Binnur Tüzün

Comparison of two surgical approaches for treating vitiligo: a preliminary study

Background Surgical techniques have recently been introduced for patients with vitiligo. Randomized controlled trials have not been performed.

Neutrophil chemotaxis in Behçet’s syndrome

It has been suggested that the marked cellular inflammatory response, which characterises Behcet’s syndrome (BS), may be attributable to increased neutrophil locomotion.1-4However, others disagree.5 6 We have re-evaluated chemotaxis of polymorphonuclear leucocytes (PMNs) in BS among a greater number of patients in a controlled setting. Fifty four male BS patients, nine male patients with ankylosing spondylitis, eight with psoriasis and 37 male healthy controls were studied with 28 female patients with BS and 16 healthy female controls. Behcet patients with severe disease were those with active major vessel and/or eye involvement. We measured chemotaxis with the “under the agarose method”.7 8 The measurements were masked with the assessors not knowing the diagnoses. An inverted microscope fitted with an ocular micrometre disc to measure the migration of neutrophils from middle …

Alcohol intake and sexually transmitted diseases

Since 1986, a vast number of interesting and informative papers have been published that examine the impact of alcohol consumption on numerous aspects of STDs, particularly on AIDS. In 1990, investigators examined the relationship of sex, race, alcohol habits, sexual activity, and the awareness of AIDS and STDs. Awareness of STDs was lowest. No difference was found between the study groups. In the United States, 18% of white men, 49% of black men, 5% of white women, and 12% of black women were beginning sexual activity before the age of 13. There was increased risk of STD among women who become sexually active young.1 Onset of sexually activity was identical to the age at which alcohol and cigarette consumption began. This age group also started to use drugs and to carry weapons. Aggressive behavior and the rate of suicide attempts were also increased.1–3 Health education programs concentrated on smoking, eating habits, weight control, and there were many clinical studies investigating these subjects. In 1992, studies on preventing accidents, on exercise, and on stress, drug and alcohol use, and the prevention of STDs were found to be deficient.4 Sexually transmitted diseases consist of more than 30 bacterial, viral, and parasitic diseases that can be transmitted by the sexual route; the dominant route, however, is not sexual in the majority of the cases. The STDs infect the reproductive tract as their primary site, with transmission occurring during sexual intercourse or from mother to child during pregnancy and childbirth. The patients, however, may be infected by more than one agent, and multiple infections within the same individual are also frequent. Reinfection occurs when the partners have not been adequately treated. For example, estimates indicate that 70–75% of women infected with Chlamydia trachomatis are symptom-free. In 1996, the World Health Organization generated a new set of global estimates for four major STDs (12.2 million cases of syphilis, 62.2 million cases of gonorrhea, 89.1 million cases of chlamydia, and 167.2 million cases of trichomoniasis). Most of the new cases occur in the underdeveloped areas of the world. The largest number of new infections occurred in the region of South Asia and Southeast Asia (45.6%), followed by sub-Sahara Africa (19.7%), and then Latin America and the Caribbean (10.9%). Urban residents, unmarried individuals, and young adults seem to have the highest rates of infection. In the 1993 World Development Report, estimates from 1990 suggested that, in demographically developing countries, STDs, excluding HIV, accounted for 8.9% of the disease burden in women aged 15 to 45 years and 1.5% in men in the same age class. Various reports claim that HIV transmission is facilitated by the concomitant expression of ulcerative and nonulcerative STDs. In Norway, the number of reported cases of gonorrhea fell from more than 10,000 in 1981 to under 300 in 1993. In Costa Rica, Chile, Zimbabwe, and Thailand declines in reported STD cases have been identified following active prevention programs. Reduction of the prevalence and burden of disease associated with STDs requires a concerted effort by national public health services, international and bilateral agencies, nongovernmental organizations, the private sector, and research institutions. Key elements of these programs include:

Barraquer-Simons syndrome with benign infundibulocystic proliferation.

A white man attended our outpatient clinic because of soft papules on the second finger of the left hand. They were livid red‐colored, warty surfaced cysts, 1–2 cm in diameter, arranged in an annular configuration ( Fig. 1 ). The patient showed prominent zygomatic bones and symmetric loss of buccal fat pads (Bichats fats), leading to sunken cheeks ( Fig. 2 ). The history of the patient could not be taken because of his debility.

Red fluorescence on the teeth of psoriatic patients.

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