A case of eosinophilic fasciitis without skin manifestations: a case report in a patient with lupus and literature review.

Eosinophilic fasciitis (EF) is a rare connective tissue disease that causes inflammation and fibrosis of the fascia, inducing pain and motor dysfunction. Characteristic skin manifestations, such as edema, erythema, induration, peau d'orange appearance, and the groove sign, are of diagnostic significance and observed in the majority of patients with EF. We herein report a case of EF without these characteristic skin manifestations. A 66-year-old Japanese woman developed progressive limb pain and motor dysfunction. No skin changes were observed. We diagnosed the patient with EF based on the clinical course, magnetic resonance imaging, and en bloc biopsy containing fascia and muscle. Oral prednisolone therapy markedly attenuated limb pain and motor dysfunctions. Through a systemic search of the medical literature, we retrieved 4 juvenile cases and 8 adult cases of EF without characteristic skin manifestations during the clinical course. We herein present a systemic review on EF without skin manifestations and discuss differences between the two proposed sets of diagnostic criteria of EF.

Effects of thermal treatment on the coagulation of soy proteins induced by subtilisin Carlsberg.

The effects of thermal treatment on the subtilisin Carlsberg-induced coagulations of soy protein isolate (SPI) and soy proteins in 7S and 11S fractions, most of which are beta-conglycinin and glycinin, respectively, were examined by measuring the turbidity (OD(660)) of the reaction solutions. With the treatment at 37-60 degrees C, the turbidity did not increase at all by the proteolysis, while with the treatment at 70-96 degrees C, it drastically increased. The degree of the coagulation is the highest for the treatment at 80 degrees C and the most remarkable for 11S soy protein. Changes in the sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis pattern of the digests during the proteolysis were in good agreement with those in the turbidities for SPI and 7S and 11S soy proteins. Circular dichroism analysis revealed that the amounts of nonstructured protein in SPI and 7S and 11S soy proteins were initially 40-50%, increased to 55-60% by the treatment at 80 degrees C, and further increased to 65-75% by the proteolysis. The maximum fluorescence intensity of SPI and 7S and 11S soy proteins increased with an increase in the incubation temperature up to 80 degrees C. These findings suggest that the thermal treatment at 80 degrees C most effectively changes the secondary structure of soy proteins and renders them coagulate when hydrolyzed by subtilisin Carlsberg.