Dermatology News & Articles

1 Unfavorable course in pregnancy-associated thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura necessitating a perimortem Cesarean section: a case report Journal of Medical Case Reports, April 30, 2013
González-Mesa E et al. - Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura is a type of occlusive thrombotic microangiopathy that is not specific to pregnancy but occurs with an increased frequency during it. Prognosis of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura greatly depends on early diagnosis and treatment. Despite the low prevalence of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, the finding in a pregnant woman of the triad consisting of anemia, thrombocytopenia, and neurological changes should guide ...

2 Invasive Meningococcal Infection: Analysis of 110 cases from a Tertiary Care Centre in North East India The Indian Journal of Pediatrics, May 6, 2013
Hazarika RD et al. - To report an outbreak of invasive meningococcal disease from Meghalaya, in the north east India, from January 2008 through June 2009. This is the first epidemic report of invasive meningococcal disease from the north east India. Chloramphenicol acts well in areas with penicillin or cephalosporin resistance. Mortality reduces significantly with early diagnosis and prompt intervention. Methods Retrospective review of case sheets was done. One hundred ten ...

3 Determination of low Z in human serum of patients with Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura by total reflection X-ray fluorescence X-Ray Spectrometry, May 7, 2013
Canellas CGL et al. - Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is a blood disorder characterized by an abnormal decrease in the number of platelets in the blood. The elements that presented significant differences for the mean of their concentrations between each one from the ITP group and Control Group in µgg-1, were phosphorous, sulfur, chlorine, potassium and calcium, respectively.

4 Clinical features distinguishing lymphoma development in primary Sjogrens syndrome--A retrospective cohort study Seminars in Arthritis and Rheumatism, May 10, 2013
Risselada AP et al. - The objective is to determine the relationship between clinical features and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) development in primary Sjogren's Syndrome (pSS), taking recently designed disease activity/severity scores into account. In the cohort, no clinical manifestation or disease score could clearly select patients with subsequent lymphoma development. Presence of IgM-kappa clonal components and development of purpura, PNP, and GN should alert the ...

5 Effects of hemoperfusion in the treatment of childhood Henoch-Schonlein purpura nephritis The International Journal of Artificial Organs, May 13, 2013
Chen L et al. - Immune mediators play a role in the pathogenesis of Henoch-Schönlein purpura (HSP) nephritis. Since hemoperfusion (HP) is able to eliminate the immune mediators in many diseases, the authors investigated the effects of HP in the treatment of HSP nephritis. Hemoperfusion in combination with corticosteroid was more effective than corticosteroid alone in treating HSP nephritis. The effects may be achieved by eliminating immune mediators.

6 Performance of a clinical prediction score for thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura in an independent cohort Vox Sanguinis, May 14, 2013
Bentley MJ et al. - Idiopathic thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) is a rare, clinically diagnosed disorder characterized by widespread intravascular platelet thrombosis. Disease mortality is high, although prompt treatment with plasma exchange is generally effective. A readily available and highly reliable method of identifying ADAMTS13-deficient patients for appropriate plasma exchange is therefore of interest.This work confirms the predictive power of a simple ...

7 Successful Treatment of Refractory Immune Thrombocytopenia With Rituximab in a 10-Week-Old Infant Journal of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, April 30, 2013
Gray C et al. - Immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) that is unresponsive to conventional treatment is uncommon.In this situation, additional therapeutic options are limited and management is challenging. The authors describe the case of a 10-week-old infant that developed life-threatening ITP that was unresponsive to immunoglobulin and corticosteroids that was successfully managed with the monoclonal antibody rituximab. The literature on the use of rituximab in ...

8 Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura due to Mixed Viral Infections The Indian Journal of Pediatrics, May 20, 2013
Kumar S et al. - An 11-year-old boy presented with epistaxis, petechial hemorrhages, easy bruising, and purpuric rash. He was diagnosed to have immune thrombocytopenic purpura and evidence of concomitant parvovirus B19 and dengue viral infection.

9 Anti-glomerular basement membrane antibody disease treated with rituximab: A case based review Seminars in Arthritis and Rheumatism, February 7, 2013
Syeda UA et al. - The authors report a case of anti-GBM antibody disease with both anti-GBM antibodies and anti-myeloperoxidase (MPO) specific p-ANCA, who developed thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) on high dose prednisone, plasmapheresis, and cyclophosphamide therapy. The patient was then treated with rituximab. The authors analyzed the clinical features of five additional patients of anti-GBM disease treated with rituximab identified through a ...

10 Crystal structure and enzymatic activity of an ADAMTS13 mutant with the East Asian-specific P475S polymorphism Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis, April 29, 2013
Akiyama M et al. - This study aims to demonstrate the impact of this dysfunctional polymorphism,the authors characterized the structure and activity of the P475S mutant protein. They have provided structural evidence that the P475S polymorphism in ADAMTS13 leads to increased local structural instability, resulting in lowered affinity for the substrate without changing the reaction rate. The moderate activity of ADAMTS13-P475S for shear-treated VWF is sufficient to prevent TTP ...