Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

A Rebora

Publications and source records attributed to A Rebora.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1998

Catalase in the stratum corneum of patients with polymorphic light eruption.

UV radiation generates reactive oxygen species, which may be involved in polymorphic light eruption. The endogenous enzymatic defense system includes catalase in the epidermis. Thirteen patients with a history of polymorphic light eruption, but free from lesions, and 13 controls were investigated from November to March. Catalase was analysed in the upper horny layer according to Colin et al.'s spectrophotometric technique. In polymorphic light eruption, catalase values were about 30% lower than in control subjects. Such deficiency was observed in patients free from the disease and not recently sun-exposed. The diminished skin catalase in irradiated polymorphic light eruption makes it possible that a longer restoration time of catalase is involved in the pathogenesis.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Delayed telogen replacement in a boy's scalp.

BACKGROUND: In case the shedding telogen hair is not replaced in time by a terminal anagen hair, an empty space results. OBJECTIVE: To verify whether the phenomenon is present in prepubertal subjects. METHODS: From July 1996 to May 1997, an 8-year-old boy was submitted monthly to the phototrichogram technique. Sixty hairs were monitored throughout the study. RESULTS: 52% of all studied hairs were terminal anagen hairs throughout the study and additionally 22% were in a regular hair cycle. Vellus hairs and empty spaces were observed in 18 and 8% of follicles, respectively. In 2% of hairs, vellus hairs and empty spaces were associated. CONCLUSIONS: Vellus hairs and empty spaces are present even in children. Without gonadal androgens and expression or induction of 5alpha-reductase in the prepubertal scalp, they are unlikely to herald androgenetic alopecia (AGA) but could reflect a physiological phenomenon of 'true resting' of a small proportion of scalp hair. Androgens may increase the phenomenon which may account in part for AGA development.

Alopecia↗
PubMed1998

Prevalence of bands other than 160 and 130 kDa in pemphigus sera (a multicenter immunoblotting study). Gruppo Italiano Studi Epidemiologici in Dermatologia (GISED).

Patients with pemphigus may produce antibodies against molecules other than the classical transmembranal ones. Recently, for example antibodies to 230 kDa antigens have been found in association with antibodies to intercellular substance. To better understand their prevalence, clinical correlates and prognostic significance of bands other than 130 and 160 kDa, we studied 67 pemphigus sera. About one-fourth of patients revealed multiple heterogeneous bands and 13% the 230 kDa band. When challenged with the recombinant protein rBP55, the carbossiterminal portion of bullous pemphigoid major antigen, all 230 kDa-positive-sera proved negative. Caution is to be recommended in interpreting pemphigus sera with a band migrating at the 230 kDa level.

Diagnosis, Differential↗
PubMed1997

Telogen effluvium.

Most of the patients complaining of hair loss do not fit the diagnosis of androgenetic alopecia (AGA). This paper's objective is to describe acute and chronic telogen effluvium (TE), with common occurrences in both sexes and at any age, by clinical and histopathological observation. Acute and chronic TE is described. A possible pathogenic mechanism and a diagnostic approach are suggested, especially to distinguish chronic TE from AGA. Possible therapies are proposed. The recognition of a chronic variant of TE and its distinction from pure AGA, which very often it overlaps, are of paramount importance for a correct clinical and experimental approach to the problems of hair loss.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1997

Human herpesvirus 7 in patients with pityriasis rosea. Electron microscopy investigations and polymerase chain reaction in mononuclear cells, plasma and skin.

