[First description of canine leproid granuloma in Germany: 2 case reports]. / Erstbeschreibung des kaninen leproiden Granuloms in Deutschland: 2 Fallberichte.

Using cytology, histopathology, and DNA sequencing the diagnosis of canine leproid granuloma (CLG) was made in 2 dogs. The dogs were presented with nodular skin lesions on the head and pinnae. CLG is caused by nontuberculous mycobacteria that have not yet been finally classified. To date, this disease has been reported in Australia, New Zealand as well as North and South America, however no case reports have been published in Germany until now. In both cases, a combination of surgery and long-term drug administration (rifampicin, clarithromycin, doxycyclin and local application of clofazimin) was chosen and successfully eliminated the granulomas.

Nonsegmental vitiligo follows Blaschko's lines and embryonic pigmentary segments.

BACKGROUND: Pathogenic mechanism that determines the localization of vitiligo patches and thus a patterned distribution in patients with nonsegmental vitiligo has remained poorly elucidated. A distributional similarity of the vitiligo patches with Blaschko's lines has been documented in patients with segmental vitiligo, both isolated segmental vitiligo and mixed vitiligo but never in cases of nonsegmental vitiligo. METHODS: Distribution of nonsegmental vitiligo patches on face and neck regions was assessed and compared with Blaschko's lines and also with embryonic pigmentary segments on the face. RESULTS: This study has documented distributional similarity of the nonsegmental vitiligo patches on face and neck with Blaschko's lines and the "embryonic pigmentary segments" among 154 (58.6%) cases. Patches around the palpebral and other fissures like periorbital, perinasal, perioral, and periaural were more common. In addition to the vitiligo patches, the spared areas were also found to respect the embryonic segmental outlines and follow the Blaschko's lines. CONCLUSION: Distributional pattern of the individual nonsegmental vitiligo patches along the Blaschko's lines and embryonic pigmentary segments suggests that mosaicism might control the susceptibility to the disease process in a patterned manner. LIMITATION: No genetic testing could be performed to confirm the hypothesis. Evaluation of nonsegmental vitiligo was done only on the face and neck areas.

Bilateral "turkey ear" as a cutaneous manifestation of lupus vulgaris.

Lupus vulgaris is a common form of cutaneous tuberculosis in China, mostly involving the head and neck region. Turkey ear is a clinically descriptive term, used for a massively enlarged earlobe with bluish-red or violaceous indurated plaques and nodules, which can be a sign of lupus vulgaris. A 47-year-old female presented with edema and reddish ulcerated lesions on both ears which was diagnosed as lupus vulgaris by conventional laboratory investigations and the patient showed good response to antituberculous therapy. Occurrence of turkey ears in lupus pernio (sarcoidosis) should also be mentioned here as this presentation was originally described in this condition. Two case reports of turkey ear have been reported with cutaneous tuberculosis (not bilateral). However, occurrence of bilateral turkey ears in cutaneous tuberculosis has not been described so far in the literature.

Combretum leprosum Mart. (Combretaceae): potential as an antiproliferative and anti-inflammatory agent.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Combretum leprosum is a species that is popularly used in Brazil as a healing agent to treat skin problems and lesions. In this study we investigated the possible potential of this extract to treat inflammatory and hyperproliferative skin conditions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Classical models of skin inflammation such as TPA- and croton oil-induced mouse ear oedema were applied in order to verify the potential topical anti-inflammatory activity of the ethanolic extract from flowers of Combretum leprosum. RESULTS: Topical application of ethanolic extract promoted a dose-dependent inhibition of phorbol ester-induced ear oedema, reduced myeloperoxidase activity and IL-6 tissue levels with inhibition comparable to dexamethasone (positive control). Histological and immunohistochemical analysis revealed that ethanolic extract also suppressed cell infiltration. Ethanolic extract altered inflammatory parameters on a chronic skin inflammation model induced by repeated applications of croton oil, decreasing ear oedema, epidermal hyperproliferation and cell infiltration. In addition, immunohistochemical analysis showed that the extract decreased PCNA expression on the epidermis. CONCLUSION: Taken together, these results suggest that the extract from flowers of Combretum leprosum could be considered as a new potential tool for the treatment of several skin inflammatory diseases since it reversed the skin inflammatory and hyperproliferative process in a very significant manner. Further investigations are needed in order to verify the cellular mechanism and safety of Combretum leprosum extract.

Sphingolipids as new biomarkers for assessment of delayed-type hypersensitivity and response to triptolide.

BACKGROUND: Hypersensitivity diseases are associated with many severe human illnesses, including leprosy and tuberculosis. Emerging evidence suggests that the pathogenesis and pathological mechanisms of treating these diseases may be attributable to sphingolipid metabolism. METHODS: High performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was employed to target and measure 43 core sphingolipids in the plasma, kidneys, livers and spleens of BALB/c mice from four experimental groups: control, delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) model, DTH+triptolide, and control+triptolide. Orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) was used to identify potential biomarkers associated with variance between groups. Relationships between the identified biomarkers and disease markers were evaluated by Spearman correlation. RESULTS: As a treatment to hypersensitivity disease, triptolide significantly inhibit the ear swelling and recover the reduction of splenic index caused by DTH. The sphingolipidomic result revealed marked alterations in sphingolipid levels between groups that were associated with the effects of the disease and triptolide treatment. Based on this data, 23 potential biomarkers were identified by OPLS-DA, and seven of these biomarkers correlated markedly with the disease markers (p<0.05) by Spearman correlation. CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate that differences in sphingolipid levels in plasma and tissues are related to DTH and treatment with triptolide. Restoration of proper sphingolipid levels may attribute to the therapeutic effect of triptolide treatment. Furthermore, these findings demonstrate that targeted sphingolipidomic analysis followed by multivariate analysis presents a novel strategy for the identification of biomarkers in biological samples.

"Were-wolf" cutaneous tuberculosis.

Lupus vulgaris is a variant of cutaneous tuberculosis. Its more destructive and mutilating clinical forms have become rarer in consonance of a general decline of cutaneous tuberculosis. It is rarely seen now in developed countries due to stringent control measures, improved quality of living and effective therapeutic regimens. Misdiagnosis, neglect, or late diagnosis may result in severe, ulcerative and mutilating "wolf eaten" skin lesions. This paper describes four such cases of "were-wolf" cutaneous tuberculosis. Early diagnosis and treatment is important to prevent much of the disfigurement.

Dermatoses do pavilhäo auricular / External ear dermatosis

Apresentamos uma atualizaçäo sobre as dermatoses que ocorrem no pavilhäo auricular. Propomos uma classificaçäo em sete grupos e realizamos uma sucinta descriçäo clínica de cada uma das 84 entidades catalogadas, de forma didática, com a finalidade de auxiliar o médico, sobretudo o clínico geral, o dermatologista e o otorrinolaringologista, no diagnóstico de tais patologias.

Thorns in armadillo ears and noses and their role in the transmission of leprosy.

Both ears from 494 wild nine-banded armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus) and nose specimens from 224 animals were collected and histopathologically studied. Lepromatous granulomas were present in the ear specimens of ten of 494 animals. There were thorns in the ears of 22.5% of animals, and in 36.6% of the nose specimens. In one armadillo, there was evidence to suggest that Mycobacterium leprae entered the tissue through the thorn pricks. In the normal habitat of the armadillo in Louisiana there are thorny bushes consisting mostly of the green briar and the southern dewberry. Thorn pricks as a means of transmission of leprosy in the wild armadillos is suggested.