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Background Hailey-Hailey disease (HHD) or familial benign chronic pemphigus is a rare autosomal dominant inherited skin disorder, characterized by flaccid vesicles and erosions on the intertriginous areas. Current treatments are not particularly effective. We report 6 cases dramatically improving with doxycycline. Case reports 6 patients, aged from 33 to 77 years old, presented with a variable 4 to 40 year history of severe treatment-resistant HHD. All 6 patients were then treated successfully with doxycycline 100 mg per day for at least 3 months. Discussion An improvement was observed in all 6 patients from 1 week to 3 months after the beginning of treatment. Relapses were observed after various periods. Maintenance half-dose therapy seemed to be beneficial in patients experiencing recurrence. Only one patient developed gastro-intestinal intolerance. No other side effects were reported. Currently, 2 patients have improved and present a decreased number of exacerbations, 2 others are in complete remission after more than 5 years of follow-up. Treatment efficiency is difficult to evaluate in HHD as it is a rare condition. No controlled studies have been published. Local treatments may improve inflammation but do not treat the underlying cause, targeted systemic therapies exist but there is little evidence supporting their use, physical treatments are cumbersome. Besides their antibiotic potential, tetracycline antibiotics also have anti-inflammatory properties and anticollagenase activity via inhibition of matrix metalloproteinases. Conclusions Doxycycline appears to be an interesting therapeutic option in Hailey-Hailey disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on spectro-imaging infrared observations of Jupiter''s auroral zones, acquired in October 1999 and October 2000 with the FTS/BEAR instrument at the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope. The use of narrow-band filters at 2.09 and 2.12 μm, combined with high spectral resolution (0.2 cm-1), allowed us to map emission from the H2 S1(1) quadrupole line and from several H3+ lines. The H2 and H3+ emission appears to be morphologically different, especially in the north, where the latter notably exhibits a “hot spot” near 150°–170° System III longitude. This hot spot coincides in position with the region of increased and variable hydrocarbon, FUV and X-ray emission, but is not seen in the more uniform H2 S1(1) emission. We also present the first images of the H2 emission in the southern polar region. The spectra include a total of 14 H3+ lines, including two hot lines from the 3ν2–ν2 band, detected on Jupiter for the first time. They can be used to determine H3+ column densities, rotational (Trot) and vibrational (Tvib) temperatures. We find the mean Tvib of the v2=3 state to be lower (960±50 K) than the mean Trot in v2=2 (1170±75 K), indicating an underpopulation of the v2=3 level with respect to local thermodynamical equilibrium. Rotational temperatures and associated column densities are generally higher and lower, respectively, than inferred previously from ν2 observations. This is a likely consequence of a large positive temperature gradient in the sub-microbar auroral atmosphere. While the signal-to-noise is not sufficient to take full advantage of the 2-D capabilities of the observations, the search for correlations between line intensities, Tvib and column densities, indicates that variations in line intensities are mostly due to correlated variations in the H3+ column densities. The thermostatic role played by H3+ at ionospheric levels may provide an explanation. The exception is the northern “hot spot,” which exhibits a Tvib about 250 K higher than other regions. A partial explanation might invoke a homopause elevation in this region, but a fully consistent scenario is not yet available. The different distributions of the H2 and H3+ emission are equally difficult to explain. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The occultation of bright star HIP9369 by the northern polar region of Jupiter was observed from four locations in North and South America, providing four data sets for ingress and egress. The inversion of the eight occultation lightcurves provides temperature profiles at different latitudes ranging from 55°N to 73.2°N. We estimate the errors on the profiles due to the uncertainties of the inversion method and compare the value of the temperature at the deepest level probed (∼ 50 μbar) with previous observations. The shape of the temperature gradient profile is found similar to previous investigations of planetary atmospheres with propagating and breaking gravity waves. We analyze the small scale structures in both lightcurves and temperature profiles using the continuous wavelet transform. The calculated power spectra of localized fluctuations in the temperature profiles show slopes close to −3 for all eight profiles. We also isolate and reconstruct the three-dimensional geometry of a single wave mode with vertical and horizontal wavelengths of respectively 3 and 70 km. The identified wave is consistent with the gravity wave regime, with a horizontal phase speed nearly parallel to the planetary meridian. Nevertheless, the dissipation of the corresponding wave in Jupiter’s stratosphere should preclude its detection at the observed levels and an acoustic wave cannot be ruled out. