Pemphigus foliaceus, also known as fogo selvagem, is an autoimmune disease of the epidermis characterized by superficial blisters and antibodies against desmoglein 1. It is a multifactorial disease and genetic susceptibility is oligogenic or polygenic. Considering the crucial function of the programmed cell death 1 molecule (PD-1) in the immune response, the aim of this study was to verify if v...

A clinicopalhological study of 70 cases of pemphigus observed over a span of four and a half years from January 1992 to June 1996 at the Sir J.J. Group of Hospitals and Grant Medical College, Mumbai is reported. Pemphigus vulgaris constituted the single largest group of 43 cases, followed by pemphigus foliaceus (25 cases) and pemphigus vegetans (2 cases). Majority of the cases were seen in the ...

A 68-year-old woman who had had pemphigus foliaceus for 13 years, presented for initiation of more aggressive therapy due to gradual continuous clinical worsening in the last 3 months despite potent topical steroid and long-standing systemic therapy with prednisolone 50 mg/day for one year. At the time of presentation desmoglein-1 antibodies were detectable to a low grade using enzyme-linked im...

BACKGROUND Bullous pemphigoid (BP) and pemphigus vulgaris (PV) are potentially severe diseases. In drug-resistant PV and pemphigus foliaceus, long-term adjuvant treatment with extracorporeal photochemotherapy (photopheresis, ECP) has been reported to induce remission. Only limited numbers of patients have been reported so far. No information about the effectiveness in drug-resistant BP is avail...

Question: How does sexual ornamentation relate to parasite infection, host immune response and somatic condition status in male fish? Hypotheses: Zahavi’s (1975) handicap hypothesis proposes that producing secondary sexual traits represents a considerable handicap for males. Additionally, Hamilton and Zuk (1982) proposed that the expression of secondary sexual traits reveals a genetic resistanc...

We studied the fine structure of some classical and six variant mitochondria from different tissues viz. proboscis gland, spinal gland, ovary, testis, and muscle of a fish ectoparasite, Argulus bengalensis. In the proboscis gland and spinal gland, mitochondria are protected within vesicle to preserve their structure and activity from exposure to glandular synthesis for its parasitic mode of fee...

A new species of Argulus is described based on 18 specimens taken from the salamander ("achoque" or "ajolote") Ambystoma dumerilii Duges, collected in Lake Patzcuaro, Michoacan, Mexico. Diagnostic characters include the shape of the respiratory areas, number of sclerites in suction cup rods, and structures on the legs of males. Females are heavily stippled, whereas males have a very distinctive...