Thermography in psoriasis vulgaris evaluation.

Psoriasis vulgaris is a chronic inflammatory skin disease with a strong genetic component, characterized by hyperkeratosis, dermal inflammatory infiltrate and increased angiogenesis. The aim of the present study was to employ thermography in evaluation of psoriatic lesions localized in different parts of the body. A series of in-patients with stable plaque type psoriasis vulgaris were included. ThermaCam INFRAMETRICS 290E thermocamera with temperature resolution of 0.1 °C was used in the study. Both visual and thermal images of 84 areas of lesional and lesion-free skin in patients were taken and analyzed. All the skin lesions were divided into 4 groups, according to their location i.e. found on the upper limbs, lower limbs, chest and back. Increased temperature was observed over psoriatic lesions located in the chest and upper limbs. To the contrary, skin lesions located on the back and lower limbs presented lower temperature. It is conceivable to speculate that lower temperature revealed within the lower parts of the body may explain to some extend slower regression of the lesions located in this region in comparison to skin lesions located over the upper parts of the body.

Cooling and shielding systems for infrared detectors - requirements and limits.

This paper presents three main cooling systems used for infrared detectors. At first thermoelectric devices are discussed. They allow cooling down the detector with low efficiency and not to the very low temperature. They do not generate any vibrations and therefore are suitable for thermal detectors, where the microphone effect can decrease their performance. Photon detectors need to be cooled down even to 77K or better. The only way to have such deep cooling is to use the cooler based on thermodynamic cycle such as Stirling one. With the high efficiency one can easily obtain cryogenic temperature for a detector. The electromagnetic noise and vibration generation are the main disadvantages of using such devices. Joule-Thomson effect during gas expansion is 3rdcooling system discussed in the paper. It is highly effective process, used for gas liquefaction too. The working gas is being removed during cooling into the atmosphere, so the need of continuous supplying with compressed one, what makes this system very difficult for remote applications. In the paper, simple calculations are presented to illustrate the advantages and disadvantages of the different cooling systems.

Review on thermal image processing for passive and active thermography.

In this paper, the main image processing methods used for both passive and active thermography are presented. 1st and 2nd order statistical thermal signatures are discussed. Typical methods of classification are presented.

Classification of breast thermal images using artificial neural networks.

In this paper we present classification of the thermal images in order to discriminate healthy and pathological cases during breast cancer screening. Different image features and approaches for data reduction and classification have been used. The most promised method was based on wavelet transformation and nonlinear neural network classifier.

Standardization of infrared imaging.

To provide an atlas and database for the temperature distribution of the skin in normal human subjects aged from 10 years to 75 years. The technique used in digital infrared thermal imaging which has been in use since 1960. Despite, many different applications and published studies, a normal database is not available. It is particularly needed for forensic and hospital clinic use.

Qualitative thermograhic analysis of psoriatic skin lesions.

Psoriasis vulgaris affects about 2% of the human population all over the world. The aim of this study was to evaluate usefulness of thermography in estimation of psoriatic lesion activity. A series of patients with plaque type psoriasis vulgaris were included. ThermaCam INFRAMETRICS 290E thermocamera with temperature resolution of 0.1 degrees C was employed. Both visual and thermal images of the patients were taken. Clinical severity of the lesions was evaluated by Plaque Severity Score (PSS, scale 0-4). We discovered higher temperature over psoriatic plaques and further vastly expanding beyond the visually documented borders of the lesions thus not corresponding to the individual shapes of the lesions, suggested that those lesions presented an active phase of the disease (developing over the last 2-3 weeks). To the contrary, areas of the increased temperature over chronic psoriatic plaques (already developed at least 8 weeks before without signs of visible progression) corresponded quite well to the shapes of clinically visible lesions i.e. single lesions could be differentiated within the area of the increased temperature. The above observations would allow to introduce more aggressive local treatment only to the selected lesions thus as much as possible sparing the rest of them from probable side-effects.

NOR polyagglutination and Sta glycophorin in one family: relation of NOR polyagglutination to terminal alpha-galactose residues and abnormal glycolipids.

BACKGROUND: This report describes the characterization of polyagglutinable red cells (RBCs), identified in two generations of a Polish family. CASE REPORT: Untreated and modified RBCs of the proposita (TS) were tested by serologic methods, using human sera, antibodies, lectins, and inhibitors of agglutination. Moreover, glycophorins were characterized by sodium docecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and Western blotting, and glycolipids were purified, fractionated by thin-layer chromatography, and detected with Ricinus communis agglutinin I (RCA-I, specific for galactose residues) and Griffonia simplicifolia IB4 lectin (GSL-IB4, specific for Gal alpha1-3Gal- structure). Some of the experiments were also performed on RBCs of members of TS's family. RESULTS: Polyagglutination, found in four members of TS's family, was identified as the second case of an earlier described NOR polyagglutination. The polyagglutination was decreased by treating the RBCs with alpha-galactosidase and was inhibited by a neutral glycolipid fraction from NOR+ RBCs. Detection of neutral glycolipids of TS's RBCs on the thin-layer plate by RCA-I and GSL-IB4 revealed the presence of components that were not detectable in control RBCs. Moreover, Western blotting of RBC membranes from five family members with glycophorin monoclonal antibodies and agglutination assays with anti-St(a) and anti-Dantu sera identified the presence of St(a) glycophorin in four members of the family, two of whom were NOR+ and two NOR-. CONCLUSION: Our results showed that two rare features of TS's RBCs, NOR polyagglutination and St(a) glycophorin, are inherited independently, and that NOR+ RBCs contain neutral glycolipids with an abnormal oligosaccharide structure, most likely terminated with alpha-galactosyl residues.

[Lan antigen of erythrocytes and clinical significance of anti-Lan antibody]. / Antygen lan krwinek czerwonych i znaczenie kliniczne przeciwcial anty-Lan.

On the basis of the actual knowledge on Lan antigen, the first example of anti-Lan in Polish population was described. This alloantibody found in the serum of Lan negative mother was responsible for the haemolytic disease of her newborn. Family study revealed two Lan negative members: the father and the brother of the proposita. This paper emphasizes the importance of screening for immune alloantibodies, performed in the sera of all women independently of their ABO and Rh blood groups, at early period of pregnancy.