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BACKGROUND: In vivo reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) enables the study of architectural and cytological aspects in horizontal sections, which closely correlate with histologic features. However, traditional histopathological vertical sections cannot totally reproduce the image of the in vivo RCM horizontal section. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the concordance between in vivo RCM and histopathologic transverse sections for melanocytic lesions, basal cell carcinoma and seborrheic keratoses. METHODS: Prospectively collected benign melanocytic and non-melanocytic tumours diagnosed by dermoscopy were evaluated for common RCM features and compared to histopathology in horizontal sections with haematoxylin and eosin staining. RESULTS: A total of 44 skin tumours including 19 melanocytic lesions (nine compound, five junctional and five intradermal nevi), 12 basal cell carcinomas and 13 seborrheic keratoses were collected in the Department of Dermatology of Hospital Clinic of Barcelona. The RCM features that had statistically significant agreement with the histopathological horizontal sections were the preserved and visible honeycomb pattern, well defined DEJ, small bright particles, dermal nests, tumour islands and dark silhouettes, clefting, collagen bundles, thickened collagen bundles and cytologic atypia. CONCLUSIONS: Histopathology evaluation of horizontal sections of skin tumours can be correlated with main RCM findings. The results of this study have improved the understanding and interpretation of RCM features in relation to skin tumours, thus reinforcing the utility of RCM as a diagnostic tool.

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BACKGROUND: Sclerosing nevus with pseudomelanomatous features (SNPFs) is a clinical and pathologic entity that mimics melanoma both clinically and histologically. The lesion is a melanocytic nevus, histologically characterized by fibrosis and a pseudomelanomatous proliferation. It is typically seen in young to middle-aged individuals, mainly on the back, where microtrauma or inflammatory changes are more frequent. Dermoscopic description of SNPF has been reported so far in one case series. OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study was to describe the dermoscopic and confocal features of SNPF. METHODS: Histopathologically confirmed cases of SNPF were retrospectively collected from three referral centres in Italy. Only lesions with available clinical, dermoscopic and histopathological data were included; confocal images were also retrieved, when available. Lesions were evaluated for the presence of 12 dermoscopic and five confocal criteria previously described. RESULTS: The study population included 93 lesions in as many patients (71 men and 22 women; median age: 38 years). Dermoscopically, we found a predominance of dark colours, in particular brown and blue, which were found in all lesions and the vast majority of the lesions (86/93; 92.5%) displayed at least one structureless area. By the combination of colours and structures, we observed that the majority of the lesions (67/92; 72%) were characterized by more than one structure and more than one colour. Confocal evaluation was performed on a subset of 24/93 lesions showing a regular architecture pattern (19/24 cases, 79%), with a predominance of the ringed pattern. The presence of focal cytologic atypia at the dermal-epidermal junction was present in 12/24 cases (50%) with a prevalent dendritic-shaped cell proliferation. CONCLUSIONS: The current study demonstrated that SNPF was frequently characterized, on dermoscopic examination, by more than one structure and more than one colour and on confocal microscopy by a regular ringed pattern with focal dendritic atypical cells.

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BACKGROUND: There is strong evidence that obesity is closely associated with psoriasis. However, data on body composition are lacking in psoriasis. The purpose of this study were to investigate the body composition in psoriasis patients using bioelectrical impedance analysis and to correlate the bioelectrical impedance data with disease severity and laboratory parameters. METHODS: Anthropometric measurements and bioelectrical impedance analyses were performed on patients with psoriasis, naïve to any systemic treatment, who attended the outpatient clinics of two University centers. RESULTS: Data of 164 adult patients were analyzed. Compared to men, women had several significantly higher bioelectrical impedance parameters including reactance, fat mass% and adipose tissue%. The values of adipose tissue were positively correlated only with patients age (p = .021) and age at disease onset (p = .0006), but not with disease severity. In addition, we observed that the use of BMI cutoffs allowed to categorize 36.7% of women and 19.2% of men as obese, while fat mass% showed that 53.3% of women and 48.1% of men were obese. CONCLUSION: In our study, psoriasis is been associated with a high fat mass%. We suggest that screening for body fat distribution in psoriatic patients might be useful to identify early obesity-related disease.

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BACKGROUND: Genetic factors might have a role for lack of therapeutic response to anti-TNF-alpha agents, as previously suggested in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease. OBJECTIVES: We evaluated the role of the main TNF-alpha polymorphisms (-238G>A, -308G>A, -857C>T) in predicting the response to etanercept, an anti-TNF-alpha fusion protein. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Genomic DNA was extracted from buccal epithelial cells in a series of 97 psoriatic patients who received etanercept for at least 3 months. Patients were classified as responders, if they achieved a PASI improvement ≥ 75% after 12 weeks of etanercept treatment, and non-responders, if PASI improvement was <75%. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in TNF-alpha gene (-238G>A, -308G>A, -857C>T) were genotyped by PCR restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) assays. RESULTS: We found that patients heterozygous (GA) for the -238G>A polymorphism were more likely not responsive to therapy compared to the GG genotype. In fact, the GA genotype was found in 5/59 (8.5%) responders and in 14/38 (36.8%) non-responders (P = 0.001). A significant relationship with therapy was also observed for the -308G>A polymorphisms. In fact, the GG, GA and AA genotypes were detected in 48 (81.4%), 9 (15.3%) and 2 (3.4%) of the 59 responders and in 22 (57.9%), 11 (28.9%) and 5 (13.2%) of the 38 non-responder patients (P = 0.03). No association with therapy was observed for the -857C>T polymorphisms. CONCLUSION: Our study supports the role of TNF-alpha polymorphisms in predicting the response to anti-TNF-alpha agents. In particular, we found that the presence of -238G>A and -308G>A polymorphisms is associated with poor response to a 3-month therapy with etanercept. However, our data have yet to be validated in larger cohorts.

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Quantitative determination of neuron-specific enolase in the serum was performed by RIA method in 18 neurological patients and in 22 patients with pulmonary diseases. The data confirmed that the specificity of this marker is not absolute for the detection both of the nature and of the seat of origin of the disease. Further problems are posed in patients which simultaneously suffer from endocrine, nervous and pulmonary abnormality.

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This report describes and illustrates the results of the histopathological and histochemical investigation on five slow-growing tumors of the central nervous system: four meningiomas and an ependymoma of the spinal cord. We have studied, by means of polarizing microscopy, sections stained with picro-sirius red F3BA that enhance the birefringence of collagen and reticulum fibres. The heterogeneous behaviour of the distribution of the collagen let us conclude that the fibrillar component of the extracellular matrix have a scarce importance for the speed of growth of these tumours.

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