Pseudoxanthoma elasticum: a report of three cases in a family

Pseudoxanthoma Elasticum is an inherited disorder characterized by generalized fragmentation and progressive calcification of the elastic tissues in the dermis, blood vessels and Bruch's membrane of the eye. Herein, we report 3 patients in a family with pseudoxanthoma elasticum: a father and his two sons

[Atypical [Fungiform] basal cell carcinoma arising on a tattoo: a case report]

Basal cell carcinoma [BCC] is a malignant tumor that may arise in skin damaged by sunlight and ionizing radiation in burn or vaccination scars. Clinical variants of BCC include nodular, morphea type, superficial and polypoid. Tattoo reactions are histologically diverse and can be classified in three main classes: 1] Allergic, granulomatous, and Lichenoid reactions; 2] Inoculation and infectious lesions; 3] Coincidental lesions. The patient reported here was a 72 year old woman with an erythematous fungiform lesion on her upper lip just on the tattooing line for 2 years, confirmed to be BCC on routine histopathology exam. Tattooing might be responsible for the development and unusual presentation of BCC in this case

comparison of histopathological findings and polymerase chain reaction in lesions with primary clinical diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis with negative smear

Cutaneous leishmaniasis [CL] is a common skin disease in Middle East region which involves all ranges of ages and can affects both sexes. With regard to this fact that on time diagnosis and treatment would lead to reduction in its permanent complications and because it resembles other skin diseases, various techniques have been introduced to diagnose its agent in affected tissue. The reliability of pathological examination and PCR technique for diagnosis of CL was investigated in present study. In total 30 patients with clinically CL lesions having negative direct smear, were investigated. Tissue biopsies were taken from the patients, histopatholgic sections were prepared and the sections were examined to confirm or rule out the disease. DNA was extracted from biopsy samples by using standard DNA extraction kit and PCR assay was performed according to standard protocol using Leishmania tropica species-specific primers. Among 30 biopsies from patients with clinical diagnosis of CL under investigation, five were positive on PCR [16.7%] and 4 were positive on histopathologic examination [13.3%], There was not any meaningful statistical difference between PCR assay and pathological examination [P= 0.87] for diagnosis of CL cases with a negative smear. The present study indicated that PCR is a reliable technique for detection of some cases of suspected patients to CL with negative direct smear, but did not find any priority of PCR compared to histopathology in respect to similarity and economics

Lepromatous leprosy presenting with lichenoid papules

A 45-year Iranian man referred to the clinic with a severe itching and multiple papular lesions on his trunk, buttocks and extremities. Symptoms and signs of lesions simulated the clinical features of mycosis fungoides [Cutaneous T cell lymphoma]. There were [not any] no typical features of leprosy except a localized patch of numbness on the right hand. Slit skin smear and histopathological slide showed features of lepromatous leprosy. Clinicians practicing in leprosy endemic areas should keep lepromatous leprosy in mind while investigating patients with varied and multiple lesions

Maternal and other risk factors including bovine IgG in developing infantile colic

Infantile colic is one of the most current problems in the first few months of life. It is suggested that organic or psychologic and behavioral factors can predispose to involve this disorder. Here, we have studied the role of some maternal risk factors including bovine IgG levels in breast milk for appearing the colic in young babies. This retrospective study was performed on 50 infants as case group and 30 infants aged 3 weeks to 3 months who had normal growth and development as control group for one year in Mashad. Data was analyzed with Pearson Chi-Square and Fisher's exact tests. Most colicky infants were male [62% vs 38% female]. They were mainly symptomatic at neonatal period. In 64% of cases, it occurred in the first offspring. Infantile colic was more common in babies who delivered normally than by cesarean section and in mothers aged 20-30 years. According to our finding, there was no relationship between bovine IgG in breast milk and infantile colic. It revealed that anxious pregnant women had more colicky babies and paternal smoking seemed to develop colic in young infants. In order to reduce the occurrence of colic in infants, primigravid mothers aged 20-30 years should have a stressfree environment especially during pregnancy and no smoking exposure in this period

Serum zinc levels in patients with alopecia areata: a case-control study

The etiology of alopecia areata is not clear, but a possible autoimmune cause has been suggested. Serum zinc levels in alopecia areata has been studied, but the reported results were discordant. The aim of this study was to measure the serum zinc levels of the patients with alopecia areata and to compare it with those of the control group. In this case-control study, 46 alopecia areata patients admitted to the skin clinic of Imam Khomeini Hospital, Jundishapour University of Medical Sciences in Ahwaz and 33 sex and age matched individuals were studied. The serum zinc levels of both groups were measured using atomic absorption spectrometry and the results were compared. The mean +/- SD serum zinc level was 873 +/- 154.9 micg/l and in alopecia areata patients 831.8 +/- 155.8 micg/l in control group[P>0.05]. No difference was observed between the serum zinc levels of patients with alopecia areata and controls. More studies for evaluation of a possible relationship between serum zinc levels and alopecia areata is recommended

Application of polymerase chain reaction technique for laboratory diagnosis of cutaneous tuberculosis

Evaluation of the role of polymerase chain reaction [PCR] for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis [MTB] DNA as a diagnostic aid in cutaneous tuberculosis. Descriptive study. TB reference laboratory, PHLS, Ahvaz, Iran from May 2001 to December 2001. Thirty formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded samples belonging to 28 patients were analyzed. Tissue sections were treated by lysis buffer containing proteinase K and DNA was extracted by using standard extraction kit. PCR amplification was performed using assay based on a repetitive sequence IS 6110 of MTB according to standard procedure. PCR was positive in six samples. Amongst them, two of the samples [7.1%] belonged to patients with chronic granulomatosis, which was previously confirmed histopathologically, were positive in entire applied tests, i.e. direct smear, culture and PCR. Using PCR technique, six out of the total specimens tested [21.4%], were positive for the presence of M. tuberculosis DNA. Statistically the difference between applied methods was significant [P<0.0016]. Accounting histopathology as gold standard, the sensitivity of PCR in this study was determined as 75%. Our study showed that from 8 cases of skin tuberculosis diagnosed by histopathology, 6 were positive by PCR technique, which shows the superiority of previous method to molecular technique. However, PCR assay has priority to conventional bacteriologic methods for detection of M. tuberculosis from cutaneous tuberculosis cases, and can be only used when the staining for acid fast bacilli is negative and there is a lack of growth on culture or when fresh material has not been collected for culture