Epidemiology and clinical correlates of hidradenitis suppurativa in primary care in Italy.

Background: Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a persistent skin disorder that is characterized by painful lesions or pus-filled lumps, mostly occurring in areas where the skin flexes. It is a disfiguring condition that significantly reduces the quality of life of those affected. Developing new, effective treatments for HS is crucial, but it is important that it be recognized and diagnosed early, especially in primary care settings.

The psychological aspects in sexually transmitted infections.

Background: Over the last years the number of sexually transmitted diseases has greatly increased. This can be attributed mainly to less rigidity in the gender role and to the ever growing sexual liberalization. Sexuality today as in the past, represents an important and complex dimension of the human being.

Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of patients attending STI clinics in Tuscany, Italy: a multicenter report on new infections in 2011.

Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the demographic, behavioral and clinical features associated with newly diagnosed sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among attendees from four STI Clinics during 2011 in Tuscany, Central Italy.

Methods: Electronic and non-electronic medical records of attendees were reviewed to collect socio-demographical and anamnestic characteristics of patients, and to assess the annual incidence and distribution of STIs.

Results: The study included 1293 subjects, for a total number of 1394 newly diagnosed STIs.

Off label treatments of genital warts: the role of photodynamic therapy.

Conventional therapies for genital warts, the clinical expression of low-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) anogenital infection, are not targeted antiviral therapies, but either attempt physical removal of the lesion or induce inflammation and a bystander immune response. Moreover, very few of the current treatments have been tested by rigorous blinded, randomized controlled trials. Therefore, official recommendations are often associated with unsatisfactory response rates and high recurrence rates.

Oral manifestations of sexually transmitted infections.

It's difficult to establish the real risks associated with all forms of oral sex and the contribution they may make to the overall number of newly diagnosed cases of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). This article reviews the literature on the role of oral sex in the transmission of STIs and the corresponding clinical presentations. Oral sex is becoming a common sexual practice between both heterosexual and homosexual couples because it is seen as a safer alternative to penetrative sex and a safer challenge to an individual's hidden identity.

Social and behavioral determinants as risk of sexually transmitted diseases. Report by a sample from the Sexually Transmitted Disease Unit in Florence, Italy.

Aim: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are increasing worldwide, mostly due to changing sexual behavior s (larger numbers of sexual partners, concurrent relationships, increasing proportion of adolescents engaging in sexual intercourse at young age, and inconsistent condom use with new partners). In Italy, few data are available about STI spread, since most infections are not subjected to mandatory notification.

Methods: In this article, the occurrence of STIs in a random sample attending a STI Unit in Florence, Italy, is reported.

Mycetomatoid infection of the penis by Candida albicans.

Background: Mycetoma is generally understood to be a chronic suppurative infection involving the skin and the underlying tissue. Mycetomas may be classified as those produced by true fungi (eumycetoma) versus those due to aerobic bacteria Actinomycetales (actinomycetoma).

Methods: We report the atypical case of a mycetomatoid infection of the penile shaft and glans in a 36-year-old man, originally from Senegal, affected by Takayasu's arteritis.

Immunological activity of photodynamic therapy for genital warts.

Background: An increasing body of evidence supports the usefulness of photodynamic therapy (PDT) in the treatment of non-neoplastic pathological conditions, including genital warts. In particular, PDT has demonstrated good clinical cure rates and low recurrence, and is now suggested as a safe alternative means of treating condylomata.

Objective: To confirm the suitability of aminolaevulinic acid (ALA)-PDT for the treatment of this condition and to investigate the recruitment and significance of immune cells in lesional areas by immunohistochemical analysis at different time intervals after treatment.

Genome-wide association study of serious blistering skin rash caused by drugs.

Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) are rare but severe, potentially life threatening adverse drug reactions characterized by skin blistering. Previous studies have identified drug-specific and population-specific genetic risk factors with large effects. In this study, we report the first genome-wide association study (GWAS) of SJS/TEN induced by a variety of drugs.

The CD40/CD40 ligand system in the skin of patients with subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus.

Objective: To investigate whether CD40 and CD40 ligand (CD40L) is expressed in the skin of patients with subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus (SCLE).

Methods: Six female patients with SCLE were studied. Skin biopsies were obtained from lesional and healthy sunprotected skin.

Ocular involvement in pemphigus.

Purpose: To report the occurrence of ocular involvement in the setting of pemphigus and discuss its relationship with disease activity and prognostic significance.

