PAPA-like syndrome with heterozygous mutation in the MEFV gene.

A patient presented with a history of recurrent pyoderma gangrenosum, arthritis and extensive acne, prompting a genetic workup for PAPA syndrome. An MEFV mutation was identified and a change in therapeutic strategy from anakinra to colchicine was successful. Click https://www.wileyhealthlearning.com/#/online-courses/b52447c0-1d37-472d-b0c0-7817352d6f68 for the corresponding questions to this CME article.

Irritant contact dermatitis in healthcare workers as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study.

COVID-19 healthcare workers (HCWs) require frequent handwashing and use of personal protective equipment (PPE) to prevent infection. However, evidence is emerging that these practices are causing adverse effects on their skin integrity. A single-centre, cross-sectional study of HCWs from an Irish hospital was undertaken to evaluate the degree of COVID-19-related irritant contact dermatitis (ICD) between April and May 2020. Of 270 participants surveyed, 223 (82.6%) reported symptoms of ICD. The hands were the most commonly affected site (76.47%) and the most frequently reported symptom was dry skin (75.37%). Nearly all (268; 99.26%) HCWs had increased hand-washing frequency, but 122 (45.35%) did not use emollients. In the ICD group, 24.7% cited a history of dermatitis compared with 4.3% of unaffected staff (P < 0.001). The ICD group recorded PPE usage for an average of 3.15 h compared with the non-ICD group at 1.97 h (P = 0.21). Promoting awareness of COVID-19-related ICD is vital to highlight prevention and treatment for frontline staff.

Assessing costs of Indonesian fires and the benefits of restoring peatland.

Deforestation and drainage has made Indonesian peatlands susceptible to burning. Large fires occur regularly, destroying agricultural crops and forest, emitting large amounts of CO2 and air pollutants, resulting in adverse health effects. In order to reduce fire, the Indonesian government has committed to restore 2.49 Mha of degraded peatland, with an estimated cost of US$3.2-7 billion. Here we combine fire emissions and land cover data to estimate the 2015 fires, the largest in recent years, resulted in economic losses totalling US$28 billion, whilst the six largest fire events between 2004 and 2015 caused a total of US$93.9 billion in economic losses. We estimate that if restoration had already been completed, the area burned in 2015 would have been reduced by 6%, reducing CO2 emissions by 18%, and PM2.5 emissions by 24%, preventing 12,000 premature mortalities. Peatland restoration could have resulted in economic savings of US$8.4 billion for 2004-2015, making it a cost-effective strategy for reducing the impacts of peatland fires to the environment, climate and human health.

Short communication: estimate of non electrostatic interaction free energy parameters for milk fat globules.

The surface free energy components for bovine milk fat globules (MFG) were calculated by solving a modified Young-Good-Fowkes-Girafalco equation with experimentally obtained contact angles for liquids of known surface tension components. The surface free energy of MFG was dominated by the electron donor term (gamma-), which formed the basis of a significant repulsive acid-base interaction free energy term at the minimum equilibrium distance. Consideration of the decay of the acid-base and Lifshitz-van der Waals energy term over distance within the context of an "extended DLVO" model shows that physical contact of MFG in the absence of electrostatic repulsion (at their isoelectric point) is prohibited by the acid-base term but that "pseudo-flocculation" might occur at 4- to 5-nm separation in an energy minimum that was approximately 15 kT for MFG of diameter = 1.0 microm.

Psychosocial factors in low-incidence genetic disease: the case of osteogenesis imperfecta.

Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), a dominant genetic disorder, was examined in an exploratory case study of psychosocial implications. The cross-sectional survey sample consisted of 13 OI-affected adults and 21 families with an OI-affected child who were interviewed. Findings revealed numerous psychosocial concerns and problems in addition to their complex and lifelong medical problems. Specific problem areas differed according to the severity of the disease, type, and mode of genetic inheritance. The results indicate the need for local as well as national policy changes through legislation and extensions of existing services for low-incidence disease groups such as OI-affected persons. Implications for social work practice interventions call for greater involvement with genetic diseases, more aggressive approaches in case identification and service coordination, and performing longer-range monitoring functions than is usually the case.

A trial of acellular pertussis vaccine in hospital workers during the Cincinnati pertussis epidemic of 1993.

The safety and immunogenicity of acellular pertussis (AP) vaccine in outbreak control was determined in a randomized, double-blind, controlled trial. Participants received AP vaccine (n=102), which contained 25 microg of pertussis toxoid (PT) and 3 microg of filamentous hemagglutinin (FHA), or licensed meningococcal vaccine (MN; n=97). Local reactions (pain or tenderness, redness, swelling, and induration) and systemic reactions (fever, sleepiness or lethargy, and irritability) were similar among AP and MN vaccinees. One month after AP vaccination, the geometric mean level of IgG anti-PT was 33.1 microg/mL, with 2-fold increases in 85% of patients and 4-fold increases in 73% of patients; for IgG anti-FHA, the respective values were 34.7 microg/mL, 92%, and 63%. After 6 months of follow-up, no serological evidence of pertussis was seen among symptomatic or asymptomatic subjects. However, recent evidence of Bordetella pertussis infection before immunization was shown. Thus, AP vaccine was safe and immunogenic in adults.