Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0024523 (malabsorption)
 7,319 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Our approach to a patient who fails to respond to antibiotics is as follows: First, take a careful history. Look for use of cosmetics and topical corticosteroids, anticonvulsive agents and systemic corticosteroids. Inquire about marked increases in emotional or psychological stresses accompanied by noticeable seborrhea. Probe the patient about habits of leaning on or squeezing acne areas, and most importantly, inquire how often and in what manner the patient washes. In the physical examination, look for evidence of sinus tract formation--extending, tunneling lesions with openings to the surface. Use Wood's light examination for the density of follicular fluorescence to rule out failure to properly absorb an antibiotic; fluoresce the oral mucosa to rule out failure to comply when the antibiotic is a tetracycline. Culture the surface aerobic flora on routine media with and without the antibiotic in question to settle any question of malabsorption. A systematic approach to these possibilities will usually uncover the factor or factors responsible for therapeutic failure. Clinical improvement promptly follows, once proper measures are initiated to neutralize the aggravating forces.
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PMID:Antibiotic resistant acne. 13 53

Mucocutaneous changes occur in vitamin deficiency states and may be helpful in clinical diagnosis of the underlying disease. Substitution and therapy with vitamins can also cause skin problems, which may be of allergic of nonallergic origin. The skin and mucosal changes in pellagra and scurvy can be diagnostic; however, in other vitamin deficiencies, skin signs are rather unspecific. In most cases combined vitamin deficiencies occur that result in polymorphic and nonspecific mucocutaneous signs. Vitamin deficiencies are due to malnutrition, malabsorption or genetic defects. In industrialized countries alcoholism and gastrointestinal disorders are the main cause of vitamin deficiencies. Alcoholics or patients with malabsorption syndrome suffering from seborrheic dermatitis-like or ichthyosiform-like eruptions should be investigated for vitamin deficiency. Laboratory analysis of blood and urine vitamin levels can be misleading because of the poor correlation with tissue vitamin concentrations. Rapid clinical improvement following vitamin substitution frequently confirms the clinical diagnosis. In this overview we describe mucocutaneous signs of vitamin deficiencies. Excellent reviews of this topic are recommended for further reading [1-5].
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PMID:[Vitamins and skin]. 807 86