[Effectiveness of a classical homeopathic treatment in atopic eczema. A randomised placebo-controlled double-blind clinical trial].

Background: Atopic dermatitis (atopic eczema) is one of those diseases where homeopaths claim to have good success although this has never been proven by rigorously controlled trials.

Methods: Single-centre, randomised, double-blind clinical trial comparing homeopathic remedies with placebo in young adults (age 18-35) with atopic dermatitis. Homeopathic remedies were individually administered according to the rules of classical homeopathy.

[Detection of tyrosinase mRNA using reverse transcription/polymerase chain reaction with fine needle punctures of melanoma metastases].

Tyrosinase mRNA produced by melanoma cells can be detected by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (rt-pcr) with fine-needle tissue punctures. Fine-needle punctures from six suspected skin and lymph node metastases in three patients with malignant melanoma were analysed via rt-pcr for tyrosinase mRNA. All the suspected metastases were surgically removed and histologically examined separately.

Preoperative characterization of pigmented skin lesions by epiluminescence microscopy and high-frequency ultrasound.

Background And Design: Previous studies have referred to the value of epiluminescence microscopy in the differential diagnosis of pigmented skin lesions and to the possibility of preoperative tumor thickness measurement in malignant melanoma by high-frequency ultrasound. Both noninvasive methods have been combined in this study. The question of improved diagnostic accuracy was discussed.

Four hundred-million-year-old vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizae.

The discovery of arbuscules in Aglaophyton major, an Early Devonian land plant, provides unequivocal evidence that mycorrhizae were established >400 million years ago. Nonseptate hyphac and arbuscules occur in a specialized meristematic region of the cortex that continually provided new cells for fungal infection. Arbuscules are morphologically identical to those of living arbuscular mycorrhizae in consisting of a basal trunk and repeatedly branched bush-like tuft within the plant cell.

[Videomicroscopy in differential diagnosis of skin tumors and secondary prevention of malignant melanoma].

During a 12-month period, 824 pigmented skin lesions were examined, and the clinical, videomicroscopic and histological diagnoses were compared. Patients with skin lesions that were difficult to assess were recruited from the outpatient clinic of the department of dermatology within the Technical University of Munich. The study reveals that videomicroscopy as a variation of epiluminescence microscopy much improves diagnostic accuracy, especially of early malignant melanoma, but also with regard to the differentiation between melanocytic and non-melanocytic lesions, is achieved.

[Local pigment stimulation by alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone in the human: intracutaneous injections without and with ultraviolet irradiation].

Repeated intracutaneous injections of alpha-MSH failed to stimulate local pigmentation in healthy persons. Only additional application of UV irradiation resulted in a distinct brown discoloration of the skin at the site of injection.

Phase I trial of the polyelectrolyte carbetimer administered i.v. once every four weeks.

Carbetimer, a new synthetic low molecular weight polyelectrolyte with a novel structure displayed antitumor activity in a number of animal tumor model systems and in vitro investigations. Based on these findings it was brought to a phase I clinical trial in patients with advanced malignant disease after failure of conventional treatment or with no conventional treatment available. Forty-eight patients received 98 courses.

[Testing of cellular immune reactivity in melanoma patients with diphenylcyclopropenone in comparison to dinitrochlorobenzol].

Ten patients with malignant melanoma were simultaneously sensitized with dinitrochlorobenzol (DNCB) and diphenylcyclopropenon (DPCP) (500 micrograms each). Fourteen days after sensitization the patients were challenged with 0.04-25 micrograms doses of DNCB and DPCP.

Interferons inhibit chemotaxis of transformed cells and their invasion of a reconstituted basement membrane.

Tumor cell migration and invasion are critical steps in the complex process of metastasis formation. It has been demonstrated that interferons (IFNs) inhibit the motility of human fibroblasts. In the present investigation we tested the effect of human leukocyte IFN and murine fibroblast IFN on the chemotactic migration of transformed and tumor-derived cells towards fibroblast conditioned medium.

[Decrease in immunoreactivity in melanoma. Analysis of DNCB tests in the literature].

It is generally accepted that cell mediated immunity is impaired in melanoma patients. Several studies, however, could not confirm this thesis, especially in early malignancy. Therefore, it was the aim of our study to evaluate the results of the DNCB skin tests in melanoma patients of the literature.

