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Melanotic cutaneous lupus erythematosus (LE) is a newly described clinical variant of chronic cutaneous LE, presenting with localized or diffuse brownish or grayish macular and reticulated pigmentation in the absence of erythema, scaling, atrophy, scarring, or telangiectasia. The diagnosis is based upon histopathology, which demonstrates the characteristic features of LE with an interface vacuolar dermatitis with melanophages, and a superficial and deep, perivascular and periadnexal lymphocytic infiltrate with mucin deposition. Herein, we describe a case of a 61‐year‐old White male presenting with melanotic cutaneous LE with a blaschkoid distribution on his face in which the histopathological phenomenon of "true melanocytic nests" in the setting of a lichenoid pattern was seen. We want to highlight how nests of cellular aggregates at the dermoepidermal junction labeling with melanocytic markers may occur in the setting of an interface tissue reaction. This benign reactional pattern may mimic atypical melanocytic proliferations, especially on sun‐damaged skin. Clinicopathological correlation and careful microscopic examination using a panel of multiple melanocytic markers is crucial for making an accurate final diagnosis. All the cases of melanotic cutaneous LE reported in the literature are also reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses a study that examined the effects of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) on elderly diabetic patients with heart failure. The study found that SGLT2i improved clinical symptoms, cognitive function, and physical performance in these patients. The research also revealed sex differences, with men experiencing greater improvements in cognitive function and functional abilities compared to women. Additionally, oxidative stress and platelet activation biomarkers improved after 6 months of SGLT2i treatment. The study suggests that adding SGLT2 inhibitors to medical therapy can lead to improvements in various outcomes for elderly patients with heart failure and type 2 diabetes. However, the study had limitations, including a small sample size and the absence of a control group. The findings also emphasize the importance of considering sex differences in heart failure management. [Extracted from the article]

A by‐product of energy‐dispersive X‐ray fluorescence (EDXRF)‐analysis consists of using the ratios of selected X‐ray peaks to determine the thickness of multilayered objects. Three different methods were developed in the past, all because the two main K or L X‐lines from an EDXRF spectrum emitted by a chemical element have a distinct energy and are differently attenuated by an overlying layer. This specific subject has many papers dedicated, but only a few considerations were devoted to the limits of these methods, that is, the range, for example, of gold thickness that can be usefully determined by each method. This paper defines these limits in the specific case of thin gilding (with d < 1 μm). Three typical situations were considered, and the following artefacts were studied: two artefacts on gilded lead, where the gold leaf is superimposed to a white lead pigment, both in the painting "La Fornarina" of Raphael, dated 1520 AD, and in the imperial carriage of Dom Pedro II emperor of Brazil. In this last case, the white lead pigment was painted over the wood structure of the carriage; four artefacts on gilded copper, three crowns and a pendant, from the tomb of the Lady of Cao, from the Moche civilization of the North of Peru, dated around 350 AD; finally, an artefact on gilded silver, a vase from the Chavín civilization of the North of Peru, dated around 1000‐200 BC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Because it is a superficial structure, the penis is ideally suited to ultrasound imaging. A number of disease processes, including Peyronie's disease, penile fractures and tumors, are clearly visualized with ultrasound. Baseline and dynamic assessment of cavernosal arterial changes after pharmaco‐stimulation with alprostadil allows standardized diagnosis of arterial and venogenic causes of erectile dysfunction (ED). Objective: To illustrate how to correctly perform flaccid and dynamic penile duplex ultrasound (D‐PDU) and in which patients to recommend it. Materials/Methods: An extensive search of the literature was carried out on Pubmed with the insertion of the following Medical Subjects Headings (MeSH) terms and keywords "penile color Doppler ultrasound" "peak systolic velocity" "end‐diastolic velocity", "acceleration time", "resistance index". Evidence: In our experience, arterial erectile dysfunction is identified after standardized intracavernous injection (ICI) of alprostadil (10 mcg) when values of peak systolic velocity (PSV) are <35 cm/s and, in the most severe forms, for values <25 cm/s. Arterial insufficiency can also be identified by increased acceleration time (AT) values (>110 ms) and/or by a lack of visualization of helicine arteries at power Doppler mode along with