Fragrance mix reactions and lime allergic contact dermatitis.

Allergic contact dermatitis due to citrus fruits is rare, but has been reported in cooks and bartenders. We report an interesting case of a bartender with hand dermatitis who had an allergic contact sensitivity to lime peel, fragrance mix I, and fragrance mix II. Most reported cases of citrus peel allergy are due to d-limonene, which makes up the majority of the peel oil. However, our patient had an allergic reaction to geraniol, which is a minor component of the peel oil and is present in fragrance mix I. It is important to consider a contact sensitivity to citrus in patients who have positive reactions to fragrance mix I and II and who are occupationally exposed to citrus fruits. An initial positive reaction to fragrance mixes should prompt further testing to citrus in these individuals.

Cutaneous signs of child abuse.

UNLABELLED: Maltreatment of children is a major public health crisis, and it is estimated that each year more than 3 million children are victims of abuse. Safeguarding the welfare of children is a priority, and it is the moral and ethical responsibility of healthcare professionals to detect cases of abuse and intervene appropriately to prevent further harm. Clinicians are often challenged to differentiate signs of child abuse from skin conditions that mimic maltreatment. Because cutaneous injury represents the most recognizable and common form of abuse, dermatologists are often called upon to help distinguish signs of intentional injury from skin conditions that mimic maltreatment. However, few resources specific to dermatologic signs of abuse exist to aid in diagnosis. A review of the literature will provide an educational resource to assist dermatologists and other clinicians in differentiating cutaneous signs of child abuse, including physical and sexual abuse, from mimickers of inflicted injury. LEARNING OBJECTIVE: After completing this learning activity, participants should be able to distinguish signs of intentional injury from skin conditions that mimic maltreatment and understand the clinician's role in the diagnosis and reporting of cases of suspected child abuse.

Preference for natural: instrumental and ideational/moral motivations, and the contrast between foods and medicines.

Preference for natural refers to the fact that in a number of domains, especially food, people prefer natural entities to those which have been produced with human intervention. Two studies with undergraduate students and representative American adults indicate that the preference for natural is substantial, and stronger for foods than for medicines. Although healthfulness is often given as a reason for preferring natural foods, even when healthfulness or effectiveness (for medicines) of the natural and artificial exemplars is specified as equivalent, the great majority of people who demonstrate a preference for natural continue to prefer natural. In addition, when the natural and artificial exemplars are specified to be chemically identical, a majority of people who prefer natural continue to prefer it. This suggests that a substantial part of the motivation for preferring natural is ideational (moral or aesthetic), as opposed to instrumental (healthiness/effectiveness or superior sensory properties).

Mapping multiple sclerosis susceptibility to the HLA-DR locus in African Americans.

An underlying complex genetic susceptibility exists in multiple sclerosis (MS), and an association with the HLA-DRB1*1501-DQB1*0602 haplotype has been repeatedly demonstrated in high-risk (northern European) populations. It is unknown whether the effect is explained by the HLA-DRB1 or the HLA-DQB1 gene within the susceptibility haplotype, which are in strong linkage disequilibrium (LD). African populations are characterized by greater haplotypic diversity and distinct patterns of LD compared with northern Europeans. To better localize the HLA gene responsible for MS susceptibility, case-control and family-based association studies were performed for DRB1 and DQB1 loci in a large and well-characterized African American data set. A selective association with HLA-DRB1*15 was revealed, indicating a primary role for the DRB1 locus in MS independent of DQB1*0602. This finding is unlikely to be solely explained by admixture, since a substantial proportion of the susceptibility chromosomes from African American patients with MS displayed haplotypes consistent with an African origin.