Opiate Injection-Associated Skin, Soft Tissue, and Vascular Infections, England, UK, 1997-2016.

In England, UK, hospital admissions caused by bacterial infections associated with opioid use have increased annually since 2012, after 9 years of decline, mirroring trends in overdose deaths. The increase occurred among persons of both sexes and in all age groups and suggests preventive measures need reviewing.

[History of the radiation damage in occupations].

In the year following Röntgen`s discovery of X-rays in 1895, approximately 60 cases of hand dermatitis and hair loss induced by radiation were reported. People using X-rays in their occupation, including X-ray tube manufacturers, physicians, and engineers, experienced chronic radiation dermatitis and were the first to be diagnosed with occupational radiation exposure. Reports of later appearing disorders, including skin cancer, suffered by doctors and engineers, were regarded as serious occupational diseases. In the 1910's, blood disorders, including leukemia, in people with occupational exposure to radiation came into focus. Dial painters applying radium to watches with a luminous dial clock face suffered osteomyelitis from about 1914. Other radiation damage reports include radiation death and carcinogenesis in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident in 1986, and radiation death in the Tokai-mura JCO accident in 1999. The details of radiation damage in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in 2011 have not yet been reported, but must be followed in the future.

Human dendritic cells - stars in the skin.

"A properly functioning adaptive immune system signifies the best features of life. It is diverse beyond compare, tolerant without fail, and capable of behaving appropriately with a myriad of infections and other challenges. Dendritic cells (DCs) are required to explain how this remarkable system is energized and directed." This is a quote by one of the greatest immunologists our community has ever known, and the father of dendritic cells, Ralph Steinman. Steinman's discovery of DCs in 1973 and his subsequent research opened a new field of study within immunology: DC biology and in particular the role of DCs in immune regulation in health and disease. Here, I review themes from our work and others on the complex network of dendritic cells in the skin and discuss the significance of skin DCs in understanding aspects of host defense against infections, the pathology of inflammatory skin diseases, and speculate on the future effective immune-based therapies.

Dermatitis artefactas cien años atrás, por Juan de Azúa / Dermatitis Artefacta 100 years Ago

En 1909, el dermatólogo español Juan de Azúa publica un trabajo donde recoge las principales características de las lesiones cutáneas de la dermatitis artefacta. En él, también presta una especial atención a la psicología de estos pacientes, al entorno familiar que los rodea y a la compensación que pretende conseguir el enfermo con la patomimia. Azúa confrontaba directamente al paciente con el diagnóstico, que demostraba mediante una cura oclusiva. Redactado en un estilo literario, al modo de la época, el artículo incluye las apreciaciones subjetivas de Azúa, que consiguen transmitir una imagen de estos enfermos mucho más cercana a la realidad que el lenguaje aséptico que tendemos a emplear hoy en día en la literatura médica (AU)

In 1909, the Spanish dermatologist Juan de Azúa published a study of the main features of skin lesions in dermatitis artefacta. In the article, he paid particular attention to the psychological state of these patients, their family situation, and what they were hoping to gain with pathomimicry. Azúa directly confronted the patients with the diagnosis, which he demonstrated by applying an occlusive dressing. Written in a literary style typical of the times, the article includes the subjective impressions of Azúa, through which he manages to transmit a much more realistic image of these patients than that portrayed with the sterile language we tend to use in current medical literature (AU)

[Dermatitis artefacta 100 years ago]. / Dermatitis artefactas cien años atrás, por Juan de Azúa.

In 1909, the Spanish dermatologist Juan de Azúa published a study of the main features of skin lesions in dermatitis artefacta. In the article, he paid particular attention to the psychological state of these patients, their family situation, and what they were hoping to gain with pathomimicry. Azúa directly confronted the patients with the diagnosis, which he demonstrated by applying an occlusive dressing. Written in a literary style typical of the times, the article includes the subjective impressions of Azúa, through which he manages to transmit a much more realistic image of these patients than that portrayed with the sterile language we tend to use in current medical literature.

[History of high frequency sonography]. / Geschichte der hochfrequenten Sonographie.

The development of high frequency sonography (< 20MHz) has gained increasing importance since the last decade. In this field A-mode-scanner were used firstly in the measurement of skin thickness. 1987 the first commercial available 20 MHz B-scanning system was introduced. These systems provided the possibility of correlating the ultrasound images with the micromorphological findings in histology. With these correlations we were able to interpret ultrasound phenomena and in conclusion we were able to measure tumour thicknesses with direct impact on the therapeutic regimen. In inflammatory skin diseases the role of high frequency ultrasound in follow up investigations of morphea and systemic sclerosis must be underlined. We believe that in this field the technique is the "golden standard". In other inflammatory diseases (e.g. psoriasis) or wound healing ultrasound is mainly used for scientific purposes. The investigation of intraepidermal structures and differential diagnosis is only possible with higher frequencies than 20 MHz. Therefore we developed 50 and 100 MHz in vivo scanning systems. With resolution up to 11 microns (100 MHz) we hope to answer open questions in the future. Ultrasound microscopy is widely used for scientific evaluation of tissue morphology in vitro (resolution < 1 micron). Computer-based three-dimensional reconstructions provide additional information (e.g. tumour volume or tumour surface). These parameters are well suited to follow up the effect of systemic or local therapies on skin metastases of different cancers. However, also the tumour volume of the primary tumour (in vivo) might be of great interest as a prognostic parameter in future.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)