Kerion Celsi favored by the use of a tretinoin+minoxidil+betamethasone valerate lotion in a 28-year-old woman.

Kerion Celsi is a parasitic fungal skin infection that tends to occur mainly on the back of the neck, scalp or beard. It is caused by animal fungi. Sometimes the condition resolves itself in a matter of weeks but hair loss in the affected area may be permanent. We report a case of a young woman with Kerion Celsi favored by the use of a tretinoin+minoxidil+betametasone valerate lotion.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis treated with itraconazole.

Leishmaniasis is a human disease produced by a parasite of the Leishmania genus transmitted by prick of an infected female sandfly. The disease occurs clinically with either cutaneous, mucocutaneous or visceral form, depending on the infective species and the immune status of the patient. Antimonial drugs are the current treatment of choice for all clinical forms. We report a case of cutaneous Leishmaniasis in a young girl successfully treated with itraconazole.

Yeast mitochondria lacking the phosphate carrier/p32 are blocked in phosphate transport but can import preproteins after regeneration of a membrane potential.

Two different functions have been proposed for the phosphate carrier protein/p32 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae mitochondria: transport of phosphate and requirement for import of precursor proteins into mitochondria. We characterized a yeast mutant lacking the gene for the phosphate carrier/p32 and found both a block in the import of phosphate and a strong reduction in the import of preproteins transported to the mitochondrial inner membrane and matrix. Binding of preproteins to the surface of mutant mitochondria and import of outer membrane proteins were not inhibited, indicating that the inhibition of protein import occurred after the recognition step at the outer membrane. The membrane potential across the inner membrane of the mutant mitochondria was strongly reduced. Restoration of the membrane potential restored preprotein import but did not affect the block of phosphate transport of the mutant mitochondria. We conclude that the inhibition of protein import into mitochondria lacking the phosphate carrier/p32 is indirectly caused by a reduction of the mitochondrial membrane potential (delta(gamma)), and we propose a model that the reduction of delta(psi) is due to the defective phosphate import, suggesting that phosphate transport is the primary function of the phosphate carrier/p32.

Identification and functions of new transporters in yeast mitochondria.

The genome of Saccharomyces cerevisiae encodes 35 putative members of the mitochondrial carrier family. Known members of this family transport substrates and products across the inner membranes of mitochondria. We are attempting to identify the functions of the yeast mitochondrial transporters via high-yield expression in Escherichia coli and/or S. cerevisiae, purification and reconstitution of their protein products into liposomes, where their transport properties are investigated. With this strategy, we have already identified the functions of seven S. cerevisiae gene products, whose structural and functional properties assigned them to the mitochondrial carrier family. The functional information obtained in the reconstituted system and the use of knock-out yeast strains can be usefully exploited for the investigation of the physiological role of individual transporters. Furthermore, the yeast carrier sequences can be used to identify the orthologous proteins in other organisms, including man.

The efficacy, safety and tolerance of ceftazidime for the treatment of bacterial infections in the elderly.

An open multicentre trial to study the efficacy and safety of ceftazidime in elderly patients has been conducted in four geriatric units on 135 subjects suffering from urinary-tract or respiratory-tract infections. Sixty-two patients were cured (45.9%), and 60 improved (44.4%). Of the evaluable cases bacteriological eradication was achieved in 91.3%. No adverse events were recorded.

Kaposi's sarcoma of the tongue associated with median rhomboid glossitis in a non-AIDS patient. A case report.

Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) of the tongue is extremely rare in immunocompetent patients. We report a case of KS of the tongue associated with a median rhomboid glossitis. The main clinical, pathological and immunohistochemical features allowed the differential diagnosis.

Contraception with the latest estroprogestagens in women suffering from systemic lupus erythematosus.

BACKGROUND: This study was performed to evaluate, in women suffering from Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), the relationship between the assumption of oral contraceptives and the evolution of the disease. METHODS: In the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in collaboration with the Institute of Dermosyphilopathical Clinic of Second University of Studies of Naples, 20 women in fertile age suffering from SLE with specific cutaneous manifestations were studied for the year 1999. All the patients requested to take, at contraceptive purpose, low-dosage estroprogestagens. The contraceptives we prescribed have, as active substance, the gestodene at the dose of 0.075 mg and the etinilestrdiol at the dose of 0.02 mg per day. Patients' group in object was compared for a year with a similar control group of women suffering from SLE not subjected to any pharmacological therapy. RESULTS: Only 5 patients out 20 have had to suspend therapy after 4 or 5 months, because a relapse of the illness was experienced while the others 15 patients did not lament a relapse of the illness. In the control group a more or less similar percentage of patients, during the months of the observation, spontaneously had episodes of relapse of the illness. CONCLUSIONS: The results of our brief study have shown that the administration of hormonal contraceptives in reality doesn't constantly produce immediate and remarkable exacerbations of the illness in women suffering from SLE. In our opinion the contraception with the latest estroprogestagens can comfortably be effected under strict medical control, probably because the medicines at low dosage are quickly metabolized and in the majority of the cases they don't have capacity to influence the course of such chronic connectivitis.

[Ceftazidime in the therapy of chronic bronchitis relapses in elderly hospitalized patients]. / Il ceftazidime nella terapia delle riacutizzazioni di bronchite cronica in pazienti anziani ospedalizzati.

We studied the clinical and bacteriological efficacy and the safety of ceftazidime in elderly patients suffering from recurrent chronic bronchitis. 33 hospitalized subjects (10 F. 23 M: mean age 78.5 +/- 6 yrs) were treated with ceftazidime (1 g b.i.d.) for a mean of 9 +/- 1.5 days. At the end of treatment all patients had positive clinical results, with bacteriological eradication equal to 95%. Only one case of relapse was observed at the follow up assessment. As to safety only one case of vomiting was observed (but did not require treatment withdrawal).

[Argon laser in dermatology: indications suggested by a 4-year experience]. / Il laser ad argon in dermatologia. Indicazioni suggerite da quattro anni di esperienza.

The Argon laser has been used in the treatment of port wine stains, telangiectasias, spider ectasias, ruby spots, venous lakes, pyogenic granulomas, tattoos, keloids, verrucous naevus, angiokeratomas, verrucous hemangiomas. The outcome results have been compared with those achievable using other treatments in order to give right indications to the use of the Argon laser. The comparison point out that Argon laser is the treatment of choice only in port wine stains, while in all the other diseases it doesn't give any advantage with regard to conventional therapies, less sophisticated, easier and sometime more effective.

[Proteiform syndrome (Proteus syndrome). Skin manifestations in a recently observed case]. / Sindrome proteiforme (Proteus syndrome). Manifestazioni cutanee in un caso di recente osservazione.

The case of a 4-year-old female affected by partial gigantism of the feet, syndactyly and polydactyly, partial right hemihypertrophy of buttock and lower limb, warty hyperpigmented nevus and vulvar lipoma is described. The Authors discuss about the Proteus syndrome, pointing out its rarity, the polymorphism and the problems of differential diagnosis with the Klippel-Trenaunay-Weber syndrome and with other congenital hamartomatous disorders.

The mitochondrial dicarboxylate carrier is essential for the growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae on ethanol or acetate as the sole carbon source.

The dicarboxylate carrier (DIC) is an integral membrane protein that catalyses a dicarboxylate-phosphate exchange across the inner mitochondrial membrane. We generated a yeast mutant lacking the gene for the DIC. The deletion mutant failed to grow on acetate or ethanol as sole carbon source but was viable on glucose, galactose, pyruvate, lactate and glycerol. The growth on ethanol or acetate was largely restored by the addition of low concentrations of aspartate, glutamate, fumarate, citrate, oxoglutarate, oxaloacetate and glucose, but not of succinate, leucine and lysine. The expression of the DIC gene in wild-type yeast was repressed in media containing ethanol or acetate with or without glycerol. These results indicate that the primary function of DIC is to transport cytoplasmic dicarboxylates into the mitochondrial matrix rather than to direct carbon flux to gluconeogenesis by exporting malate from the mitochondria. The delta DIC mutant may serve as a convenient host for overexpression of DIC and for the demonstration of its correct targeting and assembly.

Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans: experience with 14 cases.

Dermatofibrosarcoma is a rare, low-grade malignant skin tumour that can be considered the equivalent of malignant non-cutaneous soft tissue fibrohistiocytoma. The high rate of recurrence of this tumour is correlated with poor surgical management because lesions, often smaller than 2 cm in diameter, may be confused with dermatofibroma or keloid. Our findings confirm the importance of accurate diagnosis of primary lesions and the need for aggressive surgical treatment (excision of 5 cm of surrounding tissue) to lower the incidence of local relapse.