Content - Volume 63, Issue 3

Two women had each borne a child who had died of Herlitz syndrome, i.e., epidermolysis bullosa atrophicans generalisata gravis. In subsequent pregnancies, the women requested prenatal diagnosis. Samples of skin from the two fetuses were obtained at fetoscopy in the 19th week of gestation. In both cases the disorder could be ruled out prenatally on the basis of ultrastructural demonstration of the ...

In Beh?ßet´s disease, severe pathological changes are observed in the post-capillary venules, indicating that the venous side of the circulation is generally involved. It is proposed that one of the initial pathological changes is multiplication of the basal lamina surrounding the post-capillary venule.

Studies of biopsy specimens from 4 patients with Churg-Strauss granulomas of the skin were performed with monoclonal antibodies to T-lymphocyte subset antigens. The finding of a predominance of a LEU3 antibody-reactive helper T-cell population in the perivascular areas and in the palisading and central granuloma areas was noteworthy. Pronounced reduction of suppressor T-cells in the lesions was ob ...

The medium of cultured melanoma cells was studied for tyrosine hydroxylation and dopa-oxidizing activity. The supernatant obtained after centrifugation at 100 000 g for 2 hours was treated with ammonium sulphate, and the precipitate obtained between 35 and 50% saturation was used. Dopa was determined as the product of tyrosine hydroxylation and 5-S-cysteinyldopa as the product of dopa oxidase acti ...

When tyrosine was incubated with tyrosinase in the presence of ascorbic acid, dopa and 5-hydroxydopa were formed and the enzyme was inactivated. In the presence of catalase, more dopa and 5-hydroxydopa were formed because enzyme inactivation was prevented. Incubation of dopa and cysteine with small amounts of mushroom tyrosinase led to rapid inactivation of the enzyme. This inactivation was accele ...

A thorough clinical and microscopical investigation was conducted in patients with severe longstanding psoriasis maintained on long-term photochemotherapy with PUVA. 250 patients were reinvestigated after PUVA therapy for up to 7 years, 49% for 5 to 7 years. No serious side effects were observed. Occasional peculiar hyperkeratoses of a bowenoid type were seen in 3 patients (1.2%) and solitary lesi ...

A 3 1/2-year follow-up study of 198 patients treated with photochemotherapy (PUVA) revealed a total of 18 carcinomas developed in 11 patients. There were 12 basal cell carcinomas and 6 squamous cell carcinomas, localized mainly on non-sun-exposed areas. Furthermore 9 actinic keratoses were diagnosed in 8 patients. All patients with carcinomas had been exposed to at least one of the following possi ...

Six hundred patients at risk for pressure sores were randomized in either a control group or one of two experimental groups placed on alternating-pressure air-mattresses and water-mattresses. The groups remained comparable throughout the 10-day study period. Twenty-one patients from the control group developed decubitus ulcers, compared with 7 in each of the other groups. Patient and ward personne ...

Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) has been quantified in psoriatic skin for the first time. The levels of both the soluble and the particulate forms of this enzyme were grossly elevated in psoriatic lesions; by contrast, levels in the clinically uninvolved skin of the patient were normal. The changes in the lesion cannot be explained solely in terms of vasodilatation, since UVR-induced erythema was accom ...

Twenty-four hour excretion of main urinary metabolite of prostaglandin F1 alpha and F2 alpha (PGF-MUM) in 18 patients with stable psoriasis (9 males and 9 females) and 18 almost age-matched healthy subjects (9 males and 9 females) was examined. The mean excretion level of PGF-MUM in male psoriatic patients (15.2 +/- 4.0 micrograms/day) was significantly lower than that in male healthy subjects (22 ...

The bone mineral content of the radius in 37 patients with systemic sclerosis was measured with Americium241 photon absorptiometry. The content was found reduced (p less than 0.05) in patients with systemic sclerosis compared with a group of healthy controls matched for age and sex. Analyses of calcium ´total´, calcium ion, phosphate and the parathyroid hormone level in the serum, and the excret ...

Irritation and staining, the side effects of dithranol and related compounds have previously been studied after a single chamber-exposure. To mimic the therapeutic situation, the chamber application was repeated for 3 weeks on the uninvolved back skin of 17 psoriasis patients. In equimolar concentrations corresponding to 0.05% dithranol, dithranol caused markedly more erythema and staining than 10 ...

The Berger Solar Simulator is designed to test light-sensitive patients for their sensitivity to ultraviolet light. The present modification was performed to make testing with UV and visible light possible. The modification consists in replacing the dicroic mirror with a beam splitter (BSP 580) and the filters with a WG 340 allowing 340-565 nm to pass. Subdivision of that spectrum is performed by ...

Leukocyte inhibitory factor (LIF) was investigated in 9 patients with localized granuloma annulare and 8 patients with the generalized form of the disease. The control group consisted of 10 matched, apparently healthy subjects. LIF values were significantly higher in patients with granuloma annulare of both groups than in controls (p less than 0.05 and 0.01). However, no significant difference was ...

A comparison of T lymphocyte subpopulations as defined by Fc receptors and monoclonal antibodies was investigated in 9 patients with alopecia areata and alopecia universalis (AA and AU) and in 6 patients with psoriasis. It was shown that there was higher proportion of T lymphocytes with Fc receptors for IgG (Tg cells) in patients with alopecia (AA and AU) and psoriasis. The proportions of total T ...

Twenty-nine patients with vitiligo and psoriasis observed over a 5-year period were reviewed. The incidence of concurrence of both diseases was not increased, and the onset and course of the psoriasis and vitiligo were separate. Psoriatic lesions occurred on vitiliginous areas and normal skin with equal frequency. These patients had a larger number of associated diseases than normally seen in psor ...

The genetics of vitiligo has been studied in 150 probands and their families. A familial concentration of the disease has been demonstrated which supports the concept that hereditary factors contribute to the etiology of vitiligo. Segregation analysis was not consistent with inheritance at a single autosomal or x-linked locus. Further analysis suggested that vitiligo is determined by multifactoria ...

Out of 109 patients with dermatitis herpetiformis (DH) only one was known to have a first-degree relative with the disease. This is in keeping with previous reports that the familial incidence of DH is low. Study of the family in which two siblings were affected showed both to have HLA-B9 whereas a third, unaffected sibling did not have this antigen. This finding supports the view that both geneti ...

The HLA-ABC antigens were investigated in 34 and DR antigens in 28 patients with chronic dermatophytosis caused by Trichophyton rubrum. The distribution of the antigens did not differ from that of the controls. Abnormal immune response may be of importance in the susceptibility to chronic dermatophytosis, but HLA-controlled immune mechanisms seem unlikely.

Lymphography was performed in 28 patients with mycosis fungoides. In 22 of the patients, the investigation took place prior to 2 months after the diagnosis was established, and in 7 of these lymphography was made before the histological verification of mycosis fungoides was possible. Five patients with widespread, persistent and severe atopic dermatitis served as controls. Eighteen patients with m ...

The frequency of contact urticaria provoked by certain fish prepared in the Danish fish industry was examined in 14 persons with atopia. In 71.4% of the test persons we found positive confirmation in a 20-minute scratch patch test to one or more fish species. All occluded patch tests were negative, while 33.9% of the scratch patch tests were positive. It was impossible to make a correlation betwee ...

The effect on dermographic wealing of an H1 and H2 receptor antagonist was studied separately and in combination. a double-blind protocol was used and dermographism was measured as the diameter of weal response to a measured force. Both H1 and H2 antagonists had a small but non-significant effect, but the combination of H1 plus H2 antagonist had an approximately additive effect which was significa ...

Two patients with severe cold angio-oedema were practically relieved from their symptoms during H2-blocker therapy (cimetidine 1 000 mg daily). Classic H1-blocker therapy had no effect on their symptoms and combined H1- and H2-blocker treatment was just as effective in ameliorating the symptoms of cold angio-oedema as H2-blocker treatment alone. A low dose of the H2-blocker (400 mg cimetidine dail ...

The effect of an H1 and an H2 receptor blocker singly and in combination was studied in 20 patients with chronic idiopathic urticaria. Both H1 receptor blockade alone and in combination with H2 receptor blockade produced a significant reduction in wealing and itch; there was no significant difference between these treatments. H2 blockade alone produced no significant reduction in wealing; there wa ...

A male volunteer with frontal alopecia was treated simultaneously with 20 mg cyproterone acetate and 5 mg minoxidil topically (daily). During treatment with both drugs, new hair growth was observed on the alopecic scalp. The new hair was lost after discontinuing minoxidil treatment, although cyproterone acetate treatment was continued.

A sudden matting of hair after shampooing of a hairpiece is reported, which led the patient to a lawsuit. Chemical analyses showed that hairs were weathered and led to a possible explanation of the curious phenomenon.

No abstract available.

No abstract available.