A case of pediatric parapharyngeal space ganglioneuroma.

Ganglioneuromas are rare, benign neoplasms derived from sympathetic neural crest progenitor cells. In the pediatric population, ganglioneuromas usually develop in the mediastinum or retroperitoneum. We report the case of a 3-year-old boy who presented with a painless enlarging neck mass, which was found to be a parapharyngeal space ganglioneuroma that extended to the skull base.

NOS2 and CCL27: clinical implications for psoriasis and eczema diagnosis and management.

Chronic inflammatory skin diseases such as psoriasis and eczema are a major medical challenge. Development of highly specific therapies for both conditions is opposed by the lack of translation of basic knowledge into biomarkers for clinical use. Furthermore, to distinguish psoriasis from eczema might be difficult occasionally, but specific and costly therapies would not be efficient in misdiagnosed patients.

Allergic contact dermatitis in psoriasis patients: typical, delayed, and non-interacting.

Psoriasis is characterized by an apoptosis-resistant and metabolic active epidermis, while a hallmark for allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) is T cell-induced keratinocyte apoptosis. Here, we induced ACD reactions in psoriasis patients sensitized to nickel (n = 14) to investigate underlying mechanisms of psoriasis and ACD simultaneously. All patients developed a clinically and histologically typical dermatitis upon nickel challenge even in close proximity to pre-existing psoriasis plaques.

Intraindividual genome expression analysis reveals a specific molecular signature of psoriasis and eczema.

Previous attempts to gain insight into the pathogenesis of psoriasis and eczema by comparing their molecular signatures were hampered by the high interindividual variability of those complex diseases. In patients affected by both psoriasis and nonatopic or atopic eczema simultaneously (n = 24), an intraindividual comparison of the molecular signatures of psoriasis and eczema identified genes and signaling pathways regulated in common and exclusive for each disease across all patients. Psoriasis-specific genes were important regulators of glucose and lipid metabolism, epidermal differentiation, as well as immune mediators of T helper 17 (TH17) responses, interleukin-10 (IL-10) family cytokines, and IL-36.

In vivo imaging reveals a phase-specific role of STAT3 during central and peripheral nervous system axon regeneration.

In the peripheral nervous system (PNS), damaged axons regenerate successfully, whereas axons in the CNS fail to regrow. In neurons of the dorsal root ganglia (DRG), which extend branches to both the PNS and CNS, only a PNS lesion but not a CNS lesion induces axonal growth. How this differential growth response is regulated in vivo is only incompletely understood.