Content - Volume 71, Issue 6

The purpose of the study was to compare skin blood flow by laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) and the 133-Xenon washout technique in UVB-inflamed human skin. Six healthy subjects participated in the study. Forearm skin blood flow was measured prior to irradiation and then 8, 24, 48 and 72 h after the exposure to twice the minimal erythema dose of UVB. Baseline blood flow as measured by the 133-Xenon wa ...

We examined the immune activation in 20 patients with mycosis fungoides, 6 patients with erythrodermia of unknown origin (Pré-Sézary's syndrome), 5 with lymphomatoid papulosis, 4 with parapsoriasis, 2 with Sézary's syndrome, and 2 with actinic reticuloid, by measuring soluble interleukin-2 receptor levels in serum. In Mycosis fungoides we observed normal levels in 3 patients (less than 500 unit ...

A chymotrypsin-like proteinase that may be involved in the desquamation process in plantar stratum corneum has recently been partially characterized. The aim of the present study was to elucidate whether a similar proteinase is also present in non-palmo-plantar stratum corneum. Stratum corneum was obtained by tape stripping of volar forearm skin after the skin surface had been painted with colourl ...

Calcipotriol is a non-calcaemic vitamin D3 analogue. In short-term studies, topically applied calcipotriol is both efficacious and safe for the treatment of psoriasis vulgaris. The purpose of the present study was to determine the efficacy and safety of calcipotriol ointment in patients treated for approximately 6 months. Fifteen patients with plaque-type psoriasis were treated daily with calcipot ...

Nine patients with recalcitrant and long-standing psoriasis were treated over a period of 28 days with 2 mg Peptide T iv, once daily (22-34 micrograms/kg bodyweight). Eight of them showed an improvement of less than 50% by day 28 and one deteriorated. The patients were evaluated for a further 3 months when no topical or systemic treatment was given. Five patients recovered by more than 50%, during ...

The regulation of IgE production in B lymphocytes of patients with atopic dermatitis by interleukin-4 (IL-4) and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) was studied. IL-4 stimulated IgE production in vitro in B-cells of healthy donors and of children with atopic dermatitis, but had only a marginal effect on the high basal level of IgE production by lymphocytes from adult patients with atopic dermatitis. The ...

Itch and flare responses were investigated in 32 patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) and in 32 healthy controls. Itch was induced chemically by intradermal injections of histamine (1, 3.3, 10 and 100 micrograms/ml) and compound 48/80 (10 micrograms/ml) into non-lesional skin and mechanically by wearing a woollen sweater. Continuous recording of itch intensity allowed the calculation of itch durat ...

Eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) is exclusively secreted only by the eosinophilic leukocyte. In this study the ECP concentration in the serum was measured in patients (n = 155) with various skin disorders and compared with the number of circulating eosinophils. The presence of activated eosinophils in the skin was also studied immunohistochemically using the monoclonal antibody EG-2, which recogn ...

The distal systolic blood pressure indices (AI = ankle/arm and TI = toe/arm) of 100 patients with lower limb ulcers at a dermatology outpatient clinic were correlated to ulcer site. The left limb was more often ulcerated than the right. Most ulcers were situated medially, while ulcers on the anterior and posterior sides were infrequent. An AI below 0.9 and TI below 0.6 is usually considered to ind ...

Newly diagnosed melanomas were investigated utilizing the histological reports from the 4 Departments of dermatology as well as from 3 Departments of pathology in Berlin (West) during the years 1980-86. The study included 960 melanomas and documented the histological features, age, gender and nationality of the patients involved. 936 patients were Germans (379 males, 557 females), and the mean age ...

The possible link between exposure to ultraviolet light and naevus development was studied in 121 melanoma patients and 310 controls by comparing the number of naevi in a sun-exposed area on the back with that in a sun-protected area on the buttocks. Both patients and controls had a four-fold increase in the number of naevi in the exposed compared with the protected area, p less than 0.001. The di ...

Common naevi, dysplastic naevi (DN) and other phenotypic features were evaluated as melanoma risk factors in a Swedish case-control study. One-hundred and twenty-one prevalent melanoma cases and 378 randomly selected controls participated. The mean total body naevus count was 115 in the cases and 67 in the controls. Fifty-six per cent of the cases and 18% of the controls had clinical DN. The corre ...

DNA-ploidy of primary malignant melanoma was retrospectively compared by flow cytometry with sections of paraffin-embedded blocks, among tumours at different histopathological stages (levels) and among tumours and their peripheral lesion. In none of 10 melanomas at levels I-II or 10 melanocytic nevi was an aberrant DNA pattern found. In contrast, 8 of 18 melanomas at levels III-V including 6 of 9 ...

Beta-carotene, administered orally to mice, caused a decrease in angiogenesis evoked by HPV-transformed tumorigenic cell lines (SKv-t, HeLa). It did not affect angiogenesis induced by the non-tumorigenic SKv (not-t) cell line, and increased lymphocyte-induced immune angiogenesis. We suggest that the anti-cancerogenic effect of beta-carotene may be due, at least in part, to its inhibitory effect on ...

Cryosurgery with liquid nitrogen is commonly used to treat benign and malignant skin tumours. One of the crucial factors which influences the freezing and thawing rate of the target cells is the response of the microcirculation to cold stimulus. In our experiment, laser Doppler flowmetry was used to monitor blood flow during cryosurgical treatment of basal cell carcinomas. Outside the frozen tissu ...

Three patients with bullous pemphigoid have been successfully treated with topical corticosteroids (clobetasol propionate) alone. Another patient required adjuvant systemic corticosteroid therapy. In view of its minimal side effects, we confirm a previous report that topical corticosteroid therapy could represent a valuable alternative in the treatment of limited bullous pemphigoid, although for i ...

Two cases of bullous skin lesions and paresis following coma due to the ingestion of many antipsychotic drugs were reported. Histological examination showed an intra-epidermal blister in case 1 and degeneration of sweat glands in both cases. An immunofluorescence study showed massive deposits of IgM and C3 in the dermal vessels. As similar deposits of immunoglobulin and complement were not observe ...

Patients with mood depression have been found to have a higher prevalence of seborrheic dermatitis (SD), possibly related to their tendency to live indoors. The prevalence of outpatients with SD has now been found to be directly related to the number of gloomy days in the area. Since UV light might not be the only reason for the well-known improvement in SD in summer, an explanation possibly relat ...

The purpose of this study was to compare the therapeutic efficacy of a hydrocolloid dressing (Actiderm) over a medium strength corticosteroid (triamcinolone acetonide (TAA) 0.1% cream) with that of a highly potent corticosteroid (clobetasol propionate 0.05% cream) in palmo-plantar pustulosis and localized pustular psoriasis. It was a randomized, open, prospective, right-left comparative trial in 1 ...