[Disseminated tuberculosis revealed by obstructive and prerenal acute kidney failure].

A 56-year-old Philippine seaman without any medical history presented an obstructive and prerenal acute kidney failure near the coasts of Normandy. He was hospitalized in intensive care units because of the seriousness of kidney failure and because of impaired consciousness. Abdominal computed tomography showed a destroyed left kidney, a right hydronephrosis and ureteral strictures, which is typical of urinary tuberculosis.

[Chronic actinic dermatitis: treatment with topical tacrolimus (two cases)].

Background: Chronic actinic dermatitis is usually controlled under systemic immunosuppressive drugs. We report herein two patients successfully treated with topical tacrolimus.

Case Reports: Two men aged 60 and 70 years were treated for chronic actinic dermatitis for two years using systemic immunosuppressive drugs.

Bicyclol for chronic hepatitis B.

Background: Bicyclol is a novel synthetic 'anti-hepatitis' drug, used in China for chronic hepatitis B. Until now, systematic reviews of bicyclol therapy have not been performed.

Objectives: To study the benefits and harms of bicyclol for patients with chronic hepatitis B.

[The prospective multicenter study on standard photopatch tests by the French Society of Photodermatology from 1991-2001].

Introduction: To develop a standard panel of photopatch tests, the French Society of Photodermatology conducted a prospective study from 1991 to 2001 on the frequency of photoallergens encountered in France and on the relevance of the choice of the various photoallergens.

Patients And Methods: Thirteen photobiology centers participated in the study from 1991 to 1995, and ten centers from 1995 to 2001. A set of 3 samples of photopatch tests was applied on any patient suspected of photoallergy.

[Radiation-induced temporary hair loss after endovascular embolization of the cerebral arteries: six cases].

Background: Intraoperative fluoroscopy imaging during coronaroplasty or transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt may induce chronic radiodermatitis. Temporary hair loss is a peculiar form of radiodermatitis following endovascular surgery of the cerebral arteries.

Case Reports: Six patients (2 women, 4 men, age range: 27-47 years old) were seen for a solitary plaque of alopecia.

Autism: a novel form of mercury poisoning.

Autism is a syndrome characterized by impairments in social relatedness and communication, repetitive behaviors, abnormal movements, and sensory dysfunction. Recent epidemiological studies suggest that autism may affect 1 in 150 US children. Exposure to mercury can cause immune, sensory, neurological, motor, and behavioral dysfunctions similar to traits defining or associated with autism, and the similarities extend to neuroanatomy, neurotransmitters, and biochemistry.

[Cutaneous pseudolymphoma caused by carbamazepine].

Introduction: Drug-induced cutaneous pseudolymphomas are poorly reported. They clinically and pathologically mimic malignant lymphomas but their evolution is benign after drug withdrawal.

Case Report: We herein reported a case of carbamazepine++-induced pseudolymphoma in a 30 year-old woman of particular interest because of the paucity of clinical symptoms (only six papules of less than one centimetre each).

[Transient bullous epidermolysis of the newborn infant. A benign clinical form of dystrophic bullous epidermolysis or an autonomous entity?].

Introduction: Transient bullous dermolysis of the newborn is a bullous eruption limited to friction zones. It appears at birth and disappears during the first months of life.

Case Report: Immediately after delivery, an infant girl presented cutaneous bullae on areas of trauma which spontaneously regressed after a few weeks.

Medical, ethical and legal aspects of somatic gene therapy.

Somatic gene therapy is one of the most fascinating and important medical developments as well as a field bearing unknown risks in human medicine of the nineties. This article tries to give a short survey on the medical applications of this new technique on the one hand and reflects possible ethical and legal implications on the other hand. We conclude that only an international agreement on risk assessment and ethical principles will lead to a adequate approach to somatic gene therapy.

Epidermolysis bullosa acquisita in a 3 1/2-year-old girl.

A 3 1/2-year-old girl had a subepidermal bullous eruption with immunopathologic features that were consistent with epidermolysis bullosa acquisita or bullous systemic lupus erythematosus. This report highlights the difficulty encountered in distinguishing between epidermolysis bullosa acquisita and other bullous disorders that involve the dermoepidermal junction and the need for modern immunologic investigations in the diagnosis of bullous diseases in children.

Hydantoin-induced cutaneous pseudolymphoma with clinical, pathologic, and immunologic aspects of Sézary syndrome.

Background: The phenytoin-induced hypersensitivity syndrome is characterized by the development of fever, rash, lymphadenopathy, and hepatitis associated with leukocytosis and eosinophilia. This article describes the unusual occurrence of a pseudo-Sézary syndrome in the days following the introduction of phenytoin treatment.

Observation: A phenytoin-induced erythroderma developed in a 60-year-old woman the histologic, cytologic, and immunologic characteristics of an erythrodermal cutaneous T-cell lymphoma of the Sézary syndrome type with lymph node involvement.

Roxithromycin versus penicillin in the treatment of erysipelas in adults: a comparative study.

A prospective, randomized, multicentre trial was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of roxithromycin (150 mg b.i.d.

[Aging and the cutaneous immune system].

The changes in the immune system during the ageing process have been described in numerous publications, which are sometimes contradictory. The study of cell mediated immunity and of hormonal immunity provide only a partial reflection of the smooth working of the cutaneous immune system, which is dependent on fragile cell interactions between T lymphocytes, cells of Langerhans and keratinocytes, which involves numerous soluble mediators. Three possible mechanisms leading to or contributing to the decline in immune function with age should be considered: a modification of the distribution of lymphocyte subpopulations (the T helper lymphocytes and T-suppressing lymphocytes are affected by age in particular), changes in the mechanisms of suppression and changes in the maturation of B and T lymphocytes.

Clonotypic heterogeneity in cutaneous T-cell lymphomas.

The antigen receptor genes studied (immunoglobulin gene for B-cells, and T-cell receptor -beta or -gamma gene for T-cells) represent the most powerful tools for diagnosing the clonality of a lymphoid lineage. We have clonotyped 23 cutaneous T-cell lymphomas and 5 were found to be clonotypically all heterogeneous. Analysis of each patient was performed either from serial skin biopsies taken several months apart or from different tumor samples.

Subcorneal pustular dermatosis associated with rheumatoid arthritis and raised IgA: simultaneous remission of skin and joint involvements with dapsone treatment.

A 44 year old white woman with rheumatoid arthritis for 19 years developed subcorneal pustular dermatosis. She had increased polyclonal IgA and IgA rheumatoid factor. After 4 months' treatment with dapsone 100 mg daily the patient had neither skin lesions nor active joint disease.