Case of the Week 456
This week ' s case was generously donated by Idzi Potters from the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp. The following were seen in a liquid culture of a skin biopsy using Tobie Sang Lapin (TSL) medium (Phase contrast, x1000 magnification). The specimen was first ground in a dounce tissue grinder. Diagnosis?What are these structures?Check out their classic motility here: (Source: Creepy Dreadful Wonderful Parasites)
Source: Creepy Dreadful Wonderful Parasites - August 17, 2017 Category: Parasitology Source Type: blogs
Answer to Case 456
Answer:Leishmaniasp. promastigotes.The promastigote form is found in the Phlebotomine sandfly host as well as inLeishmaniaculture, which is in contrast to human infections where the non-motile amastigote form is seen . Of note, I have also occasionally seen rare promastigotes in superficial biopsies of skin ulcers.Note that the end with the flagellum is ANTERIOR (which is counter to what you would generally expect). You can especially appreciate this while watching the movie of the promastigotes moving (go back and take a look if you missed it).Thanks again to Idzi Potters for donating this fun case! (Source: Creepy Dreadf...
Source: Creepy Dreadful Wonderful Parasites - August 16, 2017 Category: Parasitology Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, July 17th 2017
This study aimed to estimate associations between combined measurements of BMI and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) with mortality and incident coronary artery disease (CAD). This study followed 130,473 UK Biobank participants aged 60-69 years (baseline 2006-2010) for 8.3 years (n = 2974 deaths). Current smokers and individuals with recent or disease-associated (e.g., from dementia, heart failure, or cancer) weight loss were excluded, yielding a "healthier agers" group.
Ignoring WHR, the risk of mortality for overweight subjects was similar to that for normal-weight subjects. However, among normal-weight subjects, mortalit...
Source: Fight Aging! - July 16, 2017 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Nevisense Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy to Test Lesions Before Biopsy for Melanoma
SciBase, a Swedish firm, won FDA approval to introduce its Nevisense system to help dermatologists assess suspect cutaneous lesions that may be melanoma tumors. Unlike many technologies that have been attempted to characterize cancerous lesions, this one uses electrical impedance rather than optical methods.
The system delivers electric current at different frequencies through the lesion using a pen-like device. Melanoma tumor cells transmit electricity somewhat differently from normal healthy cells, and the effect of this can be detected using electrical impedance spectroscopy. Reference measurements taken in the past al...
Source: Medgadget - July 5, 2017 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: Dermatology Source Type: blogs
From skin cancer diagnosis to peace of mind
Jolean Olson’s always spent a lot of time in the sun, but she was shocked to see a large, suspicious-looking zit pop up on her left cheek. Her medical journey led her to a pathologist who performed a biopsy and rendered a diagnosis that helped Jolean make the best treatment decisions for herself and her family. Today, she’s grateful for the definitive answers that put her on the road to good health and peace of mind.
Created by the College of American Pathologists.
Your patients are rating you online: How to respond. Manage your online reputation: A social media guide. Find out how. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - June 9, 2017 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/admin" rel="tag" > Admin < /a > Tags: Video Cancer Dermatology Source Type: blogs
Using Watson to Diagnose Skin Cancer: Interview with IBM Computer Vision Scientist, Noel Codella
With an approximate 100,000 people in the US diagnosed with melanoma each year and a total of 5 million diagnosed with a variety of other skin cancers, a lot of research has gone into improving current methods of early detection and speeding up diagnoses. Unfortunately, in addition to a highly-trained pair of eyes and significant waiting time, physicians require skin biopsies to confidently diagnose a skin lesion as melanoma, the deadliest form of the skin cancers. Thankfully, researchers at IBM have been studying how to take advantage of Watson’s computing capabilities, combined with recent advances in machine learning ...
Source: Medgadget - June 8, 2017 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Mohammad Saleh Tags: Dermatology Exclusive Informatics Oncology Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, May 29th 2017
In this study, we utilized an imaging-based assay to monitor the ability of disease-associated amyloid assemblies to rupture intracellular vesicles following endocytosis. We observe that the ability to induce vesicle rupture is a common feature of α-synuclein (α-syn) assemblies, as assemblies derived from wild type (WT) or familial disease-associated mutant α-syn all exhibited the ability to induce vesicle rupture. Similarly, different conformational strains of WT α-syn assemblies, but not monomeric or oligomeric forms, efficiently induced vesicle rupture following endocytosis.
The ability to induce vesicle rupt...
Source: Fight Aging! - May 28, 2017 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Planning a Single Person Trial of Senolytic Drug Candidates
The objective here is to learn something and transmit that learning, which is possible even in an environment of single person tests without controls, provided we are seeking effects that are both large and reliable, and provided we go about this is a sensible manner. In this context, self-experimentation can help to point the way for those with the resources to run more rigorous experiments capable of better quantifying effect size, optimal dosage, and the like.
