[Scrofuloderma. a clinical case]. / Scrofuloderma. Un caso clinico.

Scrofuloderma is a form of colliquative cutaneous tuberculosis resulting from the spread of an underlying focus, generally represented by lymphnodes; osteoarticular tubercular locations or epididimus locations can also lead to ulcerative cutaneous involvement. We report the case of a female patient aged 12 who had been in Italy for 15 days following her arrival from Marocco. In the left clavicular region she presented an ulcerated lesion with palpable lymphnodes on the corresponding side of the neck. Histopathological examination of one of the involved lymphnodes suggested a mycobacteriosis; differential diagnosis was carried out between MAIS (M. avium, M. intracellulare, M. scrofulaceum) group mycobacteria infection and tuberculosis. Bacteriological research in the lymphnode of alcohol-acid resistant bacilli gave a negative result, while cultural examination and protein chain reaction pointed to M. tuberculosis. The patient was subjected to combined treatment based on rifampycin, isoniazide, etambutolol and pyrazinamide. At the present time, tuberculosis is an important public health problem in developing countries. In western countries such as the United Kingdom, which have been open to immigration for a longer time, scrofuloderma is present with higher prevalence in immigrants from Asia and Africa; in these immigrant populations, this tubercular form involves a wide age segment between the ages of 10 and 50. In the autochthonous population the highest incidence is in subjects aged more than 50. In Italy too, extra-communitary immigration has also contributed, with a delay compared to other western countries, to bring tuberculosis back into the public eye after a period of decades during which it was wrongly considered to have disappeared.

Phenotypic variability in the chromosome 9 ring.

The syndrome associated to the 9 ring is not commonly observed. The first remark was by Kistenmacher (1970) who examined a male. Later observation of other cases has allowed the syndrome to be described, so that it can be said to be characterized by constant signs, such as microcephaly, psychomotor retardation of varying entity and facial dysmorphism corresponding to that observed in 9 p monosomy. The variability of the phenotype has to be compared with the entity of the telomeric deletion, since the clinical outlook, especially the entity of retardation, could be less serious in case of small deletions.

[Poland syndrome]. / Anomalia di Poland.

A case of Poland's syndrome in a newborn is described. The syndrome is relatively unknown, especially in its epidemiological and aetiopathogenetic aspects. It's characterized by aplasia of the sternal head of the pectoral major muscle, hypoplasia of the upper extremities and homolateral aplasia of II, III, IV, V finger. Attention is drawn to the importance of reporting diagnosed cases in order to further our knowledge of the syndrome. The Authors are looking with a big interest the correlation between hair treatment and Poland's anomaly.