Association of cigarette smoking but not alcohol consumption with cutaneous lupus erythematosus.

Objective: To ascertain whether smoking or alcohol consumption is associated with lupus erythematosus (LE), because this topic is still subject to debate and part of the debate could be related to the fact that smoking and alcohol consumption are specific risk factors for cutaneous LE.

Design: Prospective multicenter case-control study.

Setting: Three French university hospitals.

[Cutaneous manifestations of paraproteinemia and their mechanisms].

Disease entities characterized by the presence of paraproteins have a variety of cutaneous manifestations. These manifestations may be classified in the following categories as a function of their mechanisms: * extracutaneous deposition of paraproteins, as in amyloidosis * intravascular paraprotein deposition, as in cryoglobulinemia * cutaneous lesions resulting from the biologic activity of paraprotein, as in patients with normolipemic xanthoma with monoclonal immunoglobulin anti-LDL activity * abnormal cytokine secretion, as in AESOP (adenopathy and extensive skin patch overlying a plasmacytoma) or POEMS (polyneuropathy, organomegaly, endocrinopathy, monoclonal protein, and skin changes) syndromes * unknown mechanisms.