Prostaglandin E2 gel improvement of psoriatic lesions.

Prostaglandin (PG) E2 gel and gel alone were topically applied to the psoriatic lesions of ten patients. After a few days, all PG E2-treated lesions improved, but a complete clearing, could not be achieved. Together with results from the literature, our findings strengthen the hypothesis that cyclo-oxygenase activity is endogeneously inhibited in the psoriatic plaque, thus preventing formation of PG E2 and other metabolites.

[Acute febrile neutrophilic dermatosis (Sweet syndrome). Phototherapy of persistent, postlesional erythemas].

We report a 31-year-old male patient suffering from Sweet's syndrome. The particularities of the case are the long period between onset of the disease and establishment of the diagnosis-the cutaneous lesions having persisted all the time, and the marked persistence of postlesional erythemas showing positive improvement by means of selective ultraviolet phototherapy (SUP).

Cholesterol ester and triglyceride metabolism in intact fibroblasts from patients with Wolman's disease and cholesterol ester storage disease.

Cholesterol ester and triglyceride metabolism was examined in intact fibroblast monolayers from normal individuals and patients with Wolman's disease and cholesterol ester storage disease. Cholesterol esters were introduced into cells by incubation in medium containing [3H]cholesteryl linoleate (CL) bound to human low density lipoprotein. Triglycerides were introduced by incubation with glycerol tri[1-14C]oleate (triolein) bound to human very low-density lipoprotein.

Use of avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex for measurement of UV lesions in human DNA by microELISA.

The avidin/biotin system was introduced into the standard enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to increase its sensitivity for detecting UV lesions in human DNA. Goat anti-rabbit IgG-peroxidase used in the standard ELISA as second antibody was replaced by biotinylated goat anti-rabbit IgG plus the avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex (ABC) reagent. Sensitivity of detection of plate-fixed UV-DNA-antibody complexes was increased about 8-fold and photolesions in human DNA samples irradiated with as low a dose as 1 J/m2 UVC or a suberythemal dose of UVB light could be detected.

Effect of selective ultraviolet phototherapy on DNA and antinuclear antibody titers in psoriatic patients.

The sera of 21 psoriatics treated by selective ultraviolet phototherapy (SUP) for 1-7 months were screened for IgG- and IgM-anti-DNA antibodies and antinuclear antibodies (ANAs) by standardized ELISA and the indirect immunofluorescence technique. No patients developed IgG-antibodies against native DNA under SUP, but two patients increased their IgM-antibody titers five- and tenfold, respectively. The IgG- and IgM-anti-single-stranded-(ss)DNA antibody titers remained unaltered in 38% and 57% of the patients.

Measurement of ultraviolet light-induced photolesions in mammalian DNA by microELISA.

A sensitive microELISA was developed for titration of anti-UV-DNA antisera and measurement of photolesions in DNA using UV-irradiated DNA as antigen coupled to the wells of microtitre plates. Efficient and reproducible immobilization of the antigen required precoating of the plates with poly(L-lysine). Antisera from 2 rabbits immunized with UVdsDNA recognized specifically thymine dimer associated lesions.

[Extracorporeally induced whole-body hyperthermia in conventionally incurable malignant tumor patients].

Whole body hyperthermia was produced in 14 patients with conventionally incurable malignant disease. The technique consisted of arteriovenous shunting involving extracorporeal circulation with heat exchange during general anaesthesia. A temperature of 41.

Lower devonian gametophytes: relation to the phylogeny of land plants.

Three gametophytic plants now known from the Lower Devonian of Scotland and Germany show common features in their fertile parts. The morphological and anatomical structures indicate affinities to bryophytic gametophytes, although there is no evidence for a parasitic sporogonium-like sporophyte as in the Bryophyta. Several of the vascular plant sporophytes from the Rhynie Chert also have a few characteristics reminiscent of bryophytes.

Hyperpipecolic acidemia: clinical and biochemical observations in two male siblings.

Hyperpipecolic acidemia was diagnosed in two male siblings. Both infants had an unusual constellation of clinical findings including hepatomegaly, retinopathy, developmental delay, and several minor dysmorphic features. Pipecolic acid values were elevated in serum, urine, and in liver tissue, but none was detected using an automated amino acid analyzer.