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Aims: Several studies have shown that women, when they exercise at a given percentage of their aerobic capacity, oxidize more fat than men, thus saving their protein and glycogen stores. We wanted to characterize these differences in terms of levels of transition of balance of substrate oxidation and maximum lipid oxidation flow rate (MLOFR) during exercise. Methods: Three groups (61 athletes, 196 sedentary and 47 type 2 diabetes mellitus [T2DM], in whom, men and women were matched for age, BMI and physical activity, performed a sub-maximal exercise test with four 6min steady state steps for measurement of lipid and carbohydrate oxidation by indirect calorimetry. In all three groups MLOFRs are the same in both sexes (2 to 3mgmin−1 kg−1), but among athletes and sedentary women have a curve of oxidation of lipids shifted to the right, a crossover point of use of substrates (PCX, the power for which energy comes mainly from carbohydrates) occurring at a 10–15% higher percentage of VO2max (p <0.01). In DT2 this shift is no longer significant. The point of maximal lipid oxidation (Lipoxmax) also occurs at a higher percentage of VO2max (athletes: 44.27±15.97% theoretical VO2max versus 31.25±15.66% in men, p <0.001; sedentary: 50.29±18.66% among women versus 36.75±15.22% in men, p <0.01; for T2DM these levels (42.8±2.4 to 39.8±3.7%) are not significantly different. Conclusion: Gender-related differences are found on carefully matched subgroups, but are far to be major. They reflect a right shift by 10 to 15% of the curve of lipid oxidation as a function of VO2max, while rates of oxidation at the Lipoxmax do not differ between genders. In other words, women do not oxidize more lipids at exercise, but their ability to oxidize them reaches a maximum at a higher percentage of VO2max. This discrepancy seems to disappear in T2DM. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary Skeletal muscle is a major site of insulin resistance. In addition to glucose transport, oxidative disposal and storage defects, insulin resistant muscle exhibit many other metabolic abnormalities. After a brief review of insulin resistance determinants, we will focus on muscular abnormalities in obesity and type 2 diabetes. Glucose and lipid metabolism defects will be analysed and their interactions discussed. Exercise can improve many of these muscular abnormalities and the mechanisms underlying exercise-induced benefits have been clarified during the past decades. Therefore, exercise training has proved to be useful in the management of insulin resistant states, i.e. mainly obesity, especially in its truncal distribution, and type 2 diabetes. However, exercise prescription remains poorly codified, and results on glycaemic control are sometimes conflicting. In the last part of this review, we will emphazise the pathophysiological basis for an individualized exercise prescription in insulin resistant subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We previously reported in populations exhibiting all the spectrum of insulin sensitivity (SI) values correlations between SI and blood viscosity η suggesting that high η is an additional symptom of the insulin resistance syndrome. However, due to the elevation of insulinemia (I) which is usually associated with insulin resistance it remained to determine whether this relationship was explained by SI or I. We analyzed SI with the minimal model procedure in 108 nondiabetic subjects and analyzed correlations of SI with blood rheology (η, RBC aggregation and rigidity). Across quartiles of SI (defined after log transformation since distribution of SI was not normal), hematocrit and red cell rigidity remained stable, while aggregability and plasma viscosity (ηp) increased in the lowest quartile. SI was correlated to only two rheological parameters: ηp (r = -0.280, p = 0.005) and Myrenne index M1 (r = -0.219, p = 0.044). Among SI, I, age and BMI multivariate analysis selected only BMI as a determinant of either whole blood viscosity (ηwb: r = -0.301, p = 0.004) and RBC disaggregation threshold (γD: r = -0.331, p = 0.013), only I as determinant of M1 (r = 0.254, p = 0.03), and a combination of BMI (p = 0.009) and SI (p = 0.007) for ηp. Although age and obesity are factors of hyperviscosity, the hemorheological disturbances found in insulin resistance are not fully statistically "explained" by those two factors. While hyperaggregability (measured with M1) is rather related to hyperinsulinism, ηp is influenced by SI and should be further investigated as a simple marker for the follow up of insulin-resistant states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented discussing the occurrence of various types of palmoplantar keratodermas, including keratosis punctata of plantar creases and focal acral hyperkeratosis, in Blacks of African origin.

Pluto's tenuous nitrogen atmosphere was first detected by the imprint left on the light curve of a star that was occulted by the planet in 1985 (ref. 1), and studied more extensively during a second occultation event in 1988 (refs 2-6). These events are, however, quite rare and Pluto's atmosphere remains poorly understood, as in particular the planet has not yet been visited by a spacecraft. Here we report data from the first occultations by Pluto since 1988. We find that, during the intervening 14 years, there seems to have been a doubling of the atmospheric pressure, a probable seasonal effect on Pluto. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]