What's already known about this topic?

• Patients with hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) present several cardiovascular risk factors more often and to a higher degree than healthy controls.
• Results of epidemiological studies vary depending on the populations studied.

What does this study add?

• A significant association of HS with obesity, active smoking, hypertriglyceridemia, low high-density lipoprotein, diabetes and metabolic syndrome was detected.
• Hospital HS groups had uniformly higher association with comorbidity than the population HS groups

Linked Comment: Simpson, Br J Dermatol 2015; 173: 1118–19.

What's already known about this topic?

• Genital erosive lichen planus in women is a chronic inflammatory disease with few and unsatisfactory treatment options.
• Photodynamic therapy is widely used in premalignant skin diseases and is reported to have an effect in oral lichen planus and some genital diseases.

What does this study add?

• Hexyl 5-aminolevulinate photodynamic therapy seems to be a feasible, effective and safe treatment option in genital erosive lichen planus in women.

Linked Comment: Wennberg, Br J Dermatol 2015; 173: 1119–20.

What's already known about this topic?

• Hyperhidrosis is a frequent disorder that can impair quality of life. Treatments are not always effective.

What does this study add?

• In this randomized, placebo-controlled trial, oxybutynin was effective in 60% of patients with hyperhidrosis, and this treatment is inexpensive and well tolerated.
• Oxybutynin should be considered as a therapeutic option for patients with hyperhidrosis.
• This is the first study to include generalized hyperhidrosis, and not only localized forms.

What's already known about this topic?

• Chickenpox infection early in life may protect against the development of eczema and allergic disease.

What does this study add?

• Chickenpox infection is not a significant contributor to the increasing prevalence of childhood eczema in the United States.

Linked Comment: Lev-Tov, Br J Dermatol 2015; 173: 1120–21.

What's already known about this topic?

• An association between atopic dermatitis (AD) and hand eczema has been found in several studies.
• Many of the studies are hampered by retrospection and risk of recall bias.

What does this study add?

• This prospective population-based cohort study confirms a strong association between AD in childhood and hand eczema in adolescence.
• Persistent or severe AD increases the risk of hand eczema, while age at onset of AD does not.
• Hand eczema does not seem to be associated with asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis, specific IgE or a parental history of allergy-related disease.

Linked Comment: Apfelbacher, Br J Dermatol 2015; 173: 1121–22.

What's already known about this topic?

• Connexin 43 (Cx43) protein levels are reduced at the wound edge, enabling migration of keratinocytes and fibroblasts to aid wound healing.
• In wounded diabetic rats, Cx43 is elevated in the wound edge and healing is delayed.
• In human diabetic epidermal wound edge, Cx43, Cx26 and Cx30 are detectable.

What does this study add?

• We quantify the wound-edge expression of Cx43, Cx26 and Cx30 in chronic venous, diabetic foot and pressure ulcers and show their tissue distribution.
• Cx43 is massively upregulated in the epidermis and dermis.

Linked Comment: Martin, Br J Dermatol 2015; 173: 1123–24.

What's already known about this topic?

• Pyoderma gangrenosum is a rare, difficult-to-treat neutrophilic ulcerative skin disease frequently associated with systemic disease, and treatment can be challenging.
• The successful use of canakinumab in pyoderma gangrenosum has been reported in the context of PAPA syndrome (pyogenic arthritis, pyoderma gangrenosum and acne), a recently characterized rare autosomal dominant autoinflammatory disease of early onset.

What does this study add?

• The proinflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-1β is abundant in its active form in human pyoderma gangrenosum skin lesions.
• Blockade of IL-1β with the monoclonal antibody canakinumab can improve steroid-resistant pyoderma gangrenosum.
• This provides novel evidence that IL-1β plays a role in the pathogenesis of pyoderma gangrenosum.

Linked Comment: Costanzo, Br J Dermatol 2015; 173: 1124.

What's already known about this topic?

• The presence of specific dermoscopic and confocal findings in globular lesions is thought to be associated with the diagnosis of melanoma or naevi. However, a precise assessment of the specificity and sensitivity values of these variables has not been performed.

What does this study add?

• When dealing with an adult patient with a globular lesion, the simultaneous presence of a regular globular pattern on dermoscopy and dense nests on reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) should be considered a reassuring pattern suggestive of naevus.
• The presence of an irregular distribution of globules on dermoscopy (conveying about a 10-fold increased risk for melanoma) and loosely arranged nests upon RCM should lead to prompt excision of a given globular lesion.

What's already known about this topic?

• Owing to tourism and the spread of sandflies, leishmaniasis is increasing in northern Europe. Clinical appearance is variable.
• Molecular diagnostics are used for pan-Leishmania detection, but species identification remains challenging, especially in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) material.
• Species identification is important for patient management/therapy.

What does this study add?

• Cytochrome b polymerase chain reaction is a fast, reliable and sensitive assay for the identification of human pathogenic Leishmania spp. in FFPE biopsies.
• Pseudolymphomatous infiltrates and pseudocarcinomatous hyperplasia often indicate infection with Leishmania major.

What's already known about this topic?

• Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a commonly used therapeutic approach for nonmelanoma skin cancer.
• It is a safe and efficient therapy, especially for field cancerization.
• Local skin reactions and pain are the most common side-effects of PDT.

What does this study add?

• We report on five patients who developed transient memory impairment and transient global amnesia immediately after PDT for actinic keratosis.
• The association between neurological impairment and PDT is novel and has not been reported before.

What's already known about this topic?

• Primary mucinous carcinoma of the skin (PMCS) is a rare cutaneous malignant neoplasm.
• Positron emission tomography–computed tomography (PET-CT) is known to be a useful tool to search for early metastatic lesions in various carcinomas; however, its applicability for detecting PMCS metastasis is unknown.

What does this study add?

• This is the first study to address the applicability of PET-CT for detecting PMCS metastasis on the head and neck area, and PMCS in which metastasis is diagnosed accurately by PET-CT.

What's already known about this topic?

• Chronic active Epstein–Barr virus infection (CAEBV) is characterized by chronic infectious mononucleosis-like symptoms associated with very high viral load.
• A therapeutic approach is difficult because of the coexistence of viral infection and monoclonal T-cell proliferation.
• Immunomodulation is probably the best alternative treatment for these patients.

What does this study add?

• We present an unusual case of CAEBV, classified as A2 according to Ohshima et al., in a French woman who was followed up over 25 years with cutaneous and sinus lymphoproliferation.