Synthetic compounds, particularly highly chlorinated aromatics, comprise the bulk of the environmental pollutants that somehow must be removed from the environment. Microbial degradation of such compounds is usually very slow, making them highly persistent in nature. Some synthetic compounds, with a lower degree of chlorination are, however, biodegradable; biochemical, genetic, and molecular st...

Pemphigus is a severe life-threatening blistering disease associated with autoantibodies against cell adhesion proteins desmogleins 1 and 3. Patients with severe pemphigus commonly show high rates of relapse after conventional immunosuppressive therapy. The newly developed drug Rituximab showed impressing promises in the treatment of refractory pemphigus vulgaris (PV). In the present study the ...

INTRODUCTION Plantar warts often are refractory to any treatment and can last for decades in adults. Recalcitrant warts are defined as those that have persisted for more than two years, or after at least two treatment modalities. METHODS A total of 15 consecutive patients with recalcitrant plantar warts were included in this preliminary study. The treatment consisted of applying one to two se...

A series of additives were evaluated for their effects on improving the yield and quality of DNA extracted from recalcitrant soils. Levels of possible DNA contaminants in these supplements were also assessed. Three of the additives (skim milk, casein, and RNA) were shown to be effective in improving the stable extraction of DNA from recalcitrant samples of Andosol. However, whereas skim milk ap...

BACKGROUND Palmoplantar pustular psoriasis is often recalcitrant to therapy. Here we evaluated the therapeutic effect of alitretinoin in patients with recalcitrant palmoplantar pustular psoriasis and investigated subsequent immunopathological alterations. METHODS Seven patients with palmoplantar pustular psoriasis were treated with oral alitretinoin 30 mg once daily for 12 weeks. Efficacy was...

BACKGROUND Sarcoidosis is a multisystem disease of unknown origin characterized by the formation of noncaseating granulomas, in particular in the lungs, lymph nodes, eyes, and skin. Systemic treatment for cutaneous sarcoidosis can be used for large disfiguring lesions, generalized involvement, or recalcitrant lesions that did not respond to topical therapy. CASE PRESENTATIONS We report three ...

OBJECTIVE To compare the effects of intravitreal ranibizumab (RZB) or dexamethasone (DEX) intravitreal implant in cases of recalcitrant diabetic macular edema (DME). METHODS Retrospective, interventional study examining patients with symmetric bilateral, center-involved DME recalcitrant to treatment with RZB, who received DEX in one eye while the contralateral eye continued to receive RZB eve...

BACKGROUND The corticoperiosteal flap from the medial femoral condyle has become the workhorse in the management of recalcitrant nonunions with vascularized periosteum. Inclusion of the outer condylar cortex has been advocated to avoid damaging the osteogenic capacity of the periosteum and is at present an ordinary technical step in the procedure. PATIENTS A clinical prospective study was und...

Genital warts in immunocompromised patients can be extensive and recalcitrant to treatment. We report a case of recalcitrant genital warts in a female patient with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), who achieved complete remission with a combination approach of surgical debulking and oral isotretinoin at an initial dose of 20 mg/day with a gradual taper of dose over 8 months. She had previousl...

Laboratory-scale experiments were performed to develop a procedure for biological treatment of recalcitrant anaerobic industrial effluent (from ethanol and citric acid production) using first the microalga Chlorella vulgaris followed by the macrophyte Lemna minuscula. This recalcitrant dark-colored wastewater, containing high levels of organic matter and low pH, prevents the growth of microalga...