Pellagra

The skin features of pellagra including peeling, redness, scaling, and thickening of sun-exposed areas.
This child has the casal collar skin rash around the neck associated with pellagra.
Man with pellagra with typical skin lesions
Dr. Joseph Goldberger

Disease caused by a lack of the vitamin niacin .

- Pellagra

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Hartnup disease

Tryptophan
Hartnup disease has an autosomal recessive pattern of inheritance.

Hartnup disease (also known as "pellagra-like dermatosis" and "Hartnup disorder" ) is an autosomal recessive metabolic disorder affecting the absorption of nonpolar amino acids (particularly tryptophan that can be, in turn, converted into serotonin, melatonin, and niacin).

Leucine

Essential amino acid that is used in the biosynthesis of proteins.

(S)-Leucine (or L -leucine), left; (R)-leucine (or D -leucine), right, in zwitterionic form at neutral pH

A high intake of leucine may cause or exacerbate symptoms of pellagra in people with low niacin status because it interferes with the conversion of L-tryptophan to niacin.

Niacin

Organic compound and a form of vitamin B3, an essential human nutrient.

A man with pellagra, which is caused by a chronic lack of vitamin B3 in the diet
Niacin, serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine), and melatonin biosynthesis from tryptophan
Inositol hexanicotinate
Space-filling model of niacin

Niacin as a dietary supplement is used to treat pellagra, a disease caused by niacin deficiency.

Nicotinamide

Form of vitamin B3 found in food and used as a dietary supplement and medication.

NAD+, the oxidized form of NADH, contains the nicotinamide moiety (highlighted in red)
The active Nicotinamide group on the molecule NAD+ undergoes oxidation in many metabolic pathways.

As a supplement, it is used by mouth to prevent and treat pellagra (niacin deficiency).

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide

Coenzyme central to metabolism.

The redox reactions of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide.
UV absorption spectra of NAD and NADH.
Some metabolic pathways that synthesize and consume NAD in vertebrates. The abbreviations are defined in the text.
Salvage pathways use three precursors for NAD+.
Rossmann fold in part of the lactate dehydrogenase of Cryptosporidium parvum, showing NAD in red, beta sheets in yellow, and alpha helices in purple.
In this diagram, the hydride acceptor C4 carbon is shown at the top. When the nicotinamide ring lies in the plane of the page with the carboxy-amide to the right, as shown, the hydride donor lies either "above" or "below" the plane of the page. If "above" hydride transfer is class A, if "below" hydride transfer is class B.
A simplified outline of redox metabolism, showing how NAD and NADH link the citric acid cycle and oxidative phosphorylation.
The structure of cyclic ADP-ribose.
Arthur Harden, co-discoverer of NAD

Despite the presence of the de novo pathway, the salvage reactions are essential in humans; a lack of niacin in the diet causes the vitamin deficiency disease pellagra.

Scurvy

Disease resulting from a lack of vitamin C .

Scorbutic gums, a symptom of scurvy. The triangle-shaped areas between the teeth show redness of the gums.
X-ray of the knee joint (arrow indicates scurvy line).
James Lind, a pioneer in the field of scurvy prevention
Page from the journal of Henry Walsh Mahon showing the effects of scurvy, from his time aboard HM Convict Ship Barrosa (1841/2)
A child presenting a "scorbutic tongue" due to vitamin C deficiency.
A child with scurvy in flexion posture.
Photo of the chest cage with scorbutic rosaries.

Scurvy is one of the accompanying diseases of malnutrition (other such micronutrient deficiencies are beriberi and pellagra) and thus is still widespread in areas of the world depending on external food aid.

Carcinoid syndrome

Paraneoplastic syndrome comprising the signs and symptoms that occur secondary to carcinoid tumors.

Primary site of a carcinoid cancer of gut; secondaries are also visible on the mesentery
Presentation of the carcinoid syndrome.
Serotonin

Other components of the carcinoid syndrome are diarrhea (probably caused by the increased serotonin, which greatly increases peristalsis, leaving less time for fluid absorption), a pellagra-like syndrome (probably caused by diversion of large amounts of tryptophan from synthesis of the vitamin B3 niacin, which is needed for NAD production, to the synthesis of serotonin and other 5-hydroxyindoles), fibrotic lesions of the endocardium, particularly on the right side of the heart resulting in insufficiency of the tricuspid valve and, less frequently, the pulmonary valve and, uncommonly, bronchoconstriction.

Staple food

Food that is eaten often and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a standard diet for a given person or group of people, supplying a large fraction of energy needs and generally forming a significant proportion of the intake of other nutrients as well.

Unprocessed seeds of spelt, a historically important staple food
White rice, boiled
Bread made from wheat flour
Pasta
Couscous
Maize (corn)
Edamame (green soybeans)
Kidney beans
Sorghum seeds and popped sorghum
Millet grains
Amaranth (left) and common wheat berries
Colored quinoa
Cassava roots
Chinese yams
Sweet potato salad
Ulluco tubers
Oca tubers
Taro roots
Potatoes
Plantain and banana

The nutrient-deficiency disease pellagra is associated with a diet consisting primarily of maize, while the disease beriberi is associated with a diet of refined white rice.

Carcinoid

Sometimes a type of carcinoma but is more often benign.

Picture of a carcinoid tumor (center of image) that encroaches into the lumen of the small bowel (pathology specimen). The prominent folds are plicae circulares, a characteristic of the small bowel.
Primary site of a carcinoid cancer of gut
Histopathology of a typical carcinoid tumor of the lung, with prominent rosettes.

Niacin deficiency, also known as pellagra, is associated with dermatitis, dementia, and diarrhea.

Cesare Lombroso

Italian criminologist, phrenologist, physician, and founder of the Italian School of Positivist Criminology.

Face measurements based on Lombroso's criminal anthropology

Towards the end of his life, Lombroso began to study pellagra, a disease which Joseph Goldberger simultaneously was researching, in rural Italy.