Familial disseminated comedones without dyskeratosis: report of an affected family and review of the literature.

Familial dyskeratotic comedones is a well-known genodermatosis with autosomal dominant inheritance, characterized by numerous comedones with dyskeratosis in histology and scar formation in consequence. In contrast, cases of familial disseminated comedones without dyskeratosis appear to be extremely rare. So far, only three reports could be found in the literature. Here we describe a large family affected with disseminated comedones superimposed by moderate to severe acne. Remarkably, no signs of dyskeratosis were found in the histology taken from 2 of the 15 affected family members. We propose the diagnostic term 'familial disseminated comedones without dyskeratosis' to underline its familial and disseminated characteristics and discuss the differentiation with other similar entities.

Study on the viscosity of cationic gemini surfactant-nonionic polymer complex in water.

Interactions between a cationic gemini surfactant, 1,2-ethane bis(dimethyldodecylammonium bromide) (designated as 12-2-12), and a nonionic polymer polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) were investigated by means of viscosity and specific conductance. Results show that PVA displays special viscosity behavior in aqueous solutions containing the gemini surfactant 12-2-12, which is due to the molecular interaction of the polymer and the surfactant. It was found that the special viscosity depended on ionization of the surfactant, as well as polymer concentration and surfactant concentration in the nonionic polymer-surfactant system. A theoretical expression for the dependence of the solution viscosity on the ionization of the surfactant micelle was given, and the new equation proved to be in good agreement with the experimental data.