Psychological Stress and Atopic Dermatitis: A Focus Group Study.

Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory skin disorder. It is often reported to be worsened by psychological stress.

Objective: To explore the role of psychological stress and related triggers in AD, and its connection to worsening of this disease, focusing on patients' perspectives.

Expression of calcitonin gene-related peptide in atopic dermatitis and correlation with distress.

Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic, inflammatory, often severely itching skin disorder. It may worsen due to stress, depression, or anxiety. Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) may be involved in inflammation signaling.

Psoriasis and alcohol.

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that may be triggered or worsened by several factors, including alcohol. A higher than average alcohol consumption is common among individuals with psoriasis. Neurobiological signaling affected by alcohol intake includes a range of neurotransmitters, such as the dopaminergic, serotonergic, and tachykinergic systems, involved in reward and drug-seeking.

Tachykinin upregulation in atopic dermatitis.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic, inflammatory, itching skin disorder, which may worsen due to stress, depression and anxiety. Tachykinins may be involved in inflammation signaling as well as they may have a role in stress, depression and anxiety. This study aimed to measure the expression of tachykinin markers, in the skin of patients with AD, and the correlation of these tachykinins with clinical and psychodemographic parameters.

[In case of pruritus, always consider scabies!].

In case of pruritus, always consider scabies! Scabies is an itching skin disease caused by the mite Sarcoptes scabiei which affects more than 100 million people worldwide. Regarded as a neglected tropical disease by the WHO, it is a major public health burden in endemic areas. As direct skin-to-skin contact is the main route of transmission family members and sexual partners are often affected.

Substance P Antagonist Aprepitant Shows no Additive Effect Compared with Standardized Topical Treatment Alone in Patients with Atopic Dermatitis.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic, itchy, inflammatory skin disorder that may worsen due to stress and anxiety. Tachykinins have been suggested to be involved in the inflammation in AD, as well as pruritus. Aprepitant is a NK-1 receptor antagonist.

Dermatophytosis: fluorostaining enhances speed and sensitivity in direct microscopy of skin, nail and hair specimens from dermatology outpatients.

Direct microscopy of keratinised specimens is a standard screening procedure that assists clinicians to differentiate true superficial mycoses from non-fungal disorders of the skin, nail and hair. Most clinical dermatologists use bright-field microscopy when searching for dermatophyte fungi in clinical samples while laboratory-based mycologists increasingly favour fluorescence microscopy in order to optimise visualisation of fungal elements. This study compared the validity and speediness of fluorescence microscopy vs.

Serotonergic Markers in Atopic Dermatitis.

Stress and anxiety may worsen atopic dermatitis (AD) through the serotonin system. Serotonergic expression was measured in 28 patients with AD in relation to extent of the disease (SCORing of Atopic Dermatitis; SCORAD), pruritus intensity (visual analogue scale; VAS), anxiety traits (Swedish Universities Scales of Personality; SSP) and depression (Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale-Self assessment; MADRS-S). Biopsies were taken from lesional and non-lesional AD skin, and investigated for expression of serotonin, its receptors 5-HT1A and 5-HT2, and serotonin transporter protein (SERT), using immunohistochemistry.

Alcohol intake measured by phosphatidylethanol in blood and the lifetime drinking history interview are correlated with the extent of psoriasis.

Background: Psoriasis has been reported to be associated with alcohol consumption.

Objective: To investigate the level of alcohol intake in individuals with psoriasis and correlate intake with the extent of disease and pruritus.

Methods: Twenty-nine outpatients (15 females and 14 males) with stable chronic plaque psoriasis of moderate severity were recruited.

Interleukin-2 expression in lupoid and usual types of old world cutaneous leishmaniasis.

Background: Interleukin (IL)-2 plays a central role in T cell-dependent immune responses.

Objectives: We conducted this study to determine and compare IL-2 expression in lupoid and usual types of Old World Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (OWCL), using immunohistochemistry.

Patients And Methods: Thirteen paraffin-embedded specimens of lupoid and 12 specimens of usual types of OWCL were used.

The association between Darier disease, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia revisited: a population-based family study.

Objectives: Darier disease is an autosomal dominant skin disorder caused by mutations in the ATPase, Ca++ transporting, cardiac muscle, slow twitch 2 (ATP2A2) gene and previously reported to cosegregate with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia in occasional pedigrees. It is, however, unknown whether these associations exist also in the general population, and the objective of this study was to examine this question.

Methods: We compared a national sample of individuals with Darier disease and their first-degree relatives with matched unexposed individuals from the general population and their first-degree relatives, respectively.

Adult atopic dermatitis patients and physical exercise: a Swedish questionnaire study.

Physical activity promotes health and prevents disease. When patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) undertake exercise, the itch often gets worse due to sweating, and this may reduce their engagement in physical exercise. The aim of this study was to determine the level of physical exercise in patients with AD compared with a control group from a normal population.

Serotonin transporter protein overexpression and association to Th17 and T regulatory cells in lupoid leishmaniasis.

The immunopathogenesis of chronic non-healing Old World cutaneous leishmaniasis is challenging. There is a bidirectional communication between the nervous and immune systems, serotonin being an important mediator in this respect. Our aim was to study the role of the serotonin transporter protein (SERT) and its relation to T cell-related immune responses in lupoid leishmaniasis.

