Diffuse Melanosis Cutis as the First Sign of Recurrence of Low-Risk Melanoma: Case Report and Systematic Review.

Introduction: Diffuse Melanosis Cutis (DMC) is a rare and late complication of metastatic malignant melanoma (MM) characterized by progressive pigmentation of skin and sometimes mucous membranes. The distinctive feature is the widespread and progressive deposition of melanin precursors in the dermis.

Objectives: The purpose of this review is to define the clinical and demographic features of DMC and to promote a deeper insight into the clinical manifestation, histological findings, and pathophysiology behind DMC.

Erosive pustular dermatosis of the scalp and multiple sclerosis: just a coincidence?

We report the case of a 23-year-old woman with an erythematous, crusted patch of the scalp, lacking pustular lesions, with partial hair loss, developed after mechanical scalp trauma. Histopathological examination showed a dermal infiltrate, predominantly peri-adnexal and peri-vascular, rich in plasma cells and lymphocytes, but lacking neutrophils, possibly as a consequence of the time elapsed since the onset of the skin disease. Reduction of functional hair follicles was evidenced.

Sensitive scalp: An epidemiologic study in patients with hair loss.

Sensitive scalp is a common condition defined by the presence of erythema and/or subjective symptoms as pain, pricking, burning, pruritus of the scalp elicited by triggering factors. Trichodynia is a term that describes a sensation of pain or burning of the scalp and was assumed to be part of sensitive scalp. Main goal of the study was to establish the prevalence of sensitive scalp in patients with trichological disorders.

Alexithymia, dissociation, and trauma in patients with chronic skin conditions.

Background: There is considerable literature concerning psychological distress and dermatological diseases. Recent studies highlight the role of emotion dysregulation in several skin diseases. Our study sought to explore emotion regulation in patients with chronic skin conditions and the frequency of traumatic experiences they had encountered.

How do disease perception, treatment features, and dermatologist-patient relationship impact on patients assuming topical treatment? An Italian survey.

Background: Psoriasis largely affects daily activities and social interactions and has a strong impact on patients' quality of life. Psoriatic patients have different attitudes toward their condition. Topical medications are essential for the treatment of psoriasis, but the majority of patients do not adhere to these therapies.

Ocular allergies: a psychodynamic approach.

Purpose Of Review: This work outlines a psychodynamic approach to ocular allergies, picking up the emotional issues related to the topic of eye out of the psychodynamic and psychosomatic literature and connecting them to a strategy of multidisciplinary treatment based on a therapeutic network that meets the unconscious patient's distresses, particularly those relating to the anxiety of abandonment, to the emotional nonmirroring and to the aspects of envy.

Recent Findings: More specifically is considered a modern psychodynamic approach able to link together the particular depth of pathology (in terms of its physiological changes) with the analogous depth of conflict and its psychological defences and able to intervene through a medical-psychological network according to the systemic criteria of the eco-bio-psychology.

Summary: The psychodynamic research on ocular allergy is currently poor and methodologically reductive.

Impact of E27X, a novel CDKN2A germ line mutation, on p16 and p14ARF expression in Italian melanoma families displaying pancreatic cancer and neuroblastoma.

Mutations in the CDKN2A gene underlie melanoma susceptibility in as many as 50% of melanoma kindreds in selected populations, and several CDKN2A founder mutations have been described. Inherited mutations in CDKN2A have been found to be associated with other, non-melanoma cancers including pancreatic cancer (PC) and neural system tumors (NST). Here we report a novel germline mutation in exon 1 of the CDKN2A gene, E27X, which we first detected in melanoma patients living in or originally from a small geographic area bordering Liguria in north-western Italy.

[Nailfold videocapillaroscopy in systemic sclerosis: diagnostic and follow-up parameters and correlation with both specific serum autoantibodies and subsets of skin involvement].

Introduction: The aim of the present study was to demonstrate, by nailfold videocapillaroscopy (NVC), the existence of diagnostic and follow-up parameters of microvascular damage in systemic sclerosis (SS) (grouped in the "early", "active" and "late" NVC patterns). The presence of the different subsets of skin involvement (limSS and difSS), as well as the role of some specific serum autoantibodies in the expression of the NVC parameters were investigated.

Methods: 245 consecutive SS patients were recruited and clinical data assessed.

Nailfold videocapillaroscopic patterns and serum autoantibodies in systemic sclerosis.

Background: Microvascular lesions are a predominant feature in systemic sclerosis (SSc) and seem to play a central pathogenetic role. Recently, we graded scleroderma microangiopathy by nailfold videocapillaroscopy (NVC) into three NVC patterns (early, active and late). The aim of the present study was to confirm, in a larger number of SSc patients, the presence of three patterns of microvascular damage, and to detect any possible relationship between these patterns and both specific serum autoantibodies and the subsets of cutaneous involvement.

[Rheumatoid arthritis and atherosclerosis].

Evidence continue to accumulate indicating that patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) present an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (and death). The risk factors for coronary artery disease (CAD) in RA are not fully understood. However, a number of possible factors have been described, but more than one may be efficient, such as homocysteine, presence of antiphospholipid antibodies, altered serum levels of selected lipoproteins, and all together may have implications for the atherogenesis observed in these patients.

Intracranial pressure during procedural pain.

Physiological changes provoked by pain may threaten the integrity of the CNS. In particular, intracranial pressure (ICP) regulates brain perfusion, and its sudden increase may trigger brain haemorrhage. We measured ICP in 51 healthy newborns (gestational age: 35-41 weeks) during blood sampling, by means of a tonometer applied to the anterior fontanelle.

[Lichen planus and thymoma. A case].

Introduction: Lichen planus is a chronic inflammatory disease of the skin, rarely associated with a thymoma.

Case Report: A 72-year-old woman with erosive buccal lichen, hypertrophic lichen planus of the lower limbs, severe myasthenia and acquired hypogammaglobulinaemia associated with thymoma. CD8 lymphocyte count was increased.

[Zinc deficiency syndrome during TPN].

The zinc deficiency syndrome, also called enteropathic acrodermatitis, has been mostly observed in those pathologies of the gastroenteric system characterized by grave food shortages during long term TPN in association with inflammatory intestinal pathologies. The authors believe this to be caused of such syndrome, that in the case in question is demonstrated before the normal period described in the literature to be caused by both increased request related to TPN and a greater loss or less absorption due to intestinal phlogosis. The case described has been noted in a general surgery division in a young patient suffering from Crohn's disease for many years in treatment with medical therapy and now complicated by perianal abscess following burrowing on the outside subjected and therefore in treatment with artificial parenteral nutrition pre and post operative.

Cutaneous cryptococcosis resembling molluscum contagiosum in a homosexual man with AIDS. Report of a case and review of the literature.

A 43-year-old homosexual man with the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) developed cutaneous molluscum contagiosum-like lesions on face, ears, neck, hands and feet. He was admitted to our unit with fever, malaise and headache. Cytologic examination of skin brushing revealed numerous encapsulated budding yeasts, identified as Cryptococcus neoformans.

[Mibelli's porokeratosis after bone marrow transplantation].

A 24-year old male patient developed, on both legs, lesions typical of Mibelli's porokeratosis 22 months after bone marrow transplantation, under treatment with cyclosporin A. He denied any family history. Mibelli's porokeratosis seldom develops after an immunosuppressive treatment, and to our knowledge it has exceptionally been described after bone marrow transplantation.