incomplete achievement of penile rigidity. The veno‐occlusive incompetence is determined when end‐diastolic velocity (EDV) values are >4.5–5 cm/s or in the case of resistance index (RI) values <0.75. The assessment of additional surrogate markers of endothelial dysfunction, that is, intima‐media thickness, mean platelet volume (MPV), endothelial progenitor cells (EPC), endothelial cell specific molecule‐1(endocan) are also useful in assessing the patient's cardiovascular risk but are still considered investigational in the interpretation of D‐PDU results. Conclusion: D‐PDU scan after ICI with vasoactive drugs is a safe procedure and represents the gold standard for the diagnostics of penile pathologies and should be performed in men with ED not responding to oral conventional therapies and/or in those requiring accurate stratification of cardiovascular risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health care networks for Parkinson's disease (PD) already exist and have been already proposed in the literature, but most of them are not able to analyse the vast volume of data generated from medical examinations and collected and organised in a pre-defined manner. In this work, the authors propose a novel health care network based on big data analytics for PD. The main goal of the proposed architecture is to support clinicians in the objective assessment of the typical PD motor issues and alterations. The proposed health care network has the ability to retrieve a vast volume of acquired heterogeneous data from a Data warehouse and train an ensemble SVM to classify and rate the motor severity of a PD patient. Once the network is trained, it will be able to analyse the data collected during motor examinations of a PD patient and generate a diagnostic report on the basis of the previously acquired knowledge. Such a diagnostic report represents a tool both to monitor the follow up of the disease for each patient and give robust advice about the severity of the disease to clinicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many objects of common use (tools, utensils, metals, knick-knacks, dishes and glasses) and artifacts (for example paintings of all types) are composed of two or more layers. In many cases, it would be useful to determine the correct location, composition and thickness of the various layers. Non-destructive and non-invasive methods are described, based on energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence which are able to 'reconstruct' the complete structure of a multilayered sample. These methods use, in different ways, the ratios of characteristic X-rays emitted by the elements of the layers, and, in particular, two effects can be usefully employed, effects which are based on the differential attenuation of Kα and Kβ or Lα and Lβ X-rays: Different self-attenuation of K or L X-rays emitted by an element characterizing a layer because of the different energy of the two K or L X-rays;, Different attenuation of the two K or L X-rays of an element characterizing a layer by a second superimposed layer., Furthermore, the ratio of the Kα (or Lα) X-rays emitted by an element characterizing the internal layer, to the Kα (or Lα) X-rays emitted by an element characterizing a second superimposed layer, can also be employed in the 'reconstruction' of the layers. In this paper, the theoretical background of all these methods is described, and typical examples are shown. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the findings of a study on the impact of glucose routing through hexosamine biosynthesis pathway on β-cells survival. Effects of high glucose and glucosamine on human pancreatic β-cell survival; Influence of glucosamine on O-glycosylation of insulin receptor on RIN β-cells; Clinical significance of the study.

Melasma is a frequent condition worldwide, and it represents one of the most challenging disorders to treat in cosmetic dermatology. One of the critical factors for treatment prognosis is the assessment of the depth and distribution of pigment within the hyperpigmented area. Nowadays, non‐invasive skin imaging techniques, such as reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM), have been used to estimate pigment distribution and depth within different skin layers. This article aims to provide a systematic review of RCM applications in melasma, providing terminology and investigating characteristics of melasma at baseline and after medical and laser treatment. Our results support the recognition of two main types of melasma, epidermal and mixed type, thanks to the role of RCM in highlighting the precise pigment depth location in the skin non‐invasively. RCM treatment monitoring enables the objectification of pigment variations after treatment and the identification of prognostic factors for different treatment modalities. After the era of the application of RCM as a technique applied strictly to skin cancers, additional cosmetic applications are emerging, such as the application of melasma treatment monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]