Content - Volume 64, Issue 2

The pathways of electric current have been examined with special electrodes and methods. The results indicate that the flow through ordinary stratified stratum corneum is negligible, and that the dominant ionic path is through the sweat duct units. Here the cells of interest may be oriented perpendicular to the main stratified orientation of the skin, and this may affect the methods and interpreta ...

Hydroxyproline, hydroxylysine and proline were determined on skin from 18 patients with localized scleroderma (10 with localized morphoea plaque and 8 with generalized morphoea). Three skin biopsies (4mm punch) were obtained from each patient: One from the center of a sclerotic plaque, one from the perilesional area, and one (control) from unaffected skin of the same region. Clinically, the sclero ...

Three trace elements, manganese, copper and zinc, selected as normal constituents were measured in the chromatin fraction of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from four pemphigous patients and compared with values form 4 matching control cases treated with corticosteroid. Manganese and copper were decreased in pemphigous patients significantly against controls whereas zinc was decreased slightly ...

Eight biopsy specimens from the skin lesions of five patients with anetoderma were studied for their ultrastructural findings. In all of them, normal elastic fibers were absent and a few very thin, irregular elastic fibers with a more or less complete loss of the amorphous substance and a relative conservation of the microfibrils were observed. The collagen fibers were normal. Inflammation compose ...

In a skin investigation of 853 individuals working with hard metal manufacturing 39 cases of cobalt allergy were found. Thirty-five of the individuals with cobalt sensitivity and 102 matched controls were HLA-A, -B, -C and -DR typed. No significantly deviating HLA antigen frequencies were observed when the two groups were compared. Thus, there are no signs that a certain HLA antigen would dispose ...

Flare-up of contact dermatitis after exposure to the antigen on another skin area was studied in the mouse. Animals were sensitized and challenged with picryl chloride. After healing, the ear dermatitis flared up following provocation on abdominal skin. Likewise, nickel-sensitized mice flared in one ear when exposed to the antigen on the other ear. This model could be of use in pathogenetic studie ...

We evaluated the effect of acupuncture on histamine-induced itch and flare in healthy volunteers (n = 25) and compared it with the effect of a pseudo-acupuncture procedure and of no-intervention in a single-blind randomized cross-over study. A cumulative itch index is defined and was found to be smaller with acupuncture than with either pseudo-acupuncture (p less than 0.02) or with no-intervention ...

Dithranol (D) and butantrone (BD) were compared as regards irritation and staining in conditions resembling short-contact therapy. Nine psoriatics were tested with 0.5% D and 0.66% BD using exposures of 20 min and 3 h. Partial removal of the horny layer by 15 tape strippings before and after the exposure resembled the impaired barrier of lesions and posttreatment washing, respectively. Development ...

Keratodermia palmoplantaris of the Unna - Thost type was studied in the population of Slovenia. Altogether 157 patients were recorded: 106 were examined by the authors; for the other 51, anamnestic data were used. Special attention was paid to the accompanying symptoms which are more or less rarely mentioned in the literature: hyperkeratosis of the elbows and knees, transgredience of the hyperkera ...

In a defined area of 273 000 inhabitants in Central Sweden a total number of 125 patients with dermatitis herpetiformis (DH) were observed during the years 1974-1982. The incidence was calculated for the years 1943-1982 and was found to be 0.86-1.45 patients/100 000 inhabitants/year, which is in agreement with a report from Finland. However, the prevalence of DH in the area was 39.2 patients/100 0 ...

A study has been carried out to compare the effect of a combination of clobetasol propionate and UVB versus placebo/UVB. No significant reduction in time to healing was observed. However, symptoms abated more rapidly in the steroid/UVB group. Recurrences occurred at an earlier stage following the steroid UVB combination for long periods. A third group, treated solely with clobetasol propionate has ...

Human tyrosinase prepared from cultured melanoma cells is inactivated by 10 mM cysteine. The inactivation of the enzyme by cysteine is less pronounced in the presence of catalase and superoxide dismutase. Thus, oxygen radicals and/or hydrogen peroxide may contribute to the inactivation of human tyrosinase by cysteine. Dopa and/or tyrosine protects tyrosinase against inactivation by cysteine. The p ...

Antinuclear antibodies with a nucleolar staining pattern appeared in a psoriasis patient during PUVA therapy. No antinuclear antibodies were found after the termination of PUVA but they reappeared one year later together with symptoms consistent with a connective tissue disease. The course was fatal and the clinical and the laboratory investigations suggested a scleroderma-like syndrome.

A kidney biopsy was performed in 7 hypocomplementemic discoid lupus erythematosus patients despite the absence of overt renal involvement. Five patients had glomerular immune deposits and 2 patients with disseminated discoid lupus erythematosus exhibited definite proliferative glomerulonephritis. Those findings show that silent lupus nephritis may be encountered in discoid as well as in systemic l ...

Among the 765 dentists of the County of Aarhus , Denmark, a total of 65% answered a questionnaire on possible herpes panaritium experience. Among the answers 3.8% were positive. Among these, 10 had circulating antibodies against herpes simplex virus. During the study a case of recurrence of a panaritium , which appeared to be a herpes simplex infection, occurred.

A presentation of a 3-year-old girl with a congenital hemidysplasia of the left side together with ichtyosiform erythroderma, the so-called CHILD-syndrome. A short review of the syndrome is given.

Two female patients suffering from progressive systemic sclerosis (PSS) of generalized type were treated with estriol for 10 months. Although complete cure was not achieved, considerable beneficial effects were observed in these patients, but no serious side effects. Thus, skin softening was observed on all involved parts of these patients, which was accompanied by increased mobility of large or m ...

Eight patients with lichen sclerosus and 8 patients with localized scleroderma were treated with etretinate (Tigason) at doses of 0.5 mg/kg body weight for between 3 and 12 months: 2 of 3 patients with juvenile type lichen sclerosus cleared, whereas the lesions of 5 patients with balanitis xerotica obliterans, kraurosis vulvae and extragenital lichen sclerosus were unchanged or even progredient. 2 ...

A short term anthralin application schedule was used at home in 42 patients with severe psoriasis. In another group of 21 patients treated at our day care center, UV-B irradiation was added when the surplus of anthralin had been washed off. Good healing results within 3-8 weeks were noted in most patients. To prevent relapses 31 patients continued the anthralin treatment once or twice a week after ...

In order to investigate the efficacy of anthralin (Anthraderm ) in the treatment of warts a randomized controlled trial was carried out in 72 patients. During a two-month period of treatment 56% were cured in the group treated with anthralin 2% (Anthraderm ), evaluated at follow-up 2-9 months after finishing treatment, compared with 26% in the group treated with the comparative drug (Verucid ). An ...

A case of twenty-nail dystrophy in an 7-year-old girl is presented. The histopathological findings were incompatible with lichen planus. The differential diagnosis is briefly discussed, and the literature reviewed.