Eponyms that honor Jewish dermatologists: A celebration and a remembrance, Part three: Jewish physicians who practiced during the Holocaust and in its aftermath.

Part III of this contribution continues to celebrate the many contributions that Jewish physicians have made to advance the specialty of dermatology, as reflected by eponyms that honor their names. Part I covered the years before 1933, a highly productive period of creativity by Jewish dermatologists, especially in Germany and Austria. The lives of 17 Jewish physicians and their eponyms were described in Part I. Part II focused on the years of 1933 to 1945, when the Nazis rose to power in Europe, and how their anti-Semitic genocidal policies affected leading Jewish dermatologists caught within the Third Reich. Fourteen Jewish physicians and their eponyms are discussed in Part II. Part III continues the remembrance of the Holocaust era by looking at the careers and eponyms of an additional 13 Jewish physicians who contributed to dermatology during the period of 1933 to 1945. Two of these 13 physicians, pathologist Ludwig Pick (1868-1944) and neurologist Arthur Simons (1877-1942), perished in the Holocaust. They are remembered by the following eponyms of interest to dermatologists: Lubarsch-Pick syndrome, Niemann-Pick disease, and Barraquer-Simons syndrome. Four of the 13 Jewish physicians escaped the Nazis: Felix Pinkus (1868-1947), Herman Pinkus (1905-1985), Arnault Tzanck (1886-1954), and Erich Urbach (1893-1946). Eponyms that honor their names include nitidus Pinkus, fibroepithelioma of Pinkus, Tzanck test, Urbach-Wiethe disease, Urbach-Koningstein technique, Oppenheim-Urbach disease, and extracellular cholesterinosis of Karl-Urbach. The other seven Jewish physicians lived outside the reach of the Nazis, in either Canada, the United States, or Israel. Their eponyms are discussed in this contribution. Part III also discusses eponyms that honor seven contemporary Jewish dermatologists who practiced dermatology after 1945 and who continue the nearly 200 years of Jewish contribution to the development of the specialty. They are A. Bernard Ackerman (1936-2008), Irwin M. Braverman, Sarah Brenner, Israel Chanarin, Maurice L. Dorfman, Dan Lipsker, and Ronni Wolf. Their eponyms are Ackerman syndrome, Braverman sign, Brenner sign, Chanarin-Dorfman syndrome, Lipsker criteria of the Schnitzler syndrome, and Wolf's isotopic response.

Epicanthoplasty: Social and historical perspectives.

The epicanthus is a fold of skin covering the inner corner of the eye which blends into the nasal skin. It is a cosmetic feature of many populations of the world. The surgical alteration of this structure was first developed for the epicanthus found in such congenital genetic conditions as Down syndrome in the West. In the past century and a half, in what may be a reaction to the Western portrayal of skin overlying the eye and of Shakespeare's descriptions of characters with epicanthic folds, surgical techniques have arisen for pure cosmetic intent to alter the Asian eyelid. These procedures have almost wholly become undertaken by patients and surgeons of East Asian descent. Since 1989, the epicanthus surgery literature has been penned predominantly by authors of East Asian descent.

Efficacy and safety of apremilast in patients with moderate-to-severe genital psoriasis: Results from DISCREET, a phase 3 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Genital psoriasis can be stigmatizing, is highly prevalent among patients with psoriasis, and has limited treatment options. Apremilast is a unique oral immunomodulating phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor approved for psoriasis treatment. OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy and safety of apremilast 30 mg twice daily in patients with genital psoriasis. METHODS: DISCREET, a phase 3, placebo-controlled trial (NCT03777436), randomized patients with moderate-to-severe genital psoriasis (stratified by affected body surface area <10% or ≥10%) to apremilast or placebo for a 16-week period, followed by an apremilast extension period. Week 16 results are presented. RESULTS: Patients were randomized to apremilast (n = 143) or placebo (n = 146). At Week 16, 39.6% and 19.5% of apremilast and placebo patients, respectively, achieved a modified static Physician Global Assessment of Genitalia response (primary endpoint; score of 0/1, ≥2-point reduction); treatment difference was significant (20.1%, P = .0003). Improvements in genital signs and symptoms, skin involvement, and quality of life were observed. Common treatment-emergent adverse events were diarrhea, headache, nausea, and nasopharyngitis. LIMITATIONS: Lack of active-comparator. CONCLUSIONS: Apremilast demonstrated statistically and clinically meaningful genital Physician Global Assessment responses and improvement of signs, symptoms, severity, and quality of life in this first randomized, controlled study of an oral systemic treatment in patients with genital psoriasis.

Eponyms and clinical entities from the land of Israel.

