Content - Volume 68, Issue 2

Pieces of plantar stratum corneum were incubated with trypsin. This resulted in cell dissociation. The only observable ultrastructural change caused by trypsin was a degradation of desmosomal plates between dissociating cells. This suggests that desmosomes are of primary importance in plantar stratum corneum cell adhesion.

In vitro adherence of Candida albicans to human corneocytes and the effect of a chitin-soluble extract (CSE) on the adherence reaction were studied. Adherence of the yeasts to cells obtained from different individuals was variable. However, repeated adherence tests with pooled corneocytes of 2 individuals from this group showed that the adherence parameters did not differ greatly throughout these ...

Punch biopsies from syphilitic leukoderma lesions and from unaffected skin in 3 patients with secondary syphilis were studies in the transmission electron microscope. In one of the patients the pigment disorder was not preceded by any visible syphilids, and in the biopsy from the leukodermal skin in this patient Treponemata pallidium were demonstrated around vessels and inside nerve fibres in whic ...

Vitronectin, identical with serum-spreading factor and S-protein of complement, is a glycoprotein present in both plasma and tissue. It stimulates cell adhesion and spreading and affects the complement and coagulation pathways. Vitronectin immunoreactivity was recently found in conjunction with dermal and renal elastic fibres, in renal amyloid deposits in cases of AL- and AA-amyloidosis, and in sc ...

A long-lasting allergic patch test is a "normal" allergic patch test that remains positive for weeks or months. An immunohistochemical study of immunocompetent cells in the skin in this rare type of patch tests was performed. Most inflammatory cells were T11 positive T-lymphocytes. The majority of these cells were of the helper/inducer phenotype (T4+), but a relative increase of T8+ cells as compa ...

292 individuals were patch tested with twelve allergens, using a new patch test technique, TRUE Test (TT). As controls, the same allergens in standard concentrations in petrolatum were applied using the Finn Chamber technique (FC). The allergen doses used in TT were chosen according to results from a previous serial dilution patch test study. There were reactors to all twelve allergens. The concor ...

Eight patients with neutrophilic urticaria were identified in a 5-year biopsy experience (1980-1984). All patients had a neutrophilic venulitis without fibrinoid necrosis, hemorrhage, or leukocytoclasia. Four patients had a history of angioedema, and two had a personal history of atopic disease. Results of laboratory studies, including complement and protein values and antibody serologic tests, we ...

The trends of the clinical/histological intercorrelations in two series of pigmented naevi have been compared. One series of naevi represents patients who are habitual sunbathers and/or who have travelled to Southern sunny climates. The other series includes naevi from easily sunburned patients. The sunburner-group is correlated to histological features such as mitoses, atypia and fibrosis of the ...

The risk of malignant melanoma was found to be six times as great in a group of 805 patients with cervical dysplasia as in case-matched controls. In the latter it was similar to that in the general population. In keeping with this observation a further series of 13,030 women with no record of cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia showed a slightly lower risk than that expected in the general populat ...

Koilocytes were found in the cervical epithelium in association with cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia in 8 out of 9 cases of malignant melanoma. This suggests that the cervical lesion in them was of viral origin. In 62 women with malignant melanoma but without cervical atypia there was also an excess of koilocytosis compared with controls with neither lesion. These findings point to the possibi ...

The analgesic effect of a lidocaine/prilocaine cream (EMLA) for the curettage of molluscum contagiosum was evaluated in 55 children aged 3-14 years. Five to 25 molluscs per child were covered with a maximum of 10 g EMLA cream one hour before the operation. The pain was rated as either none or slight by 93% of the children while the physician´s assessment was 96%. On a 100 mm Visual Analogue Scale ...

Peripheral blood leukocytes from 5 patients with Melkersson-Rosenthal syndrome (MRS) were characterized with an immunoenzymatic staining technique utilizing ten different mouse monoclonal antibodies to cell surface antigens. No gross abnormalities could be found in the various T and B cell subpopulations. However, the proportion of cells expressing the IL-2 receptor was slightly increased, indicat ...

A 15-year-old female with a brown hyperkeratotic plaque in the pubic region confirming with the diagnosis of confluent and reticulate papillomatosis (CRP) is presented. The lesion disappeared rapidly after 3 weeks of treatment with 50% propylene glycol in water. The etiological role of Pityrosporum orbiculare in CRP is discussed.

A case of halo eczema in melanocytic nevi is reported. Immunohistochemical techniques using monoclonal antibodies distinguished this condition from halo nevus. The lack of the expression of interleukin 2 receptor by T lymphocytes in the infiltrate suggest that the process is probably different from that of the allergic contact dermatitis.

A familial multiple trichodiscoma involving two sisters is reported. Trichodiscoma is a benign neoplasm of the mesenchymal component of the hair disk characterized clinically by asymptomatic papules and histologically by a dermal fibrovascular proliferation. Familial involvement and associations with other follicular neoplasia should be investigated in all cases.

The forearm skin of 10 Caucasians and 10 American Negroes was inoculated with Candida albicans and the severity of the ensuing dermatitis as well as the population of Candida and other aerobes in the inoculum site have been assessed. Negroid skin proved to be less susceptible to irritation, even though it harboured a higher population of yeasts and aerobes other than Candida.

Two cases of citrus juice phytophotodermatoses with long hyperpigmented macular lesions are reported. These lesions simulated those resulting from jellyfish envenomation. The diagnosis can be established by the lack of local pain or signs of envenomation, and the absence of a serological response to jellyfish venom.

A case of lichen striatus with transepidermal elimination of clusters of necrotic keratinocytes is reported. On the basis of the morphologic findings, we suggest that transepidermal elimination may be a mechanism of healing in some cutaneous lichenoid eruptions.

In 38 patients with polymorphous light eruption (PLE) photoprovocation tests were performed by applying 100 J/cm2 of UV-A to the extensor side of the upper arm on three consecutive days. Test sites were divided into four areas by covering the patients´ skin with Schott glass filters WG 320, WG 335, WG 360, and GG 385 (or GG 395). In 17 patients typical skin lesions could be provoked in at least o ...

A 53-year-old male patient who had suffered for several years from severe persistent light reaction possibly due to tribromsalan photosensitivity was treated with cyclosporin A after long-term low-dose administration of corticosteroids which had to be discontinued. PUVA therapy was impracticable due to the extraordinarily high UVA sensitivity. When cyclosporin A blood concentrations between 100 an ...

Two patients with juvenile dermatomyositis, 5 with chronic discoid lupus erythematosus, and one with Rothmund-Thomson´s Syndrome were treated for their teleangiectasias of the face with argon laser. The results were highly satisfactory with an almost normal appearance of treated skin in 4 patients. Two patients showed satisfactory results with 60-70% blanching, while 2 patients showed some improv ...

We report a case of cutaneous T cell lymphoma (CTCL) treated with local injection of recombinant interleukin 2 (rIL-2). The biopsy specimen showed marked infiltration of large convoluted cells admixed with small lymphocytes and histiocytes in the epidermis, dermis and subcutis. After six injections of rIL-2, 4 nodules out of 5 on the left lower leg disappeared and the remaining large nodule was di ...