Foods, diet, and skin diseases.

Human skin is continuously exposed to internal and external influences that may alter its condition and functioning. As a consequence, the skin may undergo alterations leading to immune dysfunction, imbalanced epidermal homeostasis, or other skin disorders. New theories are developing that link food intake and health.

Precautions and suggestions for pemphigus patients.

The onset and course of pemphigus are often the result of an interaction between predisposing genetic factors and environmental triggering agents. The latter are heterogeneous, numerous and increasing, ranging from drug intake (the commonest cause of pemphigus induction) to the exposure to physical agents (heat, UV and ionizing rays, surgical and cosmetic procedures), viral infections (especially by herpesvirus), contact dermatitis, certain diet ingredients and even emotional stress. Alerting physicians and pemphigus patients to the effects that unsuspected precipitating factors may have on the progression of the disease is an important task.

Type III Ehlers-Danlos syndrome: correlations among clinical signs, ultrasound, and histologic findings in a study of 35 cases.

Background: Patients with type III Ehlers-Danlos syndrome show hypermobile joints, luxation, and minimal atrophic scars. The disease has an incidence of 9-16% and the molecular defect that underlies this subtype is unknown. In order to widen diagnostic investigations in type III Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, skin and articular areas were studied by ultrasound (US) test.

In vivo enalapril-induced acantholysis.

Enalapril is a widely used antihypertensive drug with a very powerful in vitro acantholytic effect. It has been known to potentially induce pemphigus in genetically predisposed subjects. The action mechanism is complex and still only partially understood.