RESULTS

Of the 118 scanned and biopsied lesions (median CASH score 8), 11 were identified as melanoma or atypical melanocytic hyperplasia consistent with melanoma. For identification

of melanomas, optical transfer diagnosis had a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 90%.

CONCLUSIONS

This technology continues to be a promising adjunct to clinical skin cancer screening.

This work was supported in part by Balter Medical, Inc., Maplewood, New Jersey. Kristian P. Nielsen provided critical review of this manuscript.”
“Background: Weight loss is a clinically important risk factor indicating a poor prognosis in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Leptin is an important regulator of food intake see more and energy expenditure. Objectives: To conduct Selleck PLX4032 a meta-analysis to determine whether

the level of leptin is related to the disease status of COPD. Methods: Studies published before December 2012 were identified by searching PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Database. Observational studies comparing circulating leptin levels between COPD patients and healthy controls were included. Data were independently extracted by two investigators and analyzed using Stata 12.0 software. Results: Ten articles were included in the meta-analysis. Circulating leptin levels were correlated with the body mass index (BMI) as well as percent fat mass in stable COPD patients. The correlation coefficient tended to be weaker during exacerbation. A positive correlation between leptin and tumor necrosis Selleckchem RSL-3 factor (TNF)-alpha levels was found in COPD exacerbations, while it disappeared in patients with stable disease. Most studies indicated that circulating leptin levels in stable COPD patients were not significantly different from those in healthy controls when adjusted for gender and BMI, whilst leptin levels tended to elevate in exacerbation groups. Conclusions: The normal regulatory mechanism of leptin is maintained in stable COPD patients despite weight loss. The additional correlation between leptin and TNF-alpha during exacerbations may support the closer

association of leptin with changes in nutritional parameters and suggests its valuable role in the evaluation of systemic inflammatory responses in COPD patients during exacerbation, which merits further study. (C) 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel”
“Aim: Drug-related stimuli may induce craving in addicted patients, prompting drug-seeking behaviour. In addition, studies have shown addicted patients to he less sensitive to pleasant, but non-drug-related, stimuli; a condition generally referred to as anhedonia. The neural correlates of cue-induced craving and anhedonia in opioid-dependent patients are, however, not well understood. We studied brain activation patterns following Visual presentation of neutral, pleasant and heroin-related cues.