Familial androgenetic alopecia in siblings with normal endocrinological status.

Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is the most common type of hair loss in adults, but it has been rarely reported in children. We report two cases of AGA in two siblings, aged 6 and 8, whose mother had the same condition, without any association with other skin diseases or abnormalities in endocrinologic examinations.

The role of spectrophotometry in the diagnosis of melanoma.

Background: Spectrophotometry (SPT) could represent a promising technique for the diagnosis of cutaneous melanoma (CM) at earlier stages of the disease. Starting from our experience, we further assessed the role of SPT in CM early detection.

Methods: During a health campaign for malignant melanoma at National Cancer Institute of Naples, we identified a subset of 54 lesions to be addressed to surgical excision and histological examination.

Artemisinin reduces human melanoma cell migration by down-regulating alpha V beta 3 integrin and reducing metalloproteinase 2 production.

Artemisinin and its derivatives are well known antimalarial drugs, particularly useful after resistance to traditional antimalarial pharmaceuticals has started to occur in Plasmodium falciparum. In recent years, anticancer activity of artemisinin has been reported both in vitro and in vivo. Artemisinin has inhibitory effects on cancer cell growth and anti-angiogenetic activity.