Obtain a Cooperative Physician
The first step is to ensure that you have a physician who understands what you are intending to do and achieve, and i...
Source: Fight Aging! - May 22, 2017 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Activism, Advocacy and Education Source Type: blogs
The Basis for a Skin Sample Test of Level of Cellular Senescence
Researchers here set forth the basis for a novel approach to assessing the level of cellular senescence present in a patient, using a skin sample as a starting point. The current situation for assays of cellular senescence is very biased towards laboratory research needs, with little innovation over the past twenty years. The present standard assays are unfortunately not a suitable basis for the efficient, discriminating, and above all easy and low-cost clinical tests that will be needed in the years ahread. Senolytic therapies capable of clearing senescent cells as a form of rejuvenation treatment will become available in...
Source: Fight Aging! - May 22, 2017 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, May 22nd 2017
In this study, researchers analysed data of millions of British patients between 1995 and 2015 to see if this claim held true. They tracked people who were obese at the start of the study, defined as people with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more, who had no evidence of heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes at this point. They found these people who were obese but "metabolically healthy" were at higher risk of developing heart disease, strokes and heart failure than people of normal weight.
No such thing as 'fat but fit', major study finds
Several studies in the past have sug...
Source: Fight Aging! - May 21, 2017 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Highlights from 16th Annual Design of Medical Devices Conference
The University of Minnesota and their industry sponsors held the 16th Design of Medical Devices Conference, touted by the organizers as the world’s largest premiere medical devices conference. Hundreds of biomedical engineers, students, physicians, and industry representatives traveled from all over the world to gather in a truly unique atmosphere. The state of Minnesota has a rich history in medical innovation. Clinicians at the University of Minnesota performed the first successful open-heart operation and implanted the first small, portable, battery-powered pacemaker. In fact, a great deal of medical device techno...
Source: Medgadget - May 5, 2017 Category: Medical Equipment Authors: Kenan Raddawi Tags: Exclusive Source Type: blogs
I failed my patient, and it ’s a burden I’ll carry with me
This happened in my first couple years of practice, but I will never forget her.
I stood at the doorway of the funeral home, a 26-year-old mother lying in the open casket was off to the side. Standing out among the crowd of mourners was a tall man holding his one-year-old daughter, her curly locks of hair bouncing as he moved.
Soon after they were married, she became pregnant. They were a bright, young couple that had planned to have a large family and wanted to start right away. I was a fairly new doctor, not yet married myself, and embarrassingly, a bit envious of their relationship. They had an ease about them as if bin...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - April 12, 2017 Category: Journals (General) Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/andrea-eisenberg" rel="tag" > Andrea Eisenberg, MD < /a > Tags: Physician OB/GYN Source Type: blogs
Artificial Intelligence System to Diagnose Skin Cancer: Interview with Stanford Scientist Andre Esteva
Scientists at Stanford University have developed a deep convolutional neural network that can diagnose skin cancer by examining images of skin lesions. Skin cancer is the most common human cancer, and one in five Americans will be diagnosed with it at some point in their lives. At present, skin cancer is primarily diagnosed through an initial visual assessment by a dermatologist, with additional biopsies and histopathological assessments if a cancerous lesion is suspected.
During development of their technology, the researchers trained their artificial intelligence system using a dataset of almost 130,000 images of differe...
Source: Medgadget - February 27, 2017 Category: Medical Equipment Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Dermatology Exclusive Medicine Net News Source Type: blogs
MKSAP: 45-year-old man with cough and right-sided chest discomfort
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.
A 45-year-old man is evaluated for right-sided chest discomfort and cough of 2 weeks’ duration. His chest discomfort is described as a vague, painful sensation on the right. The cough occasionally produces a small amount of sputum; he reports no hemoptysis or shortness of breath. He has felt feverish with mild fatigue but has had no weight loss. He is a smoker with a 20-pack-year history. He takes no medications.
On physical examination, temperature is 37.6 °C (99.7 °F), blood pressure is 130/70 mm Hg, p...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - February 4, 2017 Category: Journals (General) Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/mksap" rel="tag" > mksap < /a > Tags: Conditions Infectious disease Source Type: blogs
Bioprinting Human Skin Cuts the Time Needed from Weeks to Minutes
Skin is one of the easier starting points for 3D bioprinting, the application of rapid prototyping technologies to the construction of living tissue. Since skin is a thin tissue, the challenging issue of producing the intricate blood vessel networks needed to supply inner cells with oxygen and nutrients can be skipped. Thin tissue sections can be supported in a suitable nutrient bath, and after transplant, patient blood vessels will grow into the new skin. Further, there is a fairly large and long-established research and development industry involved in various forms of skin regeneration. Numerous forms of prototype skin-...
Source: Fight Aging! - January 25, 2017 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
