of the nipple and areola is an unusual condition. Two female patients aged 31 and 18 years presented with chronic unilateral warty lesions of the nipple. One patient had difficulty in breastfeeding from the affected side. A skin biopsy showed acanthosis, hyperkeratosis, papillomatosis and lymphocytic infiltrate in the dermis. There was no significant improvement with topical tretinoin cream in both the patients.

Severe cutaneous adverse drug reaction to leflunomide: a report of five cases.

Medications used to treat human ailments are known to cause cutaneous reactions which may vary in their severity. Leflunomide, an immunomodulating agent recently introduced to treat rheumatoid arthritis, is reported to cause severe cutaneous reactions. We are reporting five such cases. All our patients were started on leflunomide for rheumatoid arthritis, 4-6 weeks before the onset of cutaneous reaction and were admitted to the hospital with the common complaints of fever, skin rash and generalized weakness. All of them had characteristic pattern of events such as delayed onset of reaction, widespread and long lasting skin rash and internal organ involvement. These features suggest a possibility of drug hypersensitivity syndrome to leflunomide. Careful dosing and periodic monitoring of patients treated with leflunomide for possible adverse drug reaction is recommended.

House dust mite sensitivity is a factor in chronic urticaria.

BACKGROUND: Chronic urticaria is one of the perplexing problems faced by clinicians. There are a few reports associating house dust mite sensitivity with chronic urticaria, based upon the patient's history as well as intradermal skin testing and in vitro analysis. AIMS: To investigate the possible association between house dust mite sensitivity and chronic urticaria. METHODS: In this case control study three groups of patients were enrolled. Group I: Chronic urticaria (73 subjects). Group II: Chronic urticaria with collateral allergic disorders (49 subjects). Group III: Normal subjects without chronic urticaria or other allergies (25 subjects). All the patients underwent skin prick testing with antigens of the house dust mite, Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (DP) and Dermatophagoides farinae (DF), with positive and negative controls. RESULTS: Among the patients with chronic urticaria, 78/122 (64%) patients had skin sensitivity to house dust mites. Out of these, 39/73 (53%) had chronic urticaria alone and 39/49 (79%) had chronic urticaria with other associated allergies. Among the normal control subjects, 7/25(28%) reacted positively to house dust mites. CONCLUSION: This study suggests a possible association of house dust mite sensitivity with chronic urticaria.

Efeito de extratos proteícos de milho sobre a produçäo de aflatoxina B / Effect of corn proteic extracts on aflatoxin B production

Testou-se o efeito de extratos proteícos de milho à base de NaC1 5% sobre a produçäo de aflatoxina B, em meio de cultura líquido contendo, 2% de extrato de levedura e 20% de sacarose. Dois métodos de extraçäo foram avaliados a partir do peso seco do micélico do fungo Aspergillus flavus e da quantidade de aflatoxina B produzida. Os extratos proteícos das três variedades testadas estimularam o crescimento micelial do fungo. Obteve-se uma maior concentraçäo proteíca nos extratos previamente tratados com acetona. Contudo, os dois métodos se mostraram igualmente viáveis como instrumento na diferenciaçäo varietal do milho, caracterizando a suscetibilidade de "Pipoca Americana" com altos níveis de aflatoxina produzida. "Centralmex N" e "Centralmex O2" apresentaram uma menor produçäo de aflatoxina que o controle. Os resultados sugerem que a composiçäo proteíca do milho pode apresentar elementos tanto eliciadores como inibidores à produçäo de aflatoxina B