Pegylated liposomal doxorubicin in the treatment of primary cutaneous T-cell lymphomas

Pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (Peg-Doxo) is a promising drug for advanced/recalcitrant primary cutaneous T-cell lymphomas (CTCLs). This prospective phase II trial enrolled 19 patients. We observed overall and complete response rates of 84.2% and 42.1% (with no significant differences between stage I–IIA and IIB–IV patients), and 11% grade III/IV toxicity. After a maximum 46 month-follow-up, median overall (OS), event-free (EFS) and progression-free (PFS) survival were 34, 18 and 19 months. OS, EFS and PFS rates at 46 months were 44%, 30% and 37% respectively. Peg-Doxo seems to be an active and safe principle that should be used in plurirelapsed, early stage-MF and in combination with other chemotherapeutic agents in advanced and aggressive CTCLs

A sonographic spectrum of psoriatic arthritis: “the five targets”

Ultrasound is a rapidly evolving technique that is gaining an increasing success in the assessment of psoriatic arthritis. Most of the studies have been aimed at investigating its ability in the assessment of joints, tendons, and entheses in psoriatic arthritis patients. Less attention has been paid to demonstrate the potential of ultrasound in the evaluation of skin and nail. The aim of this pictorial essay was to show the main high-frequency grayscale and power Doppler ultrasound findings in patients with psoriatic arthritis at joint, tendon, enthesis, skin, and nail level

HEMOSIDEROTIC CLEAR-CELL ACANTHOMA: A PIGMENTED MIMICKER

The authors report on a case of a 65-year-old man with pigmented clear-cell acanthoma located on the right thigh. Dermoscopy disclosed a peculiar picture consisting of diffuse black pigmentation with a superficial greyish veil in the central portion, dotted-to-globular dark red-black structures mainly located at the periphery with a homogenous regular reticular arrangement; peripheral translucid desquamation. Dermoscopic features are correlated with the histology, where hemosiderin deposits present in a sheet-like arrangement in the perivascular papillary dermis and in a band-like disposition in the reticular dermis at the base of the lesion can account for the pigmented picture. The lesion arose on a trauma-prone skin site; thus the authors believe that traumatic irritation may be responsible for the clinical and dermoscopic pictures, giving rise to a reaction similar in a way to the Auspitz's sign provocated by trauma for psoriasis. Red blood cells extravasation from extremely superficialized capillaries may have led to hemosiderin deposition in the papillary and the reticular dermis

Psoriasis-like dermoscopic pattern of clear cell acanthoma

Dermoscopy provides additional criteria for the diagnosis of skin lesions

Genetic heterogeneity at the glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase locus in southern Italy: a study on a population from the Matera district.

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) has been analyzed by gel electrophoresis and by quantitative assay in an unselected sample of 1524 schoolboys from the province of Matera (Lucania) in southern Italy. We have identified 43 subjects with a G6PD variant. Of these, 31 had severe G6PD deficiency, nine had mild to moderate deficiency, and three had a non-deficient electrophoretic variant. The overall rate of G6PD deficiency was 2.6%. The frequency of G6PD deficiency, ranging from 7.2% on the Ionian Coast to zero on the eastern side of the Lucanian Apennines, appears to be inversely related to the distance of each town examined from the Ionian Coast, suggesting that this geographic distribution may reflect, at least in part, gene flow from Greek settlers. Biochemical characterization has shown that most of the G6PD deficiency in this population is accounted for by G6PD Mediterranean. In addition, we have found several examples of two other known polymorphic variants (G6PD Cagliari and G6PD A-); three new polymorphic variants, G6PD Metaponto (class III), G6PD Montalbano (class III), and G6PD Pisticci (class IV); and two sporadic variants, G6PD Tursi (class III) and G6PD Ferrandina (class II). These data provide further evidence for the marked genetic heterogeneity of G6PD deficiency within a relatively narrow geographic area and they prove the presence in the Italian peninsula of a gene (GdA-) regarded as characteristically African