Seven eponyms have been pioneered by dermatologists in Israel: Brenner's sign, Chanarin-Dorfman syndrome, granulated sweetener packet sign, isopathic phenomenon of Sagher, lanolin paradox, Nakar-Ingber disease, and Wolf's isotopic response. In addition, there are three id reactions described by Israeli dermatologists: leishmanid, pediculid, and scabid. There is also the acronym PEMPHIGUS, which stands for the causative reasons for pemphigus. We celebrate these eponyms and clinical entities, which reflect the impressive progress made by dermatologists in Israel during the past century who have helped to build an academic, vibrant, and dynamic specialty in the Holy Land.

Editors and Journals: Part II-Relationship between the Editor-in-Chief and the Owner of the Journal: The Consequences When Editorial Independence Dissolves.

A symbiotic relationship between the editor and the owner of a medical journal is important for the journal to fulfill successfully the expectations of its readers and authors. Editorial freedom and transparency by owner of the journal are important qualities that enable the editor to provide valid scientific information in an unbiased manner. Unresolved impedance of editorial freedom or the persistent lack of transparency or both frequently results in untenable consequences for editor and often a substantial defamation of the journal's credibility. Unfortunately, misguided and inappropriate behavior by a medical society or the publication owner repeatedly occurs with the same devastating effect for the editor: prompt, unanticipated, and unjustified termination of the position at the journal. Alternatively, conditions imposed by a journal's owner may lead to the resignation of the editor because of untenable conditions. Because the owner does not have to account for its actions and there is no recourse for the editor, currently there seems to be no effective measures to prevent this tragic sequence of events in the future.

Editors and Journals: Part I-Responsibilities And Expectations Of Editors: Who Is the Editor and Why an Editor?

Important components of a medical journal include its readers, authors, editor, and owner. Editor is the individual to whom the journal is branded. The editor determines the journal's published content and establishes its caliber. The success of a journal depends on the general and specific responsibilities of the editor toward its readers, authors, and owner. For a journal to maintain its stature of excellence, the expectations of the editor-including editorial independence-must be preserved; therefore, in the best interest of the journal, the owner must provide unequivocal support to the editor.

Eponyms that honor Jewish dermatologists: A celebration and a remembrance, Part two: Jewish physicians who practiced between 1933 and 1945.

This is the second installment of a three-part contribution that highlights the achievements of Jewish dermatologists as reflected by eponyms that honor their names. It covers the period 1933-1945 when the Nazis took over Germany and how the lives of 14 notable Jewish physicians, mostly in Germany, were impacted during the Holocaust. Many of them fled from the persecution, bringing their academic talents to other lands such as the United States. At least one committed suicide (Fritz Juliusberg), and three others perished in the Holocaust (Abraham Buschke, Lucja Frey-Gottesman, and Karl Herxheimer). They are remembered by eponyms including Neisser-Juliusberg pityriasis lichenoides chronica, Buschke-Ollendorff syndrome, Frey syndrome, and Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction. It made little difference to the Nazis that several of the 14 physicians had converted to Christianity. All were persecuted by the Nazis and had their professional careers destroyed. Two of the 14 physicians lived outside of the Third Reich (Bruno Bloch and Emanuel Libman) and were spared the suffering endured by the other 12. This tragic account of Jewish dermatologists during the Holocaust, and the eponyms that honor them, will continue in part three of this contribution.

British Royalty and Aristocracy: Their skin maladies Part II. Queen Mary II's death from hemorrhagic smallpox.

In 1694, Queen Mary II (1662-1694) died at age 32 of hemorrhagic smallpox, a rare and fatal form of the viral infection. This contribution presents the clinical features of Queen Mary II's smallpox infection. It also reviews, from a modern-day perspective, the disseminated intravascular coagulopathy involved in the pathophysiology of hemorrhagic smallpox, which is characterized by thrombocytopenia, coagulation factor deficiency, and hypofibrinogenemia.

Ceratum Galeni: An old eponym honoring Galen and his cold cream.

Ceratum Galeni is an old eponym honoring the name of Galen of Pergamum (129 to cca 216 CE) and a cold cream he described more than 1,800 years ago. We traced this eponym back to the 14th and 16th centuries in published medical texts by Guy de Chauliac (ca 1300-1368) and Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564). We also found a 4th-century reference in a medical work by Oribasius (ca 320-403 CE) to a mixture of wax and oil of roses based on Galen's cold cream formula. We present the images of a 19th-century apothecary white porcelain jar from Paris, France, on which appears the words Cerat Galeni, as well as a 20th-century oil painting by the American artist Robert Thom (1915-1979), which shows Galen administering his cold cream to a woman. Today, the composition of cold cream is formulated differently from Galen's original version, although the basic concept of cold cream as an oil and water emulsion remains the same. The widespread mention of Ceratum Galeni across the centuries and the popularity of cold creams today are striking examples of Galen's enormous influence on medicine as one of its founding fathers.