BACKGROUND: Clinical evidence suggests a viral etiology for pityriasis rosea (PR). OBJECTIVE: To evaluate human herpesvirus (HHV)-6 and HHV-7 as candidates for the etiology of PR. METHODS: Blood and skin tissue from 12 patients with acute PR, and 12 patients with other dermatoses were studied, as well as blood samples from 25 healthy persons. Serum interferon (IFN)-alpha and IFN-gamma were analyzed by ELISA. Analysis of morphological changes in cocultured peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and electron microscopy (EM) to identify viral particles were performed. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with specific primers for HHV-6 and HHV-7 DNA sequences was performed on the plasma and PBMC of patients and healthy controls and on the skin of patients with PR and other skin diseases. RESULTS: PR plasma contained detectable IFN-alpha and IFN-gamma, whereas plasma from controls did not. PBMC from PR patients showed ballooning cells and syncytia after 7 days in culture whereas PBMC from controls and recovered PR patients did not. This cytopathic effect was also documented in a PR patient who relapsed and in Sup-T1 cell cultures inoculated with the cell-free supernatant from centrifuged cultured PBMC; in this supernatant, herpesvirus, virions were detected by EM, PCR identified HHV-7 DNA in PBMC, plasma and skin from all patients with active PR and in the PBMC only of 5 patients tested 10-14 months later. Weaker signals of HHV-7 DNA were detected in PBMC of 11 controls, but not in their plasma. Skin was negative for HHV-7 in all control specimens. CONCLUSIONS: Although the detection of HHV-7 DNA in PBMC and tissues does not prove directly a causal role, HHV-7 DNA in cell-free plasma corresponds to active replication which supports a causal relationship. We propose that PR is a clinical presentation of HHV-7 reactivation.

Cells, Cultured↗
PubMed1997

Quantitating hair loss in women: a critical approach.

BACKGROUND: Assessing how many hairs are actually shed by patients complaining of hair loss is a difficult task. Many methods have been proposed, but all need standardization. METHODS: We examined 234 women complaining of hair loss. Alopecia areata and scarring alopecias were excluded. Eighty-nine of the patients had an apparently normal density of hair. Seventy-four were classified as Ludwig stage I, 37 as Ludwig II and 15 as Ludwig III. In 19 patients, classification had not been recorded. They were tested with the pull test (PT), daily count (DC) and wash test (WT). Telogen percentage was obtained by a trichogram in 43 patients. RESULTS: Dispersion of the data was very high. The medians of the PT, DC and WT were 0.6, 60.5 and 122 hairs, respectively. The telogen median of percentage was 16. In patients with normally dense hair, the PT, DC and WT means were significantly higher than in those with Ludwig stages I-III. Telogen means did not differ. WT values correlated significantly with those of the DC and PT, and DC values did so with those of the PT. By contrast, telogen percentage did not correlate with WT, DC and PT values. WT values and telogen percentage increased in autumn, the latter preceding the WT by 1 month. CONCLUSIONS: The methods adopted and the problem of 'normality' are critically analyzed. Subjects complaining of hair loss proved to shed a higher number of hairs than those with various degrees of baldness. The PT is a poorly sensitive method, while telogen percentage is not correlated with the severity of hair loss. As the DC is a cumbersome procedure, the WT is probably the best method to adopt. Standardization of methods and assessment of normality in prepubertal children are imperative.

Alopecia↗
PubMed1997

ARA and EADV criteria for classification of systemic lupus erythematosus in patients with cutaneous lupus erythematosus.

OBJECTIVE: To verify (1) how many patients with cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE) fulfill 4 or more American Rheumatism Association (ARA) and European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) criteria for classification of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE); (2) which criteria are mostly fulfilled; (3) the severity of the disease in patients fulfilling criteria; (4) how many patients with systemic involvement fail to fulfill 4 ARA and EADV criteria. METHODS: We studied 207 patients with chronic and subacute CLE, classified according to ARA and EADV criteria. RESULTS: Twenty-four patients with localized discoid (L-DLE; 21.8%), 22 with disseminated discoid (D-DLE; 30.5%) and 7 with subacute CLE (SCLE; 28%) had 4 or more ARA criteria. With EADV criteria, these figures fell to 7 (6.4%), 7 (9.7%) and 6 (24%), respectively. Only 3 L-DLE (2.7%), 5 D-DLE (6.9%) and 3 SCLE cases (12%) defined as SLE by ARA criteria and 1, 3 and 3, respectively, by EADV criteria had a renal or neurological disorder, hemolytic anemia and/or thrombocytopenia, vasculitis or serositis. ARA criteria did not classify 7 patients with a similar visceral involvement, while EADV criteria failed in 11 patients. CONCLUSION: In our patients, ARA criteria showed a sensitivity of 88%, a specificity of 79%, a positive predictive value of 56% and a negative predictive value of 96%. EADV criteria showed a sensitivity of only 64%, but a specificity of 93%, a positive predictive value of 61% and a negative predictive value of 94%. ARA criteria should not be used in CLE patients as they are too sensitive, poorly specific and altogether misleading. EADV criteria are more specific, but less sensitive.

Anemia, Hemolytic↗