Under hyperglycaemic conditions, keratinocytes demonstrate reduced migration and decreased proliferation capacities. These impairments of keratinocyte functions are likely to result in inadequate re-epithelialization. These defective physiological events provide a reasonable explanation for the poor wound healing commonly observed in patients with DM.

A C6/36 cell culture persistently infected by dengue 2 virus was established and retained for over 20 weeks. No CPE was observed at any stage of infection. However, some giant cells up to 2- or 3-fold the diameter of normal cells appeared in the established culture. Extracellular virus titers fluctuated with a periodic tendency while the antigen level remained constant, suggesting some viral particles evolved into noninfectious defective interfering particles. Plaque size tended to change during the passage of cultures. The passage 8 virus mainly produced plaques relatively smaller than those produced by the passage 1 virus. Nevertheless, the plaque sizes produced by the passage 18 virus were somewhat mosaic. A temperature-sensitive mutant was detected in the virus released from passages 8 and 18. In addition, passages 8 and 18 produced the lowest virus titers. When persistently infected viruses were grown in Vero cells at 37°, at passage 1 there was a high titer which decreased 5 days postinoculation, whereas at passages 8 and 18 titers were undetectable until 4 days postinoculation. It seems that dengue 2 virus persistently infected in C6/36 cells could have been genetically altered. This will be tested by nucleic acid analysis of the viruses.

The present results demonstrated that tacrolimus significantly inhibited physiological functions of fibroblasts enhanced by TGF-β1 in vitro. Clinically, we propose that topical tacrolimus may not only reduce AD recurrence but also ameliorate dermal fibrosis often seen in chronic AD lesions.

To elucidate the epidemic pattern of a dengue outbreak in southern Taiwan during 1987-8, antibody prevalence rates were investigated in paired sera collected in both epidemic (Kaohsiung) and non-epidemic (Tainan) areas. In Kaohsiung, the IgG prevalence rate in 1989 was significantly higher (9.23%) than that in 1988 (5.29%) suggesting that new infections continuously appeared after the first bleeding in 1988. Although IgG antibody persisted in most infected blood samples, waning of antibody occurred in 6/355 (1.69%) of Kaohsiung sera. IgM antibody was only detected in Kaohsiung sera, suggesting that Tainan was not involved in the outbreak. Because IgG antibody was present in some samples collected in 1989, but not in 1988, from the non-epidemic area, sporadic infections perhaps occurred. Additionally, 4/355 (1.13%) of Kaohsiung sera showed IgM antibody positive in both 1988 and 1989. In turn, secondary infections may have occurred because of circulation of multiple-types of the virus. The possible relationship between low levels of dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) and the loss of IgG antibodies over time is also discussed.

A protein A-gold-silver (pAgs) staining was developed to detect dengue virus antigens in cultured cells. The method can be carried out in either newly-subcultured or monolayered cells. Dengue virus-inoculated C6/36 clone of Aedes albopictus cells and human endothelial cells appeared brown-yellowish color on the peripheral membrane of the infected cells. In many cases, the infected C6/36 cells appeared darker than that of the infected endothelial cells. The positive results from the inoculated C6/36 cells usually appeared as early as 2 days post-inoculation for types 1, 2, and 4 of dengue viruses and 3 days for the dengue 3 virus. The same batch of specimens detected by direct immunofluorescence antibody test (DFA) showed positive 4 days post-inoculation for the types 2, 3, and 4 of dengue viruses and 6 days for the dengue 1 virus. The result also showed that all pAgs-positive specimens were also DFA-positive, but not vice versa. It suggested that pAgs is not only sensitive but also specific for dengue virus detection from inoculated cultured cells.