New-onset ichthyosis and diabetes in a 14-year-old.

Diabetes has not been linked to acquired ichthyosis or ichthyosis vulgaris. We report a newly diagnosed diabetic 14-year-old girl with bilateral tibial and sacral ichthyosiform plaques and a hemoglobin A1c of 20.1%. The patient had no personal or family history of atopy or ichthyosis and lacked keratosis pilaris or hyperlinear palms. A biopsy specimen of an ichthyosiform plaque showed compact lamellar orthohyperkeratosis and hypogranulosis, histopathology consistent with either ichthyosis vulgaris or acquired ichthyosis. We speculate that our patient's new-onset diabetes induced acquired ichthyosis.

The COP9 signalosome is essential for development of Drosophila melanogaster.

The COP9 signalosome (originally described as the COP9 complex) is an essential multi-subunit repressor of light-regulated development in plants [1] [2]. It has also been identified in mammals, though its role remains obscure [3] [4] [5]. This complex is similar to the regulatory lid of the proteasome and eIF3 [5] [9] [10] [11] [12] and several of its subunits are known to be involved in kinase signaling pathways [4] [6] [7] [8]. No proteins homologous to COP9 signalosome components were identified in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome, suggesting that the COP9 signalosome is specific for multi-cellular differentiation [13]. In order to reveal the developmental function of the COP9 signalosome in animals, we have isolated Drosophila melanogaster genes encoding eight subunits of the COP9 signalosome, and have shown by co-immunoprecipitation and gel-filtration analysis that these proteins are components of the Drosophila COP9 signalosome. Yeast two-hybrid assays indicated that several of these proteins interact, some through the PCI domain. Disruption of one of the subunits by either a P-element insertion or deletion of the gene caused lethality at the late larval or pupal stages. This lethality is probably a result of numerous pleiotropic effects. Our results indicate that the COP9 signalosome is conserved in invertebrates and that it has an essential role in animal development.

Black-white differences in risk for cutaneous, ocular, and visceral melanomas.

Fair-skinned individuals have a much higher risk of cutaneous and ocular melanomas than dark-skinned individuals, possibly reflecting a protective effect of melanin against sun exposure. There are some reasons to believe that the effect of sunlight exposure is indirect (i.e., sunlight stimulates growth factor production, which then stimulates melanocytic proliferation, leading to melanoma). Visceral melanomas are extremely rare, and little is known about them. This study used US data on 25,184 melanoma cases to investigate the White-Black ratio for visceral melanoma and did not find a disproportionality similar to that for cutaneous and ocular melanomas. The findings support the hypothesis that the sunlight effect on melanoma is primarily direct.