[Presenting skin disorders in black Afro-Caribbean patients: a multicentre study conducted in the Paris region]. / Motifs de consultation en dermatologie des sujets de peau noire d'origine africaine et antillaise: enquête multicentrique en région parisienne.

BACKGROUND: There have been few studies in France concerning the specific features of dermatological practice regarding dark skin (Fitzpatrick's phototype V and VI) or the special requirements of black African and Afro-Caribbean patients. AIM: To determine the principal reasons for dermatological consultation among black patients of African or Afro-Caribbean descent in the Paris region. METHODS: This was a prospective clinical study conducted between 15 February and 15 May 2004. The diagnoses of cutaneous conditions leading to dermatological consultation for all black patients of phototype V to VI were recorded by 10 dermatologists practicing in 14 centres within the Paris region. LIMITS: The method used did not allow any conclusions to be drawn regarding the incidence of the presenting conditions among the global population nor did it allow comparison between populations of different phototypes. The absence of any preset list of diagnoses or of precise inclusion criteria regarding evaluation of skin colour left individual investigators with a broad margin of interpretation. RESULTS: In 836 adults and 228 children (half of whom were from Africa and half from the West Indies), diagnoses were as follows: acne in 29.2% of adults and 13.2% in children, and eczema in 6.8% of adults and 27.2% of children. Among dermatoses more specific to black subjects, scalp conditions were frequently seen in both adults (alopecia 7% of diagnoses) and children (tinea capitis 9.6% and alopecia 3.6% of diagnoses). In at least 25% of cases, consultation was associated with dyschromia. Clinical signs suggesting the use of skin lightening products were seen in 95 patients. CONCLUSION: In France, as in other industrialized countries, black patients consult dermatologists essentially for common benign dermatoses also seen amongst white people. Nevertheless, it is important to emphasise the presence of skin problems specific to black patients such as dyschromia and pigmentary disorders, hair and scalp dermatoses, and side effects associated with the use of skin lightening products.

[The louse in Dutch seventeenth-century painting]. / Le pou à travers la peinture hollandaise du XVIIe siècle.

In the XVIIth century, physicians still considered that lice are issued from the body excretions by a "spontaneous generation" phonomenon. It does not disturb the patients who continue to treat themselves by delousing. This is painted very often in Dutch paintings from this century, especially in "genre painting", which is specific of Holland. Delousing is not only anecdotical, but has a deeper meaning has, it is symbolic of the good care that women must take of their children, but also a symbol of human sins and bad behaviour. Through the paintings of several Dutch painters, lice can therefore give an idea of the XVIIth century Dutch society.

[Prevalence of HIV-1, HIV-2 and HTLV-1 infections. Experience in a Parisian center for sexually transmitted diseases]. / Prévalence des infections par les VIH 1, VIH 2 et HTLV 1. Expérience d'un centre des maladies sexuellement transmissibles à Paris.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is, to a great extent, a sexually transmitted disease (STD). Its diffusion among the heterosexual population is still limited. STD treatment centres are particularly well organized to watch this diffusion. At the STD centre of the Saint-Louis hospital, Paris, we conducted a 6-week prospective study concerning the systematic detection of HIV-1 infection in 240 consecutive female out-patients in 1988, and in 504 male out-patients in 1989. The results obtained were as follow: 5/240 women (2.1 percent) and 19/504 men (3.8 percent) were seropositive for HIV-1. Out of these 24 subjects, 15 did not know they were seropositive. Predictive factors for seropositivity were male homosexuality, addiction to heroin and, in women, drug addicts as sex partners. Altogether, 23 of the 24 seropositive subjects had the classical risk factors for HIV-1 infection. None of the 744 subjects in this study were HIV-2 seropositive, and only 1 out of 504 men was HTLV-1 seropositive. We conclude that the prevalence of HIV-1 infection was high in our centre, and this prompts us to suggest that the serological test should be proposed to all out-patients and that patient's education and preventive measures should be organized by STD centres, even though the infection is still limited to patients at a particularly high risk (drug addicts, homosexuals, country of origin).

[Oxatomide: review of pharmacodynamic effects and clinical effects in dermatology]. / Oxatomide: revue des effets pharmacodynamiques et des effets cliniques en dermatologie.

Oxatomide is a new anti-allergy drug, derived from benzamidazole, which has shown original pharmacological properties at different stages of the degranulation of mastocytes and basophils, inhibition of the increase of intracellular calcium, inhibition of histamine release and of the synthesis of leukotrienes and prostaglandins. In addition, it has an antagonistic action on the histamine H1 receptors and inhibits the effects of serotonin and SRSA leukotrienes. Clinical trials have shown the clinical efficacy of oxatomide on chronic urticaria and atopic dermatitis, double blind against placebo. Also its action is quicker than certain reference molecules with which it was compared. The product seems to have excellent tolerance. Oxatomide is a molecule of which the pharmacological properties are coupled with clinical efficacy on allergic dermatoses.