Content - Volume 67, Issue 4

Psoriatic and control human hair follicle keratinocytes were cultured on bovine eye lens capsules in Epicult dishes for a period of 5-6 weeks and examined using light microscopy. The following morphological differences between cultures were observed: 1. The lower cell layers contained predominantly flattened cells in psoriatic cultures instead of roundish in control cultures. 2. The differentiatio ...

Immunohistochemical and ultrastructural study of the epidermis was performed in a 53-year-old female with erythrokeratodermia variabilis (EKV) before and after treatment with the aromatic retinoid Etretinate (RO 10-9359). Aberrant expression of cytokeratin PKK2 (Labsystems, Helsinki, Finland) in lesional EKV stratum corneum was observed; this feature disappeared after Etretinate therapy. A normal ...

Treponema pallidum was isolated from various types of secondary syphilitic skin lesions. From moist genital papules and from condylomata lata several treponemes were isolated whereas few were isolated from dry papules of the trunk. One third of the observed treponemes were morphologically different from treponemes isolated from human chancres. Especially the nose-piece structures of the terminal p ...

Using an in vitro pig skin-slice incubation system, we investigated the effect of melittin, a phospholipase A2 (PLA2) stimulator, on the adenylate cyclase-cyclic AMP (cAMP) system. Significant decreases of various epidermal (beta-adrenergic, adenosine, and histamine) adenylate cyclase responses were observed as early as 1 h following the melittin treatment (50 micrograms/ml). The effect of melitti ...

The density of Langerhans' cells (LC) stained with ATPase was determined in epidermal sheet preparations in skin specimens from patients with stasis dermatitis of the lower leg. Their density was highest in areas adjacent to manifest stasis dermatitis areas. Clinically diseased skin contained less LC than the adjacent areas, but still more than skin from control patients without venous insufficien ...

In the present study we produced allergic, irritant, ultraviolet and liquid nitrogen inflammation in human volunteers. Biopsies were taken from each test site and adjacent normal skin as control 4-5 weeks later. The monoclonal antibodies OKT 6 and HLA-DR were used for light microscopic detection of Langerhans´ cells (LC). At all 4 post-inflammatory test sites the number of epidermal LC (OKT 6 pos ...

The excretion of pseudouridine in the urine of 17 patients with psoriasis was significantly increased. The largest increase was found in patients with psoriatic arthritis. No correlation between the extent of psoriasis and pseudouridine excretion was found. The excretion of pseudouridine was followed in 10 of the 17 patients during treatment with anthralin or PUVA. Pseudouridine excretion decrease ...

Preservative Kathon CG (K-CG) is a commercial preparation, consisting of the two active ingredients (a.i.), 2-methyl-4-isothiazolin-3-one (243-K-CG) and 5-chloro-2-methyl-4-isothiazolin-3-one (5243-K-CG) and also of other components. Both a.i. are known contact sensitizers in humans. In this study guinea pig maximization tests were performed with the a.i. in order to assess and compare the degrees ...

During a 3-year period, 146 patients with positive patch tests to nickel and/or cobalt, for whom a systemic cause of dermatitis was suspected, were challenged orally with a single dose of 2.5 mg nickel given as nickel sulphate and 1 mg cobalt given as cobalt sulphate using a double-blind, placebo-controlled method. No following-up was possible for 2 patients. Seventy-five of the remaining 144 (52% ...

We studied polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMNL) chemotaxis in 3 patients with generalized pustular psoriasis using 3 chemoattractants: Zymosan-activated serum from both the patients and normal individuals, and n-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (FMLP). These attractants were assayed against both patient-derived and normal PMNLs. All patients had quiescent skin disease at the time of assay. We f ...

Eleven acne patients were treated with isotretinoin for 3-7 months. The water barrier function and the response of sweat glands to dilute methacholine injections were examined on upper back skin at onset and at several visits during therapy. Bilaterally located test sites representing healthy skin or skin sites which were least affected by acne lesions were selected for the study. The same sites w ...

Assessment of folate and methotrexate concentrations in erythrocytes has been suggested as criterion for when to institute liver biopsy surveillance during methotrexate treatment of psoriasis. We report an investigation of these parameters in thirty psoriatics on long-term methotrexate treatment. The patients were six psoriatics with histologically verified methotrexate-induced liver cirrhosis, el ...

In 49 consecutive leg ulcer patients fungal cultures were taken from 4 different locations: the ulcer; the ulcer edge; 10 cm below the knee; and the toe-web. The patients had been treated with ACO Medicated Stockings in half of the cases, and the others were treated with several different bandages. Sera were analysed for antibodies against Candida albicans with the indirect immunofluorescence tech ...

Six patients with lichen planus or lichenoid toxicodermia are described. A dermal lymphocytic infiltrate in juxtaposition to the acrosyringium and liquefaction degeneration of the acrosyringeal basal cell layer were prominent findings. Three patients had no medication. In two there was an association with beta-adrenoceptor blocking drugs. The term acrosyringeal lichen planus is proposed for this h ...

We describe the cutaneous disorders in 172 patients with thymoma. Myasthenia gravis was the most common additional disease. Cutaneous disorders were found in 34 patients; 19 had skin disorders at the time of diagnosis of thymoma and 15 developed skin disorders after diagnosis of thymoma. Cutaneous fungal diseases were found in fewer than 10% of the patients (tinea pedis excluded). One patient with ...

Seventy-seven plaques of ten patients with psoriasis vulgaris were studied with measurement of electrical conductance (3.5 MHz), measurement of transepidermal water loss (TEWL), and clinical scoring of erythema, induration and scaling. Uninvolved skin of the same body region served as control. Findings were very distinct with decreased conductance and increased TEWL. Plaques with no or mild scalin ...

In an 11-day-old premature girl with Epidermolysis bullosa atrophicans generalisata gravis Herlitz and pyloric atresia, hypoplasia of hemidesmosomes in the skin, the gastrointestinal mucosa and the atretic pyloric segment was found by electron microscopy. Pyloric atresia is explained by hemidesmosomal defects causing junctional blistering of the mucosa, subsequent peptic digestion and inflammatory ...

A case of Sweet´s syndrome treated with potassium iodide is hereby described. The patient responded well a few days after the initiation of therapy, but the evolution was complicated with a severe clinical deterioration two weeks later. Systemic vasculitis was diagnosed on the basis of significant impairment of renal function, involvement of the eyes (papillitis) and the skin biopsy which showed ...

We report about a patient having received intravenous mitomycin C without evidence of tissue injury until three months following its extravasation. After drinking alcoholic beverages 3 months later he developed a severe ulcer at the site of the previous extravasation. There are only a few reports about such extravasation ulcers occurring a long time after the injection.