Subungual onycholemmal cyst of the toenail mimicking subungual melanoma.

This report highlights a rare case of a woman with horizontal ridging and tenderness of the right great toenail associated with dyspigmentation of 5 years' duration. Histopathology revealed a cystic structure with an epithelial lining mostly reminiscent of an isthmus-catagen cyst admixed with the presence of both an intermittent, focal granular layer and an eosinophilic cuticle surrounding pink, laminated keratin, most consistent with a diagnosis of subungual onycholemmal cyst (SOC). It is a rare and distinctive nail abnormality occurring in the dermis of the nail bed.

A gender gap in primary and secondary heart dysfunctions in systemic sclerosis: a EUSTAR prospective study.

Objectives: In agreement with other autoimmune diseases, systemic sclerosis (SSc) is associated with a strong sex bias. However, unlike lupus, the effects of sex on disease phenotype and prognosis are poorly known. Therefore, we aimed to determine sex effects on outcomes.

Acute retinal artery occlusion in systemic sclerosis: a rare manifestation of systemic sclerosis fibroproliferative vasculopathy.

Objectives: To describe three patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) who developed acute unilateral blindness in the absence of any common etiologic factor for blindness. In one patient, the affected eye required enucleation and was examined histopathologically.

Methods: Following identification of the first patient with retinal artery occlusion at the Scleroderma Center of Thomas Jefferson University, every patient evaluated at the Center from May 2001 to December 2010 was prospectively assessed for the development of acute unilateral blindness.

Assessment of tissue fibrosis in skin biopsies from patients with systemic sclerosis employing confocal laser scanning microscopy: an objective outcome measure for clinical trials?

Objectives: To obtain an objective, unbiased assessment of skin fibrosis in patients with SSc for use in clinical trials of SSc disease-modifying therapeutics.

Methods: Skin biopsies from the dorsal forearm of six patients with diffuse SSc and six healthy controls, and skin biopsies from the forearm of one patient with diffuse SSc before and following 1 year treatment with mycophenolate mofetil were analysed by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) with specific antibodies against collagen types I and III or fibronectin. The integrated density of fluorescence (IDF) was calculated employing National Institutes of Health-ImageJ software in at least four different fields per biopsy spanning the full dermal thickness.