BACKGROUND Dermoscopy allows the early detection of melanomas. The preoperative determination of Breslow index by dermoscopy could be useful in planning the surgical approach and in selecting patients for sentinel lymph node biopsy. OBJECTIVES This study aims at describing the dermoscopic features of thin melanomas and comparing melanomas in situ with invasive melanomas less than or equal to ...

The clinical syndrome of meningeal carcinomatosis includes headache, dementia, radiculopathy, and cranial nerve palsies. Blindness may be the first, or most prominent, symptom. When blindness occurs in adult life, meningeal carcinomatosis should be included in the differential diagnosis, even in the absence of other symptoms and in the absence of known malignancy. Although all pathophysiologica...

The risk factors for and incidence of central nervous system involvement at first relapse in adult patients with acute myeloid leukemia have not been established. This single-center study analyzed the prognostic factors for and cumulative incidence of meningeal relapse in 458 adult patients achieving complete remission. Before 1990, patients received old chemotherapy approaches without stem cel...

Nerve growth factor (NGF) induces the differentiation and supports the survival of subpopulations of neurons in the PNS and CNS. Here we report that meningeal cells in the pia mater express immunoreactivity and mRNA for both known NGF receptors, the low-affinity receptor p75 and the tyrosine kinase receptor trkA. NGF induces rapid tyrosine phosphorylation of trkA in meningeal cells in vitro. NG...

To look for a direct role of ultraviolet radiation (UV) exposure in cutaneous melanoma induction, we studied xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) patients who have defective DNA repair resulting in a 1000-fold increase in melanoma risk. These XP melanomas have the same anatomic distribution as melanomas in the general population. We analyzed laser capture microdissection samples of skin melanomas from XP...

The resonance Raman (RR) spectra of six types of human brain tissues are examined using a confocal micro-Raman system with 532-nm excitation in vitro. Forty-three RR spectra from seven subjects are investigated. The spectral peaks from malignant meningioma, stage III (cancer), benign meningioma (benign), normal meningeal tissues (normal), glioblastoma multiforme grade IV (cancer), acoustic neur...

To determine the diagnostic accuracy of Kernig's sign, Brudzinski's sign, and nuchal rigidity for meningitis, 297 adults with suspected meningitis were prospectively evaluated for the presence of these meningeal signs before lumbar puncture was done. Kernig's sign (sensitivity, 5%; likelihood ratio for a positive test result [LR(+)], 0.97), Brudzinski's sign (sensitivity, 5%; LR(+), 0.97), and ...

INTRODUCTION Malignant melanomas account for 5% of all skin cancers and usually have a fatal clinical course. Additionally, the incidence of melanoma increases more rapidly than in any other cancer, and this has been attributed to the development of highly sensitive diagnostic techniques, mainly dermoscopy, which allows for early diagnosis. The phenotypic manifestations of gene/environment inte...

OBJECTIVE To determine the proportion of patients in a private dermatology practice in whom melanoma was detected but was not the presenting complaint. DESIGN Retrospective analytical case series. SETTING Private dermatology practice in Florida, from July 2005 through October 2008. Patients Patients with 126 melanomas, of which 51 were invasive and 75 were melanomas in situ. MAIN OUTCOME ...