An efficacy trial of doxycycline chemoprophylaxis against leptospirosis.

Because leptospirosis has been an important cause of morbidity in U.S. soldiers training in the Republic of Panama, we conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled field trial during the fall of 1982 to determine whether doxycycline was an effective chemoprophylactic agent against this infection.

Melanomas of volar and subungual skin in Puerto Ricans. A clinicopathologic study.

Nineteen Puerto Rican patients with malignant melanomas in volar and subungual areas were evaluated to define their clinical and histologic characteristics. Ten were male and nine female, with an age span of 36 to 113 years and a median age of 71 years. Sixteen of the lesions were located on the soles or heels of the feet, and three were subungual.

Behavior of melanocytic nevi during pregnancy.

Three hundred eighty-nine pregnant women were interviewed and examined for the purpose of determining the incidence and quality of changes that may have occurred in their pigmented cutaneous lesions during their pregnancies. Somewhat more than 10% of them reported changes had occurred in their pigmented lesions, most in the first trimester of pregnancy. However, in 26 lesions that had been biopsied, no significant histologic changes were found when compared with comparable pigmented lesions from age-matched women who were not pregnant.

Endocrinologic profile of patients with idiopathic melasma.

Complete endocrinologic evaluation of 9 women (ages 24-41) with idiopathic melasma (melasma not associated with pregnancy nor ingestion of oral contraceptives) was performed and compared to age- and sex-matched normal controls. Serum cortisol, adrenocorticotropin, plasma immunoreactive alpha and beta melanocyte-stimulating hormones, luteinizing hormone, follicular-stimulating hormone, estradiol and progesterone levels were performed in the basal state. Additionally, total T4, T3RU, FTI, prolactin, 2-h postprandial blood sugar, and 24-h urine for 17-hydroxysteroids and 17-ketosteroids were done and found to be normal.

The efficacy of a broad-spectrum sunscreen in the treatment of melasma.

A double-blind study comparing a broad-spectrum sunscreen agent with its vehicle in the treatment of melasma was performed in fifty-three patients who were concomitantly using a depigmentating solution. In this study, 96.2 percent of those who used the sunscreen agent showed improvement as compared with 80.

Collagenous papules on the aural conchae.

Four cases of a new entity characterized by papules that are smooth in surface and unchanged in color on the aural conchae are reported. Histologically they are characterized by sclerotic and hyalinized masses within thickened dermis and by special stains and electron microscopy are revealed to consist of altered collagen.

Vitiligolike macules in systemic scleroderma.

Changes of hyperpigmentation and depigmentation in systemic scleroderma have been known since the last century, but their relationship to the pathogenesis of the condition is poorly understood. Clinical, histologic, histochemical, immunopathologic, and electron microscopic studies of the depigmented lesions in seven patients with systemic scleroderma demonstrated changes similar to those of vitiligo, but with subtle differences. Immunologic mechanisms seem to be involved in the induction of depigmentation in both vitiligo and systemic scleroderma.

Congenital acral melanocytic nevi clinically stimulating acral lentiginous melanoma.

Three cases of congenital acral melanocytic nevi with unusual clinical characteristics are reported. In all of the cases the surface changes and their growth were clinically suggestive of acral lentiginous melanoma, but biopsies revealed their benign nature. This exceptional presentation of congenital acral melanocytic nevi merits recognition by physicians and underscores the need for histologic diagnosis prior to definitive surgery in any cases suspected of being malignant melanoma.

Melasma: a clinical, light microscopic, ultrastructural, and immunofluorescence study.

Melasma is an acquired brown hypermelanosis of the face. Although it is thought that melasma is associated with multiple etiologic factors (pregnancy, gastric, racial, and endocrine), one of the primary causes of its exacerbation appears to be exposure to sunlight. Three patterns of melasma are recognized clinically: (1) a centrofacial pattern, (2) a malar pattern, and (3) a mandibular pattern.

The fascia in systemic scleroderma.

Diffuse fasciitis (DF) shares clinical and pathologic features with systemic (SS) and localized scleroderma. The distinct pathologic feature in DF is involvement of the deep fascia, but it is not known if these changes consistently occur in SS. In this study, ten patients with SS underwent deep biopsies for evaluation of the fascia.

[Diagnosis and treatment of trichinosis by means of radionuclide].

Using the same technique that gave such good results in cysticercosis and other parasitic diseases we obtained antibodies labelled against trichinosis and proved their diagnostic value by scan in infected rats. These same antibodies at lethal dose, median, (LD50) radiolysed trichina larvae without damage to the animal. Experimental results are very encouraging and their potential use in human subjects are undergoing research in our laboratory and will be the object of a future report.