Adrenergic urticaria and rheumatoid arthritis in a patient with melanoma: an intricate medical management.

A 45-year-old woman with marital and working troubles, a personal history positive for malignant melanoma, and a family history of vitiligo presented with adrenergic urticaria (AU), which at first responded to propranolol, but later became unresponsive to both ?-blockers and antihistamines. Meanwhile, rheumatoid arthritis became apparent. Treatment with corticosteroids and methotrexate led to remission of neither the rheumatologic nor the dermatologic condition.

A controlled study of comparative efficacy of oral retinoids and topical betamethasone/salicylic acid for chronic hyperkeratotic palmoplantar dermatitis.

Background: Chronic hyperkeratotic dermatitis of the palms and soles represents a severe multi-etiological problem, too often faced with ineffective or tedious topical remedies.

Methods: A single-blind, matched-sample design investigation was carried out of 42 patients with chronic hyperkeratotic palmoplantar dermatitis, who were administered acitretin 25-50 mg/day for 1 month, which was controlled versus a conventional topical treatment (betamethasone/salicylic acid ointment). Therapeutic improvement was expressed with the reduction of severity score (expressed on a 0-10 scale).

Complementary therapy for psoriasis.

The authors provide some specifications regarding the correct terminology to be applied in the field of complementary medicine, and review and comment on several complementary treatments for psoriasis. Putative psychotherapeutic equivalents are kept distinct from treatments based on the surreptitious administration of physical or pharmacologic agents. Limits on the application of psychotherapeutic techniques are discussed.

Depression circumstantially related to the administration of finasteride for androgenetic alopecia.

In this paper we report 19 patients (14 males, 5 females; mean age 28.16 years +/- 7.68 SD) out of a series of 23 (17 males, 5 females) who developed a mood disturbance (moderate to severe depression) during treatment with finasteride, 1 mg/day orally, for androgenetic alopecia (Hamilton subtypes III-V; Ludwig subtypes I-II).