Livedoid vasculopathy: does hyperhomocysteinaemia play an aetiological role?

Background: Livedoid vasculopathy (LV) has been shown to be associated with hypercoagulability. However, relevant genetic and exogenous thrombophilic factors are not fully determined.

Objectives: To evaluate the frequency of hyperhomocysteinaemia (HHCE) and genotypes of hypercoagulative factors in LV patients.

[Rickettsiosis - Early skin biopsy is essential because of latency in serological findings].

Background: Global travel increasis practitioner's confrontation with very special infectious diseases, like hemorrhagic viral diseases that are traditionally rare in European countries. Prompt diagnosis and subsequent induction of therapy are essential to prevent high rates of severe and lethal complications.

Anamnesis: A 59-year-old man complained deterioration of general health after a 3-week vacation to South Africa.

Flagellate dermatitis after consumption of Shiitake mushrooms.

Flagellate dermatitis occurs in patients who have eaten Shiitake mushrooms. We are reporting on a 55-year-old man, who developed whiplash-striped, severely itching efflorescences on the trunk 3 days after eating Lentinula edodes. Flagellate dermatitis is also known as a cutaneous side effect of bleomycin therapy.

Aberrant Promoter Hypermethylation of RASSF Family Members in Merkel Cell Carcinoma.

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is one of the most aggressive cancers of the skin. RASSFs are a family of tumor suppressors that are frequently inactivated by promoter hypermethylation in various cancers. We studied CpG island promoter hypermethylation in MCC of RASSF2, RASSF5A, RASSF5C and RASSF10 by combined bisulfite restriction analysis (COBRA) in MCC samples and control tissue.

Extensive hypertrophic scarring after toxic epidermal necrolysis in a child.

Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis are some of the most serious, usually drug-induced, skin reactions. We report a case of severe toxic epidermal necrolysis in a child, which in addition to ophthalmic sequelae, caused extensive hypertrophic scarring of the skin. Such a course is uncommon and has rarely been described in the literature.

Morphology of pilonidal sinus disease: some evidence of its being a unilocalized type of hidradenitis suppurativa.

Background: The term 'pilonidal sinus' (PS) reflects an acute exacerbating, purulent, fistulating chronic inflammation located in the coccyx region. Systematic histological investigations are scarce, and the etiology has remained controversial.

Methods: Histological and immunohistochemical characterization of totally excised material of 27 patients (68 specimens) with PS (no antecedent and no current clinical signs of hidradenitis suppurativa, HS) and its correlation with data on HS which we published earlier.

RASSF10 promoter hypermethylation is frequent in malignant melanoma of the skin but uncommon in nevus cell nevi.

The Ras association domain family (RASSF) consists of several tumor suppressor genes, which are frequently silenced in human cancers. We analyzed the epigenetic inactivation of RASSF2 and RASSF10 in malignant melanoma (MM) of the skin, including 5 MM cell lines, 28 primary MM, 33 metastases of MM, 47 nevus cell nevi (NCN), and 22 control tissues. The RASSF2 promoter was epigenetically downregulated in two MM cell lines only, but not in any of the investigated tumor samples.

Red ear syndrome: case report and review of the literature.

Red ear syndrome (RES) is characterized by the attack-like occurrence of erythema, edema and dysesthesia of one or less frequently both ears. We report the case of a 31-year-old woman with stabbing pain and marked erythema and discrete edema of one ear, existing for 4 months, occasionally accompanied by burning and local hyperhidrosis. Differential diagnoses such as perichondritis, contact dermatitis, erysipelas and other infections were ruled out.