Mast cells and their proteases are thought to participate in the development of skin blisters in various pathological conditions. In this study, suction blistering was used as an experimental model to evaluate the significance of mast cells in blister formation after pre-treatment of normal skin with intradermal injections of 100 microg/ml compound 48/80 (a mast cell degranulator) or with 0.1% ...

The introduction of nonnative pathogens is altering the scale, magnitude, and persistence of forest disturbance regimes in the western United States. In the high-altitude whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) forests of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), white pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola) is an introduced fungal pathogen that is now the principal cause of tree mortality in many loc...

We use experiments to study the dynamics of the healing of a blister, a localized bump in a thin elastic layer that is adhered to a soft substrate everywhere except at the bump. We create a blister by gently placing a glass cover slip on a PDMS substrate. The pressure jump across the elastic layer drives fluid flow through micro-channels that form at the interface between the layer and the subs...

Three new species of darkling beetles (Tenebrionidae) belonging to the subgenus Leipopleura of the genus Bioramix Bates, 1879, Bioramix (Leipopleura) baqenensis Li & Egorov, sp. n., Bioramix (Leipopleura) nyainrongensis Li & Egorov, sp. n., and Bioramix (Leipopleura) banbarensis Li & Egorov, sp. n. are described from the Tibet Autonomous Region in China. Additionally, a new identification key i...

Bud mite, blister mite ( Colomerus vitis Pagenstecher), and rust mite ( Calepitrimerus vitis Nalepa) (Acari: Eriophyoidae) are recognized grapevine pests. Much of the biology and ecology of these pests is poorly understood. We used two types of molecular markers to gain further insight into the breeding biology and population structure of these mites, using individuals collected from sites arou...

In dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, the genetic defect of anchoring fibrils leads to cleavage beneath the basement membrane and its consequent loss. A 46 year-old female patient presented blisters with a pretibial distribution associated with nail dystrophy. Her two children had hyponychia and anonychia, which affected all toe nails and the thumb, forefinger and middle finger. DNA sequencing i...

The optimal clinical care of burn blisters has not been determined. The effects of burn blister fluid and control serum on epidermal cell proliferation and differentiation were determined. Both burn blister fluid and serum decreased the cell responses necessary for healing of the burn wound by approximately 40%. The degree of suppression varied from 81% to 28% dependency on the specific burn bl...

Fracture blisters are a relatively uncommon complication of fractures in locations of the body, such as the ankle, wrist elbow and foot, where skin adheres tightly to bone with little subcutaneous fat cushioning. The blister that results resembles that of a second degree burn.These blisters significantly alter treatment, making it difficult to splint or cast and often overlying ideal surgical i...