Exogenous OCT4 and SOX2 Contribution to In Vitro Reprogramming in Cattle.

Mechanisms of cell reprogramming by pluripotency-related transcription factors or nuclear transfer seem to be mediated by similar pathways, and the study of the contribution of OCT4 and SOX2 in both processes may help elucidate the mechanisms responsible for pluripotency. Bovine fibroblasts expressing exogenous OCT4 or SOX2, or both, were analyzed regarding the expression of pluripotency factors and imprinted genes H19 and IGF2R, and used for in vitro reprogramming. The expression of the H19 gene was increased in the control sorted group, and putative iPSC-like cells were obtained when cells were not submitted to cell sorting. When sorted cells expressing OCT4, SOX2, or none (control) were used as donor cells for somatic cell nuclear transfer, fusion rates were 60.0% vs. 64.95% and 70.53% vs. 67.24% for SOX2 vs. control and OCT4 vs. control groups, respectively; cleavage rates were 66.66% vs. 81.68% and 86.47% vs. 85.18%, respectively; blastocyst rates were 33.05% vs. 44.15% and 52.06% vs. 44.78%, respectively. These results show that the production of embryos by NT resulted in similar rates of in vitro developmental competence compared to control cells regardless of different profiles of pluripotency-related gene expression presented by donor cells; however, induced reprogramming was compromised after cell sorting.

Annular and acral/facial dyskeratotic paraneoplastic disorders.

Annular and acral/facial dyskeratotic paraneoplastic disorders are inflammatory dermatoses that occur in association with distant cancers but are not precursors, extensions, or metastases of them. There are four classical entities under this rubric: two gyrate entities, erythema annulare centrifugum and erythema gyratum repens, and two acral/facial dyskeratotic entities, acrokeratosis paraneoplastic (Bazex syndrome) and tripe palms. Each of these entities may also occur in association with another etiopathogenesis and may present either as a classical entity or as a barely recognizable disease. We discuss these entities, their associated causes, and their differential diagnoses in turn.

Placental scaffolds as a potential biological platform for embryonic stem cells differentiation into hepatic-like cells lineage: A pilot study.

Hepatic microenvironment plays an essential role in liver regeneration, providing the necessary conditions for cell proliferation, differentiation and tissue rearrangement. One of the key factors for hepatic tissue reconstruction is the extracellular matrix (ECM), which through collagenous and non-collagenous proteins provide a three-dimensional structure that confers support for cell adhesion and assists on their survival and maintenance. In this scenario, placental ECM may be eligible for hepatic tissue reconstruction, once these scaffolds hold the major components required for cell support. Therefore, this preliminary study aimed to access the possibility of mouse embryonic stem cells differentiation into hepatocyte-like cells on placental scaffolds in a three-dimensional dynamic system using a Rotary Cell Culture System. Following a four-phase differentiation protocol that simulates liver embryonic development events, the preliminary results showed that a significant quantity of cells adhered and interacted with the scaffold through outer and inner surfaces. Positive immunolabelling for alpha fetus protein and CK7 suggest presence of hepatoblast phenotype cells, and CK18 and Albumin positive immunolabelling suggest the presence of hepatocyte-like phenotype cells, demonstrating the presence of a heterogeneous population into the recellularized scaffolds. Periodic Acid Schiff-Diastase staining confirmed the presence of glycogen storage, indicating that differentiate cells acquired a hepatic-like phenotype. In conclusion, these preliminary results suggested that mouse placental scaffolds might be used as a biological platform for stem cells differentiation into hepatic-like cells and their establishment, which may be a promissing biomaterial for hepatic tissue reconstruction.

Cattle Cloning by Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer.

Cloning by somatic cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT) is a powerful technology capable of reprograming terminally differentiated cells to totipotency for generating whole animals or pluripotent stem cells for use in cell therapy, drug screening, and other biotechnological applications. However, the broad usage of SCNT remains limited due to its high cost and low efficiency in obtaining live and healthy offspring. In this chapter, we first briefly discuss the epigenetic constraints responsible for the low efficiency of SCNT and current attempts to overcome them. We then describe our bovine SCNT protocol for delivering live cloned calves and addressing basic questions about nuclear reprogramming. Other research groups can benefit from our basic protocol and build up on it to improve SCNT in the future. Strategies to correct or mitigate epigenetic errors (e.g., correcting imprinting loci, overexpression of demethylases, chromatin-modifying drugs) can integrate the protocol described here.

Dermatologists with extraordinary life stories: Nikolai Tsankov and his island in Antarctica.

An island in Antarctica has been named in honor of the distinguished Bulgarian dermatologist Nikolai Tsankov. This contribution tells the story of Tsankov Island, and the remarkable man behind the eponym. He has participated in multiple expeditions to Antarctica as a pioneer in studying the effects its climactic conditions on healthy skin.