Strength training increases regional bone mineral density and bone remodeling in middle-aged and older men.

To determine the effects of strength training (ST) on bone mineral density (BMD) and bone remodeling, 18 previously inactive untrained males [mean age 59 +/- 2 (SE) yr] were studied before and after 16 wk of either ST (n = 11) or no exercise (inactive controls; n = 7). Total, spinal (L2-L4), and femoral neck BMD were measured in nine training and seven control subjects before and after the experimental period. Serum concentrations of osteocalcin, skeletal alkaline phosphatase isoenzyme, and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase were measured before, during, and after the experimental program in all subjects.

Strength training accelerates gastrointestinal transit in middle-aged and older men.

Seven healthy, untrained men (age 60 +/- 2 yr, mean +/- SEM) were studied to determine the effects of a 13-wk total body strength training program on gastrointestinal transit time (GITT). Whole bowel transit time and mouth-to-cecum transit time were assessed before and after the training program. Subjects recorded dietary intake for the 5 d preceding their baseline GITT tests and repeated that diet for 5 d prior to their GITT tests after training.

Bullous pemphigoid controlled by tetracycline.

Two men with nonscarring, persistent, localized bullous pemphigoid, whose eruption is completely controlled with daily doses of oral tetracycline, are described. A review of the literature on persistent, localized bullous pemphigoid is presented. The effects of tetracycline on leukocytes that may play a role in the response of these patients are discussed.

Psoriasis treatment with suberythemogenic ultraviolet B radiation and a coal tar extract.

Forty-nine patients with plaque-type psoriasis were enrolled in a randomized prospective trial that compared the efficacy of outpatient treatment with suberythemogenic doses of ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation administered with a tar oil to treatment with maximally erythemogenic UVB radiation with emollients. Seventeen percent of patients treated with tar oil and 26% of patients treated with maximally erythemogenic UVB failed to adhere to the protocol. Although the tar oil protocol seemed slightly less effective in those with more severe psoriasis, a roughly comparable fraction of patients who adhered to either protocol cleared at least 90% of psoriasis on surfaces exposed to UVB (76% vs 100%).

Inflammatory linear verrucous epidermal nevus. Epidermal protein analysis in four patients.

Inflammatory linear verrucous epidermal nevus (ILVEN) may be difficult to differentiate clinically from psoriasis. We report four cases of ILVEN that confirm the observation that the analysis of epidermal proteins by sodium lauryl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SLS-PAGE) discloses a pattern different from that seen in psoriasis. We have also found, however, that the SLS-PAGE epidermal protein pattern is not identical in each case of ILVEN.

Organelle-specific injury to melanin-containing cells in human skin by pulsed laser irradiation.

Physical models predict that ultraviolet laser radiation of appropriately brief pulses can selectively alter melanin-containing cellular targets in human skin. We exposed skin of normal human volunteers to brief (20 nanosecond) 351-nm wave length pulses from a XeF excimer laser, predicting that those cells containing the greatest quantities of melanized melanosomes (lower half of the epidermis) would be selectively damaged. Transmission electron microscopy revealed the earliest cellular alteration to be immediate disruption of melanosomes, both within melanocytes and basal keratinocytes.