Roberto Cipriani

Life events and alopecia areata.

48 patients with alopecia areata, 30 with common baldness, 30 with fungal infections underwent the Paykels Interview for recent life events. In the 6 months preceding onset, alopecic patients reported 123 events (mean = 2.56), patients with common baldness 22 events (mean = 0.73), patients with fungal infections 15 (mean = 0.50) (p less than 0.001). Events with negative impact, exits from social fields, uncontrolled events and socially desirable and undesirable events were significantly more frequent in alopecic patients than in controls.

Imipramine in Alopecia areata

Alopecia areata (AA) is a dermatologic disease whose onset is significantly associated to life events. Its course may often be characterized by high levels of anxiety and depression. These observations suggested a rationale for using an antidepressant in AA. Thirteen patients were enrolled in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study of efficacy of imipramine in alopecia. After six months clinically significant hair regrowth occurred in 5 of the 7 patients on imipramine, whereas no response was observed in the placebo group. An improvement in psychic symptomatology was present in both groups. Our preliminary results indicate the potential efficacy of imipramine in patients with AA, not acting directly through a reduction of anxiety or depression.

Sex hormone-binding globulin and saliva testosterone levels in men with androgenetic alopecia

Sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), plasma testosterone and saliva testosterone were measured in sixty‐four men with androgenetic alopecia and in forty males within the same age range without alopecia. There was a significant reduction in SHBG levels in bald men, compared with controls. Plasma testosterone levels were not raised in bald men, but their salivary testosterone levels were significantly higher than in controls.

Paroxetine in alopecia areata

The Correspondence Section serves as a forum for opinion exchange about subjects of general interest such as dermatologic training, relations between dermatologists and pharmaceutical houses, governmental control of dermatology and medical practice in general, peculiarities of dermatology related to geographic, climatic, or racial factors, the ̄ow of information and publications, as well as other concerns the readership might have. Contributions are welcome and should conform to the usual format for correspondence. Manuscripts will undergo standard editorial procedures. Submit all correspondence to Roberto CorteÂs Franco, MD, Fax: +52 (5) 665 7691. E-mail: cortesmd@prodigy.net.mx

Familial Histiocytic Dermatoarthritis: Histologic and Ultrastructural Findings in Two Cases

We report the clinical, histological, and ultrastructural study of two patients, mother and daughter, 32 and six years old, respectively, who presented with dermatitis and arthritis. From the clinical point of view, they appeared to be affected by Familial Histiocytic Dermatoarthritis (FHD), a diagnosis supported by the early age of onset, familial occurrence, and a typical ocular lesion in the mother (glaucoma, uveitis, and cataracts). However, histology revealed the presence of multinucleated giant cells that are usually associated with Multicentric Reticulohistiocytosis (MR). Unlike MR, in the cases here reported the PAS positive, intracytoplasmic material appeared to be glycogen. Electron microscopy disclosed pleomorphic bodies, which have also been described in MR. Thus, we conclude that FHD and MR probably do not represent separate entities, and that a spectrum of disorders exists between these two conditions.

Relationship between body weight and blood pressure and some metabolic parameters in psoriatic patients

The relationship between body weight and blood pressure, total serum cholesterol, triglycerides, uric acid and glucose was investigated in 203 psoriatic patients in comparison with 904 healthy controls. In the psoriatic patients, these parameters were clearly related to their body weight. Those psoriatic patients of normal weight exhibited lower mean values of all the parameters compared with overweight psoriatic patients while they did not differ from control subjects of normal weight. Our results suggest that only overweight psoriatic patients exhibit the metabolic abnormalities frequently reported in the literature, while psoriatic patients of normal weight do not differ from the general population in this respect.

Diminished blood filterability in psoriasis

Erythrocytes of psoriasis demonstrate altered membrane phosphorylation in vitro, a finding consistent with structural membrane abnormalities [2]. As membrane abnormalities may modify red blood cell deformability [2, 4] we have studied erythrocyte deformability in psoriasis using a filtration technique proposed by Reid [6]. Nineteen patients with psoriasis vulgaris (12 males, 7 females; aged 21 7 0 years, mean 42 years) were investigated. During the 2 months before the investigation the only treatments were emollient creams and ointments. The patients were compared with an equal number of ageand sex-matched healthy controls. Psoriatic patients and controls showed no evidence of diseases known to be associated with altered erythrocyte deformability [3, 7, 8]. All the patients and the controls had normal values for total serum cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose, total plasma protein and gamma-globulin, plasma fibrinogen, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, hematocrit, red blood cell count, mean red cell volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, white blood cell count, platelet count, and whole blood and plasma viscosity. None had a family history of hypertension [3]. For the filterability study, 5 ml of blood withdrawn, with minimal occlusion, from an arm vein after 12 h fasting was anticoagulated with 2 mg ethylenediaminotetraacetic acid (EDTA) and immediately incubated at 37~ for 15 min; five separate samples of 1 ml each were then filtered through uni-pore polycarbonate membranes (Bio Rad Laboratories, Richmond, Calif.) containing cylindri-