[How I explore....a pressure ulcer]. / Comment j'explore...une escarre de décubitus.

Pressure ulcers represent a major health problem causing both considerable morbidity and a high financial burden for the healthcare system. The geriatric segment of the population at risk of pressure ulcer is progressively increasing. This condition occurs at home, in old people's homes and in hospitals as well. The severity, duration and orientation of forces applied to the skin represent the most important factors responsible for pressure ulcers. Prevention measures are essential to reduce the prevalence of the disease.

[Relativity of the management of skin cancers. A plea for synergy between general practitioners and the dermatologist-oncologist]. / Relativité de la prise en charge des cancers cutanés. Plaidoyer pour la synergie entre le médecin généraliste et le dermatologue-oncologue.

The clinical diagnosis and treatment of cutaneous cancers represent a frequent situation in cancerology. About one third of all human cancers take their origin from the skin. The general practitioner and the dermatologist-oncologist play the key role in that field of health care.

[Cutaneous melanomas, a spectrum of emerging cancers in women of Wallonia. Outlook by the Mosan Study Group of Pigmented Neoplasms]. / Les mélanomes cutanés, un spectre de cancers émergents chez la femme en région Wallonne. Un regard porté par le Groupe Mosan d'Etude des Tumeurs Pigmentaires.

The Mosan Study Group of Pigmented Neoplasms was founded about 15 years ago. It has collected more than 20,000 cutaneous malignancies including melanomas and basal and squamous cell carcinomas. The incidence of these cancers is on the rise in Wallonia. In particular, malignant melanomas represent a spectrum of emerging cancers characterized by a proteiform biological outcome. They mostly affect young women. The major risk factor appears to be iterative and unwise ultraviolet exposures. The prevention of melanomas is basically founded on such a dogma and accordingly relies on sunscreens. However, controversies about their beneficial effects are rife and fueled by axiomas and contradictory sophisms. At the exception of surgery, the therapeutic options for the diverse types of melanomas do not yet fulfill the scope of evidence-based medicine.

[Ultrastructural study of azidothymidine-induced melanoderma in an AIDS patient]. / Etude ultrastructurale de la mélanodermie induite par l'azidothymidine chez un patient sidéen.

We report an ultrastructural study of azidothymidine-induced melanoderma. The hyperpigmentation is linked to the presence of numerous single melanosomes and polymelanosomes in keratinocytes at all levels of the epidermis, and in dermal Factor XIIIa-positive dendrocytes. Such observation suggests an increased melanogenesis in melanocytes associated to a defect in the degradation of melanosomes normally occurring during epidermal maturation.