Content - Volume 66, Issue 5

The dopa oxidase activity of tyrosinase in the skin from albino and black mice was assayed using a technique based on the formation of two diastereomers of 5-S-cysteinyldopa when incubating tissue extracts with both L-dopa and D-dopa as substrates in the presence of cysteine. The amounts of 5-S-L-cysteinyl-L-dopa and 5-S-L-cysteinyl-D-dopa formed were then determined. In the extract from black mou ...

Topical application of capsaicin is thought to deplete substance P from local sensory nerve terminals. In experiments on human skin inflammation was induced by injection of substance P (SP) or histamine intradermally, UV irradiation, non-immunologic contact urticaria, tuberculin reaction, contact allergens and benzalkonium chloride with or without capsaicin pretreatment. The flare response to SP a ...

Purified serum samples from asthmatic and psoriatic patients and healthy controls were analysed by high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) and the amounts of leukotrienes were measured from the corresponding HPLC fractions by specific radioimmunoassays. In the serum of healthy controls the amounts of leukotrienes B4, C4 and D4 were very small or negligible. Rather great amount of leukotriene B4 ...

To evaluate the role of the complement system in skin inflammation accompanying leukocyte infiltration induced by UVB irradiation, the response of guinea pigs decomplemented with cobra venom factor was compared with that in saline-treated animals. Complement-depleted animals showed a weaker clinical response in the late phase (12-48 h) of UVB-induced inflammation (p less than 0.05). However, compl ...

Using an in vitro culture system, we have propagated lymphoid cells infiltrating the tissues of allergic contact dermatitis and several inflammatory dermatoses, and those drawn from the blister observed at the sites of allergic contact dermatitis. Approximately 10(7) cells were eventually obtained after 3 weeks from 3 mm punch-biopsied tissues by their culture in human IL 2-containing medium. Stud ...

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), as defined by monoclonal antibodies (OKT3, OKT4, OKT8, OK 1, Leu 7, Leu 11b) were determined in 10 psoriatic patients and in 10 healthy subjects before and after administration of short-term PUVA therapy. A comparison of the mean baseline percentages of the two groups showed a statistically significant increase in Leu 7+ cells (p less than 0.001) as well ...

To determine whether serum IgE levels in patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) have a relationship to familial background of atopic respiratory disease (ARD), serum IgE levels were measured in 50 AD patients who had personal history of ARD, 37 AD patients who did not have personal history of ARD but had family history of ARD, and 52 "pure" AD patients who had neither personal nor family history of ...

With a specific radioassay hyaluronic acid (hyaluronate) concentrations have been determined in suction blister fluid from abdominal skin and serum. Healthy subjects, patients with acrosclerosis, CRST, mucinosis and urticaria had 0.8-5.6 micrograms/ml of hyaluronate in their suction blisters, which is about 100 times more than the serum level. Increased concentrations were noted in blister fluid f ...

The constitutional karyotype and frequency of sporadic chromosome abnormalities in peripheral blood leukocytes from 30 scleroderma patients and 15 normal controls were studied. Fifteen of the scleroderma patients were positive for the anticentromere antibody (ACA) and 15 were negative. The constitutional karyotype of all patients and controls were normal. No statistically significant difference in ...

A fifty-year-old man with a history of recurrent bronchial and renal infections, and rheumatoid arthritis was admitted with a sunexposure-induced discoid lupus erythematosus. Complement levels and HLA typing of the patient and his family revealed a homozygous C2 deficiency in the patient and his HLA-identical healthy younger sister. The C2 deficiency gene was associated with HLA-A10, B18, DR2, C4A ...

In biopsies obtained from syphilitic chancres of varying ages in 10 patients, a total of 766 ultrathin sections of Treponema pallidum were studied by electron microscopy. The course and number of axial filaments observed reveal that one bunch of 3-4 filaments without interruption entwine the whole cytoplasmic body. In 9.2% of the sections a trilaminar or a fragmentary trilaminar periplastic membra ...

The problematic storage of etretinate in fat during chronic etretinate therapy prompted us to search for other "high-affinity" tissues in 3 patients studied at autopsy. Specimens from eleven organs were analysed for etretinate and its main metabolite, etretin, by high-performance liquid chromatography. The results confirmed an accumulation of etretinate in fat and to a lesser degree in liver. High ...

Natural killer cell (NK) activity of peripheral blood lymphocytes in 15 patients with moderate to exanthematic lichen ruber planus (LP) was studied. Markedly diminished NK response in patients with LP was revealed as compared with that of healthy controls. Decreased NK activity found in LP was supposed to be a secondary phenomenon.

Open skin challenge test with whole milk and its large and small molecular fractions was performed on intact skin of children with atopic dermatitis and suspicion of milk allergy. Of the 51 children challenged with milk 35 reacted within minutes with contact urticaria. The large molecular (m.w. greater than 10,000 d) fraction gave an urticarial reaction as often as whole milk, whereas the small mo ...

A patient with seronegative oligoarthritis who developed the reticular erythematous mucinosis (REM) syndrome is described. This syndrome is considered to be a dermatological entity unrelated to systemic disorders. Aggravation of the rash by exposure to sunlight and a good response to anti-malarial agents suggest a relationship with rheumatological disorders, e.g. rheumatoid arthritis and systemic ...

In two persons a papular dermatitis was provoked by UVA on an area of the back which was subjected to high pressure and therefore did not tan. The inflammation observed had the appearance of a polymorphous light eruption, but neither of the individuals had a history of any pathological light reaction.

For 13 years a 28-year-old man had on his hands and feet bluish red patches, which had slowly progressed in size. Biopsy specimens exhibited an abnormal vascular pattern similar to that seen in early lesions of Kaposi´s sarcoma. Skeletal radiographs of the hands and feet showed lesions indicating hemangiomatosis.

Only mild symptoms of retinoid intoxication--headache, hallucinations and vertebral pain--were observed after ingestion of 800 mg isotretinoin among other drugs. Transaminases and serum lipids were found within normal range five days later. Mucocutaneous effects due to overdosage were absent.

Among 292 heterosexual men with gonorrhoea seen during one year, 59 (20%), had a co-existing chlamydial infection. Of the men infected with a serogroup WI strain 30% had a chlamydial infection compared with 16% of those infected with a serogroup W II/III strain (p less than 0.01). Heterosexual men infected with WI strains had less objective symptoms as judged by the number of leucocytes per high p ...

No abstract available.