Content - Volume 73, Issue 1

The polymerase chain reaction is a powerful and versatile tool for the analysis of nucleic acids. Through a reaction imitating in vivo DNA replication, a defined fragment of DNA is repeatedly replicated by a DNA polymerase in an exponential manner. Such selective amplification of a sequence of interest has created new possibilities in molecular biology and related sciences. The basic principle and ...

The effect of topical indomethacin on the weal and flare response was measured in 9 patients with chronic dermographic urticaria. An augmentation of dermographic wealing by topical indomethacin was shown with lowering of the weal threshold from 22.3 +/- 4.7 g/mm2 (mean +/- SEM, n = 9) to 16.4 +/- 3.8 (p < 0.005), but without a change in the shape of the force/response curve. Flare was increased by ...

A comparative study of serum alpha 1-protease inhibitor levels in patients with chronic idiopathic urticaria and control subjects revealed that the values in the patients were significantly lower than those in the controls, especially in patients over 60 years. The results suggests that some protease which can be inhibited by alpha 1-protease inhibitor may be involved in urticarial reactions in pa ...

Freeze-fracture electron microscopic studies revealed that the liposomal membrane morphology was intact before and after osmotic treatment. This finding suggested that water leakage from the liposomes was not due to fusion of two or more lipid vesicles, but rather to the osmotic salt effect. A stop-flow spectrophotometric study revealed that epidermal lipid liposomes derived from stratum corneum l ...

Thirty-seven patients with clinically diagnosed infantile seborrhoeic dermatitis (ISD) were studied in an attempt to establish the significance of transepidermal water loss (TEWL) and water content in the stratum corneum, in active disease and after recovery. All the patients were treated daily with topically applied borage oil (containing 24% gamma-linolenic acid). With this regimen they were com ...

Responses to a range of doses of common contact dermatitis-producing allergens were measured using a novel scanning laser Doppler velocimeter and three commonly used conventional measurement techniques. The techniques were compared in terms of sensitivity, measurement error, range of the linear portion of the dose-response curve and ease of use. The detection thresholds of the objective methods di ...

Pure synthetic metalloporphyrins have been developed for experimental and clinical use as inhibitors of heme oxygenase, the rate limiting enzyme in the catabolism of heme to bilirubin. Tin (Sn)-protoporphyrin is one such compound, which potently suppresses bilirubin production and thus jaundice in animals and man. We have previously reported that this metalloporphyrin in conjunction with UVA might ...

Extractable IgG from psoriatic scale was purified, labelled with biotin and used in ELISA and immunofluorescence (IF) in an attempt to detect and localize prominent antigens in psoriatic scale extracts and in psoriatic lesions, respectively. Biotinylated immunoglobulins isolated from psoriatic scale from each of 5 patients were used. Scale extracts were fractionated on a Sephacryl S-300 column, an ...

Changes of blood vessel endothelium in psoriasis have not been fully documented in the literature. The aim of our study was to ascertain whether in cases of such involvement an increase of endothelaemia could be identified. The counts of circulating endothelial cells were significantly increased in psoriatics compared with healthy individuals and patients with atopic eczema. The explanation of thi ...

Dithranol is highly effective in the treatment of psoriasis, but the exact mechanism of action is not known. Since persistent expression of epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptors in psoriatic epidermis is assumed to have pathogenetic significance, we have studied the effects of dithranol on EGF binding to the human epidermal cell line SCL-II. After treatment of cells with dithranol or its therape ...

The ultrastructural localization of copper and zinc superoxide dismutase (Cu,Zn-SOD) and manganese superoxide dismutase (Mn-SOD) was investigated in normal human skin by the post-embedding immunogold staining method. Epidermal keratinocytes were positive for both Cu,Zn-SOD and Mn-SOD. The Cu,Zn-SOD was predominantly located in the cytoplasm with a slight labelling on the mitochondria. The basal ce ...

Previous studies have shown the usefulness of autologous grafts carrying melanocytes for treatment of vitiligo. In our study repigmentation was obtained in three patients using epidermal sheets from suction blisters. The repigmentation was found stable in follow-ups from one to three years. The most homogenic repigmentation, however, was found in a patient treated by grafting autologous melanocyte ...

Autologous cultured melanocytes were transplanted to superficially dermabraded vitiligo areas in ten patients. Good cosmetic results were obtained in nine patients with stable vitiligo, but in one patient with new, increasing areas of vitiligo no pigmentation was seen 3 months after transplantation.

A 40-year-old man with epidermodysplasia verruciformis showed a decrease in peripheral blood T cells and abnormal expansion of large granular lymphocytes, accompanied by increased natural killer cell activity. Surface marker analysis of his large granular lymphocytes demonstrated that the subset, CD 57+ and CD 16+, had increased. His father, who had no skin lesions of epidermodysplasia verruciform ...

In an open trial, including 54 boys with phimosis, treatment with clobetasol propionate cream (Dermovate, Glaxo, UK) was shown to be effective, without side effects. Surgery, the treatment of choice in many centres, was avoided in 70% of the patients.

Five thousand one hundred and forty questionnaires concerning leg ulcers were sent to a randomly selected population aged 65 years and older in Gothenburg in April 1989. The response rate was 89%. Ninety-seven individuals answered affirmatively, that they had leg ulcers, which corresponds to a prevalence of 2.15 +/- 0.42 per cent. These 97 individuals and the same number of controls were asked to ...

Descendant family history of atopic dermatitis was examined in 270 adult patients with this skin disease and their 529 children. Of the 529 children, 316 (60%) had a history of atopic dermatitis. Boys and girls were equally affected. The prevalence of affected children was 56% (180/321) in those patients whose spouses did not have a history of both atopic dermatitis and respiratory atopy, 81% (48/ ...

A case of occupational acroosteolysis in a 24-year-old classical guitar player is reported. Nail tenderness was the only manifestation of initial acroosteolysis, which was due to mechanical stress on the fingers. Radiographs showed initial resorption of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th finger of the left hand. The authors review the clinical and radiological features of acroosteolysis. The pathogenesis of acr ...

The pathological study of the nail changes of 2 patients affected by punctate keratoderma is described. Both patients presented nail abnormalities that were clinically suggestive of a nail psoriasis. Subungual hyperkeratosis was a prominent feature but onycholysis, splinter haemorrhages and pitting were also present. The pathology of the nail bed revealed sharply limited columns of hyperkeratosis ...

We report the case of a 58-year-old man with a chronic papular eruption of 10 years' duration. Histopathology revealed focal acantholytic dyskeratosis. This condition is thought to represent a distinct entity which has been reported under several names and frequently referred to as persistent acantholytic dermatosis. The relationship between this condition and transient acantholytic dermatosis (Gr ...

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