Chronic mild stress modulates 5-HT1A and 5-HT2A receptor expression in the cerebellar cortex of NC/Nga atopic-like mice.

Atopic eczema symptoms may worsen due to stress. In the present study, the cerebellar cortex of the atopic-like mouse NC/Nga was studied regarding the effect of chronic mild stress on expression of two well-characterized serotonergic receptors (R), 5-HT1A and 5-HT2A. In total 24 mice were used.

Pruritic and vascular responses induced by serotonin in patients with atopic dermatitis and in healthy controls.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease with often severe itch. The aim of this study was to determine the pruritogenic and vascular effect of serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5-HT) in patients with AD and in healthy controls. A 50 µg dose of 5-HT was injected intradermally into non-lesional skin of 25 patients with AD and 25 healthy control individuals, and the effect compared with 0.

The expression of serotonin transporter protein correlates with the severity of psoriasis and chronic stress.

Psoriasis may be worsened by stress and mood disorders. There is an increased expression of the serotonin transporter protein (SERT) in involved psoriatic skin as compared to non-involved psoriatic skin and normal skin. The aim of this study was to investigate if the increased expression of SERT in psoriasis correlates with the severity of disease, chronic stress, and depression.

Serotonin and its 5-HT1 receptor in human mastocytosis.

Context: Human mastocytosis is a rare disease, in which the serotonergic system may be involved.

Objective: The objective of the present study was to examine the possible presence of serotonin (5-HT) and its 5-HT1A receptor (R) in the skin of patients with mastocytosis. In addition, the effect of the 5-HT1AR was tested on human mastocytosis cells, cultured in vitro.

Polymorphisms in the serotonin transporter gene of patients with atopic dermatitis-association with personality traits related to high level of anxiety.

Context: The symptoms of atopic dermatitis (AD) are often aggravated by anxiety, and the serotonin transporter (5-HTT) has been shown to be of importance in this context. Three polymorphisms affecting transcription of this gene are known: a repetitive element, in the promoter region (5HTTLPR), a variable number tandem repeats (VNTR) within intron 2 referred to as STin2, and a single-nucleotide (A/G) polymorphism (SNP) located within the 5-HTTLPR.

Objective: To examine for possible relationships between these polymorphisms and aggravation of AD by stress.

Effect of chronic mild stress on serotonergic markers in the skin and brain of the NC/Nga atopic-like mouse strain.

Atopic eczema is often worsened by stress. While acute stress is associated with increased turnover of serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5-HT), chronic stress causes a decrease. In chronic stress, there is a decrease of the 5-HT1A receptor (R)- and an increase in the 5-HT2AR-responsiveness to 5-HT.

GABA and GABA(A) receptor expression on immune cells in psoriasis: a pathophysiological role.

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease in which pruritus is a common symptom. Pruritus may be associated with the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) system. The distribution of GABA and its GABA(A) receptor (R) was studied in involved and non-involved psoriatic skin, as well as normal healthy control skin, using an immunohistochemistry technique.

Decreased innervation of eczematous skin in NC/Nga atopic mice during chronic mild stress.

Background And Aim: A connection between chronic mild stress and altered innervation in the skin of an atopic mouse strain, NC/Nga, was studied.

Material And Methods: We used three groups of mice, stressed control (SC, stressed but not immunized with a mite antigen), non-stressed eczematous (NSE, not stressed but immunized) and stressed eczematous (SE, stressed and immunized).

Results: There was a decrease of protein gene product (PGP) 9.

Different serotonergic expression in nevomelanocytic tumors.

The neuromediator serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5-HT) has been proposed to play a role in tumor progression. Thus, the aim of the present investigation was to determine whether alterations in the serotonergic system occur in nevomelanocytic tumors. For this purpose, paraffin-embedded biopsies of superficial spreading malignant melanoma (SSM), dysplastic compound nevi (DN) and benign compound nevi (BCN) were characterized with regard to their expression of 5-HT, the 5-HT1A and 5-HT2A receptors, and the serotonin transporter protein (SERT), by immunohistochemical analysis.

The serotonin transporter protein is expressed in psoriasis, where it may play a role in regulating apoptosis.

Since the symptoms of psoriasis may be changed by treatment with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), the expression of serotonin (5-HT) and its transporter protein (SERT) in the skin of patients with psoriasis were examined employing a biotinylated-streptavidine procedure. In biopsies of such skin staining for 5-HT was limited to platelets; the expression of SERT in the keratinocytes of involved regions was redistributed; the numbers of SERT-positive dendritic or round mononuclear cells in the epidermis of involved psoriatic skin were higher than in normal healthy control skin; and the dermis of the involved skin contained higher numbers of round inflammatory cells immunostained for SERT than either non-involved psoriatic skin or normal skin. Double-immunostaining indicated that the skin cells expressing SERT also expressed CD1a, CD3 or tryptase.

Focus groups in Swedish psoriatic patients with pruritus.

Pruritus is a common complaint among patients of psoriasis vulgaris of the chronic plaque type. Despite a high prevalence of pruritus in psoriasis, limited information is available on this subject. The aim was to assess patients' perspective of pruritus in psoriasis vulgaris of plaque type, by using focus groups.