Lichen Planus Pigmentosus Inversus: A Rare Subvariant of Lichen Planus Pigmentosus.

Lichen planus pigmentosus inversus (LPPI) is a rare subvariant of Lichen planus pigmentosus (LPP), presenting with sharply defined brown to gray macules, papules, and plaques limited to the intertriginous areas, with only a few cases reported in the medical literature so far. While LPP mostly affects patients with Fitzpatrick skin type III-IV in sun-exposed areas such as the neck, LPPI is seen in Caucasians and spares sun-exposed areas. Skin lesions tend to be very refractory to treatment attempts including potent topical steroids and oral corticosteroids.

Histological analysis of surgical lumbar intervertebral disc tissue provides evidence for an association between disc degeneration and increased body mass index.

Background: Although histopathological grading systems for disc degeneration are frequently used in research, they are not yet integrated into daily care routine pathology of surgical samples. Therefore, data on histopathological changes in surgically excised disc material and their correlation to clinical parameters such as age, gender or body mass index (BMI) is limited to date. The current study was designed to correlate major physico-clinical parameters from a population of orthopaedic spine center patients (gender, age and BMI) with a quantitative histologic degeneration score (HDS).

Nonmyeloablative stem cell therapy enhances microcirculation and tissue regeneration in murine inflammatory bowel disease.

Background And Aims: Reduced microcirculation has been implicated in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Stem cells or endothelial progenitor cells are thought to contribute to tissue regeneration through neoangiogenesis or vasculogenesis in ischemia- or inflammatory-related diseases. We therefore hypothesized that adult stem cells facilitate epithelial repair in IBD.