Gabriele Nini

Pachydermoperiostosis: study of epidermal growth factor and steroid receptors

Pachydermoperiostosis is a rare osteo‐cutaneous disease characterized by hypertrophy of bones and surrounding soft tissues. The cutaneous manifestations include coarsening of facial features, cutisverticis gyrata, digital clubbing, hyperhidrosis and scborrhoea.

TREATMENT OF INFLAMMATORY LINEAR VERRUCOUS EPIDERMAL NAEVUS WITH CALCIPOTRIOL

white, milk, wheat, soybean, moulds {PeniciUium. Cladosporium. Candida. AUernaria and AspergiUus). mites, ceder, house dust, and Pityrosporum ovale. The condition of her hands improved after she stopped handling and eating rice for 3 weeks. She began to wear rubber gloves whenever she washed rice, and thereafter never suffered from contact urticaria on the hands again. The severity of her atopic dermatitis remained unchanged, even after she started eating rice again. The principal food of the Japanese is hoiled rice. Before cooking it is vigorously hand-washed, and the water is changed several times. The results of the investigations performed in our patient suggest that water-soluble allergens were responsible for producing the contact urticaria. They were proteins which were heat-stable, but degradabic by trypsin digestion. The molecular weight was thought to be between 10 and 30 kDa, but it is possible that there were some antigens larger than 30 kDa.

Calcipotriol treatment of confluent and reticulated papillomatosis (Gougerot-Carteaud syndrome).

Gougerot–Carteaud syndrome or confluent and reticulated papillomatosis (CRP), was first described by Gougerot and Carteaud as dermatosis. 1,2 It is generally considered a rare condition. The eruption consists confluent, flat, brown papules localized primarily to the intermammary and interscapular regions with subsequent spread to the breast and abdomen; at the periphery, the papules spread out forming a pigmented reticulated pattern. At present, the aetiology of CRP remains unknown. The two prominent theories are an abnormal host response to fungi 3 and a keratinization defect. 4,5 Other hypothesis include photosensitivity, 6 genetic factor, 7 amylodosis cutis 8 and endocrinopathy. 9

Familial occurrence of pseudoxanthoma-elasticum-like papillary dermal elastolysis

We report the morphological, immunohistochemical and ultrastructural cutaneous findings of two sisters, aged 72-74, with pseudoxanthoma-elasticum-like papillary dermal elastolysis (PDE), recently defined as an age-related condition. To our knowledge, these are the first familial cases of PDE reported in the literature. The lesions appeared as small, asymptomatic, soft papules around the neck and axillary regions. The affected skin revealed a marked decrease of normal elastic network of papillary dermis without alterations in either the relevant collagen or reticular dermis. Ultrastructural and immunohistochemical examinations showed activated dermal fibroblasts with abundant elongated dendritic cytoplasmic processes and the absence of myofibroblasts. The well documented avoidance of sun exposure (the patients are both nuns), the rare incidence of the disorder (only six cases reported), and the familial occurrence suggest that genetic or inherited predisposition should also be considered in the pathogenesis of PDE.

Diseases of the Peripheral Nervous System

The oral cavity and the surrounding facial tissue maybe part of the clinical spectrum of different neurological conditions. Most of these disorders involve the 7th, facial, and the 12th, hypoglossal, cranial nerves.