Efficacy and tolerance of fenticonazole versus miconazole cream.

On the basis of a randomized scheme, 40 patients affected by pityriasis versicolor, candidiasis or dermatophytosis were treated with fenticonazole 2% cream or with miconazole 2% cream. Clinical healing was obtained in 16 patients and there were four improvements in those treated with fenticonazole. In those treated with miconazole there were 14 clinically healed and five improvements. Only in two cases treated with miconazole and in one with fenticonazole, microscopic and cultural analysis had not become negative by the end of treatment. Both drugs were well tolerated. At the end of the study it was concluded that fenticonazole 2% cream is an effective antimycotic with an equal or even higher activity than miconazole.

Classification of non-Hodgkin malignant lymphomas of the skin.

The authors subdivide the primary non-Hodgkin cutaneous malignant lymphomas into "proper" and "non-proper" types. "Proper" lymphomas are those which have in the skin their proper site of localization, and include mycosis fungoides, Pagetoid reticulosis, Baccaredda-Sézary syndrome and possibly lymphomatoid papulosis. They are T-cell lymphomas arising in the papillary dermis, characterized by epidermotropism, having a specific clinical feature in that they are unlikely to be simulated by other cutaneous malignant lymphomas. "Non-proper" lymphomas are those which do not usually arise in the skin, but in various other organs. They are B-, T- or null-cell lymphomas, arising in the middle dermis, infrequently epidermotropic, having a papular-nodular-tumoural clinical feature, which are indistinguishable clinically from other neoplastic types such as plasmacytoma and Hodgkin's disease. The three classifications of non-Hodgkin lymphomas most followed are not directly applicable to cutaneous lymphomas because some of the former are not primarily sited in the skin, and because a follicular morphology is infrequently seen in the latter. Whereas the first classification reported for cutaneous lymphomas utilized malignancy as a criterion, the present classification here proposed utilizes the propriety of the site of localization as the criterion for subdivision into "proper" and "non-proper" types.

Giant axonal neuropathy. Endocrinological and histological studies.

A case of giant axonal neuropathy (GAN) in a boy of 4 years and 6 months, is reported. Nerve conduction velocity (NCV), EEG and CT scan indicated both peripheral and central nervous system involvement. Intestinal absorption tests did not reveal vitamin B12 malabsorption; the endocrine situation was found to be substantially normal. The clinical picture was not modified by 18 months cyanocobalamine administration followed by 2 months therapy with prednisone. Electron microscopic (EM) examination revealed longitudinal and opposing grooves (pili canaliculi) in the hair and bundles of neuro-filaments in the myelinated and unmyelinated nerve fibre axons in sural nerve. EM of conjunctiva and skin revealed masses of intermediate-sized filaments within mast cells, fibroblasts, melanocytes, endothelial and Schwann cells. These findings confirm the hypothesis that GAN is a generalised abnormality of cytoplasmic microfilament formation, probably linked to an unknown disorder of protein metabolism.