Design: Retrospective case reports.

Methods: Five patients, aged 38 to 65 years, diagnosed with pemphigus according to clinical, histopathologic, and immunopathologic criteria (n = 4 pemphigus vulgaris; n = 1 superficial pemphigus) developed ocular symptoms and signs consistent with the disease, ranging from mild conjunctivitis to blisters and prominent erosions of the bulbar/palpebral conjunctiva or at the eyelid margin.

Cutis marmorata telangiectatica congenita and chronic autoimmune urticaria in a young man.

A 20-year-old man with mental impairment, was referred to us for evaluation of recurring idiopathic urticaria episodes, characterized by a diffuse spreading of wheals and severe itching lacking response to traditional antihistamines. Upon physical examination, he showed a persistent, generalized, reticular, red-bluish vascular skin pattern in association with diffuse arborizing telangiectasias. Such lesions were present from an early age.

Cellular adhesion molecules in chronic urticaria: modulation of serum levels occurs during levocetirizine treatment.

Background: Some antihistamines are capable of reducing levels of adhesion molecules in wealing tissues of patients with chronic urticaria (CU).

Objectives: To determine if 6 weeks of therapy with levocetirizine 5 mg once daily would also induce any decrease in serum levels of intercellular adhesion molecule-1, vascular cell adhesion molecule-1, endothelial leucocyte adhesion molecule-1 (ELAM-1) or P-selectin in subjects with CU and chronic autoimmune urticaria.

Methods: Thirty-six patients with CU (18 with positive and 18 with negative autologous serum skin test) were studied, together with 10 control healthy subjects.

Cellular infiltrate and related cytokines, chemokines, chemokine receptors and adhesion molecules in chronic autoimmune urticaria: comparison between spontaneous and autologous serum skin test induced wheal.

In recent years, the demonstration of circulating functional autoantibodies against the high affinity IgE receptor or against IgE themselves in about one-third of patients with chronic idiopathic urticaria has suggested that an autoimmune mechanism might be involved in the pathogenesis of the disease--the so-called chronic autoimmune urticaria (CAIU). In this study we compare findings from serum-induced and spontaneous wheals with regard to immunohistochemical markers of disease activity and discuss whether autologous serum skin test (ASST) may be regarded as an in vivo experimental model of the physiological stimulus causing urticaria skin condition, or if it does not reproduce the whole of the mechanisms operating in the development of spontaneous wheals. By means of immunohistochemical technique, we analyzed specimens from just-developed spontaneous wheals and from serum-evoked wheals of six CAIU patients, to glean information on cellular infiltrate and related cytokines, chemokines, chemokine receptors and adhesion molecules.

A case of lichenoid drug eruption associated with sildenafil citratus.

A 53-year-old man developed lichenoid lesions on the upper chest, posterior surfaces of the trunk, and abdominal region about three months before his first visit. Physical examination and laboratory findings were normal; histopathology showed vacuolar degeneration of basal keratinocytes in association with a dense lympho-histioid infiltrate arranged in a lichenoid pattern with a few melanophages and eosinophils. The fact that our patient had been irregularly taking sildenafil citratus (Viagra) led to the hypothesis of a lichenoid drug-induced eruption.

Case study: periodic follow-up is necessary in morphea profunda to identify systemic evolution.

The term "morphea" includes a wide spectrum of clinical entities, varying from localized plaques of only cosmetic importance to deep lesions resulting in considerable morbidity for the patient. In fact, although survival rates are no different from that of the general population, localized scleroderma may be associated with development of substantial disability, as occurs in deep morphea and in pediatric patients (disabling pansclerotic morphea of children). We report a case of morphea profunda affecting a young man with severe, rapidly progressive, widespread skin involvement and focus on the eventual systemic evolution of such cases.

Chronic idiopathic urticaria: infiltrating cells and related cytokines in autologous serum-induced wheals.

The term chronic autoimmune urticaria (CAIU) is used for chronic urticaria in subjects who present a whealing response to the intradermal injection of autologous serum, suggesting the presence of pathogenic antibody activities. In this study, we examined 28 chronic urticaria subjects with positive autologous serum skin test (ASST), all of whom presented autologous serum-induced lesions at different evolutive stages. Punch biopsies were taken from lesional skin of six subjects at 10', eight subjects at 30', six subjects at 60', and four subjects each at 